Halloween 2017: The Boy

It's my favorite time of year!  There are sewing droughts in my life, fuh shizzle, but Halloween always ends them.  No matter my mood, I always make time for Halloween sewing. It's when I get to let loose, throw guidelines out the window and make what I want!  So naturally this year, my son who is always opinionated, decided to tighten the reigns a little MORE than usual and give me a VERY specific list of what he wanted.  Goodbye, joy.  Hello chores.  BOOOOO.  His very first demand...the subject matter.  So here he is, the monster.

I used McCalls 6628 and really didn't have to CHANGE anything.  He picked his options and I took it from there.  One eyed, blue, green and white monster with horns,a spiky tail, polka dots, and a tummy spot.  And there you have it!

Every day I'd get a "Are you done with my costume yet?" or the "You should sew my costume."  Such a demanding customer.  Luckily for him, he's cute.

The claws, horns and eyeball are his favorite parts...and they had better be.  I had to hand stitch those little assholes on.  But they're great for "scaring" the dog, he says.  So far, the dog just chases him around trying to eat his tail and feet. I don't think she's scared. 

Even though, I couldn't be creative, I must say that I'm glad he chose a cute costume.  I know the days of adorable costumes is coming to an end and soon he'll want some sort of mega zombie vampire costume. I'm savoring the "little" boy stage.  Even with all of the hand-stitching and fur up my nose, ears and other various body holes, I did enjoy the process a little.  And of course, I enjoy the look on the little turd's face.

Happy Halloween, Yall!

-Crystal-

Halloween 2016: The boy

This is a few days late...Oops!  Oh well! Halloween was a blast and my kids got lots of candy.  I'd like to think that's because they looked so cute.  I've already shipped the chocolate off to work with my husband so I don't get fatter because DAMN.  Anyway, I spotlighted my daughter's costume a few days ago and now it's my son's turn!  He was SUPER on point this year.  He knew what he wanted and made darn sure it was exactly what he wanted no matter how many details he had to add along the way. He's such a turd nugget.  Here's my little Horsey!

The details that he was INSISTENT on were as follows:

White Horse
Brown Hair

Hooves

Brown Belly (last minute addition)

What you have to understand here is that this was the most random thing he could have asked for.  We are not horse people.  He does not have any horse toys.  We don't watch horse shows.  We live in the city.  I don't understand.  But I guess my job isn't to understand- its to sew.  So I had to just accept my task and move the hell on.  Haha!

The bodysuit is a Jalie footed pajamas pattern.  I added a hood and the mane and tail.  The mane was made with chunky yarn pulled apart to make that lovely crimped and fabulous coif.  The tail was the same.  And its has quite the swish...

"Shake Your Booty" was indeed being sung here.

The mask is by one of my favorite pattern designers, Oxeye Daisey on Etsy.  Her patterns are fantastic.  I used her dragon mask pattern last year for the boy's costume.  They are the perfect finishing touch for any costume and they for sure turn heads.  LOVE HER!!!  

The hooves are just some felt sewn up...stray threads not included.  Seriously those threads in that picture make me twitch.  GAH.  Speaking of things that make me twitch...the addition of that belly after the whole body suit was sewn up really threw off my white zipper choice.  It's fine.  It's fine. No really, it's fine.  I'm still not actually convinced it's fine. TWITCH.  But he loved it.  I mean, look at this face..

Also, in case you were wondering, this horse costume has the ability to turn the wearer into an Earth bender...apparently

I hope you all had a great Halloween!  If you're anything like me, you're looking forward to next year's costumes while getting the Christmas tree out and listening to Christmas carols.  Only a few months to get that Christmas sewing done!

Stop Horsin' around y'all!

-Crystal-  

Halloween 2016: The Girl

Well, Halloween is pretty much here and I just got done with costumes!  Cutting it close, but at least I'm done before they go around the neighborhood begging for candy from strangers.  This year my kids were very specific and particular about what they wanted to be, which totally bummed me out because I had my own idea.  But Noooooooo.  They weren't having any of my brilliance.  So here I am, a slave to my children once again.  But at least they're happy....blah blah blah.  First up is the costume my girl picked. Hold your breath!

This little munchkin LOVES Monster High and I'm not even gonna pretend like I don't love it too.  I pretty much figured she'd pick her favorite character, Cleo Denile, but she surprised me with wanting to be MY favorite character.  I offered her chances to change her mind many times, but nope!  Lagoona Blue was THE costume.  And boy is she happy!

Lagoona has a really cool look with the fins and sparkle and scales.  And she's from Dee-yown Unduh as a salt water monster.  (Did you say that like Steve Irwin?  Do it). We'll add some blue to her hair for Halloween, but it would just be too messy before then.  Also, Lagoona likes to wear platform flip flops, but my 7 year old does not need platform anything.  Her Monster High tennies and striped socks work much better for trick or treating!

Halloween is the ONLY time this child is EVER allowed to wear makeup, so she is just soaking it up while I cringe a little.  This too shall pass.  This too shall pass.  

The patterns I used for this were the Ballet Basics From Jalie Patterns for her leotard, Dana Made It's Shorts pattern, and the vest was a heavily modified frankenpattern experience.  I made the head fins and the leg fins out of craft foam, glue, and GLITTER.  I flipping love glitter.  They're sort of flopping around all crazy like, but at this point, I'm just glad she has fins.  Technically, she's supposed to have arm fins as well, but to be quite frank, I just didn't effing want to do them.  I have done enough. I shall be compensated no doubt in the form of chocolate candies, But I will subtract a twix for the missing fins.  Never let it be said that I am unfair.

Well, that's it.  I hate for Halloween to be over.  It's my favorite holiday!  Halloween is my favorite time to sew bar-none 100%  FO SHO.  There's just so much creativity to be had.  I'll have the boy's costume up soon.  He was a weirdo this year...you'll see.

Happy Halloween,Ya'll!

-Crystal-

Halloween 2015: Crystal Part 2

My second costume of the year is for my girl!  She's always so fun to sew for, so I couldn't wait to hear her idea.  Then she said the last princess I wanted to make: Snow White.  Now, I love Snow White...I'm just bored by her dress.  It's fine. It really is.  I just like a lot more fluff than that.  I couldn't convince her of anything else, so I decided to re-work it.  When I was finished I asked her "Do you love your princess dress?" to which she replied "Uh, No."  I could have died, but then she said "I'm a QUEEN!"  And she wouldn't take it off...so I live to sew another day. Well, here she is, my Queen Snow White.

 

Like most things I make, no one pattern really did it for me. I like to combine elements to make something my own...which takes a lot of time and I end up hating myself.  Luckily, I've been missing my machine, so even though the changes meant added time, I enjoyed myself.  No one likes a grumpy Crystal, so everyone wins this time.

 

 

The majority of the costume came from McCalls 7212-  The underdress and overdress were both made from this.  But I made the underdress sleeveless and put the sleeves on the overdress because I thought it had a better flow and would be easier to wear.  I added the faux paned sleeve to make it look like Snow White since that was who I was supposed to be making...Uh DUH. 

 

 

The lower sleeve I made using Simplicity 4944.  I purchased a whole pattern for the sleeves.  Thank goodness Halloween is my husband's favorite holiday, too; it validates my spending on this.  I used a pretty, soft stretch lace because I wanted a really nice drape. It looks great and is super comfy for my sensory sensitive girl.

 

 

 

For the collar, I used Simplicity 2817.  Yep!  I bought a pattern for the collar.  Now the original pattern had a collar, but I didn't like it :::SIGH::: I'm like a toddler at mealtime sometimes.  I LOVED the fact that the collar was removable!  So what did I do?  I attached it anyway, because I ended up liking that better.  I HAVE ISSUES.

 

 

The accessories are just as important as the costume here...wait, no they're not, BAHA!  I'm so funny.  But they really did finish off the costume.  I purchased the apple brooch on etsy and the black snood and flower tiara at the local renaissance fair.

 

 

Overall my daughter got the Disney character she was looking for and I got to have fun designing and creating.  WINNING!

 

 

 

 

 

Now all princesses Queens have to have a little fun, so here are the sillies and giggles.

 

 

 

Happy Halloween you guys!  I have been loving all of the costumes I've been seeing and reading about on people's blogs.  This is seriously my favorite time of year.  Just remember look out for poisoned apples (even the photoshopped ones because you forgot to bring the one you bought with you).

 

 

 

-Crystal-

 

 

 

Halloween 2015: Crystal Part 1

I haven't blogged since June because there's a LOT going on in my home, but there's nothing like Halloween to get me out of the cave I live in. This year's costumes were just sooooo much fun to make.  Both kids had actual opinions about what they wanted to be.  Usually, my son ends up being his sister's costume sidekick (Anna, The White Rabbit, Twink from Rainbow Brite) but this year he wanted his own thing.  I gave him the freedom to pick whatever he wanted and I happily accepted the challenge he gave me: A dragon!  Actually, he requested "A dragon RAWR that's green". 

 

I started with the bodysuit.  I used Jalie pattern 3135.  It was a surprisingly easy sew!  I measured my guy's torso before I started though, because he's cursed with his mommy's long torso.  At 3 years old, I had to add 3" and really could have added another.  CRAZY LONG CHILD! There's a crotch gusset thing (back with my technical terms you all love) was great for movement, but was VERY uncomfortable for him.  I had to sew the seams down to add comfort.  After I did that, he loved it. 

 

His Mask was made using this Dragon mask pattern from Oxeye Daisey patterns.  Her patterns are SO COOL and she is incredibly sweet. Buy all of her patterns.  Seriously.  Go do it.  Anyway, I covered my felt with the scales fabric in order to keep it cohesive, so that added way more time to the project. But it was so incredibly worth it. I also used glitter foam and glitter sheets instead of felt...so more layers...so more time...and more blisters. 

 

 

The Tail, gloves, wings, and breast plate were my own creations.  I won't be doing a tutorial because I will never make them again.  Nopety nope nope nope.  They weren't hard, but they took forever and I got blisters on my fingers from all of the hand-stitching.  My hands aren't dainty anymore!  What the crap?!?!  I need my dainty hands!  They're the only dainty thing I have....er...had.

 

 

Also...yes, my son is covered in glitter.  But it's manly glitter.  And if you're my child, there will be glitter. 

 

Have a spooky Halloween and make sure to check in soon for my girl's costume!

 

-Crystal-

 

 

 

Pattern Review Halloween Style: My Little Plumcake- Cordelia

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday.  I love dressing up and getting my kids dressed up and begging for candy.  I've always made our costumes, but since learning how to sew, things have gotten much more epic.  Aurelia and Obren's main costumes this year are the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit, respectively and can be seen here.  Well, she has a school parade and gets to wear a costume to school.  Here's the deal; I don't want her messing up her pretty dress.  She's crazy.  She is so crazy wild that I've already had to replace her new shirts that I bought at the beginning of the school year at the end of August.  She only goes to school 4 days a week and only  2 hours a day, so it takes some massive skill to ruin things that quickly.  I needed her to be able to be involved in the festivities, while still being in a costume that would allow her to be a crazy kid.  This is what I came up with:

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Flintstones!  Meet the Flintstones... well just Pebbles and Bam Bamm.  Mr. Viever was a party pooper this year and said he didn't want to dress up so no Fred and Wilma.  This is also the first year that I have made the kids’ costumes so I wanted to do something relatively simple, fun, and themed!

Small FRY-Day Spotlight: Cautiously Crafty

It's small FRY-day and our last of the month! We've had some amazing talent showcased and we have one more!  Today we're featuring Paige  with Cautiously Crafty.  She's got some awesome inspiration for ya!  Also, at the end of this post, we're having a linky party!  Everyone link up YOUR favorite homemade Halloween costume...the one you're most proud of.  This is just for fun and I LOVE costumes, so you can bet I'll be checking out every.single.one!  Ok, now to Paige!

-Crystal-
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Small FRY-day Spotlight: Diedelbug Handmade

It's our second Small Fry-day Spotlight of the month (and of "ever") and this one is going to knock your socks off, too! I'm telling you, there is some rockin' talent out there. This week we have Erin from Diedelbug Handmade showing off her "super" costumes that are guaranteed to turn you into a mega villain named Jealous Man.  She was even nice enough to share some how-to secrets with you.  Grab some candy corn and read on!  Also if you missed last week's Small Fry-day Spotlight, you can check that out here.  Thank you, Erin for joining us this week!

-Crystal-
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Well first off let me introduce myself. I’m Erin, the craftermind (inset evil laugh, well maybe it’s more of a cackle hehe) behind Diedelbug Handmade. I’ve just started to sell handbags but I mostly sew for my little monsters, umm I mean angels, 2 and 4 year old boys. Need I say more?  They’ve reached the constant picking and bickering stage. More recently I’ve started to dabble into sewing actual wearable clothes for me. I can only use so many bags you know? Ok, enough about me and back to the “angels.” The boys FINALLY decided what they each wanted to be for Halloween. I have to start asking in August because they change their minds daily. Who am I kidding? More like hourly. At one point I was going to have to come up with Optimus Prime. Really? I had no idea how I was going to make that happen for a 2 year old. Whew!

Last year Zander, my oldest, went as the Incredible Hulk, complete with crazy Hulk hair.

Small FRY-day Spotlight: Life of a Compulsive Crafter

Crystal here!  It's October and that means Halloween!  We have decided to spotlight a "Small Fry" a week because we're all small fries too and want to see what you can do. We're spooking things up for the next 4 weeks to fit this haunt-a-licious time of year and we have some great posts coming your way from crafters just like you and me and the other SHEs.  Featured this week in our FIRST EVER "Small Fry-day" spotlight is Mae from Life of a Compulsive Crafter .  She's going to share her super fun and wild Halloween costume suitable for the at-home crafter.  Enjoy!  I know that I did!