Wednesday, November 2, 2011

A cape, a hat, and a skirt.

I can't seem to do much on time these days, but I thought I'd share our little one's Halloween costume anyways.


The inspiration for this little costume was this hat I found via Pinterest.  I didn't have enough felt on hand to make the hat following the tutorial exactly so I used the pattern pieces (adjusted slightly to fit a smaller head).  I cut out 2 of each pattern piece from an old black skirt and one of each pattern piece from interfacing to make it slightly stiffer.  I ironed the interfacing onto one of the rim pieces and one of the hat pieces then sewed same pieces together with right sides together.  I clipped around the curves of the rim and turned each piece so the right sides were facing out.  Once I got here,  I was able to follow the rest of this tutorial to finish it up.  I love how it turned out.


The cape was made from 1/2 yard each of two contrasting fabrics.  I sewed the two pieces right sides together around three of the sides with 1/2 inch seams leaving one of the long edges completely un-sewn.  Then I clipped the corners and turned it right side out.  With a gathering stitch (longest stitch length, highest tension) I sewed along the long end that was left un-sewn and then gathered the cape to the desired length by pulling the bobbin thread.  It was about 21 inches long for my 17 month old.  I made some thick black bias tape (about 1 yard in length) and pinned the cape inside of the bias tape right in the middle so there were two tails on either side of the cape of the same length.  To finish the cape I sewed the bias tape together along the open end to enclose the cape inside.  


To make the tulle skirt I used 4 yards of tulle (I got it on sale at Joanne's so it only cost me about 4 dollars).  Rather than cut strips and tie around a waist band as I've seen almost everywhere else, I made mine similar to the way I made this three tiered skirt.  To keep it super easy I folded the tulle evenly until it was 1 yard in length and then cut the three tiers out of the folded tulle.  This gave me 3 tiers that were actually 4 pieces of tulle (folded over) each.  Then I sewed my gathering stitch along the top end of each stack of 4 layers to get each tier.  Once I had gathered the 3 sections, I pinned and sewed each section onto the skirt piece really close together.  I wanted the tulle to add volume more than I wanted the tiers to be distinguishable.  It worked exactly as I planned and made a super cute skirt with tons of volume.  I made the whole skirt in about 30 minutes.  


We took most of the pictures in the dark, but htis one is a good shot of the skirt and cape.  I'm excited because each of these pieces make really great dress up's and the'll fit her for quite a while too!


For kicks, here are our last years Halloween Costumes:


I got my inspiration from this little stop light I saw on MADE and went from there.  The two street signs are made of felt.  I free handed the shapes and traced the letters, cut them out and sewed them on. The traffic signal jumper is made of fleece with felt circles sewn on top.  Super easy.  Sorry i'm late in posting....you can always pin it for next year :)