Handmade Halloween — Wonder Woman

Only one of my three kids got a Mama-made costume  this year.  My mother-in-law made about half of my oldest’s costume, and I tackled the ever-changing requests from N, my middle child.  The ultimate winner, decided about 2 weeks before Halloween was Wonder Woman!

This costume turned out pretty much exactly as I had envisioned it — how often does that happen?

Handmade Holiday — Fourth of July

I know I’m a couple of days late, but I hope everyone had a great weekend, and that all the Americans had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday!

We spent the holiday weekend visiting my parents in Iowa.  J begs every year to go to Mimi and Papa’s house.  We typically would go over Thanksgiving but last year (since we would have a 2-month-old at Thanksgiving), we decided to go over the Fourth of July instead.  And oh my GOODNESS — can I take a moment to express just how much nicer it is to go to Iowa in July instead of late November?!?

It’s warm and sunny and beautiful in July where it is cold and damp and windy in November.  It’s not uncommon to have snow on the ground for an Iowa Thanksgiving.  After living in Missouri and Kansas for the last 10 years, that’s something this girl just isn’t used to anymore!  In July, we could go to the park, play outside, drive without sliding on ice, etc.  Needless to say, we decided to stick with that schedule this year.  Maybe we’ll go up for Thankgiving as well, but don’t hold your breath on that one!

Go Diego Go!

I made it through about 10% of my Handmade Holidays sewing list, but I did manage to make one thing for each of the kids. J got a Diego costume, complete with patch!

Go Diego Go!

J is starting to move on from Thomas and Friends and now is a HA-UGE fan of Go Diego Go, the boy offshoot of Dora the Explorer. He loves to strap on his backpack and go “find the animal in trouble.” A proper Diego costume was only appropriate.

The most identifiable item in any Diego costume (other than the Rescue Pack, which I had planned to make but ran out of time) is Diego’s vest. It’s an off-white cargo vest with a distinctive patch on the chest.

I was flipping through my children’s patterns, and saw that the Explorer Vest from the Oliver + S book Little Things to Sew would be perfect for a Diego vest. The vest even had the option of bellow pockets, which gave it a less “polished” and more “cargo” look — exactly what I was going for!

The back bellow pocket

In addition to the bellow pockets, I added a couple of interior patch pockets to the inside of the vest, and I used the interior contrast fabric for the underside of the pocket flaps. I found a Diego iron-on patch on Etsy, which thankfully arrived a few days before Christmas.

The details.

To go along with the Diego vest, I also made J a light blue t-shirt, just like Diego’s. I used Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee pattern, adding a few inches to the bottom, and a light blue cotton/poly interlock from my stash. And I double-checked to make sure I cut the knit the right direction this time!

And I’m happy to report that J loves it! Even when he wants to stay in his PJs all day, he readily agrees if I ask if he wants to put his Diego costume on.

Go Diego Go!

Pattern: Explorer Vest from Little Things to Sew

Size: Medium

Fabric: Off-white cotton twill from Joann’s, lined with Ed Emberley Happy Drawing Lions and Tigers in Gold by Cloud 9.

Physical Pattern: Pattern books are among of the few paper children patterns that I have, and you all know how I love paper patterns! The pattern sheets in Little Things to Sew are pretty easy to work with. My only gripe is that the book doesn’t come with a pocket to hold the pattern sheets, so they just kind of float around once you’ve pulled off the sticky from the back.

Fit: The fit is great, and still gives him room to grow into it! J’s measurements actually put him one size smaller, but just barely, so I made the bigger size so he’d have some room to grow. I don’t plan to make another Diego vest soon — those bellow pockets took forever (relatively speaking).

Pros:

• A couple of pocket variations mean you can have a vest that looks very polished, like the picture in the book, or more of a cargo vest, like the one I made.
• Double-fold bias tape to bind the armholes is WAY easier way of finishing them with the lining.
• Lots of pockets for stashing treasures.
• The interior lining is a great place to use a cool contrast fabric.

Cons:

• The bellow pockets take a long time to put together, and sewing through multiple layers of fabric can be challenging.
• The pattern doesn’t include any pocket closures. I added velcro to each of the flaps to keep them closed.
• Buttons make it hard for little hands to get the vest on and off. Snaps would go a long way to remedying that, though.

Overall grade: A. This is a well-drafted pattern with good options. The sewing world is overflowing with “fun” and accessories patterns for girls, but it can be hard to find them for boys. This is a good one.

Handmade Holidays

With Halloween upon me, I’m starting to make my to-do list for Christmas gifts. I have just under 2 months until Christmas, so I’d better get cracking!

This is my current Handmade Holiday list:

• A toddler backpack for J. I’ll use the pattern from the Oliver + S Little Things to Sew book, and I have this great Echino helicopters fabric for it, too. Obviously I don’t intend to make this a penguin backpack as drafted in the book! It will be nice to replace the Toy Story one he currently sports with a nice Mommy-made one!
• A toddler backpack for N. Because she always wants to be like brother, and she loves packing things up and carrying them around!
• A Bear Carrier for N. I suspect that she’ll get lots of dolls for Christmas, and it would be nice for her to have a way to carry them!
• A car carrier for J. He has a ridiculous number of cars (we may have to do something about that!) and loves to cart them around with us running errands.
• A Buttercup Bag for N. She is very girly already and loves purses!
• A couple of Flashback Tees for J with cool iron-on transfers like these from Madame Bricolage on Etsy.
• A few t-shirts for Albert. Which is a bit more complicated than it may sound because I have never found a men’s t-shirt pattern that I like. So I plan to draft my own. And it’s a good excuse to make a Renfrew top for me. Because I need to understand the correct construction techniques, you know 🙂
• I’m sure I’ll make various stocking stuffers for everyone, but those aren’t nailed down yet.

Undoubtedly this list will grow, particularly since it currently addresses only my husband and children! But I haven’t nailed down my other gifts yet, and there is a chance that those people might read this blog post. Can’t spoil the surprise!  Albert already knows he’s getting t-shirts 🙂

When do you start your holiday sewing? What’s on your list?