Costume Collection Part 1: Halloween Costumes for My Kids

I was going through pictures of all the Halloween costumes from years past and I decided I would share them with you!  Most of them I have made.  It is actually one of my favorite times of the year - not all the spooky haunted-ness part of Halloween - I just put up with that BUT I love doing costumes for anyone who asks me).

So - I am going to do a series of Costume Collections - some with themes and others just random collections by year or family or whatever...  so stay tuned during October for Halloween Costumes!!!!

The first one is of my kids' Halloween in 2009.  Each kid wanted to do their own thing that year...

He wanted to be a bum.  A hobo.  

Hopefully he got this out of his system.

She and I love the"Anne of Green Gables" series and she was the perfect age to play the Anne from the beginning of the story.  We even made the carpet bag she arrived with, the one with the loose fastener.  It doubled as the trick-or-treat bag.  She's the perfect Anne, personality and everything!

He really wanted to be a vampire.  Actually this kid was fascinated with magic and had asked me for a magician cape, so I made it for him.  Then he used it at Halloween to be Dracula.  It was perfect!  I made this from two flat twin-size bedsheets - black and red - so that it was lined and could be worn with either side showing.

Cute little vampire isn't he?

He wore what his brother had me make the year before (fascination with Wizards and magic...) and I think he looks just as darling (where are the pics of his brother last year?  I do not know) as his brother did last year!  

We went to a Halloween party and it was like pulling teeth to get a pose.  There was candy and games to be had, mom!  Oh, well...  

We got better pics at home on the stairs.

He was Winnie the Pooh, as were all his brothers before him when they were that age.  (Maybe I will put together a collage of all the Winnie the Poohs in our family - and Piglet, too...)

This was his first Halloween - and I just love a baby in a Pumpkin costume - not only is it cute but it stays as warm as you need it to be.  You can layer under it with warm coats (can you tell I am from Canada?) or just leave a diaper on underneath if it's warm enough.  

Hope you have enjoyed this first installment of Halloween costumes during the month of October.


What are your favorite kids' costumes form years past?


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Adding Half-Cap Sleeves to a Sleeveless Dress

Here is a custom/alteration detail that I am often asked to do for people.  It's a small detail that has a lot of impact!  

Aren't these sweet little sleeves...well, half-sleeves?

This sweet sleeveless Baptism dress was going to be worn by a little girl whose mother knew she would not keep a jacket or a sweater on, but wanted her daughter covered up a little more than the sleeveless look would provide.

It just needed a more permanent solution that would be as darling as the dress itself.

I found a piece of fabric that closely resembled the dress, and fashioned two partial sleeves.  If you have ever set in a regular sleeve, you are familiar with how a sleeve pattern piece looks - and how much time it takes to set in a whole sleeve!  With this method you only need to use the top half of it - the "cap" part.  (The pattern piece actually looks like a football).   And it takes less than half the work!

You can gather it at the very top to whatever fullness you choose,  or leave it ungathered.  I gathered these.

You can take the lining apart and insert the sleeve inside that seam or you can simply lay it underneath that top half section of the armhole and handstitch it in place!

There are a lot of options within this sleeve addition.  Have fun with it!  It can add a lot of personality to an otherwise boring sleeveless bodice!


Do you have anything you can add Half-Cap sleeves to?

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Studio Update ~ Homecoming Formal Shrug

Homecoming time is fun for me - I love the alterations and custom formal items I get to sew for my clients to make their nights special!

It's not so much about the football game for me - it's about the DANCE!

Sometimes a shrug can add the "sparkle" to a homecoming dress.

Here is where this story began: my client and her daughter were searching for a shrug/ bolero jacket of some sort to give a little more coverage to her homecoming dress.  They found a scarf that looked smashing with the silver sequins on the grey tulle dress.  This could do if they could not find the perfect shrug.  They continued looking for a ready-made shrug and had no luck...so, "Could you make this scarf into a shrug to go with this dress?"

"Why, yes!"  And so I did.

The silver fabric of the scarf was beautiful, but a very loose weave and I was afraid of it snagging too easily.  I also wanted it to have a nice drape without "sagging" off her shoulders.  

So I interfaced it with a lightweight interfacing - to fuse those snaggable threads together and to give it a little more body without stiffness.

Here is the back view of the dress.  I love the layered hemline. The back was floor length, while the front was to the knee. That cute "high-low" hemline.   

And did I tell you that this shrug is reversible - the inside is the same as the outside - that way if any spillage happens at dinner or some clumsy kid spills his punch on her before the night is over, she can turn it inside out and still wear it!  (Then dry-clean it later of course).

It is still shiny on both sides - but I thought I would show you two versions of this picture - one with the flash capturing the shine and one without.

I love where the shrug hits the back of the bodice just above the sequins - perfect!  

Isn't it darling on her?!

The hem was a little too long in the back at first,  so I shortened it to where it needed to be (here shown with hem redone).  I tapered it from the back around to the front, blending with the original front hemline.  It had to be the right height for wearing heels, but when the shoes come off for dancing after dinner and pictures - it cannot be so long that she steps on it!

Have fun, girl!  :)

What did you do for Homecoming this year?

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