Halloween Costumes 2012: DIY Luke and Leia

We are a family of nerds and we are raising our kids on the same path.  They both love Star Wars (among other nerdy entertainment) and it was not hard to convince them to  be Luke and Leia for Halloween.  My main criteria for Halloween is that they cannot be a ghoul or "evil" thing but can be any other character from a movie or book or history.  Also, if I have to make it I try to push them towards something more simple or something I know I can handle.

Making Luke

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Given that my boy is 2 and a quarter years old, I didn't think complete authenticity was going to be a big concern.  He is more of a big picture sort of guy :).  I thought that making it all wouldn't be too hard but on the off chance I might find a karate gi, I went to the Goodwill and looked around.  I was quickly greeted by a white karate top that was a size too big but only $3.  I shortened the sleeves a little and it fit great.  I had an old cream colored pillowcase that wasn't getting used and made a pair of pants out of it.   This was done by folding a pair of my son's pants in have at the crotch and tracing the outline on some paper.  I then laid the pattern on the fold of the fabric and cut out 2 pieces then sewed them together.  I added some elastic at the waist and didn't even hem the legs because they would be shoved into the boots.  For the boots I had planned to make boot covers like the ones shown above. Instead I opted to use my daughter's old brown "ugg" style boots and they worked fine.  I bought a little brown pleather and cut the right size for a belt and added a little Velcro to close it.  We already had a couple light sabers so that was set and I let his hair grow out just to let him have that shaggy 70's Luke hair.

Making Leia

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It is always more complicated making girl clothes.  For one, they notice detail and you can't get away with faking something as easily. Also Leia isn't a simple outfit, it is a drapey dress with a mock turtleneck,  hood and belt so you can't just pick that  up at the Goodwill.  My niece also wanted to be Leia and she is 10 months older than my daughter.  My mom and I collaborated to figure out how to make the dress without a pattern.  She had a bolt of white stretchy knit from an estate sale that she got for $5 a while back with the thought that "I can make something out of  this."  Well the opportunity presented itself.

I found a tutorial HERE for an adult size Leia costume and used that as the starting point.  As you can see below the tutorial called for cutting the fabric out of once piece of material.  It makes a kind of "snow angel" shaped cut out.  We used an old sheet to do the first cut out then laid that on the main fabric to make the dress cut out.  We made it roomy because it has some drape and because the belt would allow for some adjustments.

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The sewing was just 2 seams up the sides for the main dress part.  Because the fabric doesn't fray, we didn't bother to hem the sleeve ends or the bottom of the dress (so much easier).  Without a collar and the hood the dress easily fit over the girls heads because of the stretch.  The collar was just a rectangle of fabric with a bit of lightweight interfacing sandwiched inside.  The hood was a rectangle of fabic sewn up the back and gathered to fit the neck (shoulder to shoulder).  After the collar and hood were attached we added 2 hook and eye closures to the neck.  Then we found out a bit about construction.  The neck that easily slipped onto the girls without the collar/hood combo would not fit over their heads with it.  Ahhh the fun of pattern-less sewing.  So we were lucky that the back of the dress was now hidden by the hood and we cut a small slit in the neckline to allow to their noggins to get through.  Problem solved and only the people who read this post will know about it. :)

The belt was more white fabric (not stretchy but a soft polyester remnant we picked up.)   I made a pattern using my daughters waist as a guide for the height and width of the belt.  I allowed for 1/2 an inch seam allowance and had the belt itself only go around to the sides of the girls.  Inside I used heavy interfacing to give it more structure.  After the belt was done and sewn, I added some sport elastic (about 1 1/4 inch wide) to the back to make it easy to pull on and off without a closure.  The front design on the actual belt was metal and I was not going to go that far with it.  We found some silver sheets of duct tape (I had no idea they came in sheets until we found the stuff at Jo-Ann's) and I cut out the front pentagon and side octagons with little circles in the middle of each.  They stuck really well to the fabric and will be fine for costume/dress up purposes as long as the kids don't experiment with peeling them off.

My daughter is a brunette so the hair color wasn't as issue.  However the MASSIVE amount of hair in Leia's cinnamon bum's was not going to work.  I had some toddler size brown socks and cut off the toes.  I rolled them into donut shapes and used them to make 2 sock buns on the sides of her head after making pig tails at the top her her ears.  A lot of pins and hair spray later and we have a Leia-ish hair do.  

 

 

Under the dress I had my daughter wear some white knit pants and an undershirt and she just wore her athletic shoes so walking would be easy while trick or treating. (which we do downtown during the day more than worrying about dong it at night when bedtime is upon us.)

Halloween Costume 2011

This is the doll she has so it was more modeled after this dress (short sleeved) than the  movie version.

Rapunzel... my version based on Tangled.

Patterns, Materials, Supplies.

Simplicity Pattern (for top only).  I bought this because it had the top style I wanted and it was really inexpensive.  I also think it is a good simple dress pattern that I could easily use again.

1 Thrifted adult skirt (Thanks to my mom's good eye at the thrift store.)

Notice the ribbon detail and soft tulle at the hemline...much more work than I would've put into it had I not had this skirt to work with.   

1/2 yard matching purple fabric.
Thread to match
1/4 inch elastic
1 remnant of pink fabric
Contrasting purple satin ribbon (1 inche)
1/4 inch pink ribbon (for bodice detail)
sewing machine
needle
scissors
pins and safety pins
***good to have but not necessary: a bodkin, and a seam gauge

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Active Time Sewing: Not quite sure.  I worked on and off for 2 weeks during naps and after the kids had gone to sleep and any minutes they would let me.  The bodice took the longest and had the most detail.  I just measured a 6.5 x7" piece and hemmed the edges before centering it on the front of the bodice.  I also added  3 strips of  ribbon to the sleeves before making the casing for the neck elastic.

Once the top was done, I figured out the length I wanted for the skirt and basted the waste to gather it then attached it to the bodice.  I tacked on the criss-crossed ribbon in front after the dress was done and tied a bow at the top.  The ends of the ribbon were coated with some Fray-Check

The next issue I had was with the crotchet section of the skirt that hits about hip level on Isabella.  I didn't want her underwear to show.  After debating other options (wearing shorts/pants, or attaching a bias strip to that section,) I used the 2nd layer of the thrifted skirt and made a simple slip to go under the dress.


My main objective when making the dress was to make it comfortable and as easy as possible.  My daughter will not stand for itchiness (hence the lace left out of the neckline and arm holes.)  Also, I realize the dress is not a duplicate of the movie version.  There are a couple reasons for this.  First, it is still  pretty warm here on Halloween.  During the day it can even get up to 90 degrees some years, so long sleeves were not a good idea and would also be difficult to make and wear.  Second, the skirt had a lot of detail on its own so I didn't want to mess with that by trying to copy the movie version.

Now I'm hoping she will let me convince her to NOT wear the wig (which seems loony, I know) because she gets sweaty quickly and I can see her 3.5 year old brain INSISTING on wearing it only to INSIST on taking it off 10 minutes later. :)  Still I plan to brush the crazy thing and braid it just in case she has her heart set on the blasted thing.  At least I will try to get some good pictures of her in it before she gets uncomfortable.

Placemat Crochet hook Roll

Using the same basic method as my Crayon Pouch you can make a Crochet Hook Roll.  Just fold up 5 inches from the bottom and sew every inch (or about that much, some may be a little bigger/smaller to adjust for the length of the mat.)  Fold the top down to meet the opening of the slots and stitch the top fold right at the edge.

For the closure, I used 2 decorative buttons and some round black elastic, but you could do the ribbon method from the Crayon Pouch, just make sure to sew the ribbon on first (before the pockets are sewn) and to only attach the ribbon as far as the pouch will roll, not the whole length.  There is probably also a way to do buttons or Velcro closure of some kind. 

Bib from Dad's Shirt.

I got this idea from another blog, but I didn't use a pattern or their tutorial so I don't remember where I saw it.  If you saw something like this somewhere else, I'm not taking credit for the idea, just sharing my version of it.

My husband was getting rid of a shirt that didn't fit him well anymore.  Aside from some wear in areas from age, the shirt was still good and I thought I could make something out of it.  My first thought was a dress for my 2 year old but seeing as how I was swamped with Christmas stuff, I wasn't willing to commit my time to that.

Therefore we have the Shirt Bib.

All I did was get a bib that I liked the shape and size of and use it as a pattern.  I pinned it  to the front of the shirt where it buttoned and cut it with about 1/4 inch seam allowance.  I bought a coordinating hand towel (probably $1.50) and cut out the same pattern.  I stitched the two together (right sides facing each other) and left a 2-3 inch opening to allow me to turn the bib.  Then I top-stitched around the whole thing which closed the opening and helped the bib to "sit" flatter when on.  Because of where I cut the shirt, there was only one button attached so I cut off another one and it helped to keep the two layers from shifting.  I cut some Velcro for the neck and sewed it on.  The whole thing took a couple of days on and off (like 5 minutes here and there) and I think it looks pretty cute. :)

Sorry for the lack of step by step pictures.  I wasn't sure it would work the way I wanted and didn't think to take any pictures as I went.  But its pretty easy I swear.

How to make a travel crayon pouch

 
I made this for myself and my daughter to eliminate a frustration I had.  She loves to color and will do well coloring at restaurants and places where we have to have her sitting for awhile, but keeping crayons in a diaper bag is not practical.  I had seen many crayon case tutorials online, most of them were rolled up in little spirals and tied with ribbon.  I thought about it and realized I would need something for her to draw on and the paper will get mangled and lost in the diaper bag. So I made a slight modification to what others had done and made this pouch. This way I can keep a small notepad or even folded coloring pages in there and not worry when I get somewhere that she needs paper.   


Difficulty = Easy
Minimal sewing skills are required, just basic knowledge of your machine.  Must know how to make a straight stitch and back stitch, thread and load a bobbin and thread the machine.  Depending on the material of the place mat, mistakes can be easy to disguise.  The type I used is great for hiding flaws.  It is ribbed in texture which helps provide guide lines to follow when sewing and mistakes are not evident if the thread matches.

Materials:
*A cloth place mat, the kind I've been using is available at Walmart (sometimes) and Target (in solid colors)
*A 16 count box of crayons
*a small note pad (I got a 3 pack of Mead 4"x6" memo pads from the grocery store for about $1)
*Grosgrain ribbon in a coordinating color in 1/4" to 1" width depending on preference or what you have available (black works well for most and a small roll would be under $2)
 *Thread that blends with the place mat
* sewing machine
*Ruler or tape measure
* pins

Steps

 1. Fold up the long side of the place mat 3 inches.  Sew along the existing seam or as close to it as you can on both sides.

2. Measuring from that first seam, mark four 1 inch sections for the pockets. 

3. After the 4 pockets measure 4.5 inches from the last seam.  This will make your notepad pocket. 

4. From the end of the 4.5" pocket continue measuring every inch to the last seam on the right side.  If the place mat isn't measuring perfectly within the inches adjust each one slightly to make the pockets look about the same size.  Also, I noticed with the first pouch I made, my place mat was not as long as the subsequent ones I bought and I had to eliminate a whole pocket from it.  It doesn't matter too much because fitting 12-14 crayons will be enough variety for most kids.

5. Sew each line from the top of the flap down to the fold.  Make sure to back-stitch at the beginning and end of the line.  If you're fast and did all your measuring/pinning,  this should only take about 10 minutes..

6. Pin the ribbon tie to the back of the pouch just above the slot openings (about 3 1/4" up from the fold.)

7. If you can, adjust the width of  your stitch to the narrowest width so you can get close to both edges of the ribbon.  Sew ribbon staying about 4 inches from the edge going to 4 inches from the other edge.  Flip around and sew again if you are using a wide ribbon.  For 1/4 inch, one pass will be fine.

Sorry I just couldn't take a clear picture here but you see how close the needle is to the right side (sort of.)

8. Fold the top flap down to meet the slot openings.  Pin this to secure.  Sew right along the top fold to make a permanent crease (less llikely crayons will fall out and more likely it will easily fold to put away.)

9. Insert crayons and pad and fold up.  You're ready to color on the go. :o)

P.S. Suzanne, if you read this, Zach is getting that blue one for Christmas. ;o)

Baby Legs

Tutorials for DIY Baby Legs are in abundance online.  So I'm not trying to add to the noise.  I am, however, using this tutorial, which I was directed to by Make It and Love It.   The directions are so straight forward and easy I am upset I never made these for my daughter.  She was forced to be stuck in pants or leggings during her crawling months and I missed out on such a cute accessory option.  Real Baby Legs cost more than I'd like to pay and they tend to be patterned which, in my opinion, can limit their usability.

So, I bought 3 pairs of socks in neutral "boy" colors.  It probably took less than 30 minutes total to make all 3, but that's a hard estimate because I did it over a couple days since I don't have a sewing room ready at hand.

I am anticipating the mobility of my little guy who I am sure will crawl much sooner than his sister did.  Also with the cooler weather coming I may have need for more cover up options in the house as well as outside.  With my Ergo I have noticed his pants pull up and don't cover his calves so I'm hoping this will be one solution to that as well.

New Dress for spinning

I used this pattern for the dress and some fabric I had not used that my grandma gave me.  I found a basic blue cotton to coordinate with the floral and it took a total of 4 days to finish.  If I didn't have a toddler and wasn't 7 months pregnant I could have done it easily in a weekend.  This is the second dress I've made with this pattern and both were made about a year apart.  I'm hoping to make at least one more.

Excuse the wrinkles, she won't take the dress off and has been playing in it on and off over the course of two days.  At least she likes it. :o)

This is the other dress I made for her last year.  She wasn't a walker yet so getting upright pictures of her was not easy.