Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Handmade: 3 out of 4

Handmade Halloween costumes are fun and I'm glad that I can use my sewing skills to make costumes for my kids. The kids usually have an idea of the costume they want to wear but sometimes I have to guide them into a different choice simply so that I can make a costume that is quick and easy to construct.
 Spider Princess and Cupcake
In September I came across this cute cupcake costume and Julia was sold. One down, three to sew. Maria wanted to be a vampire but after going through the costume ideas on Martha Stewart's website she agreed a spider princess would be just as good. Two down, two to sew. Then JP found a dinosaur costume at a children's clothes sale and so we went with that. Phew! Three down, one to sew. A friend shared this cute onesie and I knew immediately that Miles would be a "gnomie". Four costumes figured out. Yay! This would be a fun Halloween costume year but not as fun as the year I made Word Girl and Captain Huggy Face costumes.
Baby Gnome

A note on construction:
•The cupcake was pretty simple to make especially because it is made out of felt. The instructions from the link above were vague but when I was unsure of what to do I had to remind myself that it was just a costume.  Making the "cup" was time-consuming and I ended up using a hot glue gun because it was difficult to fit so much fabric into the sewing machine.

•The spider princess instructions suggest using crepe paper but if I'm going to sew a costume I'm going to use fabric! If you look closely, you'll see we found some cool spider web fabric. I altered the skirt construction by making it a bubble skirt to resemble the body of a spider. I sewed a doily into the neckline to resemble a spider web. The spider web cape was made of yarn but that did not hold up well so, in my spare time, Ha!, I will make a white cape with a black spider web over it to replace the yarn web.

•The gnome costume was super fast and easy to make. It cost $4.75--$4 jacket from Target and 3 sheets of felt at 25¢ each. The cone hat was made using two felt sheets sewn together and the beard was cut out of one sheet. I sewed elastic to the top end of the beard to stretch it over Miles' head. A good costume for a baby and in a couple of months he can be a Christmas elf.

1 comment:

  1. Oh, Claudia, these turned out SO cute! I think Maria's is my favorite, but it's hard to say, because that pumpkin is fantastic!

    By the way, is your sewing machine working again or are you still using the antique one?

    (Miles is looking so very, very adorable these days! We need to get together SOON!)

    xoxox

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