"I wanna be a red bat..." DIY Costume

Last summer (more like last September), I watched my friend's little ones while she and her hubby were away. During nap times, I would try and do as many art projects with the older one as possible.

I asked him on the first day after picking him up from pre-school: "Hey! Want to work on your Halloween costume?"

He replied: "I want to be a red bat...".

Hmmm...clarification needed.

"Like Batman?"
"No. A bat. A red bat."
"Why red?"
"Red is my favorite color."
Of course it is. Stupid me. :)

Thus began his first trip to Joann's Fabric store, where we bough red fabric, red feathers and ribbon.

I had no idea how to construct bat wings. All I knew was that I wanted the wings to fit him like a cape, but not force him to tie the costume around his neck (after all, I'm in Arizona and Halloween is a very, very warm holiday). Thus the experiment with attaching ribbon to the inside of the cape (so that it could be worn like a backpack) and wristbands on the ends of the wings (so he'd be able to flap).

I laid out the fabric, took a white chalk pencil and drafted out the shape of the wings based on his arm span. Then I took out the sewing machine (a magical machine my friend's son just needed to try out- I allowed him to push the pedal as I led the material through the needle, directing him to "press harder" or "STOP" when I was done sewing). :) I sewed lines from the neck down to the ends of each semi-circles at the bottom of the fabric.

Once I had finished that, I cut off some straggling pieces and then convinced the little one to help me with the feathers. Since this required use of a hot glue gun, he was only allowed to pass me the feathers as I set each in place. This ended up being too much of a task for him and, with only three feathers set, he proclaimed "I'm tired. This is hard work!"


Yes, buddy, it is hard work! But think how cool this costume is gonna be! And it was...

Snow White DIY Costume

Having convinced a friend to have a Halloween party, and being very into DIY costumes, I decided for Halloween 2014 I would be Snow White (at least my version). 

I found two dresses of a navy blue, purple hue (see the two dresses below) and decided to mesh the two together and sew a completely new dress using only material from both and red ribbon. 

Full skirt removed and replaced in dress below. 

Dress #2. Had the corset bodice for the Snow White dress. I removed flower bead decor that embellished the neck of the dress. 

Pinning the full skirt into the second dress. Photo is of both dress and skirt inside out. 

Dress with full skirt underneath and pieces of a sash to experiment with the concept of  "capped sleeves". 

Sewing the sleeves. 

 Sewing the sleeves for the dress was a feat in itself. I looked up a tutorial for how to sew puffy sleeves, and when I wasn't getting the results I wanted, I ended up taking the sash from one dress, sewed strips of red ribbon into the material, and pinned/gathered the sleeve into the dress. Once I got the desired effect, I hand sewed the sleeves in place.

Puffy sleeves in places and sewn. Finally. These things were a work in progress for a couple days. 

Next came the collar. Again, I viewed some tutorials online, but didn't have enough material (ripped from other dresses) to follow the patterns provided directly. Instead I took the bottom of a white dress and drapped it across the neckline of the Snow White dress, pinned it in place from the inside and hand stitched it in place. 

Collar in place. Time to finish the rest of the gown. 

 Once I had all the pieces in places, it took me a couple days and many hours to hand sew things in place (I'm handier with a needle and thread than I am with a sewing machine). :) Final touches: Ribbon to make the sleeves was added to the bust of the dress in gathered folds, a gold, glittery ribbon was added for a belt, and I (once again) hand sewed my bow onto a headband. Costume done.

Finished dress. Happy DIY Halloween!