Help me with Halloween?

[maestramommy]

Well, last year Dora was a ladybug, this year I thought I'd like to try her being a bumblebee. She's still got that round potbellied look of a young toddler so I thought I'd capitalize on it I could make another tutu that poofs out like last year, but I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to do stripes. Or I could attempt to make a sleeveless black jumper and sew yellow stripes on it. Hopefully I can find another black bodysuit at Target like I did last time. Or if I could find the body suit I can sew ruffled stripes around it, if I could figure out how to sew ruffles. Dora has a Carters swimsuit with ruffles on the front and it looks so cute on her. Kinda accentuates her proportions. So maybe something like that?

any ideas mommies?

[bchafin]

I'm not real sure what you need help with. Is it how to make a striped tutu? I was thinking that you could just take strips of netting and stitch them together first and then make them into the tutu. Or if you wanted you could just make a tutu using alternating layers of yellow and black net. (This is what I would do.) I would find a black bodysuit and striped tights. You don't have to sew the tutu onto the bodysuit. I would gather the net into a tutu and then finish the top with grosgrain ribbon that you then tie into a bow around the waist.

HTH
Barb

[ellies mom]

You know the tutu instructions that use the strips of tulle (your sister knows what I mean)? Just alternate yellow and black strips or maybe 2-3 yellow and then 2-3 black. You'll get an easy striped tutu that way. If you can't find strips of tulle in those colors, you can make your own from tulle on the bolt. It is just more time-consuming.

[swt2th1]

That sounds cute!

Like this?
http://prissypoofs.com/mm5/merchant....ry_Code=Spooky

I would also use the tulle 6" rolls and bunch up the colors to create stripes. Elastic waist (or can do it on a headband for no sew).

[maestramommy]

Okay, it sounds like the easiest way is to make another tulle strip tutu like I did last year. Hopefully they carry bodysuits at Target again. Now, does anyone have suggestions for wings and antennae?

[ellies mom]

Gymboree has cute bumble bee antenna head bands but the lady bug version didn't work for Ellie a few years back so I used two alligator clips, a pipe cleaner and felt circles to make clips instead. They stayed in Ellie's hair much better and sometimes she still wants to wear them. If you want I can take a try at explaining how I made them.

[s7714]

I personally try to avoid the wire framed wings a lot of places sell for kids, just because my DDs get annoyed with them after only a couple minutes.

I usually make wings by virtually doing a paper mache process with fabric and white glue. I buy a yard or two of iridescent material (I usually use a closed weave; not open mesh like tulle.) My fabric store usually has several colors of light weight iridescent fabric in the halloween section of fabric.

After sketching out my wing shape on a big piece of paper, I cut out several layers of the fabric from the paper pattern. (You can do the wings as two separate ones, or as one piece depending on the costume.) Then I lay down one layer of fabric on a area covered in plastic wrap (it can be peeled off the wings once they're dry) and use a foam sponge "brush" to spread slightly watered down white glue onto the fabric. Once it's covered with a thin layer I put another layer of fabric on top, smooth it out and then let it dry. Depending on the fabric and how stiff I want the wings, I've stopped with just two layers or done several more. (Just be careful, because after each layer it takes longer and longer for all the re-wetted glue to dry again!)

After I've done as many layers as I want and everything is completely dry, I trim the edges of the wings with scissors (scrapbooking scissors gives them pretty and/or funky edges!) I then use acrylic paint to add details if necessary. (Use old brushes, because you might get glue in the brushes.) For attaching the wings to a costume, I use a standard paper hole punch and punch a couple holes into the wings where the ancor points should be. I then sew ribbons directly onto the costume which I then thread through the wing holes and tie together to hold the wings on. (I usually put two holes about a inch+ apart so that two ribbons can be tied together in a bow to provide support. I think I usually end up with about two or three sets of holes/ribbons depending on the wing/child size.) I have sewn the wings directly onto costumes before by hand and machine, and it does work, but I've found having the wings removable is a better option when dealing with kid's costumes. Plus the mache wings aren't waterproof, so it limits you from throwing the costume in the wash! You could also punch holes in the wings and thread ribbon or elastic through so the child could slip them on like backback straps (like the wire wings usually do), but I've always just attached them to the back of the costume.

I originally got the idea from a pattern that suggested using iridescent wrapping paper with glue, but IME the paper was too prone to tearing and breaking down during the process. I tried it with fabric and it's worked great for several kid's costumes, not just my DD's!

HTH if you were interested in making the wings yourself!
Jennifer
Mommy to
Miss Pure Energy 3/03
Miss Limit Tester 6/05

Our bones may be brittle, but our spirit is unbreakable.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta www.oif.org

[maestramommy]

Wow, this is great, thanks! I had no clue and need to make the wings myself.

[maestramommy]

Thanks Veronica. I think I'd better wait to see what Dora's like by Halloween. These days nothing I put in her hair stays on longer than 2 hours. Result? my kid is walking around looking like the original flower child. Cute, but messy.

[s7714]

Here's a link to the pictures of the first time I made these wings. Not the best pictures, but you can at least get a rough concept of attaching them to the costume and see what they look like. These particular ones were two separate wings which were criss-crossed like an X when attached to the back. (Each wing was also folded length-wise and machine stitched a couple inches in the middle to create a more dimensional wing vs. flat.) I've since found that just doing the wings in one big piece and then leaving a flat section in the middle to do the attaching works well too.

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcOXLRs4atWPN

If you need any more help, just email me off list!

Jennifer
Mommy to
Miss Pure Energy 3/03
Miss Limit Tester 6/05

Our bones may be brittle, but our spirit is unbreakable.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta www.oif.org