Upcycled Sound of Music Drapes Dress

It's after Thanksgiving and that means Christmas is coming!  I love the holidays and all the special activities that go on during this season.  I've always wanted to take the kids to the Sound of Music Sing Along and this is the first year both kids can actually sit through an entire movie.  We went on Sunday and had a blast!  To get into the Sound of Music spirit, I made play clothes for Simone.  I wanted to make some for Logan, but he vetoed lederhosen.  I think it was the floral-ish print...

The best part was this dress cost me $0 since I already had all the thread and notions.  I got the fabric from FabMo, which is a great organization that takes leftover, unused, or sample materials and allows others to use.  Since these were sample sizes, I used two different upholstery fabrics that were in the same color scheme.  One of them actually looked like the drapes in the movie.  I made that fabric the center and made side panels from the secondary fabric.  I didn't have enough material to make pleats so I used some leftover elastic to cinch the waist.  Since this was basically a costume piece, I just used the serger on the hems and put in snaps on the straps.

I made the dress a bit big and am hoping Simone can wear it again next year.  To complete the look, I made headwrap out of the leftover fabric.  Luckily, Simone liked it and wore it throughout the movie!

Beauty and the Droid

After all the school parades, parties, and finally trick or treating, we are all Halloween'd out.  This was the first year the kids were actually excited about trick or treating.  Last year, I think we lasted about 5 houses before the kids got scared.  This year, my older and wiser kindergartener told us the spooky houses were fake.

Logan loves Star Wars and went as R2D2.  His costume was mostly duct tape, glow in the dark tape, and posterboard.  I followed this for reference.

Simone was Belle and I just made her a basic A-line dress by tracing one of her dresses for size.  I also added pickups and rosettes to make it look it Belle's dress.

I went as Mrs. Potts to complement Simone.  Unfortunately, Fred did not want to wear fur fabric, so I couldn't make him a Chewbacca costume to complement Logan.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween is coming up and that means it's costume time!  I was never into Halloween until I had Logan and Simone.  When I was a kid, I would put on overalls and say that I was a farmer.  Now, I love putting together costumes for the kiddos.

For the last 3 years, My dear friend, Amy, helped me put together Logan's costumes (i.e. she did most of the work!)  The costumes were pretty much the same - fleece hoodie and pants.  For the pattern, I just traced a pair of his pants and a hoodie to get the right size.  

Logan was Elmo in 2012.  The eyes and nose were styrofoam balls and we attached them to the hood with velcro.  I thought he really looked like Elmo when he was picking up candy :)

He was in his dinosaur phase in 2013 and here he is as a T-Rex.  We added a stuffed tail and also used styrofoam balls for the eyes.  We used felt for the teeth and claws.

Last year, he wanted to be Turbo the snail.  We used a headband and styrofoam balls for the eyes and wrapped it in orange felt.  We painted an old diaper box for the shell and duct taped it together.  I also added a glow in the dark necklace for the spiral.

This will be the first year that I'm making both of the kids' costumes and I'm really excited!  

Boy's Vest

We went to a dear friend's wedding this summer and it was a rare treat for all of us to get dressed up!  Logan hates dressing up and his nice clothes are only worn for family pictures and holidays.  I decided to spiff up his regular button down and blue slacks and made him a vest, bow tie, and pocket square.  I used about 1/2 yard of suiting fabric for the vest.  For the bow tie and pocket square, I used fabric that I already had.

I didn't have time to add a clip for the bow tie, so I just safety pinned the bow tie on his shirt.  It was little crooked, but it works.

I loved how he looked and loved that he kept his vest/tie on the whole time!

Summer Belle Dress

Simone loves Beauty and the Beast and, unsurprisingly, her favorite color is yellow.  When I take her to Joann's, she always requests to look at the Princess fabric, Hello Kitty fabric, and yellow fabric.  I happen to find a cute yellow fabric in the remnants bin and made a simple summer dress, which Simone affectionately calls her "Belle dress."  I wanted to experiment with bias tape, ruffles, and pleats, so I worked them into the dress.  It definitely looks homemade but I'm glad Simone it!  I'm hoping she can wear this as a tunic next year since I didn't put in a distinct bodice.

Here's a look at the details in the front.  I need to spend more time working with bias tape.

The back also had 2 pleats

Disneyland!

I love, love, love Disney and our big family trip was 3 days in Disneyland!  We went back in April, so this post is a bit late.  It was Logan's 2nd time and Simone's 1st time there.  We were able to go offseason and mid-week, so the roadtrip was fairly quick and easy and the crowds weren't bad at all.  I think the longest we stood in line was 20 mins.  To prepare for the trip, I made clothes for us to get into the Disney spirit!

Simone got two Minnie Mouse dresses.  I found a cute Minnie smock fabric at Joann's and this was the easiest dress to make.  I just sewed down the edge to make a tube and added ribbon for straps.

Simone found the second Minnie Mouse fabric in the remnant bin at Joann's.  I tried to make a cute bubble dress, but the remnant didn't have quite enough fabric to make the bubble that visible.  I was also running out of fabric for the bodice and ended up doing a little peekaboo back.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

I wanted to have a family theme day at Disney.  Logan didn't want anything to do with princesses and Simone did not want anything to do with Planes, so Monsters was a happy medium.  I painted shirts for Fred, Logan, and myself.  Simone dressed up as Boo, so I made a simple jacket and decorated the with yarn, felt, pipe cleaners, and styrofoam balls.  It was insanely hot, so the jacket only made an appearance for the picture!

Fred as Sully, Logan as Mike, Simone as Boo, and me as Boo's door.

A better picture of the kids

All in all, it was a great trip and the kids still talk about Disneyland!

R2D2 Cake

I don't really bake, but when I do, it's just Christmas and birthdays and my "baking" is making Rice Krispie treats.  This year, I wanted to make Logan's birthday special and decided to make him a R2D2 cake.  I roughly followed this post, but just used cake mix and store bought icing.  It was my first time piping icing - not bad for a newb!

Lego Star Wars Shirts

I can't believe my first baby turned 5 last month.  Logan wanted a Lego Star Wars birthday party, so I make some shirts for the family to wear.  It was my first time using freezer paper stencils and they are so easy!

I searched for Lego images for various characters.  Logan chose his favorites - R2D2 and C3P0.  Simone's shirt has Princess Leia and an Ewok, Fred's has Chewbacca and Han Solo in Carbonite and my shirt has Yoda.

I just traced around the images and cut out the stencils.

Ironed them on to the shirt.

Painted

Waited....

Done!

 

For Han Solo in Carbonite, I used 2 layers of gray paint.  I think it turned out pretty nicely.  Next time, I need to make sure the freezer paper is sticking properly.  The paint ended up bleeding through the Ewok hood.  And, from the excess splatters, I was a bit paint happy.