A Harry Potter Halloween III: Characters Most People Don't Remember Edition

 

I'm sure this will come as a major shock, but we chose Harry Potter as our family costume theme again this year (2011's costumes and last year's).  At this point, we're starting to dip into the secondary and probably tertiary characters, so whenever an average person (read: non-obsessed) asked who we were going to be, there was generally a lot of explanation on my part, followed by them smiling and nodding and most likely still having no idea what I was talking about. Ray was Professor Lupin, I was Tonks, E was Luna Lovegood, and O was a "generic Slytherin student."

Inspiration photos

Last week was Kid's Clothes Week, and while I didn't officially sew along and keep up on the blogging this time (I have such a major backlog from summer still to post about!), I did make a couple of the kids' costume elements.  As much as I love crazy costumes, I was happy that this time their things are all re-wearable on a daily basis.

I started with Luna's skirt, the Montmartre from Ottobre Design 4/2010.  It's a pleated woven skirt with a knit fold-over waistband and an elastic casing.  I made the size 98 width/104 length and cut the waistband only half as high to eliminate the fold.  I also cut the waistband off of some RTW knit shorts and serged them on at the same time as the skirt's waistband.  I love how it turned out.

The stars glow in the dark!  I think the "real" Luna would approve

Next up was a Hogwarts sweater for O to go with his button-down, black jeans, and Slytherin tie from Ebay.  I had some charcoal grey sweater knit in my stash and sewed it up using my old standby, the Fishsticks Designs Charlie Tee.  I sized up, as recommended for the hoodie version, and winged a v-neck based loosely on the Mamu Design Sabrina pattern.  I was a little nervous about both the fabric and the v-neck, since I'd never used either before, but it went together really seamlessly (heh).  I serged everything except the neckline and had zero problems.

So much faster than knitting a sweater!

His shirt is untucked underneath, so it looks kind of bunchy, but the fit is great.  I think he'll get a lot of wear out of this.

Then this week I made E's Luna jacket from the Ottobre 1/2010 Variksenmarja coat pattern, size 104.  It's meant to be corduroy with a lining, but I made it unlined out of sweatshirt knit that I ordered online.  IRL it's more of a burgundy than the pink I thought it was going to be and as it appears in most of these photos.  I was a little bummed about that, but it turned out so cute that I'm over it.  I rounded the collar and cut about 4" from the length.  

The sleeves were also just about perfect for her before I hemmed them, so to eek out as much length as possible, I used single-fold bias tape for the hems.

The neckline is finished with the same thrifted vintage bias tape. This technique always makes me inordinately happy.

This might be my favorite project all year.

The lion hat was from a thrifted costume that I cut the hood from and finished with bias tape.  We added tights and legwarmers over her AFOs and her usual footwear, Chuck Taylors, which Luna also wears.

It was super windy last night when we were taking pictures.  E was not a fan of that part.

Lupin's suit and tie were from the Goodwill Outlet (textiles by the pound!!).  There were matching pants too, but they were several sizes too big and I ran out of time to alter them, so Ray just wore some brown pants and a dress shirt he already had, and we added some facial scars with makeup.

I had planned to sew a more Tonksish coat for myself, but of course ran out of time. On the plus side, our costumes were actually ready before we needed them, and I was never sewing into the middle of the night.  My sweater, hoodie, t-shirt, and leggings were a combo of things I already owned and bought knowing I would wear them otherwise.  I also got to dig out my vegan Doc Martens that were a College Sarah wardrobe staple.

I remembered them being a lot more comfortable.  Those suckers are heavy!

 The driving gloves and wig were Ebay purchases.  I wasn't expecting to like the pink hair at all, since I don't do much pink, and pretty much never pastel.  But I really like it!  Too bad I'm both too cheap and too lazy to do it for real and keep it up.

I made the necklace from faux leather and ribbon clasps from Joann's and buttons from St. Vincent de Paul.  I don't know about you, but our St. Vinnie's has a fantastic button selection, and they're so much cheaper than buying them new.  I always try to check there first on the rare occasions that I plan ahead.

E was giving O some serious side-eye by the time we finished with photos.  It cracked me up when I saw this one.

I think she was confused by his spell-casting.  He was very, very into it.

Spring KCW: Samu Fleece Jacket

Kids Clothes Week last week turned into Sick Kid Week on top of an already busy schedule, so I gave myself an extension (handy thing about voluntary challenges) and just finished up my one measly project today.  O's fleece jacket is getting pretty small, so I really wanted to make him a new one.  He looked through my stash and picked the camo.  Shocker.

I used the Samu Sweat Jacket pattern from Ottobre 6/2007 in size 140, which is a size up from his current size.  I usually buy or make the kids' outerwear in a size too big, especially for spring and fall items.  Otherwise it seems like they outgrow things before they've even worn them much.

The primary design feature is that the pockets and top of collar have raw edges.  I'm pretty indifferent to it with fleece, although it sure was simple!  I think it is a more effective look with the recommended sweater/sweatshirt knit.

The inside collar seam is finished with bias tape.  I love that, and I'm sure O will appreciate it too, since he tends to be sensitive about seams and tags near his neck.

 

Overall it went together well.  Some of my topstitching is a bit wonky, but it doesn't show much on fleece.  I also could have done a better job with lining things up across the zipper (the hem band, pockets, collar, topstitching).  Everything is just a little bit off, but no one else is likely to notice that when he's wearing it. But now you all know because I mentioned it.  

He tried it on last night before I had the zipper in and declared it a success.  Now it just needs to warm up again so he can actually wear it! It was pretty springy last week, but got cold again and snowed yesterday.  I'm so over it.

KCW Day 2: Seesaw Jersey Top

Yesterday's project was a top to go with Monday's skirt.  I upcycled an old tee of Ray's into the Seesaw Jersey Top from Ottobre 3/12, design #17.  She usually wears a size 5 top in RTW, so I traced a 104 for the width, but a 122 for the length.  The pattern runs quite short. 

Using existing hems makes me happy.

I don't have any yellow serger thead, but I did find some variegated pastel Wooly Nylon to finish the sleeve edges.  I was hoping the color repeats would be shorter -- I hadn't used it before -- but it adds a nice touch of color.

This may be my new favorite summer style for her.  Shoulder coverage, but more like a tank under the arms, which I think feels so much cooler than a full short sleeve.

Playing with her beloved bee toy

Faux Tie & Linen Shorts

When we started discussing wedding attire, O was adamant than he wanted to wear a long-sleeved button-down with a tie. Since it was going to be an outside wedding on a hot and humid day, I tried to persuade him to wear a polo or a short-sleeved shirt, but he apparently has strong opinions about appropriate clothing for nuptials. 

Initially he wanted a tie from the Star Wars fabric, but there wasn't enough left and he wasn't going for the bow tie idea. We then went fabric shopping together, but nothing caught his eye (there wasn't any more of that comic print at Joann's), so he decided on the scale-esque print he'd chosen for his teacher's gift. He ended up coordinating with the wedding party too! The boy has good taste.

I used this pattern, but changed it so that there was no hand sewing involved. Woo-hoo! (I did take pictures of the process, so if anyone would be interested in a tutorial, let me know.)

Next time I would also have a tube of fabric covering the elastic for a few inches on either side of the "knot." Once he had it on, the elastic showed. Not a huge deal for a seven-year-old, but I'd prefer it to look more like a real tie. He didn't have the top button done up, though, which may have affected the fit, or I may have cut the elastic a bit too long.

I had free reign over the pants decision and decided to make longer shorts out of some linen blend that I had in my stash from the Jedi costume.  Love stash-busting!

Since I already had the Hot Scott pattern traced, I used it again, but with the recommended 5/8" seam allowance.  That helped the fit of the 5T pattern for my 7X boy.  Much better, though still generous.  To make the shorts a bit dressier, I left off the cargo pockets and replaced the back pockets with the flaps from the Linus Shorts in Ottobre 3/08. Then I agonized over the buttons, which was pointless, since his shirt was untucked the whole time.

Post-wedding wrinkles! 

"What, this old thing?"

He received many, many compliments, which he seemed to enjoy immensely.  He did, however, turn down all dance requests from the ladies.  Except Mom.

Rosy Posy Dress & Pantalets

Ray's cousin got married in the end of July, which seems so long ago now. It was crazy hot, so I tried to come up with lightweight clothes for the kids.

For E, I made the Rosy Posy dress from Ottobre 3/11 (size 98 width, 104 length). It's more of a classic little girl look than I usually go for, but I fell in love with the little puffed sleeves.

Imagine my surprise when I sewed them up and they were longer and not the least bit puffed.  Turns out I had accidentally traced the sleeve from the Sunny Sailor dress in the same issue.  Ooops!  I had just barely enough fabric left to trace the correct sleeve piece, although one had to be slightly off grain.

One of my friends made E a dress from this same print for her first birthday!

Once that debacle was taken care of, the rest of the dress was easy. I was very proud of my pattern matching in the back.

Just don't look too closely at how the left side is slightly shorter than the right.

This was my first attempt at thread belt loops. I used this technique and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. It just looked too easy, but it really was.

I also made the Pantalets from Ottobre 2/03 for under E's dress.  I sewed her a pair two summers ago, too, and she wore them a lot. I love how lightweight they are when made from muslin. I managed to screw up tracing this pattern too, and originally made the longer version. I didn't realize my mistake until I had already sewn the trim on. I didn't have any extra -- or time to get more, since I was working at the last minute, as usual -- so I picked out the stitches, cut them shorter, re-hemmed, and re-sewed the trim.  Worth the effort, I think.

This is why the girl needs something under dresses. I'm fairly certain she enjoys showing off her contortionist abilities.

Coming up tomorrow: O's wedding outfit.

A Harry Potter Halloween

For years I've been planning to do a family theme for Halloween, but haven't actually accomplished this since it was just the husband and me as Richie and Margot Tenenbaum a looooooooooong time ago -- until this year! 

O. decided he wanted to be a Death Eater from Harry Potter, so we determined E. would make a great Hedwig, which left the husband to be Harry, and my hair made me an excellent candidate for Ginny Weasley.

The Death Eater costume started with a blank cardboard mask that we spray-painted silver.  O. then added the details with some pewter paint.  I tried very hard to let him do most of it (I may have a bit of a control problem when it comes to crafting...), and just helped with the spots that had too much paint.

The cloak is sewn from twill, based on this tutorial, sized down.  I rounded the hem at the sides so that it would be even, and also rounded the back neck, and left it unlined.  We were pleasantly surprised that the hood would stay up in a point (for a while) in true Death Eater fashion.

He decided on a striped long-sleeved tee underneath, to look like he had escaped from Azkaban.  It's sewn from the Fishsticks Designs Charlie Tee pattern.

Our little Hedwig's costume started with a quick fleece pullover jumper dress, so I went with my old fallback, the Ottobre 4/08 Nasta Pinafore, which has now been the basis of three out of her four Halloween costumes.  This year I added two inches and flared out the hem a bit more than last year's bee costume. 

Her wings are the Martha Stewart Masked Owl, printed at 450%.  Instead of ironing the pleats, I sewed tucks, since I was using cheapo poly felt rather than wool, and she was going to wear it a few times, so I wanted to be sure that they'd keep their shape.

Her hood is from the now OOP Simplicity 9331, which is a hand-me-down from my sister, who made an adorable leopard costume from it that I think all of her kids wore at least once.  I was happy to put it to good use again.  :)  My original plan was to add ears, until I realized that Hedwig, a snowy owl, doesn't have ear tufts.

For her feet, I made another pair of Super Slouchy Boots.  These are just a single layer of fleece, and I added three rows of shirring at the ankle to help them stay on.  For the talons, I sewed some fleece scraps into a cone shape, and then used liberal amounts of hot glue to attach them to the boots and shape them.

I had originally intended to sew robes for the husband and myself too, but not surprisingly, ran out of time.  Most of our costumes came from our closets and thrift stores, with ties from eBay.  I did hem my pleated skirt, which you can't even see in the group photo, but hey, it's a bit of sewing!

 Happy Halloween!

KCWC Days 4 & 5: "Powder Puff" Raglan

Yesterday and today's project was the "Powder Puff" raglan from Ottobre 6/2008, the shirt version of her birthday dress.  I made a 92 width with a 98 length again and added an additional 2" to the bottom, since she has a long torso and I prefer her to have longer shirts anyway. 

It would have been simple, had I realized ahead of time that the print didn't have nearly enough recovery for a self-fabric neckband.  I was rushing yesterday before O's parent-teacher conference and decided to give it a shot.  It was comically stretched out of shape.  Some quality time with the seam-ripper later, I went with some solid ribbing instead.  I ended up liking it quite a bit better anyway.

The Girl's Birthday Dress -- and a Poncho

There was much agonizing over E's dress for her third birthday.  I'd decided weeks ago to make a Modkid Kyoko, but after several shopping trips, I couldn't find just the right fabric.  Hate it when that happens.  On to Plan B, which involved some turquoise velour and my handy-dandy collection of Ottos.  I settled on the "Pine Green" Jersey Dress from Ottobre 6/2008, in neither green nor jersey -- although I did line the skirt with jersey.  E. is in a 3T in RTW, but really only for the length, so I traced a 92 for the width and 98 for the length.

Skirt lining

It went together pretty quickly and easily, which was fortunate, since I sewed it up the night before her party -- of course.  It does seem to run a bit short, but it's hard to tell for sure, since she can't stand independently.  If I were to make it again, I'd add 2-3" to the skirt portion.

I may or may not have made the dress just to go with these tights.

I really like the shirring detail on the bodice.  I was intimidated by shirring for much too long.  It's so easy!  Don't fear the elastic thread.

I tried to match her bee cake to her dress and came pretty close!

She was also in need of a bigger poncho, so that was one of her gifts.  The Sew Baby Poncho Pizzazz pattern is easily my all time most-sewn pattern (excluding diapers).  As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of the poncho as outerwear.  This one is made from some yummy Windpro -- love that stuff! -- with my usual mods of adding elastic the hood and overlapping it at the neckline.  I made it a size too big, but it's still wearable, and I know she'll outgrow it soon enough.  *sigh*