Jack Skellington and Sally Costumes

I didn't do a photo shoot of the progress of this costume. Here's how I made Jack Skellington's costume.

 

 

I purchased a black jacket and pants at Goodwill. I taped off stripes with painters tape on the pants and jacket. It took a couple of cans of white spray paint to get it down. I waited for the paint to dry. It took about two days.
  I bought the skeleton hands and I made the bow tie. Here's a link for the bow tie including the pattern to cut it out here

Sally costume was time consuming with sewing fabric quarters together. It is a little big here because my Sally costume had to be able to accommodate layering. It's cold here in Maine. Anyway, the pattern I used was Simplicity 3833

 

Here are the costumes.

 

 

Simplicity now sells a pattern to make Jack Skellington's outfit.
It is Simplicity 1039

Dracula Van Helsing Costume

I made this outfit for my middle son back in 2008. I wrote some of it up  but not a detailed link.
I don't remember the coat pattern or the shirt pattern but I'm sure they are no longer available so I will put up some alternatives.

A pattern like Simplicity 4762 would be great for the vest. Instead of buttons just replace it with frog closures like the movie.

A great site to learn to make your own is here

I've had these frog closures already so I just added them. They were in blue instead of black but I was in a hurry to finish this so I used what I had.

I don't remember what pattern I used for the shirt. I didn't make a full collar, I used a mandarin collar.
You could  use any shirt pattern and don't make a full collar. I used satin fabric but any black fabric would do.

I also made the coat. I don't remember what pattern I used. I bought my fabric at a discount store including the fleece lining inside. My son used it after for winter since it was warm. The frog closures I made myself and they were time consuming but it came out close enough.

The finally look of the jacket

This picture is with the shirt and vest inside of it.

This coat pattern from Simplicity 2333 could be used for the coat with a little modification.

Here is my son in his costume. I bought the boots and pants at Goodwill.

Sewing Room Organization Part 6-Organize Crochet Hooks

There are many ways of organizing your crochet hooks. As you can see from the photo above I have one in a glass container all bunch up together. This front container has all the crochet hooks labeled with the size because they are small and hard to see what size they are.

I used a glass jar and the hubby drill holes in the lid. I then spray painted white and marked the size on the lids. It is so much easier to see what size I need.

Here are some other ways to organize your crochet hooks.

From Yarnacles make this cover here

How to make this caddy here

To buy one of these here

From Polka dot Cottage she explains how she organize her hooks using toilet paper rolls here

From Auntie Em's Studio here- she also shows her studio.

UPDATE HERE:
https://erikaschiquis.blogspot.com/2018/11/diy-crochet-hook-organizer.html

Riddler Costume

This is Frank Gorshin as the Riddler in the 60's T.V. show.(He was absolutely awesome as the Riddler). I love the suit and thought of making it for either one of my kiddos or the hubby for a Halloween costume. I love the vest as I can also use it for the Joker costume that I have already made. It looks like there are no question marks on the vest.

The shirt and tie can be bought and just add the question mark. Same with the Hat. The jacket and pants can also be bought or made. I'll see if I ever do this costume.

Here are some cosplay costumes

Info here about the costume

More info -here

Ribbons Barrettes for Cystic Fibrosis

This is 10 year old Emily. She makes ribbon barrettes to raise money for cystic fibrosis. She has her own website for orders and all proceeds are donated to the cystic fibrosis foundation.

Her website is
http://ribbonbarrettes.com/

This is why she does it.

Please visit her website.

Veterans Day

Thank you to all who have served and are currently serving and their families.

Wario, Mario, Walugi and Lugi Nintendo Costumes

I've made these costumes a few years back for my middle son who loves these characters. Also, when I made these there was no pattern or costumes sold for these as they are now.

Here is how I did each of these costumes. The hat was the most difficult because of the heavy interfacing. I used an old Sew Baby Newsboy hat pattern that went from infant to adult and I still have it but they no longer sell it. You can buy a pattern for a newsboy hat almost anywhere now.
Here is one
From Whitney Sews a free pattern here

The interfacing for the hat brim is this kind

From Sew Mama Sew -she tells you what needle to use and other useful information -here
You can also use felt to make the logos and either glue them on or sew them on.
I have link on the bottom to print out logos if you want to do it that way.

The shirt can be any long sleeve knit shirt that you can get at most clothing stores. You can also make your own.
Like this pajama pattern from Simplicity 1505

The overalls could be bought too or you could also make them. I made mine because it is hard to find the Nintendo colors. I made these out of flannel but you could make them from cotton, denim, corduroy, or any other heavier fabric. Depends on how heavy you want it.

Here's a pattern for overall from Burda 9464

I didn't spend to much time on shoes but you could cover a pair of shoes to match your character.
From About Home there is a tutorial on how to cover shoes here

One last thing. The mustache! You can always pencil it on or could buy it. You could also make it.

From 5 Orange Potatoes-pattern here  for the mustache

Last gloves.
I bought the dollar store knit gloves. You could also buy ones specific for the costume but as long as they are white.

These are the cartoon ones sold at Halloween stores and cost between 7-10 dollars compared to a dollar above.
Enjoy making your costume.

Sewing Room Organization Part 5-Sewing Machine Feet Organization

I found this glass display box at Goodwill. This was perfect for storing my sewing machine feet.
All of the feet have a picture photo behind it to name the foot. It is also color coded for which sewing machine it is used for.



I found this video on pinterest by Cynthia Dickerson on how to organize your sewing machine feet.

This Creative Journey has a small tutorial on how she organized her here

Kreations by Julz shows you how she organized hers here

From Sew What's New information here

The Domestic Diva has a whole organization for your sewing including notions right here

Halloween Costumes Toy Story's Woody and Jessie Part 4

 

 

 

This is where I started on the cuffs for the sleeves. I used thicker interfacing on this yellow fat quarter. Then I used red trim and sewed it on. This has two layers.

I sewed it on the cuff on the edge. So for any reason this shirt could be taken apart and used again as a white shirt.

I had some white buttons that I added to the cuff and then made a button hole for the cuff. So it works along with the sleeve underneath it.

As you can see here how I sewed it to the edge of the shirt sleeve.

This is the parts for the front of the shirt. I was going to heat bond it but ended up sewing it on instead.

I did the same thing with the collar fronts like the cuff using a heavy interfacing iron on and then added the trim.

I sewed up the edges so all I had to do was sew it on the shirt.

It came out a bit uneven but at 1:00  in the morning I didn't care anymore.

This is the finished shirt.

Jessie's hat. I bought a black kid's hat at Goodwill. I had to paint it red with spray paint. I let it dry for a day. Then I sewed the ends up with cotton yarn and added the middle part with some trim. I have all this stuff in my supplies so I didn't have to buy anything for this except the paint.