Pikachu Costume!

Hey there! This year, Ethan wanted to be Pikachu for Halloween! Although he is only four, and doesn’t know too much about Pokemon, he loves this cute little yellow character. It was between a moth and Pikachu, so I’m happy with his decision! This will be my second Halloween sewing him a costume. Last year, he was a spider – which was also really fun to make.

I made this Pikachu costume virtually the same way as the spider costume. It is a pullover hooded vest that is cinched on the bottom with elastic. The pullover from last year was self-drafted and I basically just used that as a guide and made it a little wider and longer for this year. All of the yellow fabric is anti-pill fleece (from Joann) and the brown and black details are felt material. The top of the lightning bolt tail, which is stuffed with poly-fil, is sewn into the back to keep it from flopping down. It still flops, but from side to side. The ears are also filled with poly-fil. There he is in the above photos, being silly and trying to do a handstand!

The hood is lined with a yellow cotton interlock that I also found at Joann. For the pants, I used Dana’s basic pant pattern and just made it a tad bit wider and longer. Super easy sew. The shirt, which is also made from the yellow cotton interlock, was made using Rae’s flashback skinny tee pattern. This was my first time sewing a shirt – and although there is a lot I need to improve on, it turned out not as bad as I thought it would! I used a regular sewing machine and I didn’t even need to change my needle! Crazy, huh. I think it was because cotton interlock is a thicker type of knit. Anyway, it was a breeze to sew! I also didn’t hem the sleeves as it turned out to be the perfect arm length for Ethan. I guess I could have added cuffs but I was too excited that his costume was finally completed and actually wearable!

I also made a Pokeball trick-or-treat bag to go with the costume. Pretty basic stuff – just a huge 14×32 rectangle folded in half and sewn along the edges with the corners boxed. I used duck cloth for this so it is very sturdy and holds well. The pokeball is appliquéd on in pieces of red, white, and black felt.

And now, I have a cute little boy running around the house shouting “pika, pika” all day! He sure loves getting into character!

And I leave you with this last photo of Ethan cooking up some tasty spider, cockroach, and glow-in-the-dark fingers stew! Delicious!

Happy Halloween, guys! Be safe out there!

xoxo, Jen

It’s a Spider!

Hello, there!  It’s been a while since I last posted, but I won’t go into detail as to why… Life pretty much just got in the way, and I was taken away from blogland.  Boo!  I know.  But Halloween is this week and I couldn’t go without sharing my first costume I made for Ethan!

He chose to be a spooky black spider and it sounded easy enough to sew up.  I was inspired by the one over at Pottery Barn Kids and wanted to make one similar.  This was a series of firsts for me… and it was an awesome experience!  I drafted the pattern on my own, made a muslin pattern, lined the costume, and sewed a hood!  Pretty cool, huh?  And, it turned out decent!

The legs didn’t turn out the way it’s supposed to but that’s ok.  I had wanted the legs to stick out and bend down, but I couldn’t figure out an easy and safe way to do it.  I tried floral wire but it was too sharp for a kid’s costume.  So I ended up just stuffing it with poly-fil and left it at that.  Aren’t I so original? This spider will just have skinny, floppy legs.  Super spoooooky!

The outer fabric is fleece (which I love sewing with because it’s so easy) and the lining is a knit jersey.  I lined the entire piece with knit and I loved how it felt inside!  Yup, and I used a plain old regular needle for this.  I had intended to buy a ball point needle after reading about sewing with knits but I completely forgot about it while at the fabric store.  But it turned out fine – no broken needles – yay!

I made fleece pants to go with the costume.  I used the Playground Longies pattern by Apple Dumpling Gear.  I’ve sewn this pattern up so many times.  It’s a super easy one.  And I just love the contrasting booty part – diaper or no diaper, it’s so comfy as play pants for little ones.  I left the bottom unhemmed because I didn’t realize how tall my munchkin was and made them a tad short.  Oh well, just glad that fleece doesn’t fray!

Ethan wanted green eyes – so he got them!  Actually, he wanted eight green eyes, which made total sense, but I didn’t feel like sewing eight eyes.  He settled.  Ah, it’s great to make things for him while he’s still so young.  He accepts my opinions… with a little bribe (or two).  Ha!

Happy Halloween, guys!  It feels so great to be back on here!

xoxo, Jen

Royal King Costume

This year, Ethan all of a sudden turned into an opinionated and imaginative little boy.  When we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, he insisted he wanted to be a dinosaur… that lasted for about one week.  He changed his mind several times after that — a doctor, then a monster, then back to a dinosaur.  Since I was too lazy to make him a dinosaur costume (they’re a lot of work!), I scoured the net to find him the perfect dinosaur costume.  I finally found one at Pottery Barn Kids, only to find out they were out of his size!  Ugh.  So I asked if he wanted to be a dragon instead and he willingly agreed.  I ordered it from Old Navy.  Done!

So when we had a Halloween event to attend and the dragon costume hadn’t arrived the day before, I panicked … just a little.  It was a costume party and my little boy didn’t have a costume to wear!  I thought fast and came up with something fairly easy – I’ll make him a crown, cape, and pants, and he will be a royal king!  He could always wear these simple pieces again when playing dress-up!  This was actually already on my project list, so it was one thing I could finally cross off.

For the crown, I used felt, muslin, and elastic for the band.  I made up my own pattern for this one.  I traced my pattern onto the felt, cut out two of the same pieces and sewed them together.  I cut out three diamond shapes and sewed them on to the front of the crown for a regal look.  I also sewed some pretty gold rickrack along the bottom of it.  I then made a muslin tube and ran elastic through it for the band. It was super easy.  I know I’ll be making more of these in the future.

The cape was made out of a crushed panne velvet found at Joann – on sale and super cheap.  It’s basically a big rectangle with elastic for the neckband.  I sewed some of the gold rickrack along both sides of the cape.  Simple and easy and it looks great!  I’ll probably be making more of these in different colors too.

The pants were made using the simple pants pattern by Lotta Jansdotter in her book Simple Sewing for Baby.  It’s basically two pieces sewn together along the outer sides and inside curve of the pants.  When I first saw this pattern, I couldn’t believe how simple it was.  They really are simple pants!  I only made a few changes.  I sewed the casing for the elastic a half an inch from the top of the pants to create a little ruffle effect at the top.  I did the same for each of the pant legs so that they could be hiked up just below the knee.  Of course Ethan didn’t like this idea – he kept trying to pull both pant legs down so they ended up being an awkward length!  But I think they still looked cute on him.

And that completed the outfit!  I didn’t have time to make him a scepter like I planned – but he wouldn’t have held on to it anyway!  Total cost of costume was less than $5.   My kind of project!!

Happy Halloween!

xoxo, Jen