Toddler Alligator Costume

 To go with the Princess Tiana theme for Halloween, I made an alligator costume for my 2-year old son. It is perfect for his personality. He is so sneaky and gets into everything. I definitely have my hands full with this little guy.

I used simplicity pattern 2506 for the body. It is actually a dinosaur costume, but alligators are reptiles so I think it works. I followed the pattern exactly except for adding the contrast stitching across the tummy to make it look more like an alligator belly. I used a warm cozy fleece so that it would be comfortable and warm while trick-or-treating.

The tail is stuffed with fiber-fil and is so fun. My son kept trying to grab it and it was fun to watch, kind of like watching a dog go in circle trying to catch its tail. 

The back closure is make of velcro which makes it easy to take on and off. Perfect for my squirmy on the go little guy.

I came up with the head after seeing this Wolf costume from Make-it Love-it. I used a baseball hat for the base, added some plastic canvas for the snout and then covered the whole thing with the fleece hood. Some of it is sewed together and then glued to the hat with hot glue. It took a few tries to get the nose sewed together just right. It was tricky to the get the curves right and then I stuffed it with a little fiber-fil to give it more dimension. The eyes, teeth and nostrils are made of felt from my stash.

I added a velcro chin strap to help keep it on his head so he is free to run without it falling off.

I absolutely love how this one turned out. It is so perfect!

Homemade Princess Tiana Costume

 
This year my daughter wanted to be Princess Tiana for Halloween. I was very happy. She has been a little obsessed with My Little Pony lately and I was scared she would want to be a pony for Halloween. A princess is much easier and fun for me to make. I love making Halloween costumes, especially when the results turn out so great!

 

I started with a pattern (McCall's 6619) and then tweaked it to make it look like Tiana's dress. I used costume satin for the bodice, skirt and peplum, and tulle for the overlay. I think the lace and sequins give it more of a princess look although they aren't really authentic to Tiana's real dress.

 

The thing that I liked about this pattern is that it is more like an apron then a dress. The back is open and has a tie closure. It makes it so much easier to get on and off and will make dress-up play easier when it gets added to the dress-up bin after Halloween.

I came up with the design for the flower on my own. I cut some petal shapes out of leftover ivory satin and heat sealed the edges so it wouldn't fray. I sewed the ends together tight to make the flower shape and then soaked the whole thing in spray starch a few times as I shaped in to the flower shape that I liked. After it was all dry I added the ribbon and jewel center. I pinned it to the dress instead of sewing in on permanently so that it can be removed when the dress is washed.

For the bottom, I used a woodburning/hobby tool to carefully cut off the bottom and give it the zig zag shape edge. The tool  is nice because it melts the edge to keep it from fraying while cutting it at the same time. 

It ties in the back in this big beautiful bow and then I added the button and elastic loop by the straps because the bodice was a little too loose on the top for my skinny daughter. 

We are so excited to wear it trick-or-treating!

Halloween and Giveaway Reminder

We had a Halloween party at our church on Saturday and our amazing photographer neighbor took pictures of the kids in their costumes beforehand. I love how they turned out!

My son was a little grumpy so his pictures ended up being sad clown pictures. He is still adorable in them though. 

Also, just a reminder, TODAY is the LAST DAY to enter the giveaways at Family Ever After. Click HERE to see a recap of all of the giveaways and be sure to scroll down to Giveaway #7 where you can enter to win a $15 Gift Certificate to my shop!!! You have until midnight to enter so do it now before you forget!!!!

Halloween Pictures from the Past

Today my mom emailed me this picture. This was back in 1984 (or 1985, we are not sure). Originally she told me she couldn't find one of me in the clown costume, but I am glad she did! I love that my mom almost always made our costumes.

 

 This one is one of my favorites, salt and pepper shakers. So creative.

 

I think this one is so funny. My little sister looks like such a sad clown. I like how my brother's shirt is only half tucked in and I love that I am wearing socks over my tights, so 80's. 

Oh the green carpet too. We lived in that house with the ugly green carpet for almost 20 years. Then when we went to sell it, we tore up the carpet to discover it had beautiful hardwood floors underneath.

Vintage Clown Costume and Replacing Old Elastic

 This was my brother back in 1982. Yep, 29 years ago, in a clown costume that my mom made.

 Don't you just love the shag carpet?

My mom kept this costume and gave it to me a couple of years ago for my daughter to wear. The collar was lost as well as the pom pom buttons. I made some new pom poms and  just glued them on.

I also made a new collar. I was lucky enough to find this yellow floral fabric at walmart that almost matched the yellow patch on the costume.

I

 I just made a large rectangle, sewed an elastic casing in the middle and then added some green ric rac to match the rest of the costume.

One thing that I did not do when my daughter wore it was replace the old elastic. We had to pin the neck together to keep it on her and the arms and legs were really loose.  I regretted not doing that.

Halloween 2009

My son will be wearing this costume for Halloween this year so I figured I better do it this time.

First I did the neck elastic. This one was really easy, The elastic was already sticking out a bit, so I just used a seam ripper to open it up a bit.

Pulled the old elastic out (I had to cut it since the ends were sewn together),

Then threaded some new elastic in, sewed the ends together by zig zagging back and forth a few times, and then closed up the casing again. Super easy.

Next was the sleeves and legs. These were a little bit more difficult because there wasn't a continuous elastic casing. The elastic was actually sewn into the seam. I don't like this kind of casing so I decided to take it out and change it.

Using a seam ripper, I opened up the seam just where the elastic and bias tape casing were attached,

Undid the stitches that held the elastic in the casing before the seam was sewn shut (those little white stitches in the picture)

and then a little of the casing on each side of the seam.

I sewed the seam back together again without the bias tape casing and ironed it open and flat.

 Then I folded the ends of the bias tape under so that the folded ends line up with the seam.

I sewed the casing back on, leaving the folded ends unsewn and open.

Then you can just slip the new elastic in through the opening, and thread it through.

I glued the ends together with a little fabric-tac to make it easier to sew.

 Then secured them together with a few zig zag stitches,

I then unbunched the the sleeve to pull the extra elastic in and it dissapeared into the casing. No need to sew up the opening.

I did the same thing for both arms and legs and then the costume was done and ready for Halloween!

 Much better

 Doesn't the little guy look adorable in it!

We can't wait for Halloween!!

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Rapunzel Wig

I finally finished/came up with something that worked for my daughter's Rapunzel hair for Halloween to go with this dress. Its not perfect, but it works and that is all that matters.

I started by cutting long strands of yellow yarn. I am not sure how long they are because I did not measure, but I just cut them how long I thought the hair should be and then doubled it. I used one yarn piece as my "guide" for all the others, but they all still turned out very different lengths which is okay because I just gave it a trim after it was all put together. I cut 80 pieces total.

 I took the yarn, 5 pieces together at a time, and looped them around each other on a thin metal headband. 80 pieces gave me 16 loops on the headband. I used some hot dabs to keep the loops in place on the headband and keep them from sliding around or off the ends of the headband.

Then, I carefully combed the yarn with my fingers to make a low ponytail. If would have easier to do it on my daughter's head to see where it would look best (I think mine was too high), but she wouldn't hold still for long enough and I used my knee instead.

To help the headband stay on her head (the yarn is pretty heavy and the headband just kept slipping off) I sewed two hair combs onto the headband.  These grab onto her hair and keep it from slipping. (sorry this picture is so blurry!)

I attached a couple of pieces of ribbon to the ponytail and then carefully braided the yarn, trying to keep the ribbon in front so it showed. When I got to the end I used another hair elastic to secure it and then covered both elastics with some more ribbon. I hot glued a bunch of flowers to the braid trimmed the ends so they were even and then it is done!

 My daughter loves it although knowing my daughter, I doubt she will keep it on all night on Halloween. Do you see what I mean by why my ponytail should have been lower? If it was lower, then her hair would be covered up more in the back. Oh well, that is the risk I take by finishing it after she goes to bed and not being able to try it on her before I glued all the flowers on.

I tried to have her to do a pretty princess face for the camera, but this is all I got. Silly girl. She has not been liking the photo shoots lately. I may have come up with better bribes.

Sorry also for the lack of posts lately. We have been passing around a nasty cold virus. It gave my son a horrible rash. Luckily it is almost all cleared now except for his face. It still looks like a teenager acne face with little red bumps all over it. My poor little guy. 

 

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