Here is Lucy in her princess costume. Somehow the skirt got flatter with wearing (not poofy enough). I guess I'll have to make a petticoat of some sort if poofiness is necessary. Anyway, to review... I used Burda envelope pattern number 9702 and then modified the neckline to suit Lucy's design by using Burda magazine pattern 07-2009-139.
I added a layer of the sparkly sheer fabric (polyester organza?) over the sleeves and the skirt. I have come to loathe gathering fabric, so I pleated the skirt. Now that I think about it, this may have contributed to the lack of poof. I changed the button up back to a standard zippered back. I made the waist tie twice as wide and much longer. I also doubled it so that it looked the same on both sides (no hemming the long sides). Unfortunately, I used entirely the wrong fabric for the waist tie. It was something found in the fabric stash. It was too heavy and drapey. It made a floppy bow with a thick, loose knot. Bleh. I should've used a stiff, thin fabric for a showy bow.
But, all in all, and thanks to this last year's experience at sewing garments, this was pretty easy and uncomplicated.
Here is Clara roaring in the lion costume I made for Lucy two years ago. Bless her for wanting to wear a costume already in the closet. She was so funny. She would walk up to a house say trick or treat in her tiny voice and then mildly roar at the person.
And here is the collage for the Design-From-Scratch R2D2 costume. It could have used a bit more embellishment on the arms, but by the time was doing them, I ran out of steam. I found the instructions for drafting and sewing a sphere out of fabric here, so I simply cut the pattern piece I drafted in half. I felt that six pieces wear still too much for Peter's head and R2D2 has a bit more of a dome with straight sides and half a sphere on top. I removed one piece and all was resolved.
The hologram projectors are rectangles of vinyl that I sewed into a tube and then folded over on itself (wrong sides together). I drew a circle on the vinyl dome and cut it open. I then snipped the raw edges of the projector tube all around to make little flaps that could be tucked between the vinyl and the polar fleece and hot glued in place.
The front of the costume attempts to approximate the R2D2's actual front. The back does not. I had to account for the opening down the back. The arms are made of milk cartons duct taped together to make a hinge and then covered in vinyl.
The resulting costume looked cool, but was not appropriate to wear to school (he couldn't sit in it or move his arms terribly well). And hot glue is by no means a permanent method of attaching vinyl to vinyl. There was a fair bit of re-gluing that had to happen before Halloween night.
Here is the candy haul. We have decided to allow the kids to binge on as much candy as they can eat the night of Halloween. Then all of the candy goes into a common bucket that all of us can eat out of occasionally. We don't often have candy and I can't stand being the monitor over whose candy is whose and who has eaten that day's allotment of candy, etc. And, this way they get to experience being excessive in a fairly safe manner. We think this is good practice for getting to know your limits.No one got sick, although Peter might have kept going, but we cut him off after about an hour. I think he was actually hitting his limit about then, but he wouldn't admit to it.
I am glad that Halloween is over for the year. I have been busy tracing out a bajillion patterns that I want to sew... eventually. The next big thing is pulling it all together for the All Handmade Sale.
