Nutcracker Clara Halloween Costume

I could easily trace back the evolution of Tandy's costume idea, but Avery's really took me by surprise. She declared Clara from the Nutcracker was her chosen character. A quick Pinterest search mostly revealed images of the actual ballet costumes, not a Halloween adapted look for Clara. 

With a burst of inspiration, Avery determined the cotton and lace robe found with my great aunt's vintage clothing would be the perfect start to her costume. Since many of the Clara stage costumes included blue and the ties on the robe were blue, we decided on a blue dress under the robe. We debated ballet slippers, but practicality won out and we opted for rose gold ballet flats. My sister came through again with a Silhouette designed, Nutcracker tote bag to really tie the costume to the inspirational ballet.

Even 10 year olds can appreciate a good twirly dress! Rachel from Stitched Together has posted beautiful images of her Janie Dress from Mouse House Creations over and over, so I knew this dress pattern was perfect for our look. Plus, it would be something Avery could wear long after Halloween (a goal I am always looking to attain when creating costumes). The blue fabric is interlock knit from Joann Fabrics.

The other factor that prompted me to purchase the Janie dress pattern was the ballet scoop back option. A ballet scoop back is ideal for a ballet costume!

Avery stood her ground when her friend suggested switching costume ideas to a more pop culture trend. She really knew what she wanted and didn't waiver. It is good to see a stubborn streak turn into a positive strength. I pray it will continue to serve her well!

So, here are our bubble gum girl and Clara together. The weather for Halloween is looking beautiful. 

Happy Halloween!!

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Bubble Gum Girl Halloween Costume

 My kids usually start dreaming up Halloween costume ideas as soon as the Chasing Fireflies catalog arrives. When she landed on the Bazooka costume, gum loving Tandy wanted to be a bubble gum girl. I don't think she has ever come across Bazooka gum, so I searched our candy stash for her most chewed gum and landed on Dubble Bubble.

In fact, Tandy was gifted this huge tub of Dubble Bubble bubble gum for her birthday. I instantly knew it had to become her candy bucket. I grabbed a $1 plastic candy bucket from Walmart, and my father-in-law transferred the handle to our bubble gum tub. 

The dress was simple but fun to create! I could not have done it without my sister who has become quite creative with her Silhouette machine. I melted the vinyl she created with my first attempt nearly ruining the look, but my sister came to the rescue again with a solution. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the sage unfold in my stories. The Modkid Melanie dress pattern allowed me to easily color block the side panels to replicate the blue bubble gum wrapper ties. The Marigold Vivid Knit by Riley Blake could not be more perfect with the bubble like circles!

I added a few accessories to round out the costume. For the necklace, I tied ribbon to the ends of the bubble gum wrappers, since Tandy insisted no gum be damaged in the making of the necklace. We added a few pink beads because more is more. A cardstock crown with a balloon bubble added to a headband completed the look. 

Come back tomorrow for Avery's Halloween costume! 

** This post contains affiliate links.  By purchasing through my links, I receive a small compensation 

which I will in turn use to share more inspiration with you.**

Amelia Earhart Costume

There is nothing like waiting until the last day to post a Halloween costume!! 

In a way, this costume may not deserve such a long post. Avery's Amelia Earhart costume is more assembled than handmade, but the assembling was fun and the photo shoot was even more so. 

We found the "Who was...?" series of books at our library, and Avery has been gobbling them up. She started with all of the females, and is now moving on to some of the males. Amelia Earhart was one of her favorites, and I could not have come up with a better costume idea myself. Everyone keeps telling Avery she even looks a bit like Amelia.

The only items I sewed were the leggings and the aviator hat. I used the most wonderful brushed poly from Finch Fabrics for the leggings. Avery wanted to sleep in these they are so soft. The contrast fabric and hat came from a thrifted faux suede skirt. I used the Jennuine Designs Dressage Leggings pattern, but due to limited suede fabric, I only color blocked the front portion of the leggings.  

I started with this tutorial for the aviator hat deviating slightly to fully line the hat with flannel. I knew I wanted to use an interesting buckle for the closure. When I went looking for an old belt to cut up, I spotted Avery's school shoes. That sent me on the hunt for Tandy's outgrown pair. The buckle / velcro portion was easier to unpick from the shoe than I thought it would be, and my sewing machine handled it perfectly too!

As soon as Avery landed on the Amelia Earhart idea, I turned to my friends at Wee Rascals for their hip and historical tees. The Amazing Amelia tee just happened to be on sale too!! It has been unseasonably warm here, so I love that she can wear this look with or without the jacket. 

Speaking of jacket, I spotted this one at Target. In the midst of costume sewing and party planning, I was thrilled to grab this instead of making one. If you are inclined to make one though, I think the Jennuine Design Moto Jacket would be great. I am eagerly waiting for Adrianna to release this pattern as well. The aviator style goggles came from Amazon.

Have you seen the recent Chick-fil-A commercial featuring Amelia Earhart? We were inspired to grab and industrial fan to try for a scarf blowing shot. I love it!!

We needed some last minute family costumes, so Todd decided to go as Avery's wing man. Did you know that Amelia Earhart didn't actually pilot her first famous flight across the Atlantic? She was an instant hero non-the-less for attempting the dangerous flight. 

Todd donned a tactile suit and a name tag that read, "Hello my name is Pete Mitchell" for a Top Gun reference. Had we planned this in advance, my dad could have properly outfitted him with fighter pilot gear. 

Avery had so much fun getting into character!! I love how she learned along the way. Here are some interesting facts we found:

• Amelia fought for women's rights as pilots and citizens.
• She established a women's pilot group calls the Ninety-Nines.
• She set 3 speed records for flying in 1930.
• Later in 1932, she made the first solo female flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
• Amelia studied sewing as a young girl. 
• Amelia became a clothing designer with a line of clothes sold at Macy's in New York City. The designs were for "active living." I found this article about her clothing line very interesting. 

Modkid Liesl Little Bo Peep Costume

The Modkid Liesl pattern was released today!! There is a whole lot of sweetness rolled up in this pattern! I wanted to highlight the pattern first as a sweet dress. Then, show you how I added a few accessories to make this Tandy's Little Bo Peep costume.

The pattern features include a corset style bodice. full puffed sleeves, and a sash that wraps to the back. There are no closures to sew, making the process simple and fun. The eyelets can be replaced with buttonholes too. I was so fortunate to find pink eyelets tucked in my grandmother's sewing supplies!!

The skirt is made up of six gores for plenty of twirl. The oversized pockets are fun and functional.

The lollipop was perfect for a photo prop since it looked like one of the dots from the Art Gallery Boardwalk Delight fabric hopped off the fabric into her hand. The down side was the amount of pictures I took with Tandy's tongue hanging out in anticipation of taking her first lick. 

The coordinating solids I used are Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Aqua and Blossom. 

I think I snapped this right after I teased her about that tongue peeking out. 

The real fun came when we started adding the extras to create the Little Bo Peep costume! Tandy loved getting into character.  

The bonnet pattern came from a vintage Simplicity pattern, 9136. The knickers are a modified version of this Japanese pattern with some vintage eyelet lace. We painted a cane from Goodwill for her staff. 

I love bringing costumes to life especially when they can serve as cute clothing long after!!

The Modkid Liesl is available in the Modkid Etsy shop. Coupon code LIESL2016 gets 40% off your entire purchase on the Etsy store. This means that this, and every other full-price pattern, will cost only $5.99 for the next 24 hours!

Super Simple Mermaid Costume

With Tandy's birthday so close to Halloween, costumes were a bit of a scramble this year. In the past, I have been able to do double duty with birthday outfits and Halloween costumes like Mary Poppins and the clown and tightrope walker. This year I had a plan for Avery's Cleopatra costume, but nothing for Tandy. It didn't help that she kept shifting her request. She went from an apple, to Fancy Nancy, to a mermaid. I had done Fancy Nancy before, and it would have been the right size for her this year. But, she finally settled on a mermaid, so the day before while she was at pre-k I went to work.

It had to include her favorite color, hot pink. The Vivid Fireworks turned out perfect since we thought it could be bubbles in the water. I've had the small piece of ruffle fabric in my stash for ages along with all of the other bits and pieces for the accessories. This was a no additional cost costume!!

The shirt is a complete mess. It is a few rectangles sewn on to a shirt, but I had to finagle it a bunch. It would be embarrassing if you looked close, but Tandy was happy. That is what counts.

I used the Modkid Rachel pattern to make the skirt. I omitted the left front side and cut the right front side down to match half of the back skirt. Then, I lengthened the pieces to get a maxi length dress minus the 4" ruffle. I used this super easy elastic waistband method, but I did stitch the elastic down all the way around the waist with a zig-zag stitch instead of just tacking it at the seams. As you can tell, I didn't bother to match prints.

 We thought the blue puff hair clip made the perfect seaweed accent. I made the shells for the wand and headband from felt, stitching in the detail lines. It was relatively quick and quite comfortable, just the way we like it.

Cleopatra Costume

 Avery has been studying the history of Egypt in school this year, so Cleopatra was a natural fit for a costume. As it turns out, a large percentage of the girls in her class all thought the same thing. Thankfully, I can safely say Avery's Cleopatra costume is completely unique!

The dress is pattern C from this Japanese sewing book "Girl's Going Out Clothes" in the largest size. I lengthen the pattern and added the skirt overlay. The fabric is from Hobby Lobby and the ribbon trim is by Patty Young.

 I think the makeup was Avery's favorite part! We found all of her accessories at Walmart.

I wanted to be sure to include a picture of the ribbon bodice without the necklaces. This is a very simple to sew pattern. I had to make a couple of changes since I was using ribbon instead of the bias trim as instructed. There is also a top version and sleeves provided in the book. Speaking of sleeves the arm hole ran a little large in our case.  

We went to a local park with a pond to try to visualize Cleopatra standing next to the Nile. It's a stretch, but we made the most of it!

Tightrope Walker Costume

You've hopefully already seen Tandy's Clown costume. Avery is the tightrope walker in our little circus troupe.

As you can see, I had fun with colorful prints, patterns, and accessories, and Avery had fun with the the props.

I used the Modkid Ava top pattern, but modified the bodice to mimic a corset. You can find a tutorial for the pattern alteration on the Modkid blog. For the headband, I started with this pattern from Fleece Fun, but I made several changes to make it out of glitter cardstock.

I'm sure we'll need some layering for Halloween night, but next summer this top will pair great with some cute shorts.

The leggings are Lily Giggle Petunia Petal pants in a bright Chez Ami knit. The fabrics for the Ava Top are by Jennifer Paganelli and Lecien.

This is the best shot we have of the whole circus troupe.

So what are your Halloween costume plans?

Tandy the Clown

As I indicated in the last post, Tandy will have a circus birthday party this year just before Halloween, so a costume fitting the occasion was in order. Perhaps there are a few too many photos, but I just couldn't leave any of these out!

I used the Modkid Bailey romper pattern to create the look. Sans the accessories, it will just be a colorful romper for next summer. The shorts portion of the romper is knit fabric adding even more comfort to the look.

The accessories bring it all together. I used spray glue to attach fabric to card stock to form the clown hat. The yarn pom poms are tacked onto the bodice of the romper with a needle and thread for easy removal later.

I'm hoping the large pom poms survive the party for Halloween night.

 

I love how this photo captures so much of Tandy's personality. Sweet, cute, and a whole lot of spunky.

I'll be including this with the signature style week at Project Run & Play. I know it's not what you would normally consider signature style, but if you browse my Halloween posts, you'll notice my trend of creating costumes with outfits that can be used beyond the season.

Be sure to come see what we have in store for some Halloween fun with Modkid patterns.