I will do what Queens do, I will Rule! My Daenerys Targaryen Halloween Costume

This summer my husband and I binge-watched Game of Thrones.  It is a great show with amazing costumes.  Out of all of the seemingly zillions of characters on the show, Daenerys Targaryen has the best outfits.  When I saw her blue dress I actually said aloud to my husband "Wow, she has amazing costumes."  I rarely am so moved by costuming.

The color is gorgeous, and the wrap skirt and contrast details on the bodice are all amazing.  

Simplicity has come out with some impressive costume patterns lately and having a pattern for this dress made me jump at the chance to make it.  It was #1246, and then was re-issued as #1008 (so weird!) What's even weirder is that the color of the dress changed; on my pattern (#1246) the dress was blue, on #1008, the dress has changed to green!

Simplicity 1008/1246

I had some adventures in purchasing fabric for this costume.  I was in New York City at the end of August, and had a little bit of time to myself, and I headed to Mood Fabrics!  It was my first visit, and wow, it was huge!  and awesome!  I quickly found some beautiful blue textured fabric that I thought would work well.  I pulled out the roll and had 2 yards cut.  (At the time, I had only planned on making the dress, not the cape).  After cutting, I said "how much is that?"  (I couldn't pull the price tag out from the center of the roll...can you guess where this is heading?)  It is $25/yard.  GULP!!   Oh Crap!  I am going to spend $50 on fabric for a costume!!  That is the most expensive fabric I have ever purchased!  (Facepalm) Had I known beforehand, I would have kept looking for something else to use.

Because of its cost, that beautiful blue fabric became much to valuable to use for a Halloween costume; I simply couldn't degrade it by making it into a costume (even a cool costume like this one).  It has been regaled to the "save it for something special" pile, and I began my search for another option.  Fast forward to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo I attended in Fredericksburg, VA.  I found some blue suede-like fabric at the Vogue Fabric booth and bought 2 yards for my costume. I was happy for a while, but then I thought...I should really make the cape too; it will be chilly on Halloween and I won't be happy outdoors in short sleeves.  Besides, Daenerys has a cape, so I need a cape too.  Of course, I didn't buy enough fabric at the Expo to make the cape, only enough for the dress.  So...I went to Jo-Anns looking for fabric for the cape, or at worst case, the dress & cape.  Sure enough, I found the perfect color blue fabric in a mysterious cotton/poly blend called "Sportswear."  It was about $4/yard, and I bought 6 yards.  I spent a small fortune on fabric only to have most of it still sitting in my stash...Sigh...

Enough about the issues, let's check out the final outfit!

I made the bodice in a size 14 with a 1.25" FBA.  This added a side bust dart, but I was fine with that; I'd much rather have it fit well than be precisely like the original.

The original dress had handsewn dragonscale to add texture.  (Check out this site for this and some other amazing costume work on GoT) That was simply not an option for me to do.  I did want to add some sort of subtle embellishment.  The bodice bands and sleeves got some texture by using a fancy stitch on my new Pfaff.  Here is a closeup of the sleeves:

I did row after row after row of the design on both the sleeves and the front bodice bands (#65 on my Pfaff Expression 3.5 if you are curious) using navy blue thread to provide contrast.  I love how it came out.   

The bodice bands gave me some headaches. I knew that by doing an FBA the front bands would lay differently on the bodice.  I cut them extra long to make sure they could reach the side seams.  Unfortunately, they needed more curvature as well.  I had a heck of a time trying to get the bands to follow the curved bottom edge of the bodice.  I initially attached the bands in the location where they wanted to naturally fall.  DON'T DO THIS! It looks stupid.  Seriously, seriously stupid.  I won't hurt your eyes by showing you the photos.  

Here are some more details: 

The bands continue around the back of the dress and are tied together using either grommets or eyelets.  I didn't have any grommets so I used the cool eyelet feature on my machine.  I used thin leather jewelry making cord for the ties.  

Back view:

Another front view:

Here is the cape:

The lining of the cape was a textured off white "value" suiting fabric from Hancock Fabrics.  It was under $5/yard.  Making the cape was very straightforward and simple.  I made a size 14.

I love how this costume came out.  The gray pants were RTW running tights and I made boot covers/gaiters using this tutorial and finishing them with invisible zippers and some elastic under the arch of my shoe.  For the necklace, I bought a coat toggle in the button section of Joanns, drilled a small hole near the thick end, and threaded my thin leather jewelry cord through it.

I had such a great Halloween, I felt fabulously glamorous and Queen-like!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2015: Part 2 Cleopatra

Next up in my 3 part Halloween set is Cleopatra, made from McCall's 7122.  (McCalls was having a sale when I was looking for patterns).  This is a woman's pattern which I made for my almost 11 year old (who will likely be taller than me in the next year to 18 months.)  I made an XS, and made 3/4 length sleeves.

Cleopatra's outfit is all about embellishment.  I used a sparkly turquoise & gold woven that I purchased in India to make the neck...dickey? gaiter? collar.  I fused some stiff interfacing to the wrong side, cut my circle based on my daughter's shoulder width, and neck circumference.  I did a rolled hem on my serger to finish the edges.  There are 2 snaps on the back to hold it into place.

Queens are all about gold too, so I used some gold lame one-way stretch knit for the belt, and arm bands.  They were all so simple, I'm not going to waste time explaining what I did to make them. Cut, stitch, adjust size, and sew on velcro.  Pretty easy to figure out.

The dress is a simple raglan sleeve dress with a neck band.  It is a "Learn to Sew for Fun" pattern geared for the beginner.  It was simple and quick to sew up and could easily be made into a raglan tee shirt.  I used a white cotton jersey fabric.

McCalls 7122

Line Drawings

Quite Possibly the Cutest Thing I Have Ever Made

Yes, you read that correctly.  This is it:

Yes, I made an R2-D2 Bag.  My Princess Leia needed some more accessories for her Halloween costume, and perusing Pinterest, I saw some cute ideas.  This was my result.  What's better than Leia carrying around her loyal droid and having him hold her candy?  Nothing!  I used black flannel from my stash for the bag itself, felt for the white, shiny silver/gray vinyl for the rounded part and metallic bits on the body.  The blue was from my own costume, and the red was a tiny bit of felt.  Glue did not work, so everything was stitched on :)

Here is the Princess in her Ceremonial Dress (End of Episode IV: A New Hope)

I used a simple pattern, McCall's 6098 for the dress and improvised the sheer cape by draping and pinning.  The belt was shiny silver/gray vinyl and so was the necklace.  

McCall's 6098

This is a "1 Hour Dress" pattern, and that was pretty accurate.  I lengthened the sleeves since it is October, and a little chilly here in Virginia, and lengthened the dress too.  Easy peasy.  There is a neck facing and a keyhole opening in the back.  Very simple for beginners.

Halloween is Coming!

Halloween is on its way and I have been busy sewing three, yes 3 costumes.  One for each of my daughters, and one for ME!!  Here is a little tease of what is to come:

This:

Source

Plus This

Source

Equals: My Costume!  It should be finished in the next few days!

One More Frozen Costume: Elsa

I made 2 Halloween costumes this year.  The first was Anna, and the second was Elsa.  Both were made using Simplicity 0733/1233.

Elsa:

Where to begin?  Let's start by calling this pattern "Recommended with Modifications".  It makes a cute dress, but if you want something that will last past Halloween, take it upon yourself to line it. 

I made a size 8 in this dress and since my daughter is a rectangle, added width at the waist.  One of the biggest things that irks me about girls' patterns is the assumption that little kids go in at the waist like a woman.  They don't.  They are rectangles. 

The sleeves, cape and yoke are made of chiffon.  Like the Anna costume, the instructions for Elsa's dress involved appliques.  As I said before I am not an applique person, and so I bought sparkly polyester chiffon for Elsa's cape instead of fussing with appliques.  I could have purchased chiffon that already had snowflakes on it, but I bought the cheaper sparkly stuff instead.  I was also extra cheap and only bought 2 yards instead of 2.25, which only made the cape shorter- no big deal.

In order to hide bra straps, I lined the yoke with cotton that I dyed with tea to make it blend in with her skin tone.  The bodice and skirt of the costume are a turquoise sparkly knit jersey.  To stabilize the bodice, I lined that too.  All of the seams are enclosed and I assembled the bodice and lining before attaching the cape.  (full disclosure: I forgot to sandwich the cape in between the yoke and bodice before sewing them together, and had to topstitch it on afterward.)

The armhole seam was very scratchy and uncomfortable, even after serging the edges with a dense stitch.  So to remedy that, I zig-zagged some ivory colored lingerie elastic to the seam allowance, turned it toward the bodice, and hand stitched it down. 

Soft elastic at armhole seam for comfort

I did use bias tape to finish the neckline, but I folded it down to 1/4" to minimize its appearance. 

 

I topstitched the cape and covered the stitching with white lace trim.  I used my serger to make narrow (3-thread), dense seam on the free edges of the cape.  The rolled hem setting was a little too dense and a little too narrow on the chiffon; it kept pulling away and simply didn't look nice.   

The last change I made was to lengthen the sleeves and add points to make them more like Elsa's.  My daughter says that the sleeves are too narrow; she couldn't bend her elbow more than 90'.

So that's it for Halloween 2014.   

Frozen: Anna Costume Simplicity 0733/1233

It's Halloween time again, and the costumes are done!  First up is Anna.  I used Simplicity 0733 which is also known as Simplicity 1233.  Weird--the envelope has one number and the pattern pieces have the other.

I'm going to cut to the chase:  the dress is cute, the cape is easy, but the pattern's finishing methods really left me scratching my head.  Several times I looked at the instructions, looked at my fabric, looked back at the instructions, and said "Well, that's stupid. There must be a better and cleaner way to do that"

Lets start with some finished photos:

Cute right?

Here are my complaints:  The bodice piece is the black and the aqua-blue at the neckline is an inset piece sewn to the top of the bodice piece.  The instructions tell you not to finish the edges, just baste it on and then sew trim over the raw edges.  Ummm...no.  I made lining for inset piece, sewed them together keeping the neckline (at the collar) free, and turned them right side out keeping all of the raw edges inside.  Then, I sewed trim over the edges.  Much cleaner.

There was a similar lack of finishing at the scallop trim at the bottom of the skirt.  Again this is a piece that is meant to be sewn to the skirt without finishing the edges first.  Here are the directions:  "Turn band to OUTSIDE; press.  Pin edges in place.  Stitch close to raw edges of scallops or zig-zag (satin) stitch along raw edges."  Sounds like instructions for some serious sloppiness. 

This is what I did:  I interfaced the scallop band as instructed.  Then I cut another set of scallop pieces out of white cotton.  I sewed the scallop edges of the aqua-blue and white cotton scallops right sides together. 

Then I turned it right side out and pressed.

 Then I sewed the scallop band onto the skirt as directed.  Much much neater:

This costume also called for lots of appliques.  I am not an applique person.  I did it on the bodice, but that was it.  For the bodice I cut out felt per the applique pattern and used fuse-n-bond to stick it on.  Then I sewed some glass beads on for some bling.  The skirt appliques were just too numerous, and I could not cut them out without them looking like crap.  So I went to Walmart and found some pink felt flower shape buttons and used them instead.  I fused them on first, then I sewed around the edges so they wouldn't fall off.  I sewed glass beads to the center of each flower to cover the 'button holes'.

Here's a close-up of the bodice:

The cape was simple.  I used 72" wide felt and left the edges raw.  I was a cheapskate and didn't buy the pom-pom trim.  The over-cape gives my little one linebacker shoulders and if I really cared, I'd take in the shoulder seams.  But I don't, so I won't.

There you go: one Anna costume.  It came out cute, but man, those instructions are really meant for something that will only be worn once and not scrutinized too closely.
 

I'm a Winner! PR Costume Contest :)

Pattern Review has announced the winners of the 2012 Costume Contest...and I WON 2nd PLACE with my porcupine costume!!  Woo Hoo!

Now I am so happy, I will do the Dance of Joy!


Here is the Contest Announcement from PR:
http://sewing.patternreview.com/blog?s=1461238#.UKt-OIdfASY

I am smiling like a fool and truly humbled to have come in 2nd.  The winning costume was this stunner:

Source

Here is a link to her blog.  The amount of work that went into this dress was incredible (24-30 hours), and the sewing was just beautiful.  Check it out!

Witch Costume: Simplicity 2845

While I have one child who wanted to be a porcupine for Halloween, my eldest wanted to be a rather boring non-interesting, witch.  Sigh.

I chose Simplicity 2845 because it was a simple raglan sleeve dress with elasticized neckline, that can be morphed into any variety of costumes.  It also had pattern pieces for a witch's cape which she wanted to have.  I chose to spend $2 on a hat at Walmart rather than spending time on making one.  Much simpler.

For the dress and cape fabric I used a crushed velvet panne from Joann's.  I wanted to line the cape with a contrasting color to make the costume more interesting.  I chose a purple satin and used it to line both the collar and cape.

There's not much to say about the pattern except that it runs BIG.  I was going to make a Medium (size 6-8), but then I saw the finished bust size on the pattern...it was 38.75" (98.5cm)!!!  I could wear that!!  The ease was listed as 14.25" (36cm).   So I made the Small (size 2-4) instead and double checked the length before cutting it out.  It was still plenty roomy, but the gathered neckline keeps the roominess under control.

I think the pattern is great.  It's super simple.  I used my serger for all assembly and didn't need to hem either the sleeves or the dress.  

Happy Halloween!

There is a Porcupine in my House!

My youngest is a character.  She oozes personality like the marshmallow squeezing out of a s'more.  So when she said that she wanted to be a porcupine for Halloween, my eyebrows only raised a little, I blinked twice and then said "OK".

Do you think that the Big 4 have a Porcupine pattern in their costume sections?  Umm...very funny.  I didn't even look.  This is what I created:

The brown fuzzy suit I bought at Goodwill for $3 (What a find!!), so I only needed to make a hood and a cape to which I could attach some quills.

Hood:
I bought about 1.5 yards of brown stretchy crushed panne velvet at Joann's.  For the hood, I used the hood pattern piece from Kwik Sew 3290.  I extended the pieces where the hood would attach under the chin since I needed them to overlap and attach rather than meet at the center.  I added black velcro to the overlap so it would stay on.  To finish the raw edges of the front and bottom of the hood, I simply serged, folded over, and stitched them down.

Cape:
I draped my remaining fabric over my daughter and decided on making the cape 20" wide by 27" long.  I rounded the corners and serged the edges.  I made a self-fabric strap, to go in front of her neck and keep the cape on.  I sewed the strap to one shoulder of the cape and added velcro to the other shoulder and to the end of the strap.

Making the Quills:
I bought a pile of felt rectangles in 4 colors to make the quills: brown, dark brown, oatmeal, and ivory.  Using my rotary cutter I cut about 3/4" off of the short end of the brown felt. Then I cut strips about 3/8" wide off of the long side of all 4 felt colors until I had a big pile of long thin strips.  I lined up the one wide piece of felt under my sewing machine foot and laid the thinner strips approximately centered over it and perpendicular to it in a variegated pattern.  Using a zig zag stitch I sewed the thin strips onto the wider base strip until it was filled.  Then I could sew these wider strips to the hood and cape.  I began by making about 9 of these sets of quills, knowing that I had plenty of felt to make more if needed.

As a side note...I tried using stitch witchery to attach the quills...BIG MISTAKE!  Everything MELTED and made a HUGE MESS....don't try it!!

Starting out 

Lining up strips of felt

Sewn Strip of Quills

Attaching the quills to the Cape and Hood:

I began by sewing 6 sets of quills to the cape: 2 rows of 3, using a zig zag stitch.  

Once the initial 6 were sewn on, I decided to make 4 more to make the quills denser.  So the cape ended up with 10 sets of quills: 2 rows of 5 across. 

For the hood, I did the layout with the hood on a soccer ball and draped then sewed my quill sets over the top of the hood and around the back until I was satisfied with the coverage of the quills.  The final tally of quill sets for the hood was: 5 1/2 sets.    

Hood: Front View

Hood: Back View

I'm very happy with how everything came out.  My little porcupine is spiky, soft, and very silly!

A Tale of 2 Costumes: Lovely Cinderella (Simplicity 2817) and EVIL Fairy (Simplicity 2872)

No, my little pink fairy was not evil...but the pattern was.  In fact, Simplicity 2872 is the current winner of my "Worst pattern award".  The pattern calls for lining the bodice with tulle!  Yes, that itchy, scratchy stuff-put it right next to your skin!!  What wacko came up with that idea? and WHY?  If they think I was going to putting something scratchy like tulle next to the skin of my youngest child who freaks out if the seam on her socks is the tiniest bit off, then I would be as nutty as them.   So no tulle lining...cotton.  Much better.  For the lining not only did I use cotton shirting, but I made it fully lined rather than just having facings.  I traced off the front & front yoke (contrast part of the 'straps') pieces together and used that as a pattern for the front lining.  The pattern also calls for the costume to be pull over....um...no.  I put in a center back zipper to make everyone's life happier.  


My little fairy loves the color pink.  This pattern could be done in several color combinations for the bodice, belt, petal overskirt and underskirt.  Knowing my little fairy like I do, I knew that she would change her mind as to the color combinations if I didn't lock her down.  So, before cutting, I made some drawings showing what the dress could look like and  made her decide which combination she wanted and sign her name.  (Yes, I made a contract with a child under 5--it was a wise move if I do say so myself).  

The Contract

I also skipped the tulle underskirt and instead made a separate hoop skirt that would help the skirt pouf out a bit.    Here's my fairy in action and my official review:

Spinning

Simplicity 2872: Tinkerbell and Disney Faries

Pattern Description:  Girls Fairy costumes

Pattern Sizing: Girls 3-8, I made a size 4, View B

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow?  NO NO NO.  Starting right at Step #1, the instructions were confusing.  There were mentions of lining, but you were never instructed to cut a lining, the interfacing was  tulle, and they called the contrast straps in the front 'Front Yoke".  I wound up ditching the instructions almost immediately making the bodice how I wanted to.  

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? TERRIBLE Pattern.  The instructions would have you LINE the costume with Tulle!  I can’t imagine anything less comfortable than having a layer of tulle next to my skin.  Who made this pattern?  Monks wearing hair shirts thinking that tulle wouldn't be so bad?  Completely Wacko!  I used cotton shirting instead.

Fabric Used: Satin

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:  I drafted my own lining pattern and did a full bodice lining of cotton shirting, completely ignoring the patterns instructions.  I omitted the tulle overlay on the front of the shoulder straps.  I added a zipper to the back to make it easier to get on and off, and omitted the tulle underskirt.  Instead, I made a removable tulle hoop skirt to wear underneath.  I did a narrow hem on the skirt.  I also used velcro on the belt rather than having grommets and ribbon holding it together.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  I would not recommend this to others, especially to a beginner.

Conclusion:  There MUST be better fairy costume patterns out there…use any one of those instead.  

On to happier things...

Cinderella's costume went together with no problems, and was a breeze to make.  The pattern calls for sparkling organza for the sleeves and skirt puff.  I couldn't find an acceptable equivalent so I just used white satin for both.  I tried out the blind hem stitch for the first time and it was quick, but I definitely need more practice.  Rather than the stitch looking like a tiny point on the outside of the skirt, it was more like a 1/8" long  (or more) stitch.  Sigh...I was too lazy to redo it, and so it stayed.  I will call it a design element.  :)  

Here's my official review:

Simplicity 2817

Pattern Description:  Girls’ Cinderella and Snow White Costume

Pattern Sizing: Size 7-14, Check the measurements…I had to grade down to fit my 7year old
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?  My daughter wanted to be Cinderella, so this pattern fit the bill

Fabric Used: blue and white satin

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:  I didn’t have any sparkling organza, so I used white satin instead for the skirt puff and sleeves

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  Yes, and yes.

Conclusion: A good basic costume pattern which you could easily modify to become other princesses as well.