October and November 2012 Sewing

I’m posting a couple of posts to catch up on the sewing I did in the last few months of 2012.

1) Dragon costume
When we were at the fabric store in August or September, the little guy spotted a pattern for a dragon costume and insisted that was the costume he wanted for Halloween.  I thought maybe he’d forget about it, but he kept reminding me, and then when October came around, he told me I had to have his dragon costume completed by October 31.  Looking at the picture on the front of the pattern was kind of daunting, so I suggested that we simplify it by leaving out the wings or some other elements.  He said, No, the dragon had to have wings. So, I got the fabric and went to work.

It had everything: wings, spiky spine, big tail, big ears...

This was probably the most labor intensive thing I’ve sewn.  I kid you not, just tracing the pattern pieces took me days.  DAYS!  For a couple of weeks there, my kitchen looked like a sewing factory, with pieces of red and orange fleece laid out, because I was trying to keep it all organized.  But I was really happy with the way it turned out.  And, more importantly, the little guy loved his costume.

There's something about the dragon costume that brought the silly character out of the little guy.  Here he is striking a pose on Halloween:

After the dust (or the lint) settled, I realized I’d forgotten to put the fusible fleece into the tail piece, but it didn’t change the way the costume looked, so no-way no-how was I going to take out the seams and redo it.  So maybe the tail won’t hold up as well, but it held up all the times he wore it.  He wore it to his school Halloween carnival, to the Halloween party at my brother’s work, to his school’s costume parade, and to trick-or-treating.  Four times.  (Did I mention that birthing this dragon took longer than birthing my human children?)  At least it got worn more than once.  ;)  I know it’s not too much longer that he’ll be asking for some store-bought super hero costume, so I was happy to make this costume this year.

2) Halloween skirt and leggings
I also made the baby girl a little outfit to wear to the pumpkin patch.

I made the skirt from this fluffly chiffon skirt tutorial from Make It and Love It.  I didn’t have chiffon, so I used tulle, but it still turned out cute.  The tulle was really cheap, and I used one of my old nursing tank tops for the skirt.  I just cut off the top (the part with the straps) and added elastic for the waistband.  Aren’t I so clever?  ;) 

I also used an old nursing tank for the leggings.  (Yes, I had a lot of nursing tanks.  When they were newborns, I pretty much lived in nursing tanks.)  I drew the pumpkins and cut them out from some knit I had in my scrap pile.  I don't have a close-up of the pumpkins, but trust me, they are cute.

3) Dorothy costume

I had just enough time before Halloween to make this Dorothy dress for the baby girl.  I got this pattern last year, but didn’t get a chance to make it.  This year, I had the glittery red shoes, so I *had* to make the Dorothy dress before she grew out of the shoes.  I made it in a size 3T, so maybe she can wear it again next year.

 
4) Knot apron dress

In November, we went to a birthday party for a little friend who was turning one.  I made this knot apron dress for the birthday girl.  After I bought these fabrics, I kept second guessing myself.  So, most of the sewing time was spent looking through my fabric stash and deciding whether I wanted to use something different.  In the end, I used the fabrics I’d originally bought.  And I think it turned out really cute.  So, lesson learned: go with my instincts.

I used this pattern from Little Lizard King.  Most of the pattern pieces were rectangles, so very easy to cut and sew.  And, yet, really versatile.  I have a friend whose daughter has a bunch of these dresses and wears them year round.

I added a little bit of lace to the apron to give it a little omphf.

 
5) Super hero costumes
 

We had another birthday party to go to in December.  It was a super hero themed party, so I made these costumes for the kids.  Unfortunately, they got sick and couldn’t go to the party.  (Think waking up in the middle of the night and vomiting.  It wasn’t pretty.)  But we did wear the costumes later in December for a park play date with friends.  And maybe they can be Halloween costumes for next year.  The following pictures are from the park play date.  I made masks from craft foam for all the kids who attended the play date (because I'm totally crafty and awesome like that, ha!).

The hubs has this thing about the kids wearing anything around their necks, so I found this pattern on etsy that has the cape attached to the “shirt”.  It was perfect!  It was easy and pretty quick to make.  Doing the applique part was probably the most time-consuming.  The pattern is meant to be reversible; you can make a Batman costume on the other side, but I just made the Superman side.

 
How many of you ladies out there loved Wonder Woman as a girl?  I’ve been wanting to make a Wonder Woman costume for the baby girl for a while, and I’m glad I finally had a reason to.  :)  I used this explanation from the Lil Blue Boo blog to make this little dress.  I think it turned out totally cute.  I haven’t made the accessories yet, but maybe the next time she wears it, I’ll get around to that.

 
I got all these fabrics during a Black Friday sale at a local fabric store, so they were 50% off.  Otherwise, spandex and metallic knit can be pretty expensive.  Who knew.