A Last Minute Kid Costume - A Tutorial

So, M'Lou had a costume day at her daycare and I wasn't ready to unveil her "real" costume.  I love the fact that I made more work for myself (her "real" costume parts were pretty much all done), but this was easy and straightforward.

Supplies
Orange shirt - I used an Adult Small (M'Lou is about a 3T and I wanted it to poof at the bottom)
3/4" elastic
Green ribbon
Green fat quarter -18" x 22" (I only used about 1/4 of this)
Black fabric/felt scraps for eyes and mouth
Green embroidery floss
Black embroidery floss
Embroidery needles
Sewing machine

Of course I forgot to take pictures when I started, but here we go.

1. I took the bottom of the shirt and folded it under - I used about a 1.25" seam allowance and a straight stitch.  I left about 4" between start and stop of the sewing to allow me to feed in the 3/4" elastic.   I used the shirt hem stitching as a guide and measured 1.25" from that line and then sewed along that line.
2. I then cut the elastic - I used one of M'Lou's diaper covers as a gauge for how much elastic to use.  I think I used about 18" plus a bit to overlap the ends.  If I had it to do again I would probably add another inch or two.

Here is the elastic that I used for this project.  Gotta love when you have just what you need in your stash of random craft materials :)
 
3. I fed the elastic into the sleeve I made at the bottom of the shirt easing the shirt fabric around as I went.  When I had the elastic fed all the way through I made sure that I hadn't twisted it so it would lie flat once I stitched the ends of the elastic together.
4. I overlapped the elastic ends and using a ribbing overlock stitch (one of the fancy zig-zag stitches on my machine - see the picture) sewed it forward and then hit my reverse button to go back over it.

 
5. Once the elastic was in, I sewed up the opening using a straight stitch.

Here's what the bottom looked like after inserting the elastic and then stitching the opening closed.

6. I then took a green fat quarter and ripped off about a 1/4 of it using the long edge so I would have enough to go around the neck.  Yes, I said ripped, it seemed like too much work to try to clear off my cutting mat to actually cut it :)  Also, I just eyeballed the amount of length I would need, but you may want to measure to make sure you have enough fabric.

When I tear the fabric, I try to cut all the way through the selvedge on one side to start.
 

I then tear the fabric all the way across and clip through the the other side if I can't tear all the way through (which typically I can't).
 
7. I folded the resulting strip of fabric accordion-style and like a paper doll and cut off the corners so that it would create leaf-like greenery for the top of the costume.  At this point, you could do a stay stitch around the edges of the fabric to keep it from unraveling, but I kind of like the idea of it looking a bit ragged.

I folded the fabric onto itself until I liked the width that my leaves were going to be.
 

This is another eyeball moment.  I just clipped off what I thought would be the right angle for the leaves.  For me, I thought roughing it in would be fine since nature isn't perfect either ;)
 
8. I pinned this greenery on to the neck and then sewed it on using the same overlock stitch from before.  I eased it in as I sewed since it's a straight edge being sewn to a circular neck.

I pinned more for reference and so I would know about where the fabric would end up.
 

As I went, the fabric moved around further than I thought it would - about 1/2" just to warn you :)
 
9. I then snipped at the valley of each leaf (see picture for clarification) to allow it to ease in some more and tacked down the tips of each leaf.

Clip enough of the valley so that the leaves will lay flat on the shirt.  depending on how you cut your leaves, this may be more or less than I cut.
 
10. It was then time to start tacking down the ends of the leaves.  I used the full thickness of the embroidery floss, i.e. I didn't use just 3 threads of it.  I liked the thicker look of the full thickness, but I'm sure a half thickness would work as well.

For all the knots on this costume, I used a basic knot instead of using my regular fancy quilting knot. I thought it would be a smaller knot and therefore make it less noticeable on the back side of the shirt since I wasn't going to do any kind of liner material.
 

Once I made my knot, I sewed three stitches in the tip of each leaf to keep the leaves down (sorry about the fuzzy picture). Keep in mind if you haven't done any stay stitching to hold the edges that you will need to allow some extra space so your needle doesn't just fray the edges - not that I did that (cough, cough)
 

Now that you've stitched the tip down, how to do you end it? You can do another simple knot (see the info below on how I tied off the stitches for the face) or you could do what I did for these. I ran my needle under the stitches I did and then I tied a knot in the loop I made when I ran the needle under the stitches. I did this twice to make sure the knots and stitches were secure.
 

Here you can see how I have gone through the stitches and then tyed a knot.
 

Here's what the tack should look like when you are finished. I promise there really are three stitches there, even if you can't see them.
 
11. I then used the green ribbon to tie up the sleeves.  If you have a more appropriately sized shirt, you could probably get away without this step.  You can also wait on this step, but I wanted to see how the shirt would bunch before I put the face on the pumpkin.

If you opt to go with the ribbon, I would recommend doing some gluing and/or sewing on the ribbon to keep the bow in place.  I'm just saying that M'Lou came home with only one ribbon.
 
12. Using the black fabric scraps, I made the face of the pumpkin and pinned it in place.  Using a running embroidery stitch, I attached them to the front of the shirt.  

I stuck with a traditional face and just cut out triangle eyes and a toothy grin. For all of these, I folded over the fabric so I would have mirror images similar to what we did for the leaves around the neck. I then pinned everything in place to make sure I liked where everything was going. Keep in mind that you are going to poof the bottom so you will want the face to be "high" on the shirt.
 

I sewed all the face on using a basic running stitch. I used the simple knot, as mentioned in the section about tacking down the leaves, to start with. I also used the full thickness of the embroidery floss here.
 

Here's what the front looked like when I was done.
 

Here's what the back looked like when I was done.
 

To tie off each section of thread, I tied a regular knot and made sure that it would end up near the shirt fabric. I do this by tying the knot up against the fabric and then using my thumbnail to hold it in place while I pull the thread through and make the knot tight.
 

Now for the big reveal!  Here is the cutie wearing her new pumpkin costume.

I know I'm a bit biased, but I thought she looked pretty cute in this costume!

I had fun making this costume.  Let me see your versions if you decide to use this tutorial - also if you catch something that I missed or that I should add, let me know!

TTFN!

Chalk Cloth Travel Mat Tutorial

I know!  I've been slacking this week on my posts.  That's what happens when you hit mid-term for summer school college classes and have to plan to get out of town for a week all at the same time :)

Anyway, the long promised tutorial on the chalk cloth mats.  I would love to say that I would be adding these to my Etsy store, but due to the lovely CPSIA regulations, I cannot.  The chalk cloth contains phalates and since those are now a big no-no I'll just have to share my method so that you can make your own :)

I was inspired by the wonderful tutorial over on Little Pumpkin Grace and Hudson too's blog (click to see her instructions).  I would say, in general, I followed her steps.  However, I made some alterations to what she outlined and thought I would share those.

Step one:  Buy supplies and figure out where the heck to buy chalk cloth.

I ended up buying my oil cloth from Joann's.  Limited selection, but I could take it with me that day.  If I had realized I was going to have to order the chalk cloth, I might have decided to order my oil cloth online.

Another option is to use laminated cotton rather than oil cloth.  I haven't actually seen this and it seems like it might be flimsier, but it doesn't have phalates.  If you're interested in that option, here is at least one online retailer that I found - I haven't bought anything here yet but the selection of fabrics was great :)

I ended up doing a search online for chalk cloth and ended up purchasing from NoveltyQuiltFabric.com - keep in mind that their pricing is for 1/2 yards.  Something I missed when I was ordering - luckily I wanted 2 yards so I ended up with a yard :)

Having said that, here are some other options:

• Vogue Fabrics  
• Etsy if you would prefer to support a small business

Step two:  Wait anxiously for it to arrive.

Is it bad that I forgot that I ordered it until this heavy tube showed up in my mail?

I will say it did show up in plenty of time for me to make ten mats!

Step three:  Cut out chalk cloth, oil cloth pocket and backing to size.

I cut the chalk cloth and backing piece roughly 9.25" x 11.75".  The pocket was cut about 3" square.  You can obviously modify this to whatever dimension you want, but these make a nice tight roll.

At this point, you might also want to prep the chalk cloth by rubbing it with chalk all over and then wiping it with a damp towel.  It's just nice to not have to worry about that after you've sewn it together.

Step four:  Use black thread in the bobbin and matching thread for the oil cloth.

These keeps the stitching from showing ... as much.  I'm bad about adjusting my tension on my machine so you do see some of the top thread showing through on the back.  I like to leave the tension setting on auto figuring the machine probably knows better than I do what the tension should be ;)

Step five:  Try sewing using regular presser foot and then replace with walking foot.

I sewed the first two mats with my standard presser foot adding more and more painter's tape until I remembered that I have a walking foot that would probably work wonders!  And it did.  I recommend the walking foot if you have it - kept me from throwing things at my machine when the chalk cloth and oil cloth slid ;)

I did try Jessica's tip on using painter's tape to hold everything together, but she must have better tape than I did because mine just kept falling off ... typically with the ribbon that I needed to sew on.

Step six:  Remember to sew the pockets on first!

It's much easier if the pockets are sewn on first :)

I backstitched both when I started and stopped to make sure that we wouldn't have any issues with the pocket pulling off.  I had my needle set all the way to the right and stitched about an 1/8" seam allowance on the sides and about a 1/4" on the bottom.  There's no real rationale other than I liked the way it looked.  Feel free to experiment.  You might even try a zig-zag or other fancy stitch to dress it up!

Step seven:  Remember to sew the ribbon on the opposite side of the pocket.

I figured out that it's much easier if you put the chalk in the pocket and then roll the chalk into the mat so that the chalk is buffered by all the layers of the mat rather than rolling toward the chalk and having the pocket near the outside of the roll ... does that make sense?

Anyway, if you do that, then you need the ribbon to be opposite the pocket so you can actually close the roll up.

Do this ....

Not this!

Step eight:  If you forget to sew the ribbon on, don't worry you can still attach it!

If you forget to sew the ribbon on just go back and line up your ribbon on the stitching line.  Do a single backstitch when you start and stop just to make sure that your ribbon won't pull loose.  Trim the thread close to the mat on both sides.

Step nine:  Trim up the edges.  And be careful with the ribbon!

I trimmed all the edges to an 1/8" seam allowance since it was chalk cloth and oil cloth and they won't fray.  I simply took the ribbon and folded it back under the oil cloth.  The thing to remember is that because you're trimming it up with such a small seam allowance you really need to finger press the ribbon back so that you won't cut it.

And yes ... I did learn this from experience.  It's also how I know you can go back and sew the ribbon on afterward :)  See I figure out all the wrong stuff to do first so you don't have to!

Step ten:  Seal ribbon ends and add the button.

I sealed the ribbon ends using a lighter.  Just get it close to the ribbon, try NOT to light the ribbon on fire.  This trick works just like sealing the ends of rope - just be careful and don't touch the ends until they're cooled off.  (NO, I didn't do that ... this time ;)

I used pearl snap buttons that I had in my random stash of buttons.  These are the kind that have four parts.  I ended up rolling up the mat and checking to see where I wanted the button to be.  I started with the female side of the button (the non-fancy side) and using a spare block of wood and a hammer I pounded the two pieces together.  I then did the same with the male side of the button (the pearl button side).  I used a towel to help buffer the button from the hammer blows and tried to be gentle.

Step eleven:  Enjoy all your hard work!

Here's how I had them laid out for the kiddos.  

I was really happy with how quickly this project came together and if it weren't for those darn phalates in the chalk cloth I'd be adding these to my Etsy store.  Maybe one day ... as I mentioned above, they do make phalate free oil cloth called laminated cotton and it's a bit on the pricey side, but it sure is pretty!


Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!


TTFN!