Star Wars Costumes

On Monday we are going to Star Wars Identities at Telus World of Science! It's been booked for like a year.     Figure we'll use the costumes for Halloween too.  We had this plan we could all go in epic costumes... Well, epic turned into scurry -  here's the handmade/upcycled part.

Abigail as Princess Leia:



Dress
Pattern: L&B's Sweet Little Dress pattern. I just extended the sleeves straight down, then when the dress was assembled I cut the sleeves on an angle down.
Size: 12 months
Fabric: Cotton velour

Belt
I just used two rows of duct tape backed with another two rows, cut the shape out, and added cardboard cutouts with more duct tape. Then I took a piece of 1/2" elastic and "cased" it on each end inside two more layers of duct tape, and attached velcro. Should fit a nice long time (if it lasts!).





"Wig"

Made a headband out of brown FOE. Braided some dark brown yarn and coiled and sewed it onto felt circles, then attached to either side of the headband.



Benjamin is going as Yoda. He was set on this ever since we watched Star Wars.
Crappy photo (before I adjusted the clothes)

[photo not avail]


Costume
A friend lent us a Judo robe and an old women's robe, which she dyed brown. They were huge on Benny, so I hemmed the sleeves and length of the brown robe, and brought the shoulders up a bit (makes a pleat from the top) and hemmed the sleeves of the white robe.

Yoda Hat
I knitted this hat a week or so ago, and have since then been working on felting it to the right size. It was too huge to start, I think... I ended up sewing some FOE inside the brim to pull it in. I also handstitched wire around the ears and through the top of the hat - it looked more puppy than Yoda. The handstitching took forever!! I should really own a thimble.



The rest of us have store bought costumes. Crappy quality, I might add. And $$$    Oh well - I'll post a photo of all of us together on Monday!

Feliz Sew-along - Assembling! (part 3)

(Part 1 here and Part 2 here)

Now we have an overdress and an underdress and two straps. Here's how to put it all together:

1. Assembling the dress

• Step 1 Pin the straps in place with raw edges aligned (baste, if preferred). Then turn the underdress inside out and place the overdress around the underdress, right side of overdress facing wrong side of underdress. Match the back corners of the overdress side piece with the back corner of the underdress that we left extended. Sew.


• Step 2 Trim the back corner and clip the curves, then turn.

 

2. Press and topstitch all around the top of the dress, being sure seam allowances are tucked in at the back corners.



 

3. Sash Casing

• Step 1 Pin the sash casing with the sash sandwiched between the overdress and the underdress. It just turned out that the back elastic casing exactly matched up with the stitching lines for the casing (no, actually I planned that... lol)


• Step 2 Sew the sash casing, making sure not to sew through the sash.

 

Your Feliz Party Dress is finished!!





It's quite long on her still, but I just had to try it on her! She's wearing 12-18 months clothes now, so hopefully this will fit in summer.

Feliz Sew-along - Underdress (Part 2)

(Part 1 here.)

OK! Now for the underdress. LOTS of photos ahead. :)

1. Straps (I combined the front and back strap pattern pieces and cut them as one. If you are doing both pieces, the first step is to sew that shoulder seam on each strap.)

• Step 1 Fuse interfacing to two of the shoulder straps


• Step 2 Sew the straps and clip the inner curves


• STep 3 Turn, press and topstitch straps.

 

2. Back panel and elastic casings

• Step 1 Finish the bottom edge of the back facing and attach any size tags.


• Step 2 Sew back facing to back underdress, right sides together, along top only.


• Step 3 Turn, press and topstitch top seam. Mark and sew elastic casings along back. (I marked mine 3/4" wide)


• Step 4 Insert elastic and securely sew on one end (I used 1/2" wide elastic).


• Step 5 Cinch elastic to about 2/3 width, then sew ends securely and trim.

 

3. Back ruffles

• Step 1 Hem the back ruffles. I did a rolled hem with my serger.


• (Step 1b - if you are not using ribbon, fold over the top edge of the ruffle to finish, or make sure to sew it on upside down and flip & topstitch)


• Step 2 Sew seams in bottom ruffle and hem.


• Step 3 Measure and pin ruffles on back. I sewed the bottom ruffle first, so the hem of the bottom ruffle was at 1/4", the seam allowance for the long ruffle all the way around the bottom edge. Then I placed the other two ruffles from that first one.


• Step 4 Baste the ruffle edges in the seam allowance.


• Step 5 Sew ribbon over top edges of all ruffles.

 

4. Underdress assembly

• Step 1 Sew front underdress to sides, finish seams, press toward front, and topstitch.


• Step 2 Sew back underdress to sides, making sure that the side pieces extend above the edge of the underdress back by the width of the seam allowance.


• Step 3 Finish the seams, press toward the sides and topstitch.

 

5. Bottom ruffle

• Step 1 Serge bottom edge of underdress all the way around, then gather and pin the hem ruffle in place evenly. I sewed mine on just overlapping the 1/4 seam allowances, not right sides together, so that there'd be less bulk. (If not using ribbon, sew right sides together, flip down and topstitch.)


• Step 2 Apply ribbon to top of hem ruffle.

 

Your underdress is done! Whew. Tomorrow I'll post the last part, assembling all the dress parts!

(Part 3 here)

Feliz Sew-along - Overdress (Part 1)

I'm doing a sew-along for the Feliz Party Dress from the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love with a group of friends from a forum I'm on. I figured while I was at it, I'd document it in photos. The instructions in the book leave a bit to be desired details-wise. For my first Feliz, I found the Trillium photo sew-along helpful, but there were a few points that were hazy even there that I'm hoping I can make clearer.  SO here goes!

Yesterday I tackled the overdress. The book starts with the sash and button loops, then moves on to the overdress, so I will too. (I'm making the smallest size, 86/92 (18mo-2T))

 

Cutting.  Here are all the pieces cut out. Notes:

• Pattern does NOT include seam allowances! (not used to that...)  I cut mine at 1/4" because I can do a pretty precise 1/4" seam allowance, and then I serge to finish.


• For the ruffles on the back of the dress (never mentioned in the book, but everywhere online!), I decided to do three tiers, and then the bottom ruffle around the whole underdress hem. I cut my ruffles at 2.5" width. The length of each I determined by measuring across the overdress back piece at the levels I will sew the ruffles. I did not include hem allowances for ruffles because I will be doing a serged finish on the bottoms of each, and covering the top of each ruffle with ribbon.


• The first Feliz I made, the back panel of the underdress was pretty heavy, so it hung lower than the front. This one, I shortened the back panel about 1" at the centre, tapering to the edges, so it hangs more evenly with the weight at the back.


• I cut the front and back shoulder strap pieces together, so there's no seam at the top of the shoulder strap.


• As per note in book about dressing ease, you can cut the sash pieces 3-4" shorter, then insert elastic in the ends.

 

1. Piping (optional). I chose to add piping to the front seams of the overdress. I'm using vintage piping that's a really odd size, so I basted it on before sewing those seams.



 

2. Sash (repeat for second sash piece)

• Step 1. Fold the sash lengthwise, right sides together, and sew down the long side and one short end. You can either sew the angle as marked on the pattern piece, or just sew it straight (as I did)


• Step 2. Clip the corners.


• Step 3. Turn the sash right side out and tuck in the point if you sewed it straight across. Press.


• Step 4. Turn in raw edges of sash, insert 2-3" of 1" wide elastic into the opening and secure. Topstitch sash.


• Step 5. Sew the ends of the sash elastic in the seam allowance of the overdress, wrong side. The sashes should be stitched into the seam facing toward the centre of the overdress. (see right)


• Step 6. Topstitch dress on outside, catching the elastic back on itself in the seam allowance.

 

3. Ok - I got ahead of myself there. Sew the overdress.

• Sew overdress side pieces to overdress front piece, right sides together. (I found with getting the piping in straight it was easier to sew these seams, then put the sashes in.)


• Finish seams.


• Press seams away from the overdress front toward the sides, then topstitch on the outside.

 

4. Interfacing for sash casing.

• I don't have very good photos of this - the interfacing for the casing should actually be applied before sewing the overdress seams. (oops!)


• Step 1. Cut fusible interfacing using markings on pattern. I cut with 1/4" extra on each edge.


• Step 2. Apply fusible interfacing to the wrong side of each overdress side piece, where marked on pattern. (Continue to assembling overdress.)

5. Hem and Back Edges

• Step 1. I'm not using the back facings for this one, but if you are, apply them now. I just serged the edge, pressed it over, and topstitched it down.


• Step 2. Serge hem of overdress. I used a needle to draw the serger tails back under the stitching.


• Step 3. Apply hem binding or rickrack (optional). I used a large rickrack. Fold the end under and sew the rickrack onto the right side of the hem so that the serging is just not visible above the dips in the rickrack. I sewed a straight line from one dip to the next, curving the rickrack to follow the hem. At the end of the hem, trim and tuck the end under.


• Step 4. Finish hem. For rickrack, fold the rickrack to the back of the dress, pressing so the points of the rickrack show evenly. Topstitch.

 

8. Finished Overdress!



 

(Part 2 here)

Well... so much for KCWC...

Day 3 I did some knitting, and then Thursday I had some dental work, and somewhere in there picked up a bug of some kind. I was in bed for several days and then several more low-energy days followed. So I didn't get any more sewing done till Wednesday. One of the things I'd cut out for KCWC was this Comfy Sleep Set:

 

Details:

 - Pattern: Fishsticks Designs Comfy Sleep Set

- Size: 12 months with 18 months length (slim 18M)

- Fabric: pajama fleece with cotton velour for trim

 

Now - would you put this on a boy? I made it thinking it could be either boy or girl pjs, but my husband thinks it's definitely girly.

 

Next up:  Another Feliz Party Dress!  I'm hoping to post more progress photos as I go this time.

KCWC Day 1 and 2

I didn't get as much cut out as I'd hoped last week, so not going to get as many things done this time around. I only got about 1/2hr sewing time in yesterday, but I'm calling this first one Day 1:



Details:

- Pattern: free Simply Sweet Frock by Valorie of Simply Together

- Fabric: cotton velour

- Size: about 2T

- Mods/comments: I did not add seam allowances, as I’m using a stretch fabric. I also bound the neck edge and cuffs with fold over elastic. I’m thinking this needs something – a sash? appliqué? The instructions were very vague, as she says, but ok if you understand garment construction. If I make it again, I would cut the sleeve separate from the body, so there are raglan seams on both front and back. I found the back hung a little lower than the front. Also would pull in the FOE a little more on the neck edge.

 

 And Day 2:



Details:

- Pattern: the bodice is the top part of the knitting pattern Milo. I just winged the skirt.

- Fabric: the bodice is knitted from Lionbrand Cotton-Ease. The skirt is quilter’s cotton.

- Size: 9 months

- Mods/comments: I love the Milo pattern! I've knitted the full vest several times, but wanted to see how it would work out as a dress top. I just did a couple rows of garter stitch about an inch past the armholes, then cast off. The skirt was two rectangles, each 20" x 11", sewn together on the short sides, and then gathered to the bodice. I sewed between rows of garter stitch, and the stitching is pretty much invisible. I used Wooly Nylon in the bobbin to allow for some ease. I used a "hemless" finish with a contrasting print.

KCWC Fall 2012!

I'm excited for another Kids Clothes Week Challenge! It starts Monday, October 8 and runs the whole week. I'm hoping I'll get some things cut out this week (what's left of it!) so I can buzz through a whole pile of things next week.

Here's some of my hope-to-sew list:

-tunic or dress for baby gift
-Feliz in blue butterflies/flowers
-Ooga Booga Heidi & Finn hoodie for Abigail
-Heidi & Finn hoodie for Benjamin
-Heidi & Finn hoodie for Ian
-Sophia Holiday dress for Abigail
-matching leggings
-Halloween/Star Wars exhibit costumes
-Leila & Ben Sweet Little Dress x2