We're not going to any parties or trick-or-treating this year because of the pandemic, but that doesn't mean we can't still dress up in costumes and celebrate Halloween at home. If you're looking for some inspiration for some quick and easy homemade costumes, I'm once again offering some tutorials for our family costumes.
The Pokemon craze is still alive and well in our household; if you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen a video or two of Peanut belting out the theme song. He'll even request it as a lullaby, and has solemnly promised to sing it for his new baby sibling as a dutiful big brother. His bedroom has been Pokemon themed since he was born so, naturally, this seemed the perfect theme for family costumes last year, with Peanut himself dressed as amateur Pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum. This was a really simple costume to put together, requiring only beginner-level sewing skills, with truly adorable results.
Supplies:
-white short-sleeved button-down shirt
-green short-sleeved t-shirt
-jeans
-lime green gloves
-blue cotton fabric
-1" wide yellow ribbon
-narrow yellow ribbon (thinner than 1")
-red and white trucker hat
-green fabric marker
1. In the original cartoon, Ash wears a blue jacket with a white collar and white sleeves. To simply things for myself, I decided to essentially attach a blue vest to a white oxford shirt rather than go through the hassle of creating that collar myself. The resulting jacket has no closures in front and the pockets are fake, but it looks sleek when worn over the t-shirt and my two-year-old was capable of putting it on himself. So, to start, the first thing you need to do is create a pattern for this "vest" using the white shirt. Simply turn the shirt inside out and tuck in the sleeves, so that the shirt itself looks like a vest. Using a large piece of paper (I like wrapping paper for this, especially the kind with a grid printed on the back) trace a single piece for the back of the shirt, and two separate pieces for the front, one on each side. Remember to add 1/4" seam allowance all the way around on your pattern pieces. Also, for the front pieces, be sure you include the button placards; your resulting blue "vest" is going to cover them.
2. Cut your three pieces from the blue fabric; they should roughly resemble the above image. You're going to assemble the vest completely first, and then attach it to the white shirt. (Remember these steps, as you'll use them to make another vest in this costume series...) Start by attaching the front pieces to the back piece at the shoulder seams. Place the front pieces on top of the back piece, right sides together, and use a zig-zag stitch and a 1/4" seam allowance.
3. So now your vest is going to look like this. The next step is to hem the neckline and the arm holes. You can either roll the fabric under 1/8", press, and roll another 1/8" before stitching (which would leave a cleaner hem) OR, since that hem is going to be hidden by the white oxford shirt, you can be lazy like me and just fold under 1/4", sew, and be done with it.
4. Finally, to finish the "vest", you're going to sew up the side seams. Arrange the vest as if it were complete, inside out, and sew straight lines to attach the front pieces to the back piece. Again use a 1/4" seam and a zig-zag stitch for strength. Turn the vest right side out. You'll notice we have left the bottom hem unfinished, as well as the places where the two front pieces come together (where closures would normally be). If you were making a real vest, you'd do those bits next. We're not, though!
5. Okay, this next bit is going to sound crazy, but it works, just trust me. Take your white oxford shirt and make sure it's turned fully right side out, ready to be worn. To make things smoother, you can go ahead and remove all the buttons, including the ones that hold down the collar. (Even if you don't remove the buttons, be sure to unbutton the collar so the points aren't trapped under the blue fabric when we're done.) Next, take your blue "vest" and turn it right side out, then tuck it inside the shirt like a lining; make sure the right side of the "vest" is facing the wrong side of the shirt. Carefully line up the inner edges where the shirt closes. When drafting my pattern pieces, I traced the neckline of my "vest" below the topmost button on the white shirt, so that's where I pinned the top of my blue piece to the inside of the shirt; once you pin all the way down, you'll notice some of the blue pokes out from the bottom- that's your seam allowance. Pin both edges this way. Now, once you sew where you've pinned, you're going to pull that blue piece out and turn it right side out, pulling the sleeves of white shirt through the arm holes of the blue vest. I gingerly practiced this turn out several times with everything pinned in place before sewing; if you don't believe it's going to work, practice it yourself, just to make sure. Once you're satisfied, go ahead and sew, again with a zig-zag stitch, just the innermost edge of each side of the shirt closure. Bring that zig-zag stitch right to the edge; don't worry about seam allowance.
6. Here's what it looks like all turned the right way out, with the sleeves pushed through. If it makes you feel better, you can top stitch a nice straight stitch right over where you just sewed, but I didn't bother. Make sure you pull the collar of the white shirt through the neckline of the blue vest; give everything a good press if it looks terribly wrinkly, like mine.
7. Now all that's left are some finishing touches! Take your yellow 1" ribbon and use it to hem the bottom of the jacket. I lined up the bottom of the ribbon with the bottom edge of the white shirt, sandwiching the bottom of the blue vest between them so that its edge also lined up. Leave a little extra length on either end of the ribbon, fold it under the insides of the jacket at the closure, and stitch in place with a zig-zag stitch. Then, use a straight stitch all the way around the outside of the jacket on the bottom edge of the ribbon. For a nice clean finish, you can repeat the straight stitch around the edge of the top of the ribbon as well.
8. Finally, you're going to create faux pockets using your thin yellow ribbon. Simply cut two identical lengths of this small ribbon, and attach them at an angle on either side of the front of the jacket, using your best judgement to place where pockets ought to go. Make sure the ribbons are mirror images of each other, angling down towards the outside of the jacket. The hard part is over!
9. For the accessories, you simply need to cut the fingers off of the green gloves (although I was able to find cheap lime green fingerless gloves on Amazon) and paint the L-shaped symbol on the front of the trucker hat. A word of caution- I ordered a toddler sized hat for my two-year-old, and it was much too small; I don't know if he just had a big head at the time (probably) or if "toddler" sizes are just too small. Either way, next time, I would go with a regular child sized hat; worst case, it would be slightly too big and look adorable in photos.
And there you have it! Ash wears jeans and a green t-shirt (although sometimes in the show it looks black...whatever you have on hand!) with the jacket on top, fingerless gloves, and the hat (preferably on his head). A stuffed Pokemon or two make great companions, along with a red Pokeball.
This was by far the most complicated of this group of costumes, and it really isn't so bad at all. Tune in all week for the rest of the tutorials!
Much love,
The Geeks
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