It's Costume Time!

Today I began work in earnest on the kids' Halloween costumes. Luckily, Clara wants to be a lion using the lion costume I made for Lucy a couple of years ago. The two costumes I am making this year fall into the categories of Annoying But Doable (and good garment-sewing practice) and Design From Scratch.

Lucy wants to be a princess (Annoying But Doable). All summer she said she wanted to be a princess (groan) and then for two or three whole weeks in September she wanted to be Supergirl (hooray!). Unfortunately, she found out that one of her friends is going to be a fairie princess, so she changed her mind before I bought any fabric. She drew a sketch of her costume and we talked a lot about details and then I looked for patterns.

I am using Burda 9702 as the basic design but she wanted a cross-over top so I used BWOF 07-2009-139 and re-drafted the front of the bodice. I am also changing the buttoned back for a zippered back and I will add an overlay of sparkly organza over the main skirt fabric. Yesterday I tissue fitted the pattern pieces on her and today I made a quick muslin of the bodice.

Peter, on the other hand, wants to be R2 D2 (Design From Scratch). Of course. I could find no R2 D2 costume patterns out there and only a few baby/toddler R2 D2 costumes to purchase. Nothing gave me any inspiration. We were thinking to use chicken wire and papier mache, but I have made it these 34 years without ever having done papier mache, and I didn't want to have to start with the pressure of a costume.

Monday afternoon I took a couple of large pieces of newsprint and held it around him to decide on a size. We then used a photo from a Star Wars book he brought home from the library to sketch all of the details on the front of the droid's body onto the pattern. Today I cut two pieces of very thick polar fleece the size of the pattern, stitched them together, then cut one piece of white vinyl a bit bigger than the pattern, wrapped three of the edges around the fleece and stitched those down. I plan to add a row of velcro to close the rectangle into a tube around him and add a couple of straps to keep it on his shoulders.

I also need to figure out how to draft pieces to make half a sphere of a certain diameter for the top of the droid which will be attached to a hat on Peter's head.

I have no idea what I am going to do about R2 D2's legs.

Fun times! Photos to come...

Comments

Sounds like a fun challenge. I have always looked forward to Halloween sewing because it hones my sewing problem-solving skills.
Keely said…
Looking forward to the photos!
Chris and Tiana said…
Funny how every little girl seems to love princesses. Our Clara loves them too, and I swear I have never encouraged the princess theme. She even loves some of the Disney princesses- and she's never even seen the movies! I'm sure Lucy will be a beautiful princess though. I can't wait to see the pictures!

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