Poison Ivy with every day pieces!

For my Halloween costume to every day wearables, I used my dyed green mesh to make a made for mermaids mama stella. It also happened to match the walls at my mom’s house where I was taking photographs!

I made a scoop back with long sleeves.

I also bound the neckline and sleeves with fold over elastic and gave myself a thumb hole, because come on…its a thumb home!

It really had a great grungy punk look when paired with skinny distressed grey jeans and a black camisole tank.

I also made a self drafted a yoga skirt because I was fed up searching for what I really wanted. It’s a highwaisted skirt that is 16 inches from waist to hemline (I was lazy and didn’t hem) and has a 4 inch wide yoga style waist band. I basically measured my waist and hips and graded out.

I paired them with a store bought corset that I covered in a rayon crepe. The final result was a little Victorian prostitute meets Poison Ivy….I kinda dig it! I added some fake leaves, vampy makeup, and knee high boots, and boom! I may add some green pleather spats later, but the jury is still out.

A Practical Halloween – Steampunk Style

I LOVE fall! The cooler days and crisp nights, the changing leaves, cozy sweaters and jeans – these are all things I love. Not only that, my two favorite holidays take place in the fall: Thanksgiving and Halloween!

I have always loved to dress up for Halloween ever since I was little. My birthday falls close to Halloween, so I remember having Halloween parties instead of a birthday party growing up. I also may or may not go a little overboard with the decorations.

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Since my son was born, I’ve concentrated on his costume every year, and haven’t dressed up myself in a long time. This year, I accepted the challenge of coming up with a “practical” Halloween costume–something made up of separates that could then be used for every day. One of the first things that popped into my mind was that I had always thought the pleated back version of the Sundance Jacket from Greenstyle Creations had a sort of “Victorian” look to it, so I thought I could use that to make myself a Steampunk outfit.

Now that I had the idea, time to come up with the rest of it. I thought a black skirt would pair nicely with the jacket and would definitely be something I would wear again and again. Choosing the fabric for the skirt was a no-brainer: the gorgeous Rayon Spandex in Black from Phee Fabrics was the perfect choice. For the skirt pattern, I chose the Women’s Maya Skirt from Petite Stitchery & Co.

For the Sundance Jacket, I wasn’t sure which fabric to use. The pattern says that Supplex is a good option, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted the regular Supplex or the Brushed Supplex, so I ordered both. Once they arrived, it was still a hard choice, as both fabrics are amazing, but I felt the Brushed Supplex was a better choice for a jacket. (And now I have the regular supplex to use for some leggings!)

I made my Sundance with the pleated back and stand-up collar so it would work not only for my costume, but would also be the perfect jacket for cooler weather biking and hiking.

And I was right to choose the Brushed Supplex! This jacket is so soft and warm! It has great stretch, but was still a dream to work with. The only thing I would do differently next time, would be to use a thinner fabric for my pockets to reduce the bulk a bit, but overall, I’m super pleased with how it turned out.

My skirt in the gorgeous Black Rayon Spandex also turned out just how I imagined. Flowy and soft, this will be the perfect skirt that can be dressed up or down depending on top and accessories. Here I’ve paired it with an oversized tee made from white RS.

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Putting the skirt and jacket together with a few accessories, like the hat (Amazon) and wig (previous costume), I get my Steampunk outfit! I also used a bit of Ultra Wide Black Lace Trim that I tied around my neck. Once Halloween is over, I can use that to make some new “unmentionables”. 😉

With a bit of imagination, you too can have a “practical” Halloween!

One dress, Five costumes

Confession Time: I hate sewing costumes. I just can’t get my head around sewing a whole outfit, spending all of the time and money it takes to make something good, just to wear the thing for one day or one event. It pains me. Actual pain. So… I usually just buy something RTW. Ick, I know, but it meant I could spend more time sewing things for myself and others that would actually be worn more than once.

Since this year I am participating in a RTW fast, however, (and still going strong!) taking the lazy route and buying a costume wasn’t going to be an option. But even so, I couldn’t get myself, to sew up an actual costume, and instead came up with a compromise of making myself a basic dress that I know I will wear again, and designing a costume around that.

I decided on sewing up a basic black dress, because I only have six in my closet already which obviously isn’t enough, in what is probably my most used pattern of all time the Made for Mermaids Mama Ava tee. I whipped it up in Phee Rayon Spandex in black with 3/4 sleeves, because it’s only the middle of September and the high temps where I leave are already only reaching 55 degrees, and a classic V neck so that the dress really could be a plain base for anything I found to go with it, and drove my happy little butt to party city to pick out a costume. Thirty minutes later I left with over $200 of accessories, enough for five different, super easy costumes!

 

Basic Witch

Devil

Kitty Kat

I’m a Mouse, Duh

And my personal favorite…. Cruella DeVil !

And my absolute favorite part is that this is a dress I will get so much wear out of in almost every season going forward! Yay for practical, easy sews!

Now I really don’t need five costumes so help me pick which one to keep? Right now I am torn between Minnie and Cruella, leave your vote below!

Costume or Clothing? BOTH!

Every year when Halloween comes around I start thinking, “This is the year I will have a great costume!” And every year I realize that a) I don’t have any ideas b) mostly because I don’t really want to spend the money on a throw away “outfit.” So the challenge for this year was to actually have a costume and one that I would ACTUALLY wear again.

I was drawing a blank when a wise sewing sage posted a Pinspiration for the Morton’s Salt Girl and a light bulb went off – I could make separates instead of a complete yellow dress and mix and match for even more post-Halloween-wear!! And of course Phee Fabrics had the exact yellow fabric for the project!

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I usually make a muslin first when using a new pattern, but sometimes I get impatient and hope for the best and that’s exactly how this project went, LOL. I used the Mama Joy pattern from Made 4 Mermaids (using the separates hack). I bought this early on in my sewing adventures and was super intimated by the pleats so it sat dusty and waiting to be sewn for far too long! It was an easy pattern to follow and turned out great using the height adjustment advice in the tutorial.

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Boom! A Morton’s Salt Girl costume (along with some props from Amazon) Now, I just needed to figure out what I wanted to wear the pieces with after Halloween.

I adore the look of yellow, blue and white… it just screams classic to me and I remembered I had a bunch of Navy and White Striped nylon spandex I bought during a Saturday Steal from Phee (these specials have ended but Tricot Tuesdays are here every week with a special on one of the tricot fabrics in the shop! ) I went with a classic style T-Shirt and because the Green Tee from Greenstyle Creations is semi-fitted I was able to make a side knot to pair with the high-waist skirt.

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For the top, a pair of jeans and heels for date night, although I think I need to make a pair of super high waist pants to really get a look I will wear, so back to the sewing table for the next project!