Halloween - K's Costume

This is the last of the Halloween posts, which is a good thing given that it is now mid-November. It is another monster (see what I did there?!) of a post with a million photos showing how I made K's costume. It ended up being a good amount of work, but I loved it and the hoodie and pants he can wear on regular days, so it was all worth is. You might be thinking, "why didn't she just buy a yellow sweatsuit?!" Trust me, I thought the same thing. You would be surprised, however, to find out that sweatsuits are difficult to come by in Japan. Particularly yellow ones with nothing else on them. I was afraid that if it had a patch or something on it that I would tear the fabric while picking it off. This scared me and so it seemed easier to just make it all.

I'll start with the hoodie since it was the most complicated. Below is the almost finished product - it was just missing the waistband.

I didn't have a hoodie pattern. What I did have was a pajama top pattern with a tight fit (I thought that would make the hoodie look kind of retro and cool) that I used as a sizing guide and a zip up hoodie jacket that K owns. Using the hoodie jacket, I made a hood pattern just hoping that it would fit the actual shirt neck. I ended up being super lucky and it all worked out.

Since there was no actual pattern, I just drafted a front pocket pattern as well and started with that. I lined the back of the pocket in green jersey. Since K wanted to be a yellow dinosaur with green spikes, I thought it would be good to try to fit in the green in a few other places. Once the pocket was done, I sewed it to the front of the hoodie.

Then I attached the back. Instead of making the back like a normal shirt, however, I left it cut up the center so that I could attach spikes when the time came. Then came the sleeves.

This is what it looked like at this point.

As I was working up my confidence to deal with the hood and spikes, I took the time to add the cuffs. Easy.

Then it was the hood. After inspecting all of Y's hoodies, I realized that the hood overlaps in the very front. I lined the hood up from the back to the front and it worked out just perfectly. Wowza, that was super lucky.

I sewed the hood to the neck, being sure to overlap the very front bit. Then I sewed the very top of the hood together. I thought it would be easier to get the string through like this, also I didn't want the spikes to go to the VERY front of the hoodie.

Then I marked where my button holes for the hood string would go and made them.

Next were the spikes. I measured from the top of the hood (where the top was open) to the bottom of the waist (just like the tip of the hood, I didn't want spikes on the waistband either.

I added some interfacing to a long rectangle of green jersey and drew some spikes. I started the spikes slightly shorter at the top of the head, then they got bigger as they went down his back.

Then I sewed the spikes up.

Then I flipped them right side out and sandwiched them between the hood and back and sewed it all up. The finished look was not very clean and since I thought K could wear this on a regular day I didn't want it looking like that.

I went down the whole spike seam with bias tape and think it looks much cleaner.

The final step was to add the waisband and string the hood string through and the most difficult part was done.

I love how it looks from the back.

K loved it too! So much so, that it was impossible to get a photo of him standing still. He also demanded that we try it on as soon as he woke up, so he is modeling it with his pajama pants. Still cool, in my book.

 

Next up were the pants. These were super standard. I just drafted the pattern from a pair of jersey pants that K already owns. 

 

I cut the four pieces, sewed up the side seams and ironed in the hem.

Did the center seam and they were pretty much done.

All that was left was the waistband. I used the ribbed jersey that I also used in the cuffs and waistband in the hoodie to make the pant waistband. I made it slightly smaller than the waist of the pants, although to be honest the waist is a tad bit big. I think I'll go back, cut some holes and give them a drawstring when I get some time.

I marked the waistband into quarters.

Lined up those markers with the seams and then sewed it up.

The final step was the sew in the hems and the pants were done. Again with the kid not standing still for a photo. Eh, what can I do? He's almost a dinosaur now!!!

The very last step was to make the tail. It turns out I ran out of steam taking photos of this process - more likely I just wanted to get it done and couldn't be bothered by taking the photos when it is all explained super well in the tutorial that I followed to make it.

I did the same thing for the tail spikes, as I did for the hoodie spikes, only in reverse. I started with the spikes slightly taller and as they went down the tail they got a bit shorter.

Then I basted them to the tail fabric, sewed the top of the tail together, then most of the bottom. Finally the circle bit, sandwiching in some waist ties, stuffed it and handsewed up the bottom.

And I had one very happy dinosaur.

Excuse the pillows and bag thrown about - the dino was on a mission destroying the living room.

 

I can't wait to see what next year's costume request is! Now with Halloween officially over, I am contemplating Thanksgiving...I think I might need a bit of a break though. 

Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie (Again)

Fall is here and I love it! For the past few weeks, the mornings and evenings have gotten crisper, but the afternoons are still sunny and warm. The leaves are starting to change to their beautiful yellows, oranges and reds. Football is in full swing and delicious desserts await us. Ahhhh, it's is the best.

A few weeks ago, I was having a friend over and asked Y what he would like me to make. He requested a cheesecake. I thought and thought about what to make and decided on a chestnut and caramel cheesecake, it screamed autumn to me and in my mind it sounded delicious. I headed to the grocery store and they were out of cream cheese (?!?). I called Y and asked if there was anything else he might like and he requested pecan pie. To be honest, I don't love pecan pie. Neither pecan pie nor pumpkin pie really do it for me, but I left the option open, so I figured I should go with it. I used a recipe I have done on the blog before, but for me it really is the best pecan pie. Why reinvent the wheel on this one?

I used a standard 3-2-1 pie crust of about 210g of flour (plus a bit of sugar), 140g of butter and maximum 70g of water, although usually it is much less than that.

Once the crust was ready and chilling in the fridge, I got to work on the good stuff following the pecan pie recipe I've deemed acceptable. It is super simple, whisk together all of the ingredients except for the pecans and chocolate chips...

Until it looks like this.

Then add in the pecans and chocolate chips and whisk or really stir them together...

Until it looks like this.

Then put the pie crust into a pie pan and pour the filling in. Bake and you are done.

You could slice and eat it just like that, but I do recommend the whipped cream that is included in the recipe. Nothing is nicer than a slice of warm pie with whipped cream on a chilly autumn evening.

Bring it on, fall! I cannot wait to do some more baking - once I recover from the Halloween madness (and my cold).

Bento Thursday - Rockets & Stars

K had school today and as it is Thursday, it was also bento day. He decided yesterday that he wanted a rocket ham and cheese sandwich, carrots, cucumbers and apples. I wanted to cut the veggies into stars, but there was no way I was going to do that by hand again. So, we headed to the 100 yen store and found a small star cookie cutter. Perfect!

T woke up at 4 this morning, which was awesome. Y and I tried and tried to get him to go back to sleep, but it was a lost cause. At 5:50 I admitted defeat and took him to the living room while I got to work on the bento. Since I had so much extra time after making the rocket sandwich and the star carrots and cucumbers, I figured I would cut the apples into stars as well. I have a feeling this cookie cutter is going to get a lot of use - look at those stars!! So cute! Out of the other two rocket bentos, this one is my favorite.

 

Although T was up at 4, which means I have been up since 4, and K was at school I was really hoping for a nap, but alas I had to head to the unemployment office. I am due some unemployment insurance, but I have to go there twice a month for four months. Aye yai! This also means that Y has to take the morning off of work to watch T (and sometimes K) while I go to meetings. He has to be at his office by 1 or it is counted as a vacation day. My meeting ended at 11:30, which gave Y enough time to meet me, walk to the station together, hop on the train, eat his bento and head into the office. It was a busy, busy day and I am beat (and a tad under the weather to boot!). Anyway, Y's bento consisted of rice, teriyaki yellowtail, carrots with sesame (I snuck in a few of the extra stars from K's bento), beef and nagaimo (some kind of potato), spinach with ponzu, and cucumbers with furikake. 

T's Costume

 

As I mentioned before, I came across these wings and fell in love. I knew I wanted to make them for K to play in, so I figured I could make them for T's Halloween costume and then K could just play in them after Halloween. I knew I wanted T to be a bluebird, so I just went nuts with the blue fabrics at the shop.  

 

Then it came time to decide what size to make the wings. This is where I ran into problems. I measured K's arms and T's arms and (you might see where this is going) they are TOTALLY different - shocker! I settled on a wingspan that would be slightly shorter than K's, but also slightly longer than T's. Then I would make a tie to connect the wings in the middle so that they could be adjustable, size-wise. With that, I cut out the base of the wings.

Then I made a little feather pattern. I just eyeballed it.

This is the part that I thought would take forever, but it was surprisingly fast. I just folded the fabric in half twice, traced the feather pattern on, moved it again to the end if there was leftover fabric, traced again and then cut. As I was cutting through four layers of fabric, this went really quickly.

On occasion I would end up with a mutated feather, but I just cut up where it was too close together and that was fixed.

No one was the wiser!

I cut one long strip of each fabric, but it turns out I needed two of almost all of the fabrics so I had to go back and cut those after starting the sewing portion.

Then I decided the pattern that I wanted them in (this ended up changing slightly), took a photo and then got to sewing.

 Starting at the bottom rounded edge, I sewed on the first row of feathers.

 

Then I just kept moving up with each row so that the feathers were overlapping slightly. There was almost always a bit of overhang at the end of the wing, but I just left it to the end and then chopped it all at once.

For both the center tie and the arm ties, I took long strands of the main fabric and then folded it like double fold bias tape. I didn't bother cutting it on the bias, just folded it so it looked like bias tape. Then I sewed the folded edges together. 

I kept going with the feathers until they were nearly to the top corner of the wings. 

Then I sewed the center ties to the main fabric. I also sewed a few final feathers to cover the corner bit.

Then I sewed on the arm bands being really careful to fold the feathers up so I was only sewing onto the main fabric without catching any of them. Finally, I sewed velcro to each of the arm bands so they could attach easily.

With that, the wings were done!

 

Next up was the hat. T has a little hat that my Aunt gave to him (thanks, Aunt!!) which is where I got the idea to make this little bluebird hat. The hat from my Aunt is a 6-9 month fit, so it's still a tad big, but I still used it to make a pattern - I just made it a bit smaller.

I also made the beak more pointed than the duck bill.

Using iron-on adhesive, I ironed the face onto the front of the hat. Once it was all ironed on, I went over and top-stitched it. I figured it would be easier to top-stitch the eyes in place if they were already solidly on the hat as oppsed to attached by pins only.

This is where I completely stopped thinking. I sewed the bottom bit to the top.

Then I sewed the front of the hat to the back.

When I went to fold the bottom up, the seam was on the outside. Duh. Seriously, what was I thinking? I ended up folding the bottom in, instead of out and it turned out just as well. My main thing was that I didn't want the seam digging into the sides of T's head. Folding it in covered the side seams as well.

 

The final bit was a pair of leggings. As they were black, you can't really tell what I did, but I used this tutorial and a pair of T's pants for the pattern. T doesn't own any leggings, so for the pattern I just used a pair of jersey pants that are a tad on the tight side and made it a bit smaller.

The tutorial is super clear and really, with just two pieces (a right side and a left side), super easy as well.

That being said, T has little use for a pair of black leggings, but one of our friends is going to have a baby girl in about a month, so I think I am just going to do something to make the leggings a bit cuter and then give them to her. (That sounds so lame and cheap, but we talked about it and she's down. I am already trying to think of a cute outfit to go with these black leggings.)

With the leggings done, T's costume was ready to go! For the top he just wore a white long-sleeved onesie that I buttoned on the outside of the leggings.

 

It was impossible to get a good shot of the whole costume on him, this is about the best we have although there is no sign of leggings. Trust me, he was wearing them.

 

Much to my dismay, K isn't much of a dress-up kind of kid so the wings are just sitting in his costume box. Unused. Bummer. The hat, however, is a staple! It is getting chillier out, so the little guy needs a hat when we go outside. Since I made it to fit his head, this is the current go-to when we leave the house.