Happy Halloween!

Doll Witch Hat & Trick-or-Treat Bag

 

I can finally say that the dolls are ready for Halloween! I'm sure I've put more time and effort into one doll's costume than I have for both my children's costumes. That's not a problem, is it? 

A hat is obviously the defining piece for any witch worth her broomstick. (Broomstick? I guess I am not quite finished...) This hat was very easy to put together by hand using a small rectangle of felt from the dollar store. I cut it into two unequal pieces, one for the crown and one for the brim. I rolled the larger piece into a cone shape, stitched the edges down, then trimmed the bottom flat. The brim is a circle, with the centre circle cut out.

It is small for the dolls head, so I decided to secure it by using one of the doll's plastic hairbands. I used an old hair elastic to make two elastic loops on the underside. These can be used to slide the hat on to the headband. They were bar-tacked in place by machine. The hatband is from the refashion that kept on giving: a strip of knit fabric, hand sewn into place.

I made two doll size trick-or-treat bags. They both came from one more rectangle of black felt. I cut off a strip along the long edge and used this for the side pieces. The handles are ribbon and the motifs are table confetti, glued into place.

Cost: £0.00

Tulle Doll Ballgown

Yes, I know that 8-9 year old American girls don't have much need for a ballgown, but what little girl doesn't like a princess dress. Now the dolls have two.

The inspiration for each refashion I do stems from the original garment. In this case, the front skirt piece from the Disney dress was exactly the right length and width for a floor length doll's skirt. The lining, the main skirt, the tulle overlay and the silver cord were all left intact from the original dress. I liked the puffy sleeves too, so I cut them out as well and re-used them almost whole, including the bands.

Unbelievably, I couldn't get full bodice pieces out of the child's dress. That decal is so large that the front wasn't good for anything. The back is literally pieced together to get enough for the back bodice. You can see the three pieces for each bodice back. I cut a strip for the neckline which turned it into a funnel neck.I preferred this to a facing because the stitching line is not on show. With knits this fine, my machine skips a lot of stitches, even with a walking foot.

I added the silver ribbon for three reasons: to hide the waist seam, fasten the back of the skirt, and hide the gap where the back of the skirt didn't quite have enough width to hide the opening.

The original dress has been a very productive refashion, aside from this dress, the back of the skirt got refashioned into a doll's skirt and an accent for a doll Halloween costume. Three cute doll garments from one not so cute dress. Win!

Doll Party Skirt

Since I've been sewing doll clothes, I can't look at my children's outgrown clothes without thinking about how they might be refashioned in a tiny size.

I've had a great time with this refashion. I love the skirt and I never liked the original dress much. I confess that I don't like Disney clothing. I don't much like any branded or logo clothing for children and this dress was very costume-y in the first place. Much better on a doll than having my child be a walking billboard.

I used the back half of the skirt and just trimmed off the lower tier of tulle and the knit underskirt. I was trying to be fancy with the underskirt by gathering it to pull up into a bubble underskirt, but it wasn't working so it was a relief to just cut it away. 

The back of the dress had an elastic band through the gathers so I was fortunate that I didn't have to add any fastening to the skirt, only sew up the back layers and hem the waistband, which I did by hand.

The refashioning continues, I have big plans for the front section of the skirt, and the puffed sleeves.

The tulle off cut didn't go to waste either, it became the accent for the Doll Witch skirt.

Cost: £0.00

Doll Witch Costume

It's time for the dollies to go trick or treating too. Well, one of them anyway. I had literally mere scraps left from the Halloween cloaks. Here they are:

See? I wasn't joking. Still, I had to try to get something out of them for the dolls. I guessed I could manage a scrappy skirt, and possibly a cape.

For the skirt, I cut 7-8 pieces into right-angled triangles, each 16cm long. Then I pinked the raw edges. Then I overlapped them and ran a basting/gathering thread around the top. Instead of using up  fabric to make an elastic casing, I zig zagged them straight on to the elastic. The elastic was already in a circle so the join is just made by overlapping the last two triangles.

I'm afraid that the cloak is not a triumph of high quality finishing. By the time I had made two children's cloaks and a doll's skirt out of 4 yards of black polycotton, I was more than a bit sick of it. I pieced 4 long right-angled triangles to make a rectangle. Then I just hemmed the sides, pinked the raw edges and sewed two lengths of black grosgrain ribbon on for ties.

But, after Emily tried it on, I decided she looked a bit plain, plus that thigh split is a bit indecent. She needed to be a bit closer to the costumes my daughters have been looking at on the official website.

I had some spotted tulle that I salvaged from a refashion so decided to add it as an overlay to the skirt. I gathered it and zig zagged it to the waistband. Now she is properly pink and sparkly and not a bit dark and creepy.  Just as she should be. I'm planning a school holiday project to make some hats and broomsticks for the dolls. Maybe a trick or treat bag too.

Cost: £0.00

Halloween Costume: Witch's Cloak

Trick or treat!  Scary, huh? Luckily one of the cutest girls I know is underneath that hood.

This is the second instalment of the Halloween costume cloaks. It is almost the same as the vampire cloak but with no lining and a hood instead of a collar.

Because there is no lining to tidy things up, I did French seams for the side seams. I used scraps for the hood, so I had to piece two triangles together to make a rectangle large enough. I wanted it really big so it would hang across the shoulders and down the back. I got it so large that I had to gather the neckline to get it to fit the cloak.

Then I went to town on finishings. I did a 1 inch hem facing for the front of hood, bias binding seam finishes where the hood attaches to the cloak and more hem facings along each front opening. The gap in the side seams is not hemmed because this is the selvedge and I didn’t want to take away any fabric, or add any weight. I made a small tie front and enclosed it in the front facing.

Happy Halloween!

Costs:

Fabric: 2 yards (Walmart) £6.31

Thread: stash £0.00

Pattern: half cost (Minerva) £1.63
Total: £7.94

Halloween Costume: Vampire Cape

When my kids go out trick or treating, I have to plan on it being really cold. And quite possibly, raining. A cloak is the perfect costume outer layer. It can go over coats and transform their outfit into something recognisable. Thank goodness I have a witch and a vampire heading out this year. Cloaks are a go!

Now, I know I can buy kids costumes for peanuts from certain online enormous retailers, but I like the satisfaction of making them myself.

For the fabric I went to a different enormous big box retailer and got some pre-cut polycotton yardage. I planned it a while ago so bought them when I was in North America. I thought about just running a drawstring along one edge of a square and calling it done, but I wanted something that would be easier to wear. I took advantage of a pattern sale from Minerva to buy Simplicity 1584, a beautifully styled pattern, essentially a dress and a cloak which lends itself to a great selection of kids costumes.

The pattern calls for 3 yards, but I only had two, so I made do. I laid the pattern pieces out along the fold line and left the corner pieces out. I think it makes it look more bat-like, as well as saving me another yard of fabric.

The lining was also a pre-cut, poly-satin. Only one yard this time so I was really short. I used it to line just the front and I am really happy with the effect. I even figured out how to attach the lining to the seam allowance to enclose them all inside the lining - go me!

The pattern called for a hook and eye closure, and had a separate neck-tie. I decided to bring the neck tie into the cloak front as a fastening. I just made up two halves and enclosed it in the front seam. No lost pieces and I love how the black, red and white all work together to be instantly recognisable as Dracula.

Costs

Fabric: 2 yards polycotton (Walmart) £6.31

Lining: 1 yard poly-satin (Walmart) £6.63

Tie: stash

Interfacing: scraps from stash - £0.00

Thread: stash - £0.00

Pattern: half cost (Minerva.com) £1.63
Total: £14.58