Captain America Shirt

Hooded Captain America Shirt.

Start by cutting out red and white strips of fabric (if you make them too wide, don't stress, just start over). Sew each strip of fabric in a red white red white pattern together.

Once they're sewn together, cut it into a mountain shape. Yeah you could go easy and make it straight...but it wouldn't look as much like the captain america in the movie. (but if the curve scares you, you can always skip this step.

 Now for the front of the shirt. Take a regular shirt that fits your kid and turn it inside out. Then lay it on your prefered fabric and fold in the sleeves so you can see the "outline" front piece. Cut your fabric around the shirt. (if it helps you can pin the shirt to the fabric like a pattern).

Now you lay your "mountain stripes" on the front of your cut out t shirt (remove the shirt you used as a pattern before this step), you can pin the stripes to the shirt to make them sit still, then cut off the bottom of your shirt to replace with the stripes. Now you just have to fold them together and sew them. EASY....maybe.

UH OH! The pieces don't just SEW together....hum. that takes some thinking..... Pin the middle of your stripes to the middle of your shirt. Now we can flip it over and work our way out.

Now pin the mountain corners . Tuck your blue fabric, but try not to make it tucked where you pin. you want this to look pretty much flat so just pull it tight while you pin it to the edges.

 Once the edges are pinned, sew carefully around your "mountain" taking out pins as you go. Go slow and turn your fabric as needed, and pull extra fabric away from the seams to keep it from puckering. If you're using an old t shirt you can skip this next part, but I used a sheet.....sheets unravel a lot, and quickly. So after you sew it, do a zigzag stitch on the edge to keep it from falling apart.

Now unfold it. WOW! that looks like the front of captain america's shirt....aren't you impressed?

Now take the shirt you were using for a pattern and put it on your blue fabric again. Fold the sleeves in again and cut out around it to make the back of your shirt. This time you don't have to cut off the bottom for the stripes. Now, put the outside of the pieces together so the seams will be on the inside of the shirt. Sew the shoulders together, and also sew just the straight part of the sides. **don't forget to back stitch at the beginning and the end of each seam** Now if using a fabric that unravels, do your zigzag stitch on the edges.    You should now have a sleeveless shirt when you turn it right side out. 

Next we make a hood (you can find instructions for that here) or you can skip. But in the movie...Captain America has a mask AND a hood underneath it. Just be sure if you skip the hood to zigzag/finish your edges on your neck hole. Have your child try on the shirt and the hood at the same time, mark with chalk, or straight pins (if your careful) where the shirt and the hood meet up on your child.

Once your hood is made turn it right side out. Turn your sleeveless shirt inside out.  Now, find the middle of the back of your hood by laying it flat, mark the middle with a straight pin. Find the middle of the back of your shirt as well (just fold it in half) and mark JUST THE BACK of the shirt with a straight pin. Then do the middle of the front of your shirt with another. Don't pin anything but your ONE piece of fabric that you're finding the middle of. Now, put your right side out hood upside down, in your inside out shirt, so the neck parts will sit together. Using your pins as a marker, pin the middle of the back of your hood to the middle of the back of your shirt. (Make sure you stay on your chalk/pinned line that you made earlier.) Pin your way around to the front making sure the middle of the front of the hood, meets up with the middle of the front of your shirt.

Picture of the hood and shirt sewn together.

Sew them together being careful not to sew on top of any other part of your shirt. Make your zigzag stitch around the edges to keep it from unraveling. Now turn it inside out and have your kid try it on. At this point...I was kind of regretting not using a fabric that stretched. My son couldn't get his head in his shirt, so I had to cut a line down the middle until he could fit through. Once I had the front cut I zigzaged the edges. I didn't bother turning in the raw edges. It's a costume, and looked fine with just a zigzag.

Sleeveless Hooded shirt. Now I was sad cause where the Captain America star is supposed to go, there is a great big slit. It's ok, I found a way to make it look right . But first, lets put the sleeves on the shirt.

If your pattern shirt has long sleeves just fold your fabric in half and put your sleeve on the fabric. Make sure you have the fold of your fabric where the fold of your sleeve is. Then cut it out. When you unfold your sleeve it should look like this. You will need two of these. If you don't have long sleeves on your "pattern shirt" no sweat. Just measure the length of your child's arm (from top of shoulder to wrist) and add a little extra for a seam allowance. 

Now my fabric had a soft side and a shinier side. I wanted the soft side on the inside. So make sure you always sew with you inside (the soft side) facing you. (unless told otherwise). Fold your sleeve in half with the soft side out, and sew up the long part of the arm. Make your zigzag stitch, then do the same to the other sleeve. **Don't forget to back stitch at the beginning and end of each seam** Turn your sleeves right side out. and once again, turn your shirt inside out. Pin the top of your sleeve to the top of the arm hole and work your way around. I would pin under the armpit last just in case you have to fold over the fabric to make it fit.

Sleeves sewed on. Inside out view.

Sew your arms on, being careful once again to keep the rest of your shirt out from under the presser foot. Do your zigzag stitch and turn the whole shirt right side out. It should be looking pretty awesome by now. Go ahead and finish off your sleeve edges and the bottom of your shirt with a zigzag stitch. Now for the star on the front.

Cut a star out of foam (or your fabric if you want, just make sure you finish the edges) and glue some velcro to the back. Sew on two squares of velcro on either side of your cut front of your shirt. (I just used velcro with adhesive on it, but beware when you sew it on with the adhesive it makes your needle sticky and might seize up your sewing machine) 

Now, velcro the star over top of your seam and TADA! Captain America at his finest.

I added an extra strip of blue fabric to the end of my sons shirt so it wouldn't com untucked while he was playing. Helps out tremendously.

Arrow Quiver from a Purse

Making a quiver out of an old purse.

First I started with a tube style purse like this. (thrift store $2)

Then I cut off the handles and take a sharpie marker to the pink stitching. (the inside was pink as well, so I turned the purse inside out and used black spray paint so my son wouldn't freak out about having a pink arrow holder)

Then I thieve the shoulder strap off an old duffle bag I got from the thrift store for 99 cents. If you want, find a duffle bag with an adjustable strap and sew that onto your quiver so it'll grow with your kid. **When cutting strapping make sure you melt the raw edges with a lighter so they don't come unraveled**

Attach the strap (so the strap falls off the bottom) first to the purse. Open the main zipper and lay the purse flat while using your sewing machine so you don't sew both sides together. 

What the inside of the newly sewn on strap looks like.

Then sew on the other end of the strap. You want your quiver to be straight up and down on your back so sew the next part of your strap on so the strap goes off the side of the purse. At this point I have cut a hole on the same side of the purse for the arrows to go in.

Now, if you want it to be a little more ridged you add a hard foam to the base and to the. top of the quiver. This is from a foam target. Roll it as tight as you can get it. Then stuff it in the bottom of your quiver. Hot glue will keep it in place but the bottom doesn't really need it.

Picture of the inside of the quiver with foam in it. Now do the same only add it to the top.

(I apologies for the lighting, I took this with a phone camera) The top foam will hold better if you glue it to the edges of the purse. I also found that if you have enough foam making a cinnamon roll shape for the top and then poking the arrows in between the foam will keep them standing upright.

You now have a place for those arrows to sit while you practice your archery.

Reversible Hulk Feet

Incredible Hulk Feet Shoe Covers. Sew Easy!

I made mine with a sleeping bag I found at a thrift store for $4, but you don't have to use a sleeping bag. Just make sure you have green fabric and tan fabric. Or two colors of your choice if you're not doing hulk. I started with a sleeping bag because I had already made pants and a hulk shirt from this same fabric.

Start by cutting out two "feet"shapes slightly bigger than your child's shoes. It's basically a square but the top of the feet are angled up toward the middle so where the big to will be is higher than where the pinky toe will be. Then cut a tear shape up the middle from the back. (note mine doesn't look like a tear shape because I was cutting through 4 layers of fabric at a time. This might have been easier if I would have not kept the seam from the sleeping bag, but I'm lazy and like having pre-made seams. It also helped hold my fabrics together.

Flip your fabric so you outsides are facing each other and your inside is facing out (or as anyone else but apparently me would call it, inside out). Those of you not making this out of a sleeping bag, just make sure you have your batting on the "outside" and your two different "feet" touching. In my case it was Hulk feet, big foot feet, and batting. Then pin your edges together.

Now, you need something to hold the hulk foot on your shoe. I used elastic from an old fitted sheet. (yay up cycling!) If you don't care about it being reversible, you can add it last. But it looks way nicer and you get two costumes for one if you add the elastic now. When it's stretched cut the elastic the same length as your feet are wide. Have your pieces pinned together, and between your two different colored feet, pin in your strip of elastic. (like my Halloween nails? Orange nail polish and after it dried I drew on the faces with permanent marker.)

The elastic will make your fabric pucker in the middle but that's not a problem because we're sewing the edges. Take your sewing machine and sew around the edges starting from the middle on the bottom, all the way around (making sure you get the elastic).

Turn your foot inside out so elastic is on the outside. See how nice the elastic looks! Now you need to hem up the middle of the foot where your "leg hole" will be. Turn your raw edges in and then pin them together. This was the hardest thing for me because the batting was really thick and I couldn't hardly get my presser foot to stay on the fabric. It might look better if you hand sew it...then again, it's probably just going to be under some pants. **Be careful to not sew your elastic into your leg hole hem.** Once you have the middle hemmed you should have kind of an upside down u shape.

Now take the bottom hems of your U shape (the red line) and put them flat together to make a foot hole. Sew together, being careful not to sew any other part of your foot.

Now it's time for the fun part. Stitching the toes. First mark where you want your stitches with straight pins. This way if you get the spacing off you can re mark them without having to take out a stitch. At the "joint" of where you toe and foot connect make a knot.

Then take your needle and thread and go around the outside of the foot and up through the underside back in the same spot where you put your first knot. This is a line that will separate your toes. Make it tight to give your toes a curved look on the front.

Once you finish threading your toes, you now have a completed pair of Hulk feet!

or big foot feet, or if you add some hair they could even be hobbit feet!

Props!

Doing costumes and need some neat props? Don't worry, you've got everything you need right at your fingertips. So get out those old soda bottles, sponge curlers, foam letters and any other kind of thing you can think of. I'm sure most of you have see the Soda bottle rocket pack. They take to soda bottles, paint them black or silver, and glue red and orange party paper to the openings. Glue the bottles together side by side, turn them upside down and attach strings for should straps. TADA! You now have a jet pack! But what else can you do with all that "junk?" Here's one thing I found I can make with random stuff in my house, prop guns!

looks like something I bought at the store? Nope this is a high fashion piece made out of an old food masher, foam blocks, mardi gras beads, a bottle cap, 2 clothes pins, sponge curlers, and a small thing of pvc pipe.

Now do you see it? Just make sure you use a very strong glue, HOT GLUE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH. Epoxy and super glue work pretty well. I started with a plastic food masher, that I never used, and then cut out a handle shape from those foam letter mats  (my boys had destroyed it so I figured I might as well use that) and glue them both together. Give the glue time to dry, then you can add some embellishments, that's what makes the gun look neat. I added a dissected clothes pin to the handle to give it more shape and the plastic part of sponge curlers to give some depth to the barrel of the gun. Glue on some mardi gras beads to the back to accent the but of the gun, and add a pvc pipe for a scope. My scope was kinda off so I used a piece of foam to lift it so it was level. Then I added as an after thought a sprite bottle cap to the back with super glue. Once the glue is dry, spray paint and enjoy! A water bottle/soda bottle would be a fun barrel to a gun as well. Just start with your barrel and then your handle then find random stuff in your house to accent it. twisty ties, broken toy pieces, the list goes on forever. Happy prop making!

Ariel yarn wig DIY

I just made this Ariel (<I don't know why that's a link...) wig for my Etsy shop. It was a custom order from someone who bought a Rapunzel wig last year. She didn't want it tied down so I had to do layers of hair instead of putting it all at the top. I was kind of making it up as I went. It was relatively easy, but kind of time consuming. I will see if I can come up with a faster way.

I bought a $1 beanie from wal mart that was red with blue stripes. I turned it inside out and it was solid red. I put it on the nearest child and with a red permanent marker I marked out where I wanted the layers of hair to go. Important step. Even if you don't mark them, make a mental note of how to put them on. 

Wrap the yarn around something close to the length or slightly longer then the total length you want the wig.

 Cut one side

 line up several strands

 Tape them together

 pin the tape to the hat where you want it. Start with the bottom layers and work your way up. 

 I used a zig zag stitch so it would have some flex to it and move better with the hat. 

 Then I trimmed the loops off, not a necessary step though

 I have gotten several rows on, I'm almost to the top. (I think I did 3 or 4 rows on each side. 

 Top view (you can see the red lines I drew)

 Before you add the top, make sure there are no bare spots. You may need to add more to cover the back.

Now for the top, after I cut the strands I laid them directly over the top straddling the hat. I worked them around till I got even coverage of the top then taped and pined them in place on either side of the part. Then just stitch down the middle

 Check and double check for pins before you put it on any ones head!
Then trim it up.

In retrospect I think I should have sewn the hook side of velcro to the had in various places and only done the top layer and then press it into the Velcro to hold it in place. That would have been SUPER fast. If  I try I will show you how it turns out. Cause I now have a little girl who thinks she needs an Ariel wig too. :)

Finished wig

 And back view

Total cost about $5 I used a little more than 2 skeins of yarn (which I think was a little much, I coudl have slimmed it down to 1)

Fixing broken mini blinds

In our housing community we HAVE to have mini blind on all the windows, and they CAN'T be broken. If they are broken they want you to replace them immediately. Well guess what... I have 3 YOUNG kids. They like to look out their windows, and they can't pull the strings to open the blinds so what do they do? They BEND them. You can only bend mini blinds so much before they break, thus resulting in an almost constant need to replace mini blinds in the house. 

So instead of buying a new set of blinds every 2 weeks, I kept one set of old broken ones and I just replace the slats when needed. Here, let me show you how. 

These are the broken blinds

There are little plastic buttons on the bottom of the blinds 

Use a flat head screw driver, or butter knife to pop out the one on either end. You can leave the one in the middle. 

Now pull out the string that runs through the middle, and untie the knot. If you can't untie the knot cut it as close as you can to the knot and burn the end so it doesn't unravel.

 Pull the string up through the blinds till you get to the top of the broken ones.

 Now pull the broken slats out the side

 Now just slide the new ones in, feed the string back through each slat down to the plastic bar on the bottom.  Tie a slip knot so the NEXT time you have to do this it will save you some time, and shove all the string back in the hole and snap the button back in. 

NOTE: mini blinds are not universal, make sure you get the same kind so the hols line up. Another option is to take the extra slats off the bottom  of the blinds, since they usually extend several inches below the window.