Elsa Dress

My daughter was invited to a "Frozen" 4th birthday party!  I knew I wanted to make her dress, so as she debated between Anna and Elsa I looked to Pinterest for ideas.  I saw lots of great ideas but the more I thought about it the practical part of me won out.

 I first made her an "Elsa" top using the Zee's Tee pattern.  It has an option for a colour-blocked yoke.  I've made several t-shirts for her using this pattern so I knew it fit right.  I found a white, sparkly jersey to use on the top and the bottom blue is leftover from a pair of leggings I made for myself.  Now when she wants to wear her Elsa costume anywhere she can because she has a practical top to wear.

For the skirt I used a satiny polyester and tulle.  I just did a seam up the side and gathered the waist band.  I used more blue jersey for the waistband.  Quick and easy and it was done.  The only complaint I got from it's user was there was no slit up the side, "But Mommy, Elsa's dress is open here on her leg!" Yes, it is.  So I quickly ripped the seam up a bit and serged the edges.  Done.

When I made the top I attached some ribbon on the back so I could attach the cape there, more like Elsa has her cape as part of her dress.

But as I thought about it more I wanted my daughter to be able to take it on and off herself so I just made a loop and put velcro on it.  She loves it.  She loved the party as well.

I had hair extensions I put in when I got married so I quickly braided up a clip in braid for my dark-haired Elsa.

 Here is her hostess, Princess Anna (also in a handmade costume, done by her mom!)

 And off course Princess Elsa had to find all the eggs on Easter weekend!  With any luck, she'll want to be Elsa for Halloween and I won't have to be making another costume come October.

Have you made any costumes for kids?

WHooo WHooo- Owl Costume Tutorial

So I have been working on a costume box for my neice's birthday.  She turns 2 in March and was just here for a visit at our house and she kept walking around saying "Owl . . .sleeping". We're really not sure what she is talking about since my daughter doesn't have an owl toy and neither does she. But I thought it would be great to make her an owl costume.

I started with 5 colours of felt. I used what I had in my stash. 
Materials: 
You need a piece 11 x 28 to 36" for the base piece.  For the feathers you need about 10 felt rectangles (10 x 8)  or  6" strip of 3 colours that measures about 21" 
elastic - about 12"

grey, brown, white, brown

1. Measure the child's arms and head.  My niece's arms are 13" and her head is 18.5".   A little bit of math: you need the diameter of the head so divide the number by 3.14 (18/3.14 =  5.89, which I will round up to 6). Add the arms plus the diameter of the head (13 +13 + 6 = 32).  So I need fabric 32" long and 11" wide.  The fabric I have in my stash is only 28" long so that is what I'm going to use.

Felt piec measuring 11 x 28" (folded in half in photo)

2. Take your fabric and fold in half and then again. Measure out from the corner to make the head hole (Half of the diameter measurement from step 1, for me 3"). Mark a radius of 3" and then cut it out.

Measure 3" radius from folded corner

Cut out quarter circle (will be a circle when opened up)

3. On the opposite corner measure up 6" on the long edge and over 3" on the short edge. Use a ruler and cut a straight line between marks.

Add caption

Cut angle.

Open your fabric and you have this.

4. Cut the feathers. Cut 6" strips from the other colours of fabric. Measure over 1.5" and mark. Measure from the corner to this mark.  Cut the diagonal.  Measure over 3" on the top of the fabric and cut down the 1.5" mark to make a long triangle. Keep measuring over 3" and cutting to the opposite side to make 5 sets of triangles.

6 inch strip of grey

Measure over and mark 1.5 inches on top edge and 3 inches from corner. Draw on Triangle

Cut out triangle.

Keep cutting out triangles.  Repeat with other colours

5. Lay out 3 triangles across the end and stitch down.

Row 1 - 3 triangles

Continue to sew on triangle feathers for the next 6 rows or until you run out of space.
 Row 2: 2 triangles. 
 Row 3: 3 triangles
 Row 4: 4 triangles
 Row 5: 5 triangles
 Row 6: 4 triangles, on top of 5th row

Row 2 - 2 triangles.

Finished wing.

6. Repeat for the other wing.

7. Make arm loops: cut two 6" pieces of elastic. Lift up feather triangles and stitch elastic to each side of base piece of fabric.





8. Voila!!  You have an owl costume.  Change the colours and you can make any bird.  Blue  = Blue Jay
Black and Grey = Chickadee.  Red = Cardinal

Let me know how my instructions are and if you need any clarification.