Halloween Bomber Jacket

I never even knew I like bomber jackets and now I'm obsessed. I'm always looking for new classes to teach, and when McCall's 7100 came out I thought it would be a good class. Something a little bit different, simple to put together and would be cute on a lot of different people and ages. My classes are usually filled with everyone from tiny 12 year olds to adults making their first big project. I didn't really consider this jacket to be for me but as soon as I made it up I was hooked. I felt instantly cool. BOMBER JACKETS FOR EVERYONE!

The greatest thing about this pattern is that it can be made out of all the fabrics. This is my second version, a Halloweenish Cotton and Steel from the Boo collection. The black sleeves and the bands are both a knit ponte. I was careful to make sure all the stripes matched up when I was cutting out.

 Since this pattern is cute in literally any fabric the possibilities are practically endless. I can have one for every holiday. It's cute over dresses too!  Tomorrow is Halloween so I will wear my spiderweb dress and this jacket and be double the me made holiday cuteness.  My class isn't until Decemeber so I am sure I will make some more before then.

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Super Stitcher: The Sewing Superhero!

I've always said sewing was a superpower, Its so inspiring to see what everyone in our sewing community is making, so I decided to make my Halloween costume just that, a sewing superhero! Meet Super Stitcher, she can solve any sewing problem! No pattern is too challenging for the Super Stitcher! She can sew anything and does it with speed, accuracy and pizzazz! She can make any garment cute! SHE'S SUPER STITCHER!

I started out with a simple dress out of this amazing fabric, that has every kind of crafty vocabulary. I then made the sewing machine burst on the chest out of felt and a square of sewing machine fabric I already had. I just pinned it in place so I can wear the dress after Halloween. Then I made my cape out of a yard of felt. I cut it into a cape shape and made the sewing machine for the center. Then I was inspired to write sewing terms in gold glitter, such as ZIG ZAG! RIP! BASTE! I stitched a piece of ribbon so it would tie around my neck. 

I needed something on my head and contemplated a mask, but the glasses would interfere. I happened to have this gold glitter headband and decided to glue thread, buttons and a tiny sewing machine as a topper. The wristbands are made from gold sparkle felt and I made tiny pin cushions to attach to them. My favorite thing is the tool belt. I used an old vinyl belt and attached sewing tools with elastic. 

Every superhero needs a sidekick, so I had to make my new puppy (sort of new) my trusty spool of thread. He's my favorite brand Mettler! I made the base of his costume with felt, and attached yarn in a crisscross pattern. Just like Mettler thread. He was ok with it, at first he just wanted to chew on it. 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

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Halloween Spiderweb Dress: McCalls 6887

Happy almost Halloween everyone! A few months ago, I made this Spiderweb dress for display at Fabricland. And now I finally get to wear it!

 It's McCall's 6687 view c, with the cap sleeves. This is one of those cup sized patterns, and I'm in love! I cut the d cup, and it fits perfectly with no alterations! OMG thank you McCall's. This is the perfect dress that can be made up in so many different prints. I'm already planning my next one. 

The bodice is a princess seamed, scoop neck. The scoop sits nice and flat, and not too low. The neckline I finished with some bias tape. The only trouble I had with the dress was attaching the skirt to the waist. The skirt is six panels, that make it very swirly, but the skirt was way too big for the waist and needed to be eased ALOT. something is defiantly wrong, I checked the pattern several times and I used all the right pieces. Oh well 

The belt buckle is something we have at Fabricland. It's from dritz, and I attached it to a piece of purple elastic. Super cute, little bow made from metal and resin. 

                             

                                 

You may have also seen this fabric on a dress from Modcloth. It's the same exact print. The fabric is a quilt weight cotton from timeless treasures. I made my dress weeks before they put it on Modcloth, so I like to think BITCH STOLE MY LOOK! Haha. I'm also not sure why a strapless Halloween dress is smart. 

I even made a spiderweb barrette to wear with it! It took me about 3 minutes this morning. I just used hot glue. I'll be wearing my costume to work tomorrow for the Halloween contest and this dress on Halloween!

Are you getting dressed up? Did you make a costume? Can't wait to show my costume to you all! 

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11 Insanely Cute DIY Halloween Costumes

Make sure to check out Buzzfeed's list of 11 Insanely Cute DIY Halloween Costumes. My vintage pattern costume from last year is number 11! Well, I'm off to work on this years costume!

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I'm a Winner!

My Halloween costume was voted most creative costume in the 2013 Threads Magazine Halloween Costume Contest! Thanks to anyone that voted, and congrats to everyone that entered!

Here's what I won: a Threads prize package including Threads Fitting DVD Series, Sewing Made Simple, Threads Fitting for Every Figure, and Couture Sewing Techniques DVD. I luckily don't have any of these Threads items, and am very excited to learn some new techniques. 

Thanks Threads! 

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Halloween Costume: Vintage McCalls Pattern

My Aunt did my hair from 1962

Finally I can reveal what I've been working on. My Halloween costume; I'm McCall's 6351! I wanted to do something sewing related this year, and was thinking of things to do, maybe a pin cushion, maybe some ric rac, and then boom I'M GOING TO BE A SEWING PATTERN!

I quickly ran to my pattern stash and picked this one McCall's 6351 from 1962, I knew Fabricland had the most perfect wool polka dot crepe I have been eyeing up. Halloween costume and cute new dress afterwards..yes please. 

Source

 My husband made the frame for the pattern from lightweight plastic pipes from Home Depot and then reinforced it with wooden dowels. The pipes were about 5 dollars total. I got some super cheap white fabric from Fabricland, and cut out pieces for the front and back. Then I just wrote all of the requirements and pattern pieces on the back, and McCall's on the front. I sewed some webbing in the middle of the front piece so I could strap it to my back. Then I sewed the two pieces together like a pillowcase, leaving the bottom open and I tied it shut. 

I wore the costume to work one day and then to the Halloween Parade yesterday. Everyone kept asking if this was the dress. Yes, of course I made the dress! I'm view A, the slim skirt. My aunt teased the crap out of my hair for the parade yesterday, I looked like a character out of Hairspray, it was hilarious. 

 Happy Halloween! I will post more about the actual dress tomorrow.

What are you doing for Halloween?

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8 Easy Halloween Costumes

The great thing about sewing your own clothes is the excess of awesome things to wear. This October at work we were encouraged to wear a costume to get everyone into the Halloween spirit. I took this challenge as well as one upped it. I wanted to see how I could make the things I made, and the accessories I already had into some costumes. 

The one thing I bought this halloween was this amazing wig, it's Chris March from Target. I loved his designs as well as his show "Mad Fashion".  I added it to my ric rac dress and viola, I was channeling Miss Yvonne from Pee Wee's Playhouse.

This was a fun one.. curlers in the hair, vintage looking shirtdress, petticoat and apron, makes an easy vintage housewife. 

I wore this earlier in the month when it was a little bit warmer. This is the Ceylon dress, from Colette patterns made in blue gingham. Red shoes and a basket, easy to be Dorothy. I even had a dog bracelet as Toto.

 My Dad's old old denim shirt, wideleg jeans, saddle shoes and wrapped my hair in a red polka dot remnant, Rosie the Rivetor. This was a great costume, because I had a lot of work to do that day and was running around like a mad woman. 

 One of my idols....Miss Piggy. I already had the tail and ears, just add pink! The dress was a vintage pattern I had from last year. 

I wore this one, and no one really realized I was in costume. Obviously I was channelling Joan from Mad Men. I raided my mom's old Joan Rivers jewelry from the 80s (clip on earrings) and wore my purple wiggle dress. 

 Off the shoulder black top, cigarette pants (collette patterns clover pants) and leather jacket, makes a quick costume. But beware when dressing like Sandy from Grease, certains songs will play over and over in your head all day.... whoo ooo ooooo

 Yes I had a Carmen Miranda headpiece in my collection, doesn't everyone? My tropical sundress, plus a ton of jewelry, makes a fun costume. Halloween is all about accessorizing so pile on that jewelry!

So stay tuned this week for my actual Halloween costume. If you follow me on Instagram you have gotten a little peek at it! What kind of costumes do you guys love to wear? Have you ever made your costume?

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Halloween Craftin'

I've been hard at work creating some Halloween costumes and decor for display at Fabricland. I was even featured in The Star Ledger, New Jersey's major newspaper!  My favorite quote from the article "She doesn't slash and dice her pumpkins. She dresses them. In lace. And sequins." Makes me sound so professional, lol. Anyway, I thought I would share some of the pictures the professional photographer took for the article. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

The mermaid costume is Simplicity 4043, which I found to be overly complicated, and the directions were definitely hard to follow. A costume should always have clear instructions, so many people are trying sewing for the first time at Halloween, and this pattern would definitely scare them away! 

We had the most perfect sequin fabric, that actually looks like scales up close. Sewing sequins is super easy, as long as you have a microtex needle. I embellished the tail with the sequins strands of my own design. Everyone asks how she walks, but as you can see there is a slit for your legs to hang out of. The bodice is made from purple taffeta, with a blue glitter tulle overlay. The secret to a good Halloween costume is a lot of trim! I used 4 different kinds on the bodice, all in purple. I also made the tulle puff balls to float over the mermaid like she is under the sea!

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

I made the wreath from one of those Styrofoam wreath forms,and just tied strips of black tulle. The witch hat is a cardboard one from Michael's, covered in shiny metallic fabric that i just glued on and ribbon and orange glittery ric rac (you know how much I love Ric Rac). The skull and the skeletons are from the dollar store. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 Witch glam was the theme of this display, I decorated three different pumpkins to show the different things you could do. ALL SO EASY! this one is just different kinds of glittery and lacy trims, I used black and different metallic colors to keep in glam. The pumpkin behind this is just the silver sequin trim, glued in a spiderweb form. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This pumpkin I covered in black lace, by cutting a hole in the middle of some lace and just stretching it around, and glueing it to the bottom, with a scrap of black felt to cover the fabric on the bottom. And then just put a bird on it! All of these crafts are excellent for all those extra bits leftover from projects that are too good to throw away.

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

The pillow was super fast, I cut the letters out of leftover black fabric, then went to the sewing machine and just sewed them, and sequin trim to a square, and then made it into a pillow. The i is dotted with a skull and crossbones button. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This wreath came from my front door! I found my inspiration on Pinterest. Wrapped a form in yarn, and cut out leaves from felt. Then I stitched them on the machine to look like the stem and different veins. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This pumpkin is just made with the leftover sewing notions from the classroom, zipper and boning eyebrows are my favorite. 

This is one of those plastic bucket pumpkins everyone has laying around. I just took strips of leftover fabric, mod podged it to the plastic and then ric rac and a bow finished it off! 

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