Halloween Footprints

Happy Halloween!

Have you seen all the handprint and footprint art ideas out there?  I loved this one!  I wrote out the letters with a silver sharpee though.  Easy way out?  Maybe.  But fast, and just as cute.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates costume tutorial

Of all the possibilities in all the world, my son wanted to be Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates for Halloween this year.  We do love Jake and the Neverland Pirates in our house.  So I got a-sewin’.  Turned out pretty cute!

A great thing about Jake is that his outfit is supposed to be a bit ‘scrappy’…..so I didn’t bother finishing off any of the raw edges.  I simply zig-zag stitched everything (I’ll spare you from writing that in basically every line of the instructions).  Adds to the Jake allure, in my opinion!

You could certainly add Jake’s boots and a sword, but since there’s no way my 2 year old is going to wear them, I’m not making them this year.  Maybe someday I’ll do those as well and update the tutorial.  Time will tell.

If you would like an easily printable version of this tutorial, one can be found at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/70680698/Jake-and-the-Neverland-Pirates-Costume-Tutorial-Public

Here’s the basic how-to:

Shirt:

- Make a pattern from a t-shirt for the shirt body (cut on a fold at the left side) as well as the sleeve (cut on a fold at the top).

         

- Cut out white fabric for Jake’s shirt and sleeves.  Cut off the bottom 4 inches of the white shirt in prep for the next step.

- Cut two 4 inch rectangles of black fabric to use as the bottom of Jake’s shirt.  Cut the 4 inch rectangles the length of the bottom of the shirt front (or back). 

- Right sides together, sew one of the black rectangles to the front shirt piece and the other rectangle to the back shirt piece. Iron the seam flat.

- Right sides together, sew the shirt front to the shirt back at the shoulder seams. 

- Right sides together, sew the shirt at the side seams.

- Cut a v-shaped notch in the neckline at the front of the shirt.

- Sew the underarm seam of the sleeve. 

- Cut a v-shaped notch on the front side of each sleeve.

- Matching underarm seams, pin the sleeve to the shirt right sides together, and sew sleeve into the shirt.

- Using a piece of black string or yarn, sew the ‘x’ detail to the front v-shaped notch on Jake’s shirt.

Admire your handiwork!  You’re halfway done!

Vest:

- Using the pattern you created for Jake’s shirt, add a collar (for the back) and a collar with extension (for the front).

- Cut the back piece on a fold, but remember you will need TWO separate front pieces since Jake’s vest is open at the front!

- Right sides together, sew one front piece to the back piece at the side seam and the shoulder (from the top of the arm hole to the tip of the collar).  Repeat with the other front piece. 

- Cut a 1-inch strip from yellow fabric for the edging on Jake’s vest.  Since it will need to be long enough to go around the entire edge of the vest, make sure you cut enough length.  I had to sew several strips together to make it long enough.  Zig-zag both edges of the strip and iron in half to create a crease.

- Sew the edging around the entire outside edge of Jake’s vest.  I started at the back middle of the collar – next time I’d probably start at the back middle of the bottom of the vest.

My Jake vest had a seam down the middle of the back…I didn’t have enough navy blue fabric for the entire back, but I made it work!

- Sew four yellow buttons (or sew four yellow circles, if you prefer).

Headband:

- Cut a 3 inch strip of red knit or any stretchy red fabric (I used an old red t-shirt). 

And there you have it! 

If you make a costume, I would LOVE to see it!  Please take a moment to upload photos on my Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/betweenthetoys/

Please give credit where credit is due.

Birthday outfits

My little Lady A likes when I make her a special 'birthday outfit'.  Because of her love of the Sienna Dress, I whipped up a quick 4-year old version...she would live in these dresses if she had enough!

She requested a pocket....this 4 year old likes to go 'treasure hunting' at school and brings home the most interesting 'treasures'!

This is last year's 3-year old birthday outfit...she had fun with this one because I let her choose the location of the iron-on crystals.

Sad Mermaiden

Ummmmm....think this is Miss A's way of telling me she's not going to do what I expect her to do?  I assure you she was quite happy when she drew the sad face on her mermaiden.  Hmmmm.

Snake softie

With all those Mermaidens I figured I'd better have a little something for the three little brothers coming to my house for Miss A's fancy birthday lunch.  Did you know that if you search for 'boy softies' the ony real softie tutorials you get are for (1) a dinosaur and (2) a snake?  That's just pathetic.  Looks like Mama needs to work on a few ideas there.

Since I had less than 24 hours, I did try out the snake idea.  I basically followed what the tutorial suggested.  The thing I love about this is that I could sew up all three at the same time....my quilters out there know what I'm talking about. 

It took a lot more time to stuff them than to actually sew them.

This project would be a really great stash buster if you made big snakes....

Mermaiden Softie (times 6)

Well, if you've learned anything about me so far, it should be that I simply can't make just one of anything.

Little Lady A just turned 4 years old, and she and 5 of her friends are celebrating at my house with a 'fancy lunch' tomorrow.  Each little lady will get a Mermaiden and can decorate her face however she likes.

The Mermaiden just seemed like a good idea.  After all, we are getting an Ariel cake!

I followed the instructions pretty well - except I didn't hand sew anything.  With 6 Mermaidens to make, I did it ALL by machine.  And they turned out just fine in my opinion.

I used the pattern I found in my Wee Wonderfuls book, but I also recently discovered that the pattern for the Mermaiden is on the web for free.

Jolly Holiday Mary Poppins costume

Now, you know Miss A needed a Jolly Holiday costume to match Mama's!

After making the adult size costume, I learned a few things.  So with this one, I used only the shirt part of Simplicity pattern 9497.

The skirt is a separate piece, and I used Dana's circle skirt tutorial from over at MADE. 

The belt is red silk on top, and white muslin underneath, held together at the back with velcro.  Doesn't get any simpler than that! 

Sew a few red bows, and voila! 

Turns out I was making this dress at the same time I saw Jess' post over at Craftiness is Not Optional, on her daughter's Mary Poppins dress and I loved how she just used a bow at the neckline.  Thanks for the idea, Jess!

The brilliant thing is that I had every piece of this in my stash - so it was a free costume!  Now let's hope she wears it...

Adult Mary Poppins Costume

Considering the fact that there is no real 'Mary Poppins' pattern, and that this is my very first ever adult size outfit I've made....I'd say it turned out really well!  Turns out costumes are really fun to make!

Please pardon my pictures...but you get the idea!

How To:
I used a pattern for this dress - Simplicity 3723.  I made the dress twice; once in plain white muslin, and once with the lacy top material.  I stitched the dresses together at the shoulder, the zipper in back, and the waistline.

Looking back on it, I wish I had used the pattern for the shirt only, and made a simple circle skirt for the bottom for a more 'Mary Poppins' authentic look.  The skirt in this pattern is too full at the waist.

I added a row of ribbon at the neckline and each wrist, and red bows around the bottom of the skirt.

The red belt is just red satin on one side, white muslin on the other - velcro'd together over top of the dress!
The hat was completely free-form.  I wish I had better instructions for you, but really I just fudged it.

I learned a lot, but in the end I'm really happy with the outcome of my first costume.  You can bet I'm wearing this baby ALL day on Halloween!  Mama worked hard!

Aaaaand we're back!

We're back from the big wedding and attempting to recouperate!!!  I have so many fun things to share....like my Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday costume (with matching one for Little A)!!!  I'll do that soon - I'd like to share it and give you a bit of direction on making one of your own.  I think it took longer to figure out how to make it than it actually did to make it.

In the meantime....a little zipper pencil holder. 
Nothing fancy, no big embellishments....I had an hour, and a birthday party, and there you have it.  Nothing a few Party City stuffers can't enhance!