Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Finished Bat Girl Costume!

Finished Bat Girl!
 Made the Hood - $0  DIY post
Made the Mask - $.50 DIY post
Made the belt (which you can't really see) - $0 DIY post
 Had the shirt
Had the Skirt
Made the gloves out of scraps - $0 DIY post
Made the cape - $0 DIY post
 Bought the leggings (which you cant really see) - $4

Total spent on this costume $4.50 :)

Mini Mouse Hair

So as I've been on the internet today, I've found some neat halloween stuff. Here I found a tutorial on how to make your hair look like Mini Mouse Ears. AMAZING! Have fun!


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Homemade Lederhosen with out a pattern

I just wanted an excuse to carry around one of my instruments this Halloween, so I decided to make Lederhosen and go as a member of a polka band. 

No pattern? No problem!

Took my favorite pair of shorts that fit me really well and turned them inside out. Stuffing one leg inside the other.

I tapered the legs a bit cause I wanted them slightly more fitted. Also made them plenty long on the bottom so I could have a 2 inch cuff below the knee

Cut 2 front and 2 back. leaving room for a seem allowance. 

NOTE: Always cut BIG. You can trim it down later if you need to, but you can't always add fabric

 Sew the legs together by sewing one front to one back with right sides together. (you can tell the front from the back cause the back piece will have a deeper curve for the crotch piece. Or you can make them uniform...it's just a costume after all :)
 I cut mien too small. I could put them on, but they were SUPER tight, so I added a 2 inch strip down the out side. Which I ended up liking better anyway. :)
 Now turn one leg right side out and one inside out. Stuff the right side out leg into the inside out leg. 
 Line of the crotch pieces and pin together starting with the middle first so your in seems line up
 Since I cut them straight at the top and a waist line is curved, I put them on and folded over where I wanted the waist band to go. Pined it down and then cut along the fold. 
 To make them more fitted and less like sweat pants I put them on inside out and marked where I wanted the darts in the back (which by the way is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to do by your self). I I got a general idea of shape, placement, and size by looking in the mirror and then just eye balled it. 
I looked adn measured before I sewed to make sure the darts were straight and centered. And I got it just right. Whew!

Then I moved on to the embroidery. My mom has an Embroidery machine, so my plan was to go over and use it. Well....plans changed, she has been sewing like crazy getting ready for a wedding, so I had to go another route.

I drew up what I wanted it to look like with the help of Google Image search
 Then cut out around the shaped and traced them with a pen on my fabric, then I just filled in the lines when I took the paper off free hand. 
 Then I put in some nice orange thread and just sewed over the lines I had drawn...making it up as I go at some points :)


 Then I put the arrow shaped ones on the pants to mark where I needed to cut

 Right sides together I sewed the back on the arrow parts, then turned them right side out and dud a top stitch all the way around
 Did the same with the rectangle piece, but I left the bottom open so I could sew the arrow pieces into it. 
 Then I had to zig-zag stitch all around the waist and fly to keep it from unraveling, and added the waist band. It was just a long strip the length of my waist and about 4 1/2 inches wide. Then I put a top stitch on for decoration and to hold everything down. 
 Place the arrow pieces on and sew them toe the flap of the fly
 Then I did a totally unnecessary decorative stitch to accent it
 Slip the arrow pieces in the rectangle piece and sew them together with a top stitch going across the bottom of the rectangle. 

I added the suspenders next, making sure they were loose enough so I could bend over. I sewed them on, then added the buttons. Only one is actually useful  the one on the waist band. All 12 of the others are purely decoration. And with 13 buttons I'm SO glad I learned how to do it on my Machine. If you haven't done it yet, pull out your manual and try it! It's SO easy and saved so much time. 

I ended up using velcro to keep the fly up cause I sewed the button holes in too high, but it works great. 
 See, the buttons totally make this costume.
 Lederhosen has buckles on the straps. I didn't have buckles but I did have some D loops that fit, so I threw them on  just for kicks. 

NOTE: I don't ever throw a bag or belt away with out first ganking off all the straps buckles hooks or any other hard ware I can find. It comes in handy!
...now I just need to learn how to yodel...

Home Made Darth Vader Costume

FINISHED DARTH VADER! 


 Down to the LAST detail...well ok, except his light saber is the wrong color. (click to see labels)

Made the Helmet-$4  DIY post
Made the Mask -$4   DIY post
Made the cape-$0   DIY post
Made the Shoulder Armor -$0   DIY post
Made the vest -$0   DIY post
Painted the Shirt (got it from a thrift store) - $2  DIY post
Made the Belt - $0   DIY post
Made the Cod Piece - $0
Bought the Gloves - $0.50
Bought the pants at a thrift store - $2
Bought the shin guards at a thrift store - $2  DIY post
Had the shoes :)
Had the Light Saber :)

TOTAL COST---$12.50!!!
For the COOLEST Vader costume. :) (if I do say so my self)

 See how handy the sunglasses mask is?!? It just comes right off as soon as he is done with it (which is fairly quickly)






I'm doing a nerdy Happy Dance right now cause I'm so exited at how good it turned out. :)

Easy no sew cape (takes 30 sec)


All you need is an old adult size shirt and a pair of scissors

You can use the front of back for the cape. The side that you want for the cape cut as you see the red lines, then flip the t shirt over and cut around the collar like the blue line


And there you have it! Easiest cape ever. My kids play with these ALL the time. 


Totall Cost--FREE. Who doesn't have an old t shirt laying around?


If both sides have print you can turn it inside out. 

Monday, October 22, 2012

Bat Girl Mask

We recently discovered the awesomeness of foam. Did you know that if you heat foam you can mold it and it will hold the shape?!?!
Bat Girl wanted a hood with ears like Batman, but she also wanted a cool mask. The Masks at the store have ears on them, but it was only $3, so we got it anyway. Mostly cause I wanted to try this. :)

Regular piece of craft foam

Apply heat. We used a heat gun, cause Marisa is AWESOME and just happened to have one. But I have also done this over a burner on the stove. Set the heat to med-low or med. When the burner is hot hold the piece of foam about 6 inches over the burner. When the foam goes limp it's ready to mold. It's hot, but not hot enough to burn you. You can put it on your skin if you want to mold it to a specific part of you. (but I don't suggest putting it on a child's skin)
This is the mask I used as a mold
I learned it's easier to cut teh foam down to size before you heat and mold it. I didn't get a smooth edge cause I had too much excess. 

You can see I just pressed it down and used my fingers to get it into the crevasses (it's really a 2 handed operation)
After it cooled (about 15 secs) This is what it looked like!

I also took a black ball point pen and drew some crease lines on the forehead. Gives it extra depth. :)
I didn't trim up the edges cause I wasn't  sure how I wanted to do the nose, but I ended up just cutting it straight across the bottom. 

Now use a glue water mix. I do roughly 3 parts glue to 1 part water. But I NEVER measure. I just pour some in till the glue is about the consistency of egg nog, or slightly thinner.  Paint it on the out side to seal the foam. 
When the out side dries turn it around and to a layer of glue water, then a layer of fabric strips, and then another layer of glue water on top. This keeps it stiff  and helps it hold it's shape.  (I found out that it's easier to cut teh eye holes BEFORE the glue and fabric. So trim it FIRST)

 This is what it looks like dry and trimmed. Pretty awesome huh!
 Then I just sewed a strap of elastic to the back


 And the mask is done. Just think what else you can do with foam!!

Now we have a formed black mask for the costume box. Zoro, Dread Pirate Roberts, super hero, villain  we can use this for a number of things. 
We have plans for storm trooper armor some time in the future with this technique. :) Seriously, now cool would THAT be?!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Crafting Supplies

Hey everyone! Don't forget to visit the JoAnn website and claim your 50% off coupon for any item! This is a great store for getting supplies for you DIY projects. Especially when it's 50% off! (click on the thin banner in the middle of the page)

Been a Little Busy

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been putting together a Baby shower. I want to post the neat decorations I've been doing...but the person I'm throwing the shower for reads my blog. So my lips are zipped until after the shower. And then I promise I'll have some neat things for all of you.