The Mad Hatter Hat SUCCESS!!

Here it is! The Mad Hatter Hat in all it's finished,

peacock-feathered, 

tagged-and-pinned, 

patched,

 and fully-lined-inside glory!

Anyone care for a tutorial? You do?! Because it's coming tomorrow!

I'm trying to dye. And I'm doing it badly.

I saved basically all of Hero's baby clothes. And after going through them to pull out what I can for Pretty, I look at some of these stained beyond the "that's nasty" point and wonder why I kept it at all. There were some once white onsies I found in the stash that were a gross looking yellow (which doesn't say much for my laundry skills, but that's not the point here). 

I decided, since I was going to try to dye some lace fabric from white to black for my Mad Hatter hat, I would toss these yellowish and stained onsies in the batch and get some black onsies for undershirts for Pretty!

Now, I'm not sure where I went wrong, but they turned out dull and splotchy... Anyone know why that is? Because I don't.

These two are the worst in the bunch:

Do you think if I were to dye them again, it would fix the problem?

And to add to my failure in dyeing, my white lace turned into a very beautiful silver gray. I really like it and can't wait to use it, but it's not what I need for the hat project. So I had to go buy some black stuff.

Isn't is pretty, though?

And the hat is almost done! Just some finishing details and I post it soon!

I must be MAD!

Only two more costumes to go. Mine and Jake's. Finishing Jake's isn't going to be that tough, but mine . . . Let's just say I might be trying to work outside my ability. Here's the thing, this is the first time in my adult life that I have REALLY WANTED to dress up for Halloween. I spent a lot of time at thrift stores, fabric stores and others gathering these items:

All to make me into my own version of this:

(found the image here)

My plans include me making my own Mad Hatter Hat... wish me luck!!

Hero the Elephant!

Hero has been obsessed with elephants since seeing Jungle Book a few months ago. Those elephants are only two scenes in the entire movie, but Hero would grab his stuffed elephant and march around the house saying, "Hup-two-three-four, Giddi-up! Two-three-four!" and singing the marching song.

So I wasn't too surprised when he said he wanted to be  "ELEPHANT!" (He did add blue elephant, but I'll explain that in a second.)

McCall's 6105

I used a McCall's pattern, but I adjusted it a bit for my liking. The fabric I was lucky to find. It looks so much like elephant skin, right?! My mom and I were shopping for the costume's supplies, and I had picked up a blue suede cloth for the elephant, when she happened to find this in the remnant pile, on sale, in the upholstery fabrics, with just the right amount! SCORE!! It was still a bit more per yard than the suede cloth, but it is soft and thick, so it will be warm! That's when I overruled the blue part of Hero's request. 

With the fabric so thick, I used my walking foot on the entire costume. I love that thing!

But not wanting to let him down completely on the blue, I bought a bit of the suede cloth to make the lining of the hood. 

The first adjustment I needed to make was with the hood. I had it made, without the ears, trunk and tusks on and tried it on Hero's head. . . and it didn't fit! What is with that? Just like the panda of two years ago! The part under his chin wouldn't overlap like it's supposed to, but the edges did meet up just right. The piece with the trunk and tusks was supposed to be placed on the top flap. Instead I made it into the fastener by centering it, securing it to one side and adding Velcro to the other side.

The other part I changed were the feet. I don't know why they would sell a pattern in this size (it's a one size, size 4 pattern) that asks you to cover the the feet on the bottom. Because I'd rather him not walk on the fabric all night, destroying it in the process, I eliminated the bottom and finished the edges. I also added a 3 in long elastic to each foot to hold the costume down while he's walking.

I decided the placement by putting Hero's shoe in side the costume and lining the elastic up with the most narrow point.

Hero loves it! Two costumes down, two to go!

Costume Safety.

I tried to just let it go, but this has been eating at me all last night and today. I submitted my cotton candy costume to a bigger crafting blog and lucky me! They picked it! It was featured on Saturday!

But then I got an email from the blog administrator on Sunday night saying she had removed the feature because of some "nasty comments" concerning the safety of the plastic on the costume. I didn't get to read these comments, but I still understand her reason for choosing to remove it. Safety is extremely important with children and babies. Safe costumes, and especially, proper supervision of your children is key.

I want to clear a few things up.

• It is not plastic, like a plastic bag. It is vinyl. Stiff, sewing vinyl. 
• It is sewn down and away from her face. 
• I put her in the costume feet first, her face is never covered.
• I won't put her in the car seat with it on because I wouldn't be able to secure her properly.
• I, or my husband, will be watching her (and most likely holding her) the whole time she is wearing the costume.

And most importantly, I would not have made the costume if I was concerned about it being a safety risk. I know this costume is safe. But even so, she will be supervised while wearing it, not because this specific costume concerns me, but because she is a baby, and needs to be watched, no matter what she is wearing.

Painting with Hero

My plans for sewing this weekend were exchanged for helping my FIL with a construction project. My contribution was painting. I love painting! Yes, even if it's just painting tiny strips of boards white.

What made this time exceptionally fun was having Hero helping.

We tossed one of my biggest painting shirts on him, safety pinned it in place and let him go for it! He globbed the paint in the same spot until I would intervene and even it out, then move him to a new board. But he loved it.

When we were all done and there was only a little bit on his face. :o)

Cotton Candy Hair Accessory Tutorial

Now that you've made the adorable costume, here's now to make the hair accessory.

Cut a circle with about a 6" diameter.(I traced around one of my cereal bowls).

Use a running stitch around the outer edge of the circle to gather. 

Use the small amount of dyed batting you saved out and put in inside the circle.

Pull the gather until the opening is closed. Secure it closed.

Place a button in the center opposite to the opening and hand stitch it in place going all the way through the back. Attach to a hair clip with hot glue.

Add to your costume and it's a complete set!