Ninja Turtle Costume

This year we experienced Halloween in Ohio. Now I've lived in Ohio and in Wyoming so I know what it means when you need a warm costume. Living in Texas for so many years I avoided costumes that were made of fleece and fur, but living here you just might need to wear a coat with your costume. I promise he wore shoes trick or treating. The pictures were taken a few weeks before hand because Halloween was wet and chilly!
My son decided he wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle like the rest of the 4 year old boys out there. I looked at the pre-made costumes and couldn't bring myself to buy one. First they were way too thin and second I knew he'd wear it all the time so it needed to be able to take the abuse.
I purchased the green hoodie and pants which he literally wears all the time now. He already had the mask and sword. Then I sewed the turtle shell, the front, the belt and the knee and elbow pads.
I really should have taken step by step pictures, but I pretty much winged the entire costume. I used felt fabric and batting to give the front some thickness.
For the shell I stuffed it with polyfil to give it the shell shape. I did sandwich some batting for the shell too so I could sew the turtle shell pattern.
To connect the two pieces I used straps with velcro and the belt does a good job of keeping it together on the sides.
He loved it and really that's all that matters, right?

Sleeping Beauty Costume

I've been meaning to post this forever!  I made my daughter a Sleeping Beauty costume for Disney World.  She hates itchy fabric and most of the princess dresses have some sort of tulle or scratchy fabric.  She loves the dresses, but won't wear them more than an hour.  I had scheduled her to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and then we were going to go eat dinner with Cinderella afterwards.  I wanted her to be comfortable.
I found a fantastic pattern via pinterest. Crafterhours made a cute little sleeping beauty dress with the pattern by indietutes.  I did make my dress separate pieces.  It's a shirt, skirt and belt.  Here she is at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique all dolled up.

Sleeping Beauty worn out from her long night of beauty and dinner with Cinderella.  

Prince Charming

We made our first trip to Disney World this last week and I made this cute prince charming shirt for my little guy.  We were having dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters and the Fairy Godmother.  Prince Charming really liked his shirt and came to talk to us for a little while.  Then Cinderella came over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  It was adorable.

For this project I used a white t-shirt.  I wanted it to be comfortable for him.  I added navy knit on the shoulders and trimmed it out with gold fringe.  I sewed gold buttons down the front and then sewed grosgrain ribbon on for the belt.

Firestar Costume

This year for Halloween my daughter requested to be Firestar.  Her brother is going to be Spiderman.  I love that they like to dress up as a pair. As you remember last year they were Jessie and Woody from Toy Story.

This was definitely going to be a handmade costume since this cartoon aired back in the 1980's.  My daughter is discovering many new to her cartoons thanks to Netflix.  

To make this costume I used a white unitard and dyed it yellow. As you can find in my previous post. To make the flames I used a knit jersey material in red and orange colors.  It needed to be a stretchy material for it to work with the stretchy unitard. I was able to use the sewing machine to piece the orange and red material together, but the flames had to be hand sewn to attach it to the unitard.  At that time I added some sequins to the flames.  For the most part the costume is complete.  All that is left is the mask.  That will be my next post. 

Fabric Dyeing

I have never dyed anything. I found it a little intimidating, but once I did it I can't figure out why I thought it would be so difficult.  I did have to use an acid dye since the fabric I was dyeing was 100% nylon. I found the dye online at Dharma Trading Co.

I dyed it on the stove top in a big stainless steel pot.  I didn't want to try it in my washing machine since I have a front loader and I wasn't sure how to go about adding it into the washer.  Once I put the fabric into the dye it just soaked it up.  Wow!  It turned out exactly the color I needed for an upcoming Halloween costume.  After it sat on the stove in the pot for 30 minutes I rinsed it several times and hung it up to dry. It turned out perfectly.

Angel Costumes

Last week, I ended up taking on the task of making 23 angel costumes that needed to be completed for the Christmas pageant this Friday.  Oh my goodness, If I don't have to make another angel costume again I'll be happy.  They were very easy to make, but when you keep making the same thing over and over again it becomes tedious.
Here's a picture of my two angels in the costume.

Halloween Aftermath

Well, I think we have all come off of our sugar highs in this house.  I've had to hide the candy from the kids otherwise they will devour it all in one sitting.  Although, I really need someone to hide it from me too.
I wanted to show you pictures of the kids in their costumes.  I was lucky that my daughter wanted to be Jessie since I made that costume earlier in the year for the Rodeo.  You can find the tutorial for her chaps here.  Thankfully, it all still fit her.  This just left my son's Woody costume to make.  I made the shirt and vest for the Woody costume.  The pattern I used for the shirt was Kwik Sew 3146, view C.  It turned out really cute and I used the pearl snaps on it to make it look a little more western.

The vest was pretty simple and you really don't need a pattern, but I had one on hand for a costume that included a vest so I used it. 

Here they are in their costumes from Toy Story. 

Yeehaw!

It's a bird, it's a plane...

It's Super Kid!  I've been wanting to make a superhero cape and there was a birthday coming up, so I made one for a little boy celebrating his 2nd birthday.  I found a fantastic superhero tutorial over at The Long Thread that I used. Definitely head over there and check it out if you want to make a cape.  I think I'm going to have to make another one for my little guy. It's just too cute!

My daughter decided maybe she should give the superhero cape a try.

Out of this world

 I made my son's costume for Halloween and wanted to show it to you all.  I found a pattern to make a cute little alien.  I made most of it out of knit so it is very comfortable.  It was so comfy that he fell asleep when we took his sister trick or treating.  

I love the detachable UFO around his tummy.

Strawberry Shortcake and my little alien

Strawberry Shortcake

Here is the costume I submitted for the SYTYC challenge this past week.  My daughter wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake this year for Halloween.  Actually she wanted to be Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake, but there was no way I was going to be able to combine those two into a costume. I went for the "old school" Strawberry Shortcake versus the newly designed one.  I guess I just prefer her better since she's the one I recognize from my childhood.  The outfit includes hat, dress, pinafore, bloomers, painted green striped tights and trick or treat bag.

For the hat, I painted the strawberries on the fabric, added a stuffed strawberry to the top and finished it off with a bow. My neighbor did a terrific job modeling the hat for me.

Of course the costume wouldn't be complete without a strawberry trick or treat bag. This was my favorite part of the outfit and she could use it for a purse after Halloween is over.