Happy Halloween!

Pokemon trainer Misty catching 'em all

Happy Halloween from the cast of the original Pokemon anime!  Somehow we didn't manage to get a photo of all four of us together, so these separate snapshots will have to do.

Gym leader Brock is very serious about battling Pokemon

Ash Ketchum is so glad to have found Nurse Joy so she can care for Pikachu!

What did your crew wear for Halloween this year?  Can you pull off a family theme, or are everyone's interests too varied?  I know we're quickly approaching the day where this isn't "cool" anymore, but here's hoping we have a few years of family costumes left!

Much love,
The Geeks

Crafting Adventures: Saint Teresa of Calcutta

So, you've got all those Halloween costumes out of the way, and then you remember- your little girl needs a costume for All Saints' Day!  My preschooler picked Saint Teresa of Calcutta for the All Saints parade last year and I was able to whip up this costume in one night with minimal sewing.  Read on to see how you can put together your own!

Saint Teresa of Calcutta Costume

Supplies:

-white fabric
-1" navy blue ribbon
-3/8" navy blue ribbon
-1" elastic
-thick flat plastic headband
-white thread
-navy blue thread

1. First, you need to measure your little saint- do this before you buy fabric to make sure you have enough!  Now, for our preschool All Saints parade, the little ones needed to be able to put on their own costumes over top of their uniforms, so it couldn't be anything too complicated like a real sari.  I designed this costume in two parts- a veil and a sash.  The first measurements you're going to take are for the sash.  Measure one shoulder, from the base of the neck to the edge of the shoulder, and call that W.  Next, take your measuring tape and hold one end at the edge of the shoulder, and drape the measuring tape down to the opposite hip, then around her body and back up the other side to meet at the edge of the tape (like a deacon's vestments).  The entire length you just measured will be X.  (This picture is a little deceptive, in that you can't really tell that I intend you to measure all the way around.  What's shown here- a flat measurement from shoulder to hip- is really .5X, if you want to be pedantic.)  For the veil, you want to first drape your measuring tape starting at one hip, climbing up all the way to the top of her head, then down the other side to the opposite hip- the full length of this arc is what we'll call Y.  Now, you're going to take one last measurement which I couldn't show in this picture- start at the hairline and measure over the top of her head and all the way down her back to the hip level (so that it ends at the same plane as the ends of your Y measurement)- this we'll call Z.

not drawn to scale

2. So here's what we do with those measurements.  For the sash, you're going to cut one rectangle of white fabric whose width is twice the W measurement plus 0.5" (for seam allowance) and whose length is your X measurement plus 0.75" (again for seam allowance- this one is going to be sewn in multiple directions, hence the extra 0.25").  For the veil, you'll need a rectangle of white fabric whose width is the Z measurement plus 0.5" for seam allowance, and whose length is the Y measurement plus 0.5" for seam allowance.  (I've really done a terrible job with this drawing; your Z measurement will probably end up being a little over half of your Y measurement.)  Of course I'm using 0.25" seams here, if you want to do differently then adjust your measurements.

3. To begin making the sash, first fold your rectangle in half, right sides together, bringing the bottom side up to the top as I've drawn it here (hence the need to double your W value).  Sew around one long side and one short side, then turn it out the right way.

not drawn to scale

4. While you've got just one long white rectangle, you're going to attach the blue ribbon to form the distinctive stripes you find on Saint Teresa's sari.  Place the wider ribbon along one of the long edges of the rectangle, and then two stripes of the narrow ribbon.  Space them all about a half of an inch apart.  To attach them, you could diligently applique around all four sides of each ribbon, but this costume probably needs to be thrown together on Halloween night itself, so ain't nobody got time for that.  Instead, set your machine to the widest zig-zag stitch, and stitch right down the middle on each ribbon.  Finally, fold the sash in half again, bringing the short sides together, right sides facing, and sew with a tighter zig-zag stitch to complete the sash.  (This takes care of the unfinished ends of your ribbon and the white fabric.  It's not perfectly finished, but it will do just fine for this simple costume.)

5. To make the veil, begin by hemming all four edges of the fabric (I simply folded over 0.25" and sewed with a straight stitch; again we're not going for perfect here).  Attach the blue ribbon in the same way as with the sash to make the stripes again (this time you'll want to fold over the ends of each ribbon and stitch them down to make a nice hem).

not drawn to scale

6.  Cut three pieces of elastic about 3" long each.  Fold your veil in half, bringing the short sides together, and mark the center.  On the wrong side of the veil, attach one piece of elastic along the center line about a half an inch back from the front edge (where the wide blue ribbon is).  Attach it with a tight zig-zag stitch several times back and forth along only the short edges, so that there is a gap where you can slide your fingers underneath.  If the edges fall under where your blue ribbon is on the other side, use blue thread.  If the fall on the white fabric, use white thread.  Attach the other two pieces of elastic in the same way on either side of the middle, about two inches away from your center piece.

7. To wear the costume, your little saint should put the sash over her shoulder so that the blue stripes are closest to her face.  To wear the veil, slide the wide plastic headband through the elastic loops, and put the headband on her head as you would normally.  (This holds the veil neatly in place on her head for a whole parade much better than if you just used bobby pins to hold on the fabric itself, and it's something she can put on by herself if you're not there to help.)

I hope your little one is ready for All Saints' Day!

Much love,
The Geeks

Crafting Adventures: Prince Eric and Vanessa Costume Tutorials

The Ariel and Flounder costumes were pretty intense construction, for me, anyway, so luckily my plans for the parents' part of this group only involved creating one accessory for each of us.

Of course in any group where our preschooler is the princess, the role of the prince is naturally played by Daddy!  Prince Eric only needed a simple red sash to complete his outfit which was otherwise composed of pieces Mr Geek already had in his closet.  And Vanessa- the human incarnation of Ursula, using Ariel's stolen voice- needed only the magic shell necklace, which didn't even involve sewing!

Prince Eric Supplies:

-red fabric (preferably something shiny)
-black fabric
-1" wide elastic
-white button-up shirt
-jeans

Vanessa supplies:

-gold card stock
-black yarn
-purple tank top
-purple maxi skirt

1. First, convince your husband to let you measure him around the waist.  It's a hard sell, but necessary.  Measure him all the way around wherever he typically wears a belt (probably more on the hips than the proper waist).  Call this measurement C.  Next, eyeball how tall you want the belt/sash to be- maybe 6"?  Call that value H.

2. You need to cut one red rectangle, one black rectangle, and 2 mirror image black trapezoids using the dimensions shown above.

3. Sew a 1/4" hem on both the top and bottom of your red rectangle.

4. You're going to create 2 1" pleats in the fabric.  Identify a line a couple inches above the center of the red rectangle and fold it over 1", then stitch it down with a 1/4" seam allowance using a straight stitch.  Do the same thing below the center line at the same distance.  (The dotted lines above visually represent what I'm talking about; the actual spacing here is up to your aesthetic).

5. Fold your black rectangle in half, ride sides together, and sew along the long end with a 1/4" seam allowance, creating a long black tube that is just slightly taller than your elastic.  Turn it rightside out.

6. Cut your elastic 1" shorter than the length of this black tube.  Feed the elastic into the tube.  Sew down one end of the elastic so that it is lined up perfectly with the edge of the tube, attaching it to the black fabric.  Gently pull the other end of the elastic to line it up with the edge of the tube on that end, and sew it in place.  When you let go, the whole thing will shrink in a little bit.

7. Fold down the angled edges of your two trapezoids by 1/4" each and sew them down with a straight stitch.  These pieces are going to connect your elasticized band to the pretty pleated red sash.

8. Attach the tall edge of each trapezoid to the ends of the red rectangle using a zigzag stitch and a 1/4" seam allowance.  Attach the short edge of each trapezoid to the ends of the elastic waistband.  Ta da!  [As an aside- you can use the same technique on a much smaller scale to make a soft elastic headband!]

9. Have Prince Eric wear his jeans and white shirt, rolling the sleeves up to the elbows and leaving the top couple of buttons undone.  Pull on the belt over the jeans at waist level.

10. Vanessa's seashell necklace is rather simple.  Draw the shape of the shell with a permanent black marker on the gold cardstock, then cut it out.  Cut the black yarn to the desired length and attach it to the shell.  Wear the purple tank and skirt, with the necklace prominently displayed.  Remind your princess that she can't talk, and steal the prince!

Do the parents get in on the Halloween action in your family?

Much love,
The Geeks

Crafting Adventures: Flounder Costume Tutorial

Obviously our red haired princess was Ariel for our family Little Mermaid Halloween costume.  Since Baby Brother has a tendency to act like such a guppy, I figured Flounder would be the perfect character!  To achieve this look, I created a rather simple hooded fleece sweatshirt, with striped sleeves to act as the fins, as well as a few fins along the hood.

Supplies:

-yellow fleece
-baby blue fleece
-navy blue fleece
-thread to match

1. Start with a nice big hoodie that fits your little fish.  Tuck the sleeves in, then trace around the outside, adding 1/4" for seam allowance.  You'll want to have one piece for the back, which will have a higher neckline, and one piece for the front, which will have a lower neckline- feel free to exaggerate that neckline to make putting it on and taking it off a little easier.  Cut this front and back piece from your yellow felt.  Next, pull the sleeves back out of the hoodie and trace around them, again with a 1/4" seam allowance.  Cut 2 identical pieces for each sleeve from the baby blue fleece.  Next, you need two long, thin rectangles of the navy blue fleece; the length should be the same length as the sleeve pieces, and the width is up to you, but I went with 1" for my toddler.  Finally, cut two freehand ovals from the blue fleece; they will be placed on the back of the pullover, one on top of the other, as the stripes on Flounder's back.

2. Take the back piece and fold it in half both ways so that you find both the horizontal and the vertical center lines.  Using these creases as your guide, arrange and pin the blue ovals onto the right side of the fabric, with their right sides up.  You want the ovals to be placed along the vertical center line, with one just above and one just below the horizontal center line.  Sew these on like appliques, using a zigzag stitch right at the edge.

3. Now you're going to attach the front piece to the back piece at the shoulders.  Place the two pieces on top of each other, right sides facing.  See how the front piece has very distinct, narrow shoulders?  You're going to sew the front to the back at those two points only, using a 1/4" seam allowance.  [It's important to note here that I'm not worried about hemming anything for a couple of reasons- it's fleece, so it doesn't fray like regular cotton fabric....and also it's a costume that's only going to be worn a couple of times.]

4. Next, you need to piece together the sleeves.  Lay out two of the light blue pieces with each navy blue rectangle, like this.  Sew the three pieces together with a 1/4" seam allowance.  Do this one side at a time, placing the rectangle on top of the light blue piece, right sides together, lining up the long edge of the rectangle with what will ultimately be the top of the sleeve, and sewing straight down that line with a straight stitch.  Then repeat with the other piece.

5. Now you're going to create that hood.  Use the hood of your original sweatshirt as a guide to cut two hood-shaped pieces of the yellow fleece.  Next, cut some shapes from both the light and dark blue fleece to be the little "mohawk" of fins along Flounder's head; cut two identical pieces of each shape.  Put those pairs of shapes together and sew along three sides, leaving an opening (like a bunch of little socks) so you can turn the fins right side-out again.  Finally, lay the two hood pieces on top of each other, right sides together, and sandwich the little fins in the middle, placed however you'd like along the curve.  [I did end up hemming the edge of the hood closest to the face, just for a clean edge.]

6. Finally, you're going to put the whole thing together.  Attach each sleeve to the bodice first along the shoulder curve on each.  Once that's done, put the whole piece together so that you're looking at an inside-out sweatshirt and sew up the side of the body and then along the sleeve, from the armpit out to the wrist.  Turn the sweatshirt the right way out, and then attach the hood to the neckline; leave a gap in the front for your fishie's big head!  Now, you can put elastic in the wrists if you'd like, but I didn't think to do that before we took this little fish out, so I ended up rolling up the cuffs instead.

And there's your fish!  Your Flounder can wear a light-colored T-shirt underneath his pullover, and whichever sort of pants are the most comfortable.  (If he's going to be walking around much, yellow sweatpants would be great!  Since our Flounder spent most of his time in a stroller, we went with jeans.)

What is your toddler wearing for Halloween this year?

Much love,
The Geeks

Crafting Adventures: Ariel Costume Tutorial

Last year, our crew did Halloween as the cast of The Little Mermaid.  If you've followed this blog for a while (at Halloween time, anyway) you'll know that my sewing projects tend to be mostly upcycle projects- I like to start with an already constructed garment, tear it apart, and rebuild it as something new.  I tend to be daunted by the idea of making any garment purely from scratch because I'm just not that confident in my skills.  Of course, I did make the vest for the Ryder costume from scratch the year that we did the Paw Patrol...but I didn't exactly nail the zipper on that one.

Well, The Little Mermaid costumes changed that posture for me.  Everything that I actually made for these costumes was done from scratch- one full costume, one partial costume, and two accessories.  That doesn't mean these costumes were particularly professional looking- they still look very much homemade!  But still, there was a lot of love in these garments and I think we all looked pretty great, don't you?

So today, let's talk about the Ariel costume.  While the mermaid get-up would probably have been easier to pull off, I felt  it was less appropriate for October weather, so we went with the "exploring the town" dress instead.  This costume is 4 parts- a black faux corset worn over a blue long-sleeved shirt, a blue skirt with an elastic waist, and of course a navy blue bow worn in the hair.

It's important to note that while a lot of the costumes I've made could be adapted to adult sizes merely by changing the measurements, the construction on this one really does presume it will be worn by a little girl- that is, someone with no curves.

Supplies:

-a baby blue long-sleeved tshirt in your mermaid's size
-black fabric
-black separating zipper
-black thread
-royal blue fabric
-royal blue thread
-1/2" elastic
-navy blue ribbon
-hair clip

1. First, measure your mermaid.  Have her hold her hands out to the side so she makes the letter T, and wrap your tape measure around her chest, right at the armpit level.  (Afterwards, she can strike a sassier pose, like this.)  Divide that measurement by 2 and you have the W measurement shown above.  Next, place one end of your measuring tape in her armpit, and measure down to her hip; this value we'll call H.  Find the spot on her breastbone at the level of her armpit, and then measure up towards her throat, stopping wherever you would prefer the neckline of this bodice to land (remember that we're going to cut a notch in it, so the center of the bodice will actually be lower than this point); call this B.  Then, wrap your measuring tape around her body at the belly button level and call this C.  Finally, measure from the belly button down to about the ankles, or wherever you'd like the bottom of the skirt to fall, and call that L.

2. Now you're going to cut the fabric for the front of the faux corset.  You'll need two identical pieces, and each piece needs to be perfectly symmetrical.  I achieved this by folding two pieces of black fabric in half and stacking them on top of one another; I suppose you could also achieve this by folding the fabric in half and then in half again, such that when you make just one cut, you'll end up with two identical (folded) pieces.  (Truth be told, with a heavy enough cotton, you don't really need to double up on your fabric, but I was using sort of a thin cotton from a pile of fat quarters, and I wanted this bodice to hold its shape.  Plus, I anticipated the notch that would be cut, and I figure it's easier to sew two pieces together along that sharp corner than to hem it; I'll leave it up to you to decide how to handle this, but my instructions will assume there are two front pieces.)  You're going to have to free-hand some of this shape; I suggest creating a pattern piece using whatever large paper you may have on hand, like wrapping paper or kraft paper.  Follow the guide shown here for how to sketch out that pattern piece, and cut it accordingly on your doubled fabric so that you end up with two pieces.

3. Now you're going to cut that notch.  Use your judgement to determine how deep and how wide you want the V to be; the depth will be measurement X and the measurement Y is the width divided in half.  Draw a right triangle with the X and Y as two of the sides, and then draw a hypotenuse to connect them.  Cut along that angled line to create the notch.

4. Now to cut the fabric for the back of the faux corset.  This time you want 2 pieces that mirror each other (although they are just rectangles, so they will be identical).  To achieve this, once again fold your piece of black fabric in half, but this time you're going to line up your pattern piece on the cut edge of the fabric, rather than lining it up with the fold.  Again, we're just cutting a rectangle here (and will end up with two) so the pattern is much more straight forward.

5. Time to begin assembly!  First, lay your front pieces on top of each other, right sides facing.  Using a 1/4" seam and a zig-zag stitch, sew across the top, and then sew across the bottom.  (If you want, you can do one continuous stitch by also going down one side, but only one side.  You need to leave the fourth side open.)  Turn the bodice front rightside-out, taking special care around the notch.

6. Next, hem both the tops and bottoms of both of your back pieces, again with a 1/4" seam allowance (a straight stitch is fine).

7. Attach your separating zipper to the two back pieces.  I followed a simple tutorial for doing this, found here.  I happened to find a zipper that was the exact right size for this bodice, so I didn't have to worry about dealing with the ends!

8. Finally, you're going to attach the front piece to the back piece.  To do so, place the back pieces on top of the front of the front piece (does that make sense?), right sides together.  Again with a 1/4" seam allowance, sew straight down on each piece.  Finish the seams however you wish.  (I don't have a fancy serger, so I just use a zig-zag stitch and call it a day.)  That's it!  So simple to make this beautiful little top.

9. Okay now we're going to take a pause and do some math.  That C measurement you took up there- the waist?  That stands for circumference, of course.  Remember how C = 2*pi*R ?  Let's round pi to 3.25 (I know, cringe, but estimates are okay here because we're doing an elastic waistband!) and solve for R = C/(2*3.25).  Now multiply that R value by 1.5 for a nice twirly skirt.

10. Take your royal blue fabric and fold it in half, then fold it in half again.  Using your L measurement and your newly found R, cut according to the image above.  Making circles is difficult; the trick is to take a string cut to the length you want the circle to be, tack it to the corner of your folded fabric, and tie a piece of chalk to the other end.  Then use it like a compass to sketch out a quarter of a circle!  When you're done, and you unfold, you'll have a big blue donut.

11. Hem the outside of the donut 1/4".  I happened to have some black bias tape and for whatever reason I thought it would look super cool, so I attached that to the bottom instead of just folding and hemming.  I don't know why.  Just go with it!

12. Cut a piece of elastic that is actually your waist measurement (C).  Fold over the top edge of the inner part of your blue donut so that the elastic will slip inside (for 1/2" elastic, make that about 7/8", or maybe a round 1" for wiggle room).  Sew that all the way around, using a 1/4" seam allowance, and leave a couple inches' worth of a gap.

13. Take a safety pin and attach it to one end of your elastic.  Feed the safety pin into one end of the tube you've just sewn, and slowly and carefully fish the elastic into the tube and allllll the way around, pulling the safety pin out the other side.  It'll get tough towards the end there, but you can do it!  Remove the safety pin and overlap the ends of your elastic by about 1" and stitch it together securely, definitely use a zig-zag stitch.  Finally, sew down the gap that you left in the waistband so it's fully closed.

14. The last piece is the bow!  Take your ribbon and create a large, 80s-style bow, and attach it (with hot glue, for some retro flair) to your hair clip. 

15. To wear the costume, your mermaid should put on the long-sleeved shirt, slip on the skirt, and zip the faux corset over the shirt.  Put her hair in a half-up pony and clip in the bow.

Phew!  What a costume!  I have to be honest with you, I really messed up the skirt on this outfit.  I messed up my cut so that the fabric was not so much a circle as a wobbly, wavy, vaguely rectangular shape.  I didn't leave enough gap for the waistband so most of it came undone when I was forcing the elastic through, and I somehow overstretched the elastic so it ended up being too big!  I had to overcompensate by adding a makeshift belt.  And finally that business with the bias tape- I really should have just hemmed it.

But you know what?  She still looked pretty adorable.  Ariel had a great time exploring the Rennaissance Festival with her Prince, and meeting humans at Air and Scare, and collecting candy on Halloween night.

So what is your little one going as for Halloween this year?

Much love,
The Geeks