Crafting Adventures: Nurse Joy

 

Of course, if my hubby was going to dress as Brock for this family costume, I would naturally be choosing between Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny.  Nurse Joy seemed like an easier outfit to assemble, so here we are!  The only pieces that I created were the apron and the hat; I found the pink dress on Amazon and have worn it a couple of times since, and while I briefly considered dying my hair pink, the thought of bleaching my hair at home terrified me, so I got a cheap pink wig instead from the costume store.  Here's a quick and easy tutorial to put this together yourself.

Supplies:

-white fabric

-2" wide white ribbon

-1 1/5" wide white elastic

-3x5 index card

-red fabric paint

-hair clips

-pink dress

-white tights

-pink wig

1.  So let's start with a (very much not to scale) sketch of what the finished product is going to look like.  This apron is essentially an hourglass shape with sharp corners and very defined lines across the top and bottom- again, a stylized, anime look.  I just played with a measuring tape to figure out dimensions that would work for me and arrived at these; feel free to do the same for your body type.  I took this design and turned it into 2 pattern pieces- one for the top and one for the bottom.  Remember to give yourself a 1/4" seam allowance all the way around (that effectively means adding 1/2" to each of these measurements).  You'll want to cut 2 top pieces and 2 bottom pieces out of your white fabric.  Whatever you settle on as the measurement for the short sides of your trapezoids (that's my 10" measurement here), cut a piece of white ribbon that's the same length (+ 1/2").  

2.  Take your two bottom pieces and line them up, right sides together.  Stitch around 3 sides (leaving the short side- the 10" bit in my drawing- open) using a zig-zag stitch and a 1/4" seam allowance.  Turn it right side out.  

3.  Your ribbon is going to act as a crisp little waistband, connecting the bottom piece to the top.  Line up the edge of your ribbon with the short, unfinished end of the bottom of your apron, right sides together.  Using a straight stitch, sew as close to the edge of your ribbon as you can to attach the two.  Unfold the pieces and press the seam flat.

4.  Now, a word about the back of this apron.  Because I was planning to wear this while chasing some kids around at both a trunk-or-treat and a Mall-o-ween, I didn't want to actually have to tie any ribbons and worry about them coming un-tied.  So I thought- why not use elastic instead of ribbon?  That way I could sew it all in place, exactly how I want it to look from the back, and it would stretch and let me pull it on and off over my head.  I could even attach a finished bow that would never come undone so the whole look was clean and sharp.  I sketched out the above look.  The finished product involves having two straps of elastic that attach at the top corners of the apron, go over the shoulders, make an X in the back, and finish with two loops of fabric (or ribbon or more elastic, if you wish).  Then there is a third piece of elastic that goes around the waist, attached to the ribbon waistband in front, creating one continuous circle.  This elastic band feeds through the loops on the ends of the shoulder straps before you attach it to that front ribbon (and it will also feed through the loop of the big pretty bow, which will sit right in the small of your back).  To determine the lengths of these three pieces of elastic, you're going to have to play with the measuring tape again, tossing it over your shoulder and whatnot to figure out exactly how you want it to fall.  My apron is very narrow in the middle; it does not extend from hip to hip, but is rather tiny to help provide an illusion of a narrow waist.  That means the elastic that runs around the waist is going to cover the width of my back but also come in towards my center in order to reach the ribbon at the front.  All of this means I somehow ended up with the exact same measurement for each of my 3 pieces of elastic- 24".  Cut those three pieces of elastic, cut 2 pieces of ribbon to create your loops (about 3 1/2" should do you), and cut enough ribbon to make a nice big bow.

5.  THIS STEP IS OPTIONAL.  Before you start attaching anything, if you don't want it to be obvious that all these straps are actually just pieces of elastic, you can hide them inside tubes of fabric.  If you want to do this, cut a rectangle of white fabric that is 3 1/2" wide and about an inch longer than the length as your elastic (so in my case, that would mean 25").  Cut one of these rectangles for each of the three pieces of elastic.  Fold the rectangle in half, right sides together, and stitch down the long side using a straight stitch and a 1/4" seam allowance.  This creates a tube; turn it right side out (you might need to use an unsharpened pencil to help you turn it all the way).  Arrange the tube so that the seam is in the center of the back side of it and then feed your piece of elastic all the way through.  Line up one edge of the elastic with one of the unfinished ends of the fabric tube and sew into place using a zig-zag stitch, as close to the edge as possible.  Because your elastic is shorter than the fabric tube, you'll have to pull the other end of it, stretching the elastic, in order to line it up with the ends of the tube, then sew it into place the same way.  When you're done sewing, your fabric rectangle will contract to the resting length (24") of your elastic, with the telltale pleats you see on elastic waist bands.  Do this for all three pieces of elastic.  

6.  Whether you followed step 5 or not, take your two small pieces of ribbon and fold them into loops.  Attach the loops to one end of each of your shoulder strap pieces using a zig-zag stitch, then press the seam.

7.  Now to make the bow.  First, cut a big rectangle of ribbon.  Fold it in half, right sides together, and stitch up the short side with a straight stitch, close to the edge.  Turn it right side out, and arrange it so the seam is in the middle of the back.  Create two "tails" for your bow (this could even be one long piece of ribbon that you fold at an angle) and stitch them to the middle of the back of your rectangle.  Finally, (not pictured), you're going to cut another (smaller) rectangle and loop it around the middle of your bow.  Stitch the rectangle closed (the stitch will be on the outside, but since it's hiding behind your bow it doesn't matter).  Now your bow is complete, and you have this convenient little loop so you can slide your elastic through it.

8.  Let's assemble the rest of the apron!  Take the two top pieces of your apron and create a sandwich- one piece of fabric right side up, and then your shoulder straps, and then the other piece of fabric right side down.  You want the shoulder straps to be as close to the corners of what will be the very top edge of your apron as possible.  Just like with the bottom pieces, sew around 3 sides, leaving the small side (the 10" side in my drawing) open, using a zig-zag stitch and 1/4" seam allowance.  Turn out and press.

9.  To attach the top to the bottom, lay the bottom of the apron right side up, with the ribbon at the top.  Lay the top of the apron on top of it, right side down, so that the unfinished edge lines up with the top of the ribbon.  Using a straight stitch, sew as close to the edge of the ribbon as you can, then turn out and press flat.

10.  Now you just need to finish the back.  Take one edge of your elastic waistband and attach it to one side of the ribbon waist band, using a zig-zag stitch and 1/4" seam allowance, then press the seam flat.  Take your shoulder straps and cross them in to the X shape.  Feed your waist band through the loop at the bottom of the first strap, then through the loop at the back of the bow, and then through the loop at the bottom of the other strap.  Attach the free end to the other side of the ribbon in the same way as the first.

11.  Finally, you need to make the little nurse hat.  Cut 2 squares of white fabric, 5 1/2" each side.  On the right side of one square, draw a red cross with your fabric pen.  Place the squares right sides together and sew around 3 edges, leaving the bottom edge open, with a zig-zag stitch and 1/4" seam allowance.  Turn your little square pocket right side out and press.  Slide the 3x5 index card into the pocket; there should be about 2" of pocket hanging at the bottom.  You can bend the index card slightly so that it curves a little.  You're going to use the hair clips to clip the empty part of the fabric to your hair, and stand the card upright.  (You could also attach the little hat to a headband.)

Wear a cute short sleeved pink dress with white shoes.  Slip the apron over your head- the elastic stretches nicely so you can pull it on.  Wear the pink wig and clip the hat on top.  (Technically, in the show, she wears her hair in these pigtails that are tied up in big loops, but I couldn't make this curly wig cooperate.)  Offer to care for any sick or injured Pokemon that come your way, and if Brock asks you on a date, turn him down!

Much love,

The Geeks