I'm kind of embarrassed

I'm way behind on blogging about projects.
Here we go...
My Mom's Lucy Wilde costume.  I still haven't seen Despicable Me 2 so I watched the trailer a couple of times and I looked at pictures from the movie. Here is my sketch of the coat and the approximation of the pattern pieces.

 My Mom was hesitant to spray her hair orange so I styled a wig.  I really could have used my friend Molly's expertise with that part!

 Mina the Ewok.  I was pretty happy with the results.  I made little boots but they kept falling off and one got lost. So, pink tennis shoes were her footwear for Halloween.

 I threw my costume together.  The pants were made from stretch denim with ribbon trim on the sides.  I was going to include a side zipper but opted to make them like stretch pants. I figured that my poncho would cover up the waist so I didn't even bother with a waist band.  I was also kind of nervous about how the pants would fit due to pregnancy bloat.  They seemed to work out fine and the poncho covered EVERYTHING!

This next project took a really long time.  It wasn't any more difficult that anything I made before it was just that I felt so rotten.  I had some problems with the lining and the iron. I remedied both by using a larger pressing cloth.  I wound up cutting THREE SLEEVE LININGS for one arm because I melted two of them. In the process I of melting the first one I burned my hand. My patience went out the window during my first trimester.

In the original sketch the sleeves as well as the pockets and yoke were going to be cut from the striped sweater.  I didn't have enough so I used the gray for the hood, sleeves and body of the coat. I painted the toggles black with acrylic paint and added black buttons to the sleeves for decoration. 

Last up, Mina's coat for this winter.  She can still fit in her coat from last year but it's kind of short.  Okay, really short. I took her measurements and started patterning.  I hoped that her wiggles didn't mess up the measurements too much.  

I was inspired to use a double collar after I saw this adorable picture on the Hucklebones website.

The shirt isn't available now but I loved the look of the collar.  I think I'll revisit it for a dress or a cute top.  

 Mina's coat was once a cashmere sweater that I bought for $5 at DownEast in Logan.  I was a poor grad student and I couldn't believe my luck! The sweater bit the dust in the washer so I washed it a few more times and then dried it in the dryer.  I shrunk up nicely and now Mina has a cute new coat.

 It's closer to purple rather than bright magenta.  I'm still working on my photography skills.

Pending projects

Once upon a time I used to be fairly good at keeping up my blog. Apparently it's a whole lot easier to do projects AND blog with a baby. Now that Mina is a toddler it's a whole different story. 

It's Halloween time so here are some progress shots of Mina's costume, Wicket the Ewok. I'm hopefully dressing up as Princess Leia and my Mom is dressing up as Lucy Wilde from Despicable Me 2.

First Ewok fitting. 

Second fitting, plus cowl addition. 

Mina in my Mom's Lucy wig. It's at times like these that I really miss the costume shop. I could really use a head form. And my old friends. 

Projects!!!

I've been pretty busy lately. I should blog more often. 

I made a baby shower present for my friend Courtney's baby boy-to-be. 

Shrunken sweater vest coat and wrap shoes. 

I lined it with an old tee shirt. I love stripes!

The next project I finished was an under the bust corset. 

Pattern and detail of finished front:

Next I made a costume for my brother for Comic Con. 

Henchman 21 from Venture Brothers. 

I altered a hooded shirt and pajama pants to make the bodysuit. Then I made the gloves, boot covers and "romper" out of gold cotton fabric. The wings, goggles and belt buckle were made from foam core that I painted after. 

We used red sunglasses as a base and added the foam core over the top. 

Jordan gave me an old pair of boots to build upon. I used Velcro to close the inside edge and I hot glued the fabric tops to the boots. Classy. 

James helped me test out the harness for the wings. He's such a sport. 

Ta-Da!!!

I'm pretty happy with the final results. Jordan said he took a lot of pictures with people during the two days he attended in costume. He appreciated that the pouch on his belt was functional so he could carry his phone and wallet. I also added Velcro to the belt buckle so he could remove it when he was sitting. 

Last up, a tree. 

It will hang on a blackboard and magnetized apples will hang on it. The apples will have songs on the backside. 

I'm tired. 

Tiny Threads

There has been another wave of babies lately! Three of my friends from the USU costume shop are either pregnant or have a cuddly newborn. A couple of weeks ago there were two baby showers, one for a girl and one for a boy. For the girl shower I made a dress, diaper cover and a little pair of wrap shoes. 

Here is a closer look at the shoes:

I made the pattern for Mina last fall. I wanted a pair of shoes that she couldn't pull off or lose. The soles are made from felted wool so they probably feel like slippers. The second pair, for the baby boy, were made out of lightweight blue striped canvas. I wish I would have taken a picture because they were really cute!

Pink

Sometimes I still get to make fun costumes in a really short amount of time.  I recently made a Glinda the Good Witch dress for a Girl's Camp skit. It was a really fun, quick project.  It was the first thing I completed in my new craft room!

The name of the game was cheap with this project so I used fabric from Walmart and stick on gem stones. Now that I have made a quick Glinda dress I kind of want to make a fancy version with lots of sparkly stuff.

 The bodice with the rhinestone stickers.

I made the crown out of three sheets of glitter foam.  I added shadows with black acrylic paint to give the crown more dimension.

Recent projects

One of the fun things about freelancing is the variety of projects I get to complete.  This past week I finished a wedding dress, a Clara Barton costume and a romper. It sounds really random but that is how things go!

The wedding dress was for one of my childhood friends. She found a cute dress on-line but knew that she wanted a higher neckline and sleeves.

So, she bought two!  I draped a new bodice and used the fabric from the spare dress to construct it!  It was a little time consuming but all in all it was a really fun project!

The Clara Barton costume was for my cousin's school project.  I couldn't find any pictures of Clara Barton dressed as a Civil War nurse but I did find this doll:

Emily (my aunt) found a large long sleeved shirtdress at the DI which I used as the base for the dress.  Grace came up for a "fitting" so I knew how small to make a the dress.  It was pretty funny to see her wearing a dress covered in safety pins. After that I cut the dress apart and put it back together again. 

Emily bought a cheap white sheet that I used for the apron, collar and petticoat.

 I'm pretty happy with the end result, even though she does look a little bit like a maid.  It's an elementary school project, not a play!

 I made another romper for Mina out of the extra dress fabric from the last post. I over estimated the fabric from the baby dress, I really need to work on my estimating skills.

I used the pattern from her orange romper but I altered it so the arm holes are smaller, the body is longer and the waist band is a little higher. 

The only thing I would change is the width of the crotch, her diaper shows between her legs.  It's pretty nit-picky because you only really see it if you change her diaper.  Other than that, I'm really happy with the end result.

Gifts

I made a tiny baby dress and diaper cover for a baby shower.  I wish I had taken a better picture because it is hard to see the details on the dress.  The print is so cute but it obscures the details, like, the collar.

My current project is remaking the bodice of this dress to include 3/4 sleeves and a higher neckline.  It has been fun!

My cousin made some headbands for Mina.  They fit PERFECTLY!

Romper Room

Was it a TV show? Anyway, I plan on making a bunch of rompers for Mina this summer. Maybe enough to have a whole room full of cute rompers. I finally got around to making one this past week. It wasn't a total fail but it wasn't as successful as I had hoped. I guess that is what I get for finishing an outfit without actually fitting it on Mina. Lesson learned.

Pattern pieces, ready for fabric...

The finished romper!

A few views of Mina in her romper.

I was hoping that it wouldn't fit so well, at this rate she'll be able to wear it now and not later.  I used a 9 month onesie as a reference but I didn't take into account the lack of stretch in the orange material.  Despite the flaws I'm actually pretty happy with the result.  However, I did notice a few things: the arm holes are too generous, the leg holes are a little tight and the cute waist casing really limits the romper.  Since I took these pictures I took in the armscyes (it was a little bit of a pain because I was sort of meticulous with the finishing work on the inside.) I also added an inch and a half of elastic to both leg openings and removed the waist casing.  The romper turned into a bubble romper, hopefully these changes will make it possible for Mina to actually wear it as an outfit.  I dressed her in it on Saturday with a cardigan and a pair of BabyLegs.  It was cute but you couldn't really see the romper.

Mina's Easter Dress

I made Mina's Easter dress from leftover fabric from a show I did last summer, The Marvelous Wonderettes.  The main body of the dress was from the maternity dress from Act II and the trim was from a jacket.  (The leftover pieces weren't big enough for an adult sized costume so the producer said I could keep them. Thanks Steph!) Anyway.  I knew I wanted to make something for Mina out of the blue floral print because it was so cute. That lead to the bonnet, which led to the diaper cover, which led to the dress.  I just love making clothes for Mina!


Mina's Easter Basket

I didn't take any pictures of Mina in her Easter dress before church so we took a few that afternoon.  I was pleasantly surprised that despite taking a couple of naps in her dress it wasn't a wrinkled mess.

Happy Easter!!!!