Halloween Pirate

It's good to be a pirate for Halloween...

The hat was from Oriental Trading, and the sword is a Jake and the Neverland Pirates accessory.

His t-shirt was originally an adult size t-shirt that I cut zig-zag around the bottom.  And, bonus...when you cut it too short you can sew on an additional layer to lengthen it.  Also...if you sew up the sides on the OUTSIDE of the garment, well, you just use pinking sheers to cut off the excess and call it good.  Right?  Or maybe you should give up on sewing for the day...

The pants were old pants of his that were too short anyhow...cut a little zig-zag at the bottom of those as well.

The eye patch was actually from a tutorial over at MADE, here.

For the 'skull and crossbones' on his belt and eye patch, I simply printed off a picture onto iron-on transfer paper.  My little guy loves skulls and crossbones right now!

Tinkerbell Dress

I've finally managed to remember to post pictures of Little A's Tinkerbell Dress!  The pattern is Simplicity 2872.

The wings are removable (Velcro, gotta love it):

The silky fabrics were shockingly easy to work with.  The belt is removable, and it also comes with little shorts to wear under the dress.

The wings use crinoline as their 'stiffiner'.  Between that and the chenille stems sewn into the wings, the wings are supposed to stand on their own.  They really don't.  They're still pretty floppy.  I'll try something different if I end up making this pattern again.  But that's really my only complaint.

Our Tinkerbell Dress worked great as a little bridesmaid's dress, Halloween costume, and now a great play dress!  I see many more fairy dresses in my future!

Izzy (Jake and the Neverland Pirates) Costume

Little Lady A had 'pirate day' at school this week, and you know as soon as I told her that she knew what pirate she would be.  Izzy, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates of course!

Thankfully we already had the purple pants.  We got a pink shirt at Target and sewed on a few ruffles at the bottom, found brown boots at Target on clearance ($6!) and I cut out some pink ribknit for a bandana.  I do believe, however, the pixie dust was her favorite.  An 8-inch square of yellow fabric, a little ball of stuffing inside, tied with a brown string.  Miss A was in heaven!

Not bad for about $10 and 30 minutes of crafting.

Tinkerbell Dress

Is it bad that I had to order another set of 10 doll hangers to hang all the stuff I'm making for Baby A?  My daughter really doesn't like to wear dress up clothes, so maybe I'm channeling my dress up wishes elsewhere.  At least she does like to dress up her doll.

I have gotten more mileage out of my 99 cent Simplicity 5705 pattern, between the Princess and the Pea dress, the Ariel dress (which I apparently haven't shown you yet), and now, Tinkerbell!

I'd say Baby A looks pretty satisfied, wouldn't you?  I used leftover fabric from making Miss A's Tinkerbell dress, which I promise to show you soon.  The dress' wings detatch, and there are a little pair of matching undies that go under the dress.

Since the doll has been wearing her Tinkerbell costume (wings and all) for three days straight...night and day...I'd say it's a hit!

A bag for Miss Mady

I love kids' birthdays.  So much fun to sew something special!  This little birthday girl loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so I sewed her up a bag.  Hopefully I'll have time to make something to put IN the bag, but that completely depends on what else I get done this week.  Christmas is coming!

I really do love applique.

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...

Pattern Sales

Let's just stop for a moment and admire that which is...the JoAnn Fabrics pattern sales.  Simplicity patterns for $1 each?  Yes please!

Costume patterns, dress patterns....I basically go through the bins and find stuff that looks like fun.  Thanks to these sales I now can outfit my little girl in any and all Disney dresses.  Unfortunately she hasn't yet taken to playing dress-up.  I'm hoping that changes....