Halloween Bean (Octopus)

I decided to post some pictures of Bean's octopus costume from last year. The outer costume still fits her well, but the jumpsuit she wore at 5 months old doesn't work this year, hehe. So I just took the Chevron Fleecie I made her last spring (which fits perfectly now) and sewed some eyes on the hood which worked like a charm.

 

She's very interested in EVERY airplane that goes by these days, hehe.

Just to see the comparison, the following is a picture of the jumpsuit I made for Bean to wear under the costume last year.

In order to make the octopus outer portion, I made six tentacles and attached them to a bib/vest which then could go over the jumpsuit.  I used a similar method to make the turtle costume this year.  All of the fabric for the jumpsuit and the outer portion is this great blue knit that I had found which is soft and comfy.

The tentacles were made by sewing "tentacle shaped" pieces together with right sides facing, turning to right sides, and then stuffing.  I also used some thick floral wire wrapped with stuffing and painters tape to allow for a little bit of bending.  These were put into the center stuffing of the tentacles while stuffing - making sure none of the wire portions could poke through.

Each of the tentacles was sewn closed at the top and then sewn onto the upper bib portion.  Then I hand sewed circles of felt to the tentacles to look like the suction things.  I only made six tentacles since I sewed some felt circles onto Bean's jumpsuit legs and socks as well, making up the final two "tentacles."

This worked out well for a baby costume.  She was fascinated by the tentacles, hehe.  The best was when she wore it in her stroller:

It still makes me laugh seeing this picture!

 

Now that Bean is walking/running around I thought the octopus costume would be fun to try on again.  It was cute enough that I sewed the eyes onto her chevron fleece to make an inner costume to wear.  The eyes are easy to remove once halloween is over since I just tacked them down to the hood.

 

 

Watching Bean try to walk with all those tentacles was hilarious.  She was determined to get around though!

 

 

First one way and then the next.  She was cruising, hehe.  The way the tentacles fanned out in back was great.

 

But here's my favorite picture of all:

 

 

She kept pulling the tentacles up out of her way and I couldn't stop laughing.

 

I'm happy that this costume I made last year still fits her.  I think making the outer bib portion was the best idea, which is why I did the same with the turtle costume this year.  It should help to get longer use from a single costume. 

 

 

As usual, linking up to:



Halloween Bean (Turtle)

After a week of sick household resulting in missing most of Kids Clothes Week Challenge, the COSTUME week of Project Run & Play (which I had most looked forward too), and the signature look week (I had lots of plans for that week's outfit too), we THEN had family members visiting so it's been a crazy house these past two weeks.  It was great seeing family, but that left little time for sewing so I was way behind on my list of projects!  So I hunkered down and while I had finished most of Bean's costume last week, I finally added the last stitches yesterday afternoon.

There were a few things I wanted to make sure came along with this costume:

• Fleece Pants (to wear throughout the season)
• Fleece Hoodie (again, to wear throughout the season)
• Other than the light green fleece which I bought on sale I wanted to use fabrics I had already
• I wanted to use some pinks and purples so Turtle Bean would look a little more girly, hehe

These are the same pants pattern I drafted last year and I love the fit over Bean's cloth diapers so I've been adjusting the sizing as she grows.  They have a slight yoga flare to the leg which is cute and I really like the diagonal yoke shaping.  I am sure I'll make a few more of these style pants before the year is out.

This fleece hoodie took me a little while to figure out.  I drafted and cut out all the pattern pieces I thought I would use, with no idea how I would actually put them all together.  My older sister sent Bean a sweatshirt from the GAP and I really love how it fits, so I wanted this hoodie to be a similar shape.  The darker green is ribbing from an old sweater I had that had a tear in it.  I lined the hood with it as well.  Since I want Bean to be able to wear this for warmth this fall, I knew at least the front should be lined so her chest would stay warm.  So I added a front facing that goes up and around the neck.  The hood lining makes it extra cosy as well.

Here I think you can see the fleece hoodie a little better.  Once Halloween is over I can just take out the few stitches to remove the turtle eyes, hehe. 

I made a little half tank top out of the green fleece to hold the turtle body pieces together, leaving plenty of room in the neck and armhole areas since I knew this would be worn over the fleece hoodie.  I machine sewed the front turtle piece directly to the tank, but I hand sewed the back turtle piece since I didn't want the stitches to go all the way through to the shell.  I secured the shell with a few stitches at the shoulders, armpit area. and the bottom edge of the tank, just so it wouldn't flop around too much.

To make the turtle shell, I used a bag of fleece scraps that my mother gave me a while ago.  I would have used slightly different colors, but since I wanted to work with what I had I chose as many girly colors as I could.  I cut out hexagons from the scraps and then sewed them together like you would a hexagon quilt.  Since it was fleece, forgiving, and really only meant as a costume I didn't stress about it too much.  Once I had enough sewn together to make the basic turtle shape I put a green fleece border around it and topstitched around the edge leaving some of the green to show from the front.  I used a big green oval shape to close up the back and once stuffed the whole thing ended up looking like a ridiculous pillow, hehe.

For the front piece I cut two tear drop shapes out of the green fleece, sewed them together right sides facing, flipped them right side out, and then topstitched a bunch of rib type lines all over through all the layers.  I didn't stuff this part since the fleece was pretty thick with the two layers and I didn't want it getting in Bean's way while she wears it.

And get in her way it does not!  She was moving so fast I could hardly get a picture that wasn't a blur.  It didn't seem too heavy or irritating so I think this is a winner.  Hopefully we get some good pictures on Halloween itself.



 I do think this pic is my favorite though.

 

And just so you can see Bean will happily wear the fleece separates once Halloween is over, here are some pics of before I put the "turtle tank" on her:

Of course, I'll need to remember to remove those eyes, hehe.

As usual, linking up to:

KCWC Day Two

Well, I'm slow on the blogging front, but I've been working on lots of KCWC stuff in the meantime.  Even though we all seem to be at some stage of sick in our house at the moment, I have managed to make great strides.  I spent yesterday (Monday) drafting the pattern for the hoodie portion of Bean's Halloween costume. 

What should have been a breeze (it's a COSTUME after all), turned out to take the better of nap time.  Of course I couldn't just make a throw away item.  I am making a nice fleece zip up sweatshirt hoodie that she can wear this fall/winter.  This will go under and act as part of her costume.

Today (Tuesday) I was able to cut out all the pieces for the drafted hoodie and a pair of pants to match which are made from the pattern I drafted for the Is It Summer Yet pants.  I also cut out another pair of the same pattern, but this time in a stretch denim since I had the pattern out anyway.

Now tomorrow (Wednesday) I should finally have the time to sew everything together.  Wish me luck! (cough, cough, cough)

Bunny Dress

Since this week was boy's week at Project Run and Play I decided not to participate.  I have so many Bean-related sewing items on my list that I didn't want to take the time out to make something off-list. 

I did sew a lot this week, however.  And actually, I sewed part of a quilt I'm making for a friend who is having a boy so maybe that counts a little, hehe.

Anyway, I've been meaning to try this pattern for some time (Simplicity 5118):

It's the first time that I've used a commercial pattern for Bean, so I've been putting it off.  Of course, I changed a lot about the pattern, but it's a cute neckline that I'd definitely use again.  I imagine I'll make a few of the sleeveless tops next summer.

Anyway, I made the A-ish style with the following changes: 

No lace or ribbon at the neckline
No gathered flounce at the hemline
Added piping along the line where the front top meets the front bottom
Made the bodice fully lined so the seams from the sleeves and piping are not exposed
Used the lining to encase the neck elastic instead of a turned over hem
Used 1/2 inch instead of 1/4 inch for the sleeve elastic for more dramatic gather

I've had this great bunny fabric for about two months now and I've been dying to use it.  I actually thought I'd use it in the quilt I mentioned above, but it ended up a little too cream colored to match with the whites of the other prints I was using.  I kind of secretly wanted it for a fall Bean dress anyway, hehe.

Paired with a deep red quilting solid, it makes the perfect October dress.  I also have some cream colored knit that I'm going to make a turtle neck out of which will look cute under this as the days get cooler.

Overall it was fun making this dress.  I cut out size 2 for Bean which is a bit big.  She's a size 18months in most baby clothes, but I wasn't sure how that would translate to a commercial size.  Size 2 had the closest measurements to match so I took a gamble.  I actually cut the size 1 length and looking back I probably should have left that alone.  I wanted to get as much use of the fabric as possible, hehe.  And I think paired with a jegging this would be cute as a top if it gets too short too fast.

So no Project Run and Play this past week, but I still was able to check a dress off of Bean's fall list.
Project Run and Play's theme this coming week is costume so on top of making Bean's Halloween costume I'm also going to try to sew a little each day on something else for her.  That's because next week is the Kids Clothes Week Challenge at Elsie Marley and I'm excited about participating.  It'll be a "challenge" for sure getting all that done.  We'll see how it goes, hehe.

As usual, linking up to: