Thursday, November 1, 2012

Star Wars Family Costumes!

Ok, so Sweet boys 1and 2, REALLY love Star Wars!  I mean, the things they can make light sabers out of and how many times they can watch the movies....  Now, we let them watch the movies we grew up on, so that means Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewie, Princess Leia, you know the oldies, but goodies.  Plus, they don't seem as violent with their awkward light saber battles, I mean, Old 'Ben' Kenobi dies with one swipe of the saber and disappears?

Anywho, we could debate ad nauseum the quality of the movies, but they love them just the same.  So, Sweet boy 1 wanted us to be characters from the movies, so he and Sweet boy 2 were jedi, mommy was Leia, Sweet boy 3 was R2D2 and daddy?  Well he specifically said not to buy any fabric for him, so I didn't make him a costume...  Only to get a whiny what am I going to wear? when I sent him pics of each finished products...You snooze, you lose...  He had to wear the boys' old Darth Vader mask and call it a day...

Ta-da!!

No, the kiddo's weren't wearing masks, I just don't want their images out here forever.
So, I learned a lot about myself with this project...  I procrastinate.  Nothing really learned there, I knew that!  And I really let a craft/project intimidate me!  I am not the type of person intimidated by people, but a project, man that can really intimidate me!  I will feel bad about not finishing it or leaving it half finished, turn my eyes away when I see it on my craft table, but I don't feel bad about buying the materials for the project (maybe I should work on that!)  Only to find out that it was super quick or easy, just like this one.  I really need to work on this part of me, because I have a lot of great ideas but end up not doing the project or not finishing it only to really be happy with it in the end.

This was exactly like that!  Ok, so I did all my sewing Halloween morning during Sweet boy 3's morning nap (so, in an hour and a half)!  I bought the fabrics in advance, of course, and washed them all up.  I had a three yards of brown fleece, two and a quarter of white/knit polyester and one sheet of felt in blue and gray to make the costumes. 

Of course, I took NO pics, but this was so easy!!  This is going to be a descriptive tutorial:

Jedi robes - Got my fabric measuring tape (you know, the flexible one) and measured from each boy's top of the shoulder down to mid-thigh and doubled that number.  For the older one it was 30 x 2 = 60 inches and the younger was 20 x 2 = 40 inches.  I needed 100 inches of fleece, so I got three yards (108 inches) for wiggle room.  Put the fleece in the washer, no need to worry about the ends, fleece doesn't fray!  Yay! 

Took it out of the dryer and folded it in half, selvage to selvage.  So, I cut my jedi tie wraps (is that what they are called?) first and used my rotary cutter to take a two inch strip (two times) off the bottom.  Then I cut off a 60 inch piece of fabric (I didn't do anything with the width, you will need that to make the sleeves floppy.)  Then folded it in half, so you have 30 inches a fold and 30 inches.  Then, genius that I am, I had Sweet boy1, who was sick on Halloween - Boo!, lay down on top of the fleece like a cross, so I could cut the underarm and body parts.  Now leave room around the body and cut the arms at an angle down like they are going to droop.  Sweetboy 2 was at school, so I used a long sleeve shirt of his as my template.  Go to your sewing machine and sew the underarm to the bottom of the robe on each side - DON'T sew across the bottom! 

Now you are missing a head hole and an opening, unless you want a tunic, like the Princess Leia outfit.  So I laid out the robe and found the middle and cut through one layer (make sure you life it up as you are cutting, so you don't cut through both layers.)  When you reach the top, do a half moon cut-out - still laying the robe down.  Turn it right side out and let your jedi try it on.  You can alter it just by cutting at this point.  I doubly tied the wraps around their waist and you are done!

Princess Leia- Do the same as above except do not cut an opening down the front.  Knit doesn't fray, either!  Double yay! Fold over your white fabric, lay down and cut around yourself and sew up, just like above.  Cut a head hole and turn it inside out.  I used some of the leftover scraps to fashion a belt out of.  Put on your buns and you are the princess!

Baby R2D2 - Look at some images of R2D2 online and cut out your blue and gray felt.  Place on white onesie with your favorite white glue.  I did this Halloween morning and it was dry and stayed on the whole evening, during the wash it broke apart, but Halloween was fine.

Now this was an easy, cheap, quick Halloween costume set-up for the entire family (unless you are our family and daddy doesn't want you spending any money on him.)  Heck, we used a gift wrap cardboard roll and duct taped it into a light saber!  You could even do Darth Vader just like the Jedi Robes in black. 

The boys have yet to take off their jedi robes, so I consider this a hit!  Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!

Take Care,
Morgan

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