Halloween 2012: The Scientist and Raggedy Ann

I was hoping to come up with another family theme for Halloween this year, but we couldn't agree on anything. It's probably for the best, since I just finished E's wig yesterday!  I don't know how I would have managed another two costumes also.

O prefers non-costumey costumes these days, so he decided a few weeks ago that he would like to be a "genius inventor" or a scientist with a lab coat and tie.  I used the pajama top from Butterick 5586 and extended the length by about 9", added two more patch pockets, lowered the top button and spread out the other two a bit more.  There was an insane amount of sleeve cap ease -- so much that I initially wondered if I'd accidentally cut the puffed sleeve from the nightgown -- which I took out by eyeballing.  There was a lot of reminding myself that it was just a costume! Other than that, it went together easily and fits well.

He also asked for another faux tie, which he chose to be from a skeleton print.

He's wearing my shoes, which are about three sizes too big.  Sometimes it's better not to ask.

We decided on Raggedy Ann for E, and just realized tonight that this is the first Halloween she hasn't been an animal!  She was a ladybug, a monkey, a bee, and then an owl.  There were a several pieces to Raggedy Ann, but most of them were quick to sew up.

I started with the Miss Madeline peasant dress with long sleeves with shirring at the wrists, no elastic at the waist, and an added neck ruffle like in this tutorial.

Her apron is a larger version of the one in this tutorial.  I used the same dimensions for the arm straps and waist ties, but made the waist band 3x21" and the body of the apron 17" x 43" (the width of the fabric).  The only other modification I made was to attach the straps behind the apron, rather than sandwiching them between the waist band and the main fabric. I also added some jumbo rickrack when I realized that my original overly ambitious plan to embroider "Raggedy Ann" onto it was soooo not going to happen.

For our first Halloween event last week, she wore the pantalets from this summer, but they didn't really show below the dress, so I made another full-length pair.  (I'm planning on having her wear them  for Christmas also, or I wouldn't have bothered -- I don't think... I do get kind of obsessive about costumes.  Ha.)  I was out of elastic thread, so made a casing on the inside with single-fold bias tape and ran elastic through it.  Finished with a rolled hem for the sake of speed, but then the thread kept breaking, making me wish I'd just done a quick regular hem!

The last piece, the yarn wig, took by far the longest, but was so worth the extra time.  It cracks me up every time I look at it.  She seemed to enjoy wearing it too.  I'm quite sure she knows when she's being funny.

I used the Scarecrow Wig pattern, but my first attempt at the hat turned out too big.  Casting on 78 stitches for the second try worked out much better. 

Happy Halloween!

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.