Sunday, June 15, 2014

Disney stuff

My last few projects have had something in common: Disney characters. Two of my nephews requested costumes based on some of their favorite movies, "Frozen" and "Toy Story." 

First up, "Frozen" and the "Kristoff dress."
My nephew Parker turned three a couple of months ago. While we were Facetiming he asked if I could make a "Kristoff dress" for him. I had no idea what he was talking about so I asked my sister, Hilary, to translate. She explained that he wanted a Kristoff costume because his sister had one of Anna or Elsa (I still haven't seen the movie.) Anyway, I told him I could and I arranged for Hil to take Parker's measurements. 

I looked at several images and took a guess on the colors. It is CRAZY how different the character looks throughout the pictures online. I drafted the patterns, bought my supplies and started sewing. 
I had been debating over adding fur because I couldn't find what I needed on the trim section. I finally bought some faux fur and cut it apart into trim. Our front room and craft room looked like I had killed a stuffed animal. I think the mess was worth the final product:
The costume was comprised of five pieces: undershirt, tunic, pants, belt and boots. Nope, six pieces, there was a hat as well. 
Here is Parker in his costume! I think his smile says it all. 

My other Disney project started out as two full costumes for my nephew's trip to Disneyland. My sister-in-law, Candice, asked if I could make a Buzz Lightyear and a Woody the cowboy costume for her son. I agreed and started sketching. As I was sketching I realized that their trip was going to be the first week of June and it gets HOT in California. We discussed it and she suggested making casual shirts instead. She saw a picture on Pinterest of some "Princess play clothes" and suggested something similar. It was a genius idea and I had a lot of fun with the new approach. 

I made the Woody shirt and vest first. I drafted the pattern off of my nephew's measurements and bought the fabric. It was later that I realized that Woody's shirt has a grid pattern on it. I had plain yellow cotton. What was I going to do? I saw a tutorial on Delia Creates using Sharpie's new fabric markers. Bingo. I bought a pack at Staples and added the grid pattern to the yellow fabric. (Funny story: As I was looking for the markers I was trying to wrangle Mina. When I found the markers I said, "Awesome!" because I was so relieved. Right after that I heard Mina mimic me with a little, "Awesome!" of her own. She sounded like Cecily Strong from SNL.)
I used the red Sharpie on the shirt and the black Sharpie on the vest. I purchased the neck tie because it was 99 cents at Hobby Lobby. 
I was pretty happy with the results. Plus, it was a really inexpensive project!

The Buzz Lightyear shirt was a little more challenging. I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a padded shirt over a tee shirt or appliqué a tee shirt. In the end I appliquéd a tee shirt because a padded shirt seemed like a heat stroke waiting to happen. I used pieces of felt and fleece to make the design on the shirt. I left the sides undecorated so there was still some "stretch" in the shirt. 
And the back:

Next up, Magnus' nursery decor and his blessing outfit. We are still deciding if he is going to be blessed in July or August. We need to make that decision and I need to get sewing!