This is the project I chose for the Fall Pinterest Challenge issued by the YHL folks and their lovely blog pals. See their posts at Young House Love, Bower Power, Ana White and House of Earnest.
This isn't going to be a detailed post, but I finished the Numa's mummy costume just in time for Halloween. Yay! I think I had about 15 hours worth of work in this outfit (after I had to completely redo the jacket because it was enormous) but it was totally worth it. I am going to paste a few pics without much explanation, but basically I used clothing he already had to make my own pattern (a la Sweet Verbena; see inspiration pin here) for the pants and jacket. The bandages were gauze I found at JoAnn Fabrics, which I washed and ripped into long strips. Then I laid the strips out over some white cotton flannel (also from JoAnn - on sale!) and individually machine appliqued each bandage, stitching along the edges and making sure to do any strips that were underneath of other strips first so that I didn't have any oddly placed lines of stitching. You can see the process in some of the pics below.
For the pants, I used my favorite easy kid's pants tutorial from Balancing Everything (see inspiration pin here) and laid the strips out on each piece so there wouldn't be side seams interrupting the clean lines. Then I hemmed the legs and was going to just fold the waist over and insert the elastic, but the gauze wasn't quite as soft as I wanted so I lined the waist with flannel.
Radar helping me work.
Pants leg before applying bandages.
Bandaging the legs.
Facing the waistband.
For the jacket, I used a sweat jacket that the Numa wears almost every day. To attach the bandages, I sewed the side seams of the fleece and then applied the bandages to avoid seams in the gauze. Unfortunately, my Achilles heel in sewing is the fear that things will be too small, so usually everything is too big because I over compensate. This jacket was no exception...it was HUGE after the first time I finished it. Wop wop. Being the perfectionist I am, I ripped out most of the stitches of the FULLY LINED jacket (that's right...I live in New England where we get a foot of snow in October...fully lined and the sleeve lining was satin so his clothes wouldn't catch) and re-made the whole thing. And had to have side seams. I won't lie...that hurt. And even now, there is too much fabric in the top of the torso. I will probably still fix it cause letting it go just doesn't sit right, but it was really cute even if it didn't fit perfectly.
Jacket pattern.
Jacket body with bandages.
Placing the zipper.
Basting in the neck band.
Inserting the lining.
The Numa did not appreciate my hours of work and did not care for the jacket. He managed to break the zipper half-way through Halloween but with the zipper open, you couldn't really tell it was too big in the top. Silver lining there. He did wear the pants all day at school, so clearly those were comfortable enough to get his seal of approval. He also really liked trick-or-treating, but didn't really understand the whole candy thing. He isn't a sweets guy (clearly not my child) and would try to trade whatever he was holding for the new candy offered at each door. He walked from door to door waving and shaking the packages and eating raisins, which one of our neighbors was kind enough to give instead of candy. We did make him say thank you for everything he got, which comes out "tink oo" and is super adorable. I think that next year will be even more fun.
After Halloween.
I am already excited about next year and can't wait to make him more costumes. I love being the mom who people can't believe made the costume. I am sure that makes me a terrible person, but there it is. My house is a wreck, I am exhausted and we ate take out the last two nights, but at least everyone thinks I have it all together. :)
Thanks to Sherry, Katie, Ana and Erin for sponsoring this challenge once again!
Be well,
Me
P.S. In a previous post, I promised pictures (alliteration rules!) of the Numa's costume from last year. I made him scrubs and a stethoscope and he was a doctor (or veterinarian). The top of the scrubs was the hardest part, since I didn't think that pulling a woven top over the head of a baby would be a good idea and decided to place buttons. I also lined the pants with sweatshirt fleece, but didn't line the top since he was going to wear a shirt underneath. The outfit wasn't perfect (the edging still makes me cringe) but it was adorable. This picture is of the pants only but I will look for a better one. Enjoy!
