Thomas the Train Costume...Again, from Last Year

Here we go getting a tutorial written up for the Thomas Costume from last year! This was a fun little project, though by the end I wasn't having much fun, and sloppily finished it. I was totally sick by that point, so the finished project wasn't quite as polished as my normal, non-pregnant hormoned mind would stand for.

It was still pretty easy, and CHEAP! Here are the supplies you'll need:

-Box big enough to fit your little conductor into

-scissors/knife

-Paints (I used acryllic) Blue (I mixed Royal blue and white until I got the right "Thomas Blue"), Red, and Black

-Black paper

-One large paper plate

-6 smaller paper plates

-masking or painter's tape

-Black Sharpie

-2 empty toilet paper rolls

-1 inch thick elastic - about a yard, or suspenders

Step 1: First, find a box. Got a good one? Great...now cut off the bottom flaps, and securely tape the top side flaps in place. The picture show scissors, but a knife may be more useful.

Step 2. Using your knife, cut along where the red dotted lines are. You may want to trace it out first. For the front, trace around your bigger paper plate as pictured below for Thomas' head. If your box is flimsy, you may want to use some of your scrap cardboard to reinforce the newly cut sides from the inside, to thicken it up.

Step 3. Now use either your masking tape or painter's tape to seal off the cut edges. You will paint over these so that the edges looke more finished than that cut cardboard look. I'm pretty sure I skipped the round part though...yep, just checked, I did.

Step 4.

Paint the box according to the guide below. Blue on the outsides, except for the top and Thomas' head. Black on the inside.

Step 5. Now paint all the extras, starting with the red lines. Mask off a square wuth the line being about an inch or so thick, and paint it red. Use your plate as a guide for painting the red half-circle on the front. I wish I woudl have done that...mine was a little sloppy.

You can use the picture below for your number 1. Save it to your pictures, then print it out as (2) 8x10's. Cut the 1 out, and glue it in the middle of the square on each side.

Tape off and paint a red line in front for your bemper. Then cut out 2 circles (use a glass to trace) from black paper, and glue in designated areas.

Step 6. Using scrap cardboard, cut out and paint the funnel as pictured below. Fasten it to the top of Thomas' head area with glue.

Step 7. Thomas' face. Paint the backside of your big paper plate grey. Then you've got a couple of options. I just copied his face from a picture, and drew it on with a Sharpie, and painted the eyes white, then drew on the pupils and irises of the eyes. But you could also print out a picture of his face, cut it, and glue it to the plate.

Step 7. Carve a slot into a toilet paper roll as pictured. Paint it gold. You can either do the 2nd one exactly like the first, or you can elevate teh 2nd one on a gold popsicle stick kind of like Thomas has. Your choice.

Step 8. Paint all 6 smaller plates blue on both sides. These are your wheels. Once dry, Use Sharpie to draw designs on wheels as pictured below. This was another thing I did sloppy. Sad.

Step 9. Attach suspenders (or elastic, which is what I used) to each side of the head, where it meets the base in the front, and up to the top, about 6 inches apart. Look at the bottom picture for a guide.I used hot glue, but you could easily use a stapler.

Step 10. This costume will be very back heavy, so I put some rocks in a little baggie and glued it to the front, behind Thomas' head. You could sew a little black baggie, so it blends with the inside, and put a paper weight in there or something.

After that, You're Done!!! Now all you need is a little conducter's hat, and a bandana around the neck, and you're good to go!

The Belle Costume - Only One Year Late...

So now that we're all healthy again, I decided to write up (finally) a tutorial for the dress I made for Sienna for Halloween last year. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the process, so all my pictures are computer illustrations. Let me tell ya, I think I really missed my calling in computer animation. I'm simply amazing. I'm pretty sure Pixar is going to call me up if they ever see this post and offer me a job.

Okay, enough sarcasm. But hopefully the pictures will at least illustrate well enough the process to make this dress. Click on the pictures to enlarge them if it makes it easier to read the text.

In case you missed it, which, you most likely did since at least 100 of the followers of this blog are new, here is the little dress I made my Sienna last year for Halloween. She was two.

There are a few preparatory things you need to do before you get started on this project.

-Get all the measurements of the little girl you are making this for. You will need the length from shoulders to waist, the length from waist to feet (or where you want the dress to hit), her waist measurement, and her chest .

-Based on measurements, compile two different fabrics. One for the main dress, and the other for embellishments. Sienna was two when she wore this, but was the size of a three year old. (At least) We used about 2 to 2/12 yards for the dress, and about 1/2 for the embellishments.

-Get some jewels, covered buttons, rossettes, etc. for further embellishment.

Now onto the instructions...

Lay out your fabric, and cut it as pictured. Your edge peices will not count as pieces, they have to all be the same and regular trapezoids. You will need 8 pieces in total. The length of the pieces should be at least double the length you measured from the waist to floor, depending on how big of a ruffle you want. I'm pretty sure mine was double.

Gather each long side of each trapezoid. You can do this easily by adjusting the thread tension and the stitch

length to the highest setting. Then measure to see how long it is, and if you need to gather it more to make it equal to the waiste-floor measurement, then gather it by pulling on the top thread, while guiding the fabric up the thread to create a bigger rufle.

 

Repeat the last step for the rest of the 7 pieces, then sew them all together, with, of course, the raw edges on the inside. Serge or zig-zag stitch each hem, so that it is reinforced as a gathered hem, not just the individual hems.

Once your skirt is in skirt shape, make a V in the front to allow the V shaped bodice to easily attach. The V should be about 2 inches in depth, starting from the sseam that will lay on the hip, to the other hip, as pictured below.

Sew a line around the top of the skirt using the same technique for a gathered seam. Then, pull threads again to match up with the waiste measurement you took.

Next, we're going to add the embelleshment to the bottom. You're going to need a very long strip. How long, is dependent on what size of dress you are making. In the picture it says it's equal to the width of the skirt at the portion it will be placed on, times 1.5, since it needs to drape a little. This is approximate, of course, so make sure you double measure. Measure around the portion of the dress that the embellishment will go on (around 8-16 inches off floor, depending on size of dress), then add a few inches as needed to get the total length of this strip. The idea is that this strips drapes 2-3 inches per section. The height will be around 5 inches.

Next, you will fold the strip in half, with wrong sides out, sew down the edges, and pull inside out to reveal the right sides. The height should then be about 2 - 2 1/2 inches, depending how big your hem was. Reinforce hems as necessary.

Next, you are going to gather the strip. Lay it against the dress, and make sure it drapes a little per section. Place a pin on the strip where each section of the skirt meet. Then gather where those pins are as illustrated. 

Attach to skirt. Make sure gathers correlate with the seams on the skirt.

Next, we move to the top. Find an article of clothing that your little girl fits well into. As a tip: if you are using fabric that stretches, use a shirt that stretches, like a knit. If your fabric is not stretchy (like mine), use a shirt that fits well, but does not stretch. I have a tank top shown, but you can use any shirt. It's really just to illustrate what portion of the shirt we are using.

Trace the outline of the shirt onto the fabric. Don't forget to include the hems in your tracing, because you will be hemming as well! You will need 2 pieces for the front. One will be one inch wider than the shirt outline you trace. I'll explain that in a bit. Just add the extra inch to the middle.

You will use one back piece, and you will add 3 inches to the width to allow for buttons.

Remember to make sure the length of the top is the same as the measurement you took from shoulder to waiste.

On the front pieces, make sure you extend the bottom down a little to make a V like we did with the skirt, as illustrated.

Cut a line down the middle of the bigger of your front pieces. This will be that seam that most Disney princesses have down the front of their dresses. Put right sides together, and sew a 1/2 inch hem. Reinforce hem.

Now we want to attach our front pieces. Put right sides together, with the hem from the top piece facing outward, as pictured below. Then sew together where the picture show a red line.

Then flip inside out so the right sides are facing out. Sew along the entire outise, including going over (as close to the edge as possible) the seams we just made that are now on the inside.

For the back, Cut a line down the center. Then hem up the sleeves as shown.

Do a zig-zag stitch, or serge the edge of each side that you just cut. The x2 means do it for each side.

Fold and iron down 1 1/2 inches from the edge, over to the backside, as pictured. Then hem the neckline over top. Do this for both sides.

Make a pencil marking (or mental note) of 1 inch from the edge on each side. This is where your buttons will be. Make sure you measure again and again where your buttons will be to make sure they are even. You'll want to be sure there are at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches between buttons, so we can add embellishment later. Since all sewing machines are different, I will assume you know how to use yours to make a button hole. Most sewing machines have a stitch option for this. Consult your owners manual to learn how to use it, if you don't already know.

Then, attach the back of the top to the front of the top. Reinforce hems as necessary. Measure the width to make sure it correlates with the waiste circumfrance and the chest circumfrance.

Attach Top to Bottom. The buttons should be buttoned up to ensure that the sides are sewn to the bottom correctly.

You can add any sort of embellishment you want at seams. I did rhinestones. You can also do covered buttons, rosettes, etc.

Now for the Top embellishment.

Cut a strip of fabric (the same fabric as the embellishment for the bottom) that will fit around the top of your little girl's arms right at the shoulder. It needs to be long enough to wrap around the back inside panels about 1/2 to 3/4 an inch. It also needs to be about 6-8 inches in height, depending on the size of dress you are making.

Next, fold that piece in half length wise, and sew along raw edges as shown. Sew along the red line.

Sew along the red lines and gather. The raw edges on the very end need to be serged or zig zagged, or even heat sealed, if the fabric is some sort of synthetic fabric.

Attach it to the top in the places indicated in the picture below. See Purple picture below this one for a more clear visual on attaching it to the back. It can be attached with a sturdy hand stitch on the front and on the sleeves.

I then added another rhinestone embellishment to the center of the fron. You can add covered buttons, rosettes, etc.

And Guess what???? You're DONE!!!



Got Eggs?

Easter has yet again come and gone, and as expected, we have come upon a bounty of hard-boiled eggs. It seems that the hard-boiled egg is to Easter as Turkey is to Thanksgiving. Both are completely necessary in fulfilling long-lived traditions in each (though of course you can certainly celebrate Thanksgiving by just being grateful and Easter by remembering our Savior's sacrifice, I'm just saying that in most homes, this is a standing tradition for each), and both leave you with an excess of one type of food that you have no idea how to use up afterwards.

Now, of course, you can always just eat your hard-boiled eggs as is, but who really likes to do that over and over??? Then of course, there's egg salad sandwiches, (my favorite!!!) potato salads, or using eggs slicers to garnish any other salad. But what about after that? I mean, chances are, you've got like 24 hard-boiled eggs...

Well, that is where the incredible, edible deviled egg comes in! Oh my, I do love deviled eggs. In fact, I love them so much, that I love to get creative with them. You will find them at any party I put on, because to me, they're as wonderful and versatile as a cupcake. So many ways to decorate, and to tie into a theme, but SO much more satisfying! (I realize this is debatable, I could seriously hear the entire state of Utah gasp when I wrote this...but just put your "Sarah" cap on right now and wander with me through the wonderful world of possibilities for deviled eggs.)

Of course just a normal deviled egg is amazingly delicious, but there are so many things you can do with them to make them adjust to anything you are doing. You can use them for parties, for lessons, for snack time after teaching your kids a new song or reading a new story... the possibilities are endless! Below, I have a few examples of fun things you can do with deviled eggs, and chances are...you've got some hard-boiled eggs to practice with!

This was from Breck's Dr. Suess Birthday last year...Green Eggs and ham. The yokes are dyed green, and fed through a frosting tip. These can be for a party, but also for a Dr. Suess reading time with your kids.

Not many people realize you can actually dye the whites of your hard boiled eggs as well. If you use a strong food coloring (I like Wilton's) diluted in water, you can dump the egg whites in, and put them in the fridge overnight and have beautiful colors the next day! These were for Sienna's 2nd birthday party which was a watermelon theme. Once again, you could use these after a lesson about fruits (Ha ha, then give them eggs!), or just a fun summery treat. These have coarsely ground black pepper on top to resemble seeds, and the middle is dyed pink.

This one is a recreation of deviled eggs I did for Breck's 2nd birthday party. It was a bee theme, so I made deviled bees. I use mayonnaise as a sort of frosting for deviled eggs when necessary. I just dye it whatever color I need.

Devil's Eyes...blood shot of course.

Need a treat for a football game? Look no further. White and yoke dyed brown, non-dyed mayo for lines.

(Sorry, no Picture :( )

Basket: Use after reading "Little Red Riding Hood". I used paper for the handle, I couldn't really think of anything edible to stick in there.

Deviled egg boats. Use Single's slices of cheese, and cut an X all the way through.

Then cut  + after that. These will make your sails. You will get 8 sails from one slice.

Put onto a toothpick, and stick into the deviled egg.

I hope this has given you a few ideas for finding fun ways to use up your hard-boiled bounty. If nothing else, your kids will enjoy the fun things you come up with, and hopefully you'll have some too!

Halloween Costumes 2010

Sorry I'm such a slacker. This month is definitely a busy one for us, and there have been a few new circumstances thrown into the mix. Not bad, just busier. I had intended on writing up tutorials for Halloween costumes before Halloween, not to mention a few Halloween decor items I had worked on. They'll have to wait until next year.

But for now, I will show you the costumes I made for our kids.

The first, Sienna's, I was really on top of and finished really early. It was actually really easy, which is why I wanted to post a tutorial on it. I'll write one up, and post it in time for costume planning next year! Sienna went as Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. I had wanted to have the kids go as Beauty and the Beast, but I knew Breck would NOT be excited about a Beast costume, and is definitely old enough to care if he got to be what he wanted to be.

Which Brings me to Breck's. I decided to let him be Thomas the Train. That's his absolute favorite character, so I knew it wouldn't be hard to get him to wear his costume (remembering last year's experience). It was fun to do, and he loved it!