Believe In Design: October 2011

What was your favorite Halloween costume? Was it a homemade clown from childhood? A celebrity look you pulled off to much admiration? A raunchy little number?

All I remember is badly painted plastic masks that never lined up with my eyes so I spent the night with my head tipped back at odd angles straining to see. Every breath sent steam into the mask which made my face wet which led to a chapped face at the end of the night.

On top of that I couldn't help but repeatedly lick the sharp edges of the plastic where it touched my lips. Some oral fixation or my anxiety kicking in at an early age. I think there was a small hole that you could breath through. Seriously, I am glad that Halloween costumes have evolved. Those masks were a danger to your health.

So, no I don't remember ever having a homemade Halloween costume.

Sound the violin.

In an effort to mend my childhood offenses, I wanted to make an honest-to-goodness, homemade costume for my son. I feel some innate desire that his first Halloween costume must be made by the sweat of my brows. Some tiny little part of me also thinks this is what a good mother should do. Yes, this is the pure definition of a good mother.

If only it were that easy.

I embarked upon a Google search to find the perfect costume.
Something wearable for a ten month old.
Something he will be comfortable wearing down the parade route.
A costume that would reflect his personality and
something that I actually wanted to make.

Google, Google, Google. 8 hours later........

I settled on this. Thank you, Martha Stewart:

It's ridiculously cute. All my criteria for a perfect costume went out the window.

He is going to rip off those goggles. If I ever get them on!
He thinks that pulling off his hat is a fun game. I will need many snacks to keep it on.
He will be tripping over those wings.
Oh, but the comedy factor won me over. It is totally impractical! But it's going to be so worth the laughs. I have to get a little fun out of this right?

So here we go! Here's how I made it.

Step 1:

Gather the tools and supplies needed.

I purchased my felt from Benzie Bazaaar. The owner is very helpful and your shipment arrives wonderfully packaged. Print out Masked Owl templates from Martha Stewart.com. Follow the instructions by increasing the pattern pieces.

Benzie Bazaar Felt

Note: I think the recommended 375% is too big. My son is 20lbs and 10 months old. He is already walking around and I do not want him tripping on his wings. I made the pattern about 300% which is sufficient depending on the size of your baby. In addition, my copier only increases to a maximum of 200%. So I had to make a photocopy at 200% then take that copy and increase it by copying it at an additional 190%.

Phew, that's a lot of percentages.

The only exception are the goggles which are much too big even at 300%. I would suggest 250% total for the goggles. This will depend on your baby's head size and eye positioning. I think a better option for the goggles would be to buy a cheap pair of round sunglasses and take out the center lens. If they are not black you can just spray paint them.

Step 2: Cut out your pattern pieces.

I could only photocopy on 8.5"x 11" pieces of paper so I just photocopied each quadrant of the pattern. I cut and taped these pieces together to form the much larger pattern. It was a crapshoot for the most part I just guessed that I captured the necessary sections. In some cases, I was missing the tip of a wing or a small round wing portion. Don't fret just tape your pieces together by matching up the dotted lines. If you happen to be missing some segments just reference the original copy and draw it in yourself.

You could just make things very easy and go to Kinko's but I didn't have time to do that so I improvised!

Cut Pattern Pieces

Stay with me. It's okay, it's only a costume.

Step 3:

Cut felt fabric using paper patterns.

Now that you have all paper patterns pieces you can lay them on top of your felt. Cut the number of pieces indicated on the pattern pieces. Make sure to cut small notches on solid lines at the tops of the wings. These will be used to create a little shape necessary to sit on the shoulder properly.

Note: I eliminated one wing no. 3 because I thought it was too much. Wing no. 3 was originally assigned color ochre but I definitely wanted to keep that color so I just cut ochre from wing no. 2. (Wing no. 2 was suppose to be chocolate felt but I did not purchase this color since I am using a brown color already) Are you thoroughly confused now?

Here's the summary:

Wing No. 1: cut 4 pieces in tan and 2 from fusible (fusible is ironed on to create stronger fabric)
Wing No. 2: cut 2 pieces ochre
Wing No. 3: do not use pattern piece
Wing No. 4: cut 2 pieces brown (any brown color would work)

Go ahead, grab your coffee. I will wait right here.

Take a breath. Ok, let's continue.

Step 4:

Iron all pattern pieces along dotted lines to create dimension on felt pieces.

Wing No. 4

You can add more crease lines or less. It is really up to the look you want for the wings. I followed the pattern but next time I would add a few more.

Stitch the dart by overlapping the seams by about 2". The dart is the solid line found at the top of the wings that you should cut as indicated.

Step 5:

Join the wings together.

Attach 1/4" elastic at marked points on the pattern. Then join the two tan no. 1 wings together. I decided to sew them together because I have a very active baby that will rip through anything glued. I trimmed up the edges after the two wings were sewn together because they were slightly uneven.

Sewing Tan Wings no. 1 Together

Next, stitch the velcro on the tan wing (same side that you sewed the elastic). You can borrow your unsuspecting child to see how the pattern is lying on their shoulders to get a better indicator. Stitch the coordinating velcro to the onesie as well. I used about 4" row of 1/2" velcro for extra security. Since I used a long amount of velcro it overlapped the elastic armband but I just sewed over it. You will have to stop and start your thread on each side of elastic armband.

Sewn Velcro To Onesie

Sewing Velcro To Underside of Tan Wing no. 1

Wing no. 1 Underside Finished

Step 6:

Continue joining wings no. 3 and no. 4 to wing no. 1. I stitched about 8" at the top arc of the wings together so that they have some movement at the bottom. At the end of this step, you should have two complete wings (sewn or glued together) with velcro shoulder patch and elastic armband attached. In addition, the onesie should have velcro sewn on the shoulders.

Pair Of Wings

Step 7:

Sew white chest feathers onto onesie.

Attached the chest piece that has the neckline cut out and attach to the onesie by sewing or gluing the shoulders and neckline to the onesie. Lay the remaining chest pieces on top of each other and offset each one by 1". Stitch these pieces together before you attach them under the already sewn chest feather. Once they are assembled, stagger them 1" from the top chest feather and stitch a line across to fasten them to the onesie. If you unsnap the bottom of the onesie it is fairly easy to maneuver this stitch.

Stitch Chest Feather To Neckline

Onesie With Chest Feathers Sewn

Feathered Onesie

You should now have two complete wings and a feather belly onesie. Are you getting excited?

Step 8:

The pilot hat.

You have two options for the hat. You can buy it online and just add the ears. Or you can make it.
I chose to make it and it was very fun project that I can't wait to make again!

The best resource for the DIY-er is the Sweetpea Pilot Cap tutorial by sewliberated.typepad.com
She offers a very easy tutorial and I can't find anything to complain about.

Just follow her guide.

I decided to use a distressed leather for the ear pattern. Be sure to place them on the seam line of the hat or else your little owl might look like a little kitty. Meow! You can refer back to the photo of the finished hat for placement.

Leather For The Ear Pattern

Adding Rib Knit Binding

Step 9:

The goggles.

Stitch about a 2" row of velcro along the goggle straps. You will have to measure the circumference of your childs' head and add accordingly to the goggle pattern. I had to sew a seam to get the length I needed because my fabric was not long enough.

Step 10:

Dress up your little unsuspecting victim, break out the snacks and get your camera!

(Photo of my little one will be posted soon! Stay tuned.)

Edit: Here is the cutest little owl ever!

He's flying the coop!

P.S. I would love to see this done in all pink for a flamingo or all white for a swan. It is very versatile pattern. My latest peacock obsession could be great too by using jewel tone colors.

You can make it a bird of any feather! Let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Halloween!

The latest obsession for me has become the peacock. It just hit me the other day. As most of my obsessions often seem to pluck at me until I give in to them. They are very demanding.

Yes, like those jeans last week. Still have to mention that to hubby!

I went into my one of my favorite trim shops in New York to get a few non-essentials for a Halloween costume when these gorgeous feathers were dangling right there by the cash register. I bought one and merrily skipped home in the rain with an umbrella in one hand. The other hand clutched one large, beautiful peacock feather that bounced in time with my own steps.

I was proud walking home with my feather. Chest puffed out. A little strut to my walk.

The peacock replaces his feathers every year. Let's go of it's old baggage. The peacock is pure renewal. It has also come to symbolize glory, immortality, nobility, guidance and protection. When we strive to become better people than we were last year, yesterday or in the past hour we elevate human kind. Simple gestures have profound affects.

Have a renewing week!