Monster Mash

It's my turn today on the Monster Mash blog tour hosted by Sewing by Ti. This blog tour is all about Halloween costumes or mash-ups of patterns, however you want to interpret "Monster Mash."

The only problem? I still haven't sewn our Halloween costumes this year. 

It's been a crazy busy month, which was true for the last two Octobers as well. The last two years I have not sewn our Halloween costumes, but I really thought I would get around to it this year. Early even. Ha, what was I thinking? 

We have had birthdays, school plays, theater class productions, soccer games, an out of town wedding, other family events, even a beloved pet passing away... Not to mention, we love going to the Halloween events at Worlds of Fun, our local theme park. We have gone every weekend in October, sometimes more than once! Kylie has even discovered the fun of haunted houses this year, which are present at Worlds of Fun in October, and it's been a blast taking her. We were worried she wouldn't be old enough to go, but she has really loved them.

So here I am, with Halloween right around the corner and no costumes made. Eve and Kylie, our oldest two, have store bought costumes, but I still need to make costumes for the younger two. Emmett, three years old, wants to be Link from Zelda. Mabel, two years old, is set on being a baby bear. And I have to make them. It's not that those costumes don't exist in the store, it's just that the prices are more than I want to pay. 

Since I don't have costumes from this year to show you yet, I will show instead costumes from 2014, which was the last year I made costumes. I have not blogged about these before, so it works out well. I still hope to make a Link and a baby bear costume for this year, so check back after the weekend to see them!

In the meantime, I bring you... Ariel, Belle, and a sumo wrestler. Just three costumes because Mabel wasn't born yet. 

Kylie went as Ariel.

To make the Ariel costume, I used the Alex & Anna PJ pattern from Peek-a-boo Pattern Shop for the top. I used a nude colored interlock and purple sequined dot fabric, both from Joann. I simply cut out the purple fabric in a sweetheart cropped shape and sewed it unto the front piece of the shirt and finished the shirt as normal.

Tip: When sewing the sequin dot fabric, the glue from the sequins can gum up your needle. To prevent this from happening, place wax paper over the fabric/seam while you sew and tear it away when you are done. If you have small pieces of wax paper stuck in the seam, use tweezers to get it out. It will save you a lot of trouble. 

For the skirt, I used green interlock from Joann and this tutorial from Girl Inspired. Super Easy!

The red wig was from Amazon, I don't have the link of this exact one. I remember it wasn't too expensive. It held up well for Halloween, but after a few months I was tired of cutting red hairs out of the vacuum cleaner and finding them all over the house so I get rid of it. But the wig was perfect for what we needed it for!

The best thing about blogging about these outfits long after the fact, is the chance to look at pictures I haven't seen in a while.

I found this one and it cracked me up. This was Kylie just acting like the Little Mermaid, I'm sure. She's our child who is in theater, in case you can't tell. 

And I found this sequence of pictures. I don't remember this happening, or why I continued to take pictures as Kylie was losing her wig. So funny. 

Next up, Eve was Belle, from Beauty and the Beast.

For Eve's costume, I used this free pattern from Peek-a-boo Pattern Shop. It only comes in one size and it fit Eve well at 5 years old, maybe even a little big, but perfect for a costume. She ended up wearing several layers under this dress as it was frigid on Halloween this year. 

For sizing reference, she is very petite. She has caught up some in the last few years, but as a kindergartner, she was especially small for her age. 

I used cheap satin type fabric, tulle, and a premade flower, all from Joann. I remember this dress going together quickly. I liked how the skirt gathers were sewn with elastic. 

Lastly. little baby Emmett was a sumo wrestler. 

He wore cloth diapers that were solid colored and he had just started toddling around. I thought it would be great if he could wear nothing but one of his red cloth diapers and we could say he was a sumo wrestler and call it a day. But it was too cold for that. 

I used the leftover nude colored interlock from Kylie's costume to sew the Classic Footed Pajamas from Peek-a-Boo pattern shop. Then I cut out a red fleece diaper using one of his cloth diapers as a guide. I used velcro on the tabs to keep the "diaper" on him. 

Unfortunately, it was way too cold for him to trick or treat this year. We took him to a few houses and then I brought him home while Jason took Kylie and Eve trick or treating some more. They had to wear a lot of layers and their winter coats, and even then they came home early. It was not a great year for trick or treating. 

Don't forget to check back in a few days to see if I was able to make Emmett and Mabel their costumes this year! 

Thankfully the other bloggers in this blog tour have knocked it out of the park! Go check out what they have made and forget all about my faux pas.

October 1st: Sewing By Ti Intro
Monday, October 2nd: Sewing Blue
3rd: That's Sew Lily
4th: Hazelnut Handmade
5th: Seams Sew Lo
6th: Sewing By Ti

Monday, October 9th: That's Sew Amy
10th: Stitched By Jennie
11th: Hazelnut Handmade
12th: Seams Sew Lo
Friday the 13th!: Crafty Like a Rox

Sunday, October 15th: Mermaids Den
16th: Very Blissful
17th: Robynne and the Bobbin
18th: Sewing By Ti
19th: Octaves of Color
20th: Tenille's Thread

Tuesday, October 24th: Adventures with Bubba and Bug
25th: My Heart Will Sew On
26th: Ma Moose Handmade *** You are here.
27th: EYMM
28th: Mermaid Mama Designs
29th: The Fairy Dust Bin

Monday, October 30th: Doctora Botones
Happy Halloween, October 31st: Sew Like a Sloth

Sew What Do I Wear - Professional Edition

I'm blogging today as part of the "Sew What Do I Wear - Professional Edition" blog tour hosted by Made for Mermaids and Patterns for Pirates. 

There are affiliate links in the post, indicated by *. Should you purchase a pattern after clicking on the affiliate link, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Now first of all, I am a stay at home mom. I wear what I want without worrying if something is professional enough. Some of the clothes I wear might fall in this category, but not always. I could have easily sewn myself professional wear and it would have gotten some use here and there. But I choose to sew for my youngest sister instead. 

My baby sister is a teacher and yesterday was her birthday. I still needed to get her a gift, she loves when I sew for her, and since this is her first year teaching, she needs more professional clothes. This blog tour was fate!

 

My sister... let's call her Kelly*... loves wearing dresses. I made her the Brunch Blouse dress from Patterns for Pirates*, in a woven polyester from the "silky prints" section of Joann. 

(*Names have not been changed.)

This is the women's version of the dress I recently made for Kylie, which I blogged about here. 

The main differences between the girls and the women's version is that the latter includes bust darts and there is no need for a closure. Of course, if you sew the henley version, you are essentially sewing a closure, but it's not needed. 

I sewed the dolman version, no sleeve cuffs, dress length, no pocket, no henley placket. Basically as basic as it gets! It's a fast sew, but with the curved hem, scoop neck, shaping with bust darts and a shaped seam back, it's a flattering shape. It's definitely an instant gratification sew. With the other options included in the pattern, you could easily add more details for a different look. 

In addition to the dress, I sewed a cardigan for Kelly. We all know that it can get chilly whether your are working in a classroom or an office and a great cardigan that goes with everything is essential. 

I used the Carefree Cardigan by Patterns for Pirates and some oatmeal colored french terry.

The cardigan is slouchy and drapey and just what Kelly wanted!

This rayon blend french terry was a lot thinner than other french terry I have used in the past. It was surprisingly see through, and I couldn't use it for another project I had in mind when I purchased it. Thankfully, that's not as big of a deal with an open front cardigan meant for layering. And the rayon gives it a lot of drape, so it worked well for this project. But I think I will stick to ordering heavier weighted french terry fabrics in the future.

Thankfully, Kelly loves it and will be able to use it with lots of other outfits at work. 

Unlike me, Kelly is great at accessorizing. She also paired the dress with a bright pink scarf for a different look. I would have never thought of that. Probably because I never think about accessories! 

But even without the scarf or the cardigan, this dress works well on it's own. And it's still appropriate for a teacher. Kelly said she wore the dress to work last week and received a lot of compliments. 

For good measure, I asked Kelly to give me her best teacher face and this is the look she gave me:

But I don't think that's really it, she couldn't keep a straight face. 

I hope you enjoyed my take on sewing for professional wear! There is a lot of great inspiration in the blog tour, don't forget to check the Made for Mermaids blog to see the links posted every day this week!