Harry Potter family cosplay (or how I sewed a Dumbledore costume out of random thrift store items in just 2 nights)

Have you ever tried to knit or sew nice things for someone you love to find that they just don't ever... actually wear them?

Yeah, me too. I gave up knitting for my husband after two consecutive hats and a pair of fingerless gloves went unworn for years. I can barely convince my daughter to wear the latest dress I made her. My toddler could care less about Mama-made clothes.

Halloween costumes are ANOTHER story. They did not want to take these off! (Yes, I realize this post is several months belated).

I had originally intended to just buy all the costumes (we've had a lot going on)——but soon realized that you can't actually buy Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall costumes--just the hats. I also found out that they don't make Harry Potter robes in toddler sizes.

The basic costume details

• For all costumes: We got the wands on eBay (some are knockoffs, some are just used proper ones), plus the hats, ties and scarves.
• Dumbledore costume: Spent way too much time studying photos of Dumbledore and sketching my ideas and almost ran out of time. Made under and over-robes from some thrift-store curtains, thrift-store shirts, and discount-store gray shiny polyester fabric. Sewed on lots of trim and embroidery at random. There really wasn't time to make it the right way, so instead of making a pattern I just pinned and draped everything directly on him repeatedly until it was done. You do NOT want to look too closely.
• Harry Potter costume:Bought gray sweater vest at kid's clothing discount store, and toy glasses at Amazon. To make the Nimbus 2000, husband darkened a cheap toy broom with a paint marker and lettered it with a Gold Sharpie (thanks to fellow Professor McGonagall at Cation Designs for the inspiration). Bought a larger-size Gryffindor robe on eBay and hemmed the sleeves and length to the right size (left extra fabric so I can let it out later).
• Hermione Granger costume: She already had the robe (just because), so just added tie, socks, skirt, scarf, wand, cauldron and vest. Only actual sewing was to the skirt, the discount store skirt I bought was way too big and I took it in.
• Professor McGonagall costume: Hat, wand and brooch from eBay. Plus a black knit turtleneck dress. The green velvet robe I sewed together from some cheap Halloween store velvet capes—I altered the fit and added armholes. I meant to make big sleeves but ran out of time. CLOSE ENOUGH.

Bonus images of my husband's previous favorite costume I made for him, from our pre-kid days: Two-Face. (I cut two thrift store suits and ties up the middle.)

Wishing you all the best New Year possible! The kids are with my parents for a few days so I am hoping to take a sew-cation day tomorrow and finish the dress and top I cut out months ago and maybe even start something new. Stay tuned!

Ghostbusters family Halloween costumes/cosplay—with all four Ghostbusters represented!

Oh goodness, it's been quiet over here. I'm 31 weeks pregnant now, and have been in bed for two weeks with a horrid painful sinus infection I can't take any serious medications for (I'm doing Tylenol, hot/cold compresses, saline nasal rinses and the like, but obviously steroids are not an option and I don't want to mess with antibiotics while pregnant either).

BUT I wanted to pop in to belatedly share the fun we had a few weeks ago in our Ghostbusters Halloween costumes:

I actually broke several sewing machine needles on these costumes, even though they aren't of course totally sewn from scratch. But I had to tighten up the size large flight suit for myself as I was swimming in it. I took the arms in by about two inches of width each, and the legs by about four inches each (they were HUGE)... and I accidentally sewed over a zipper in the process.

The elbow pads were also from scratch—a lot of Ghostbusters cosplayers buy volleyball or judo knee pads and spraypaint them gray, but I figured it'd be easier to just take some gray doubleknit I had lying around and make my own little pattern. A few more broken needles ensued:

But so worth it, right?

The containment unit she's holding is a vintage toy loaned from my cousin, by the way.

Anyway, these costumes were relatively simple and low on the actual sewing. We just bought:

• Used tan flightsuits from eBay for the adults—they were a bit worn and stained, but that adds versimilitude, I think (clearly those are ectoplasm stains, right?)
• New kid-size flightsuit from eBay for the kiddo.
• White canvas web belts with double grommet holes (we had to cut Z's down to kid size).
• Ghostbusters iron-on logo patches.
• Set of four embroidered iron-on name patches: hubby was Zeddemore (he even grew a mustache for the role), I was Spengler (glasses), kiddo was Stantz (she's very excitable and likes wearing goggles on her head), baby was Venkman (by default).
• Cheapo welding goggles.

We did MEAN to make some ghost traps (video tutorial here) and proton packs and PKE meters, but didn't manage to finish them in time... and apparently it didn't matter, as we got tons of compliments at Z's preschool Halloween party and while walking out and about in the neighborhood—a lot of people started signing the song when they saw us! (We didn't actually go up to any houses, since Z is so allergic to nuts, peanuts, eggs, dairy, and everything else found in most Halloween candy, but we had fun ogling all the cool displays.)

In case you're wondering how the heck my four-year-old daughter even decided she wanted to be a Ghostbuster for Halloween, it started when my husband when to a Ghostbusters 30th anniversary art exhibit at Gallery 1988 and came home with this Ghostbusters New York Service Map art print by Anthony Petrie:

She was really intrigued by it, so we let her watch a few episodes of The Real Ghostbusters on YouTube and she became a bit obsessed and decided to be a Ghostbuster for Halloween. (She also loved the movie, but don't think I will let her watch it again—it has some rather risqué scenes and a good bit of swearing).

My sewing machine is in the repair shop now, but when she comes back I have some doll sewing plans (Z wants a curly-haired brown-skinned mermaid fairy superhero doll for Christmas, and no such thing actually exists in any store), and I have an almost-complete baby sweater to show as well!

OK, back to bed for me!

**Disclosure: Actions you take from hyperlinks within this blog post may yield commissions for polkadotoverload.com (quite likely to be spent on yarn or fabric).

Lego Dress Showdown: Which Block-Inspired Dress to Make for My Daughter's 4th Birthday Party?

Help me out, sewing friends—if you had a daughter, and that daughter was obsessed with LEGOs, and you wanted to make her an amazing birthday dress for her LEGO-themed birthday party that was inspired by LEGOs but not LITERALLY a LEGO dress (i.e. not "licensed product" looking) and that she could still wear later... which would you make?

I am still undecided, but I have two favorites. I'm hoping to create the Legodots with fabric paint and a hand-carved stamp to make them look more organic. The girls or block cityscapes would be appliqué and embroidery. I considered making fabric on Spoonflower but wanted to do something more handmade here.

The patterns shown are:

• The Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress: made and blogged and still worn constantly... but I'd have to grade up because she is outgrowing the largest size in the envelope I have.
• The free Oliver + S Popover Sundress sewing pattern.

I already picked up the yellow and blue fabric—if I went with a four-color option I'd have to purchase red and green. I'm thinking those four-color options are a little garish anyway? I generally avoid combining primary colors, but I felt like it wasn't going to evoke Legos without that bright blue and bright yellow.

Here were my original hand sketches with crappy highlighters when I first came up with the idea:

I'm thinking a matching block-themed headband and/or hair barrettes are also in order.

Which one would you make?

P.S. Part of me is very tempted to make myself a Lego-evoking dress as well using the Tilly and the Buttons Coco pattern as my blank canvas... but obviously the girl's dress is higher priority. I may just end up wearing some me-made Lego-esque jewelry or whatnot (like felt rectangles with six circles embroidered on them on a necklace).

Coraline / Zoraline costume (+ carpal tunnel and RSI struggles)

Little Z dressed as Coraline (or "Zoraline") for Halloween, complete with her button-eyed "little me" doll, yellow raincoat and a blue afro wig

Hi all! Sorry for the silence but I've been suffering from some incredibly painful carpal tunnel and other RSI (repetitive stress injuries) from too much computer use and have to severely limit time on the keyboard/mouse (and all other hand activities as well, from baking to washing dishes to sewing to reading blogs) for the next few months.

Don't worry—I'm keeping myself busy learning how to use voice dictation software (which is how I'm writing this post!) going to physical therapy, practicing yoga, exercising, taking long walks and listening to lots and lots of audiobooks. Meanwhile my wonderful husband has been doing pretty much all the housework, and three-year-old Z has been helping even more than previously—measuring and mixing the waffle batter, cleaning up her Duplos, putting away her laundry, and getting herself dressed and undressed, no matter how finicky the buttons and zippers.

All of this obviously put a damper on my Halloween sewing plans, but my amazing mom came to the rescue. Z wanted to dress as "Zoraline" (inspired by the character "Coraline" from her—and my–favorite movie) so my mom made Z a "little me" doll for her costume. These were the inspiration images:

She didn't make the entire doll from scratch—it was a doll Z already had, but my mom sewed a little yellow raincoat and glued on some blue hair (aka leftover sock yarn) and button eyes (from an old sweater):


None of Z's preschool classmates had any idea who she was supposed to be (I think this rather scary movie is intended to be for ages 11 and up, oops!) but she was just thrilled. Thanks Mom!

P.S. If you're interested in the voice dictation software, I HIGHLY recommend it. You can do pretty much everything on your computer or smartphone nearly hands-free, from sending email and text messages to searching the web to writing essays (though not drawing and PhotoShop or graphic design and such) without even touching it.

The best Mac voice software in my experience so far is Dragon Dictate (though I hear it's more expensive and not as good as the PC version, Dragon Naturally Speaking), and on my Android phone I use a combo of Dragon Mobile Assistant (free!) and the built-in Google Voice Search software (also free).

Serger-Free Spandex (Mermaid) Skirt Sewing

We never made it to the Coney Island Mermaid parade last weekend, but plenty of DIY sparkly spandex fun was had by all at Z's mermaid-themed birthday party on Sunday. Shockingly, I finished the toddler's mermaid skirt AHEAD of schedule (without using my serger OR a walking foot)...

And somehow found time to whip up a skirt for myself. Not to mention hair accessories for me, Z and Z's cousin T who was visiting for the weekend. T is nine, so she was actually able to help me--she drew and cut out the stars for the headbands, turned them inside out, and stuffed them, all very carefully. We had so much fun collaborating, and it got me excited for that far-off day when Z can actually be trusted in the sewing area.

The results were fabulous:

As for the details:

Serger-Free Spandex Sewing

My original plan was to do the smart thing and serge this super-stretchy stuff with wooly nylon. But if I had had to pull the serger out of the chest and set it up every time I wanted to sew... none of these things would ever have been finished.

So I used the same method my mom used when she made swimsuits for me as a kid--just zig-zag it. I lowered the presser-foot pressure to 2, and sewed everything with a medium-width zig-zag stitch using a size 90 stretch needle. The fabric was so heavy there was no rippling or waving like you get with delicate rayon or cotton knits. EASY. (And seriously--if you don't have a serger, there is no reason to fear knits!)

And I didn't bother overcasting or hemming, but I did reinforce the bottom of the split seam and side opening areas.

My Melissa Mermaid Skirt

This quick knit skirt came together in like, an hour, including the cutting. You might even call it a TNT pattern--except last time I made it I was pregnant and cut a larger size.

• Pattern:BurdaStyle Melissa knit pencil skirt with high-waisted yoke band--no elastic necessary! Seriously, it's just three pieces, and I didn't even bother hemming this one.
• Size: I cut a 38 and it worked just peachy (note that my weight seems to be fluctuating again--I'm currently at a 29" waist and 38.5" hip)
• Fabric: Thick, sweaty, glittery fish-scaly spandex from Spandex House for the skirt--I think it was $10/yard. And shimmery metallic spandex in a contrasting color for the yoke/waistband.
• Alterations: I just made it longer, but only sewed it down to the knee, for ease of walking.
• Wear to: My daughter's birthday party. Other occasions may be more challenging.

Z's Split Mermaid Skirt

Trying to get Z to take this thing off after the party was NOT fun.

I started out with this excellent mermaid tutorial from ikatbag (thanks to commenter June for the tip!), but was worried it would be tough to run around in. So I tapered the skirt pieces to points, turned them sideways, and added ruffles (see above photo for the latter).

The fabric is mostly the same, except I used a sequined net for the side ruffles and a very soft rayon knit from my stash for the waistband to protect Z's sensitive eczema-prone skin from direct metallic spandex contact.

This one does have elastic in the waistband--she doesn't have much difference between her waist and hip measurement, so anything that helps keep her clothes up is necessary.

Mermaid Headbands and Hairclip

These are just a folded strip of the metallic spandex (2" less than the head circumference) sewn into a tube, with a stuffed spandex star handsewn on. DONE.

I also sewed a bunch of random bits of fabrics to a hairclip for myself--here's a detail view:

Finally, here's the three of us under the ocean at Z's party. The fabrics and shell trims that didn't make it into our costumes were strewn about the room for ambiance and suchlike--no idea how else I'll use them.

So: do you ever sew knits without a serger, even if you have one?

Oh, and next up... sewing something, like, wearable. To work and stuff. And a cardigan blocking update!

P.S. I almost forgot--we weren't the ONLY mermaids at the party!

Sparkly Spandex Shopping Spree

I had a bit of a sparkle attack today in the Garment District while shopping for mother-daughter mermaid costume fabric. (For Saturday's 30th Anniversary Coney Island Mermaid Parade, and Z's upcoming mermaid-themed 2nd birthday party).

I didn't really have a firm idea for the costumes, only that the skirts should be scaly looking, and the tops should be more floaty/meshy/gauzy. So went to Spandex House and, was totally confused and overwhelmed by all the hologrammy sparkly sequiny spandex-ness of the place, and finally ended up with what you see above. The shell trims are from Pacific Trimming.

Anyone have any tips on sewing with really heavy-duty hologram spandex fabric? This stuff is THICK, and every time I stretch it, the sequiny sparkly bits crack! I'm guessing serging with wooly nylon will be the way to go here once I have the skirts basted together and fitted.

I think the skirts can just be elastic-waist tubes to the knee (or maybe a bit above for Z--I want her to be able to run around and have fun) with big gauzy/meshy flounces at the bottom. Kinda like the girl in the middle here with the pink top:

Source: coneyisland.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

For the tops, I'm not so sure--the other fabrics I got are really sheer, so maybe I'll have to do a two-layer thing or put tank tops underneath for bra coverage (for me) and sun protection (for Z). Shell bras are not my thing. Here's my illustration of Z as a mermaid:

Once again, I think I'm just going to wing it, pattern-free! At least for the skirt--I might use one of her knit summer shirts as a rough guide for the top.

So why mermaids? Z has been obsessed with the parade and mermaids ever since she went to a live reading by Melanie Hope Greenberg of her picture book Mermaids On Parade.

I swear I'll get back to sewing something actually wearable in real life at some point, but whatever. Costumes are fun!

P.S. A few of the mermaid inspiration images I collected on Pinterest:

Source: google.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

Source: picture-book.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

Source: kishaskids.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

Source: wolfandwillowblog.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

Source: mermaidsofcolor.tumblr.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

And randomly (for my costume idea, not Z's, of course): Bettie Page Mermaid...

Source: costumecraze.com via Mikhaela on Pinterest

Finished: Draped, wrap-style (T-shirt) wedding dress!

Making this dress was so much fun I kinda wish I could go back in time and sew my own wedding dress instead of worrying that I didn't have the right skills.

My T-shirt wedding dress costume was a big success--it fit the star of the little skit perfectly and garnered lots of compliments. (It's not quite as good a fit on me--the wearer was half a foot shorter than I am).

Inspiration: I won't get into all the insider details of the skit (which we put on at an informal afterparty for our general assembly). But the basic idea was that the people who are part of the international Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) movement care about MSF so much, we would actually marry it. It's not much of an exaggeration, either--we are a passionate, committed--you might say obsessive--bunch. So the skit had a wedding theme, and the character who wore the dress was the personification of MSF.

Sketch:

The pattern: I made this up as I went along, with pins and scissors and basting directly on the dress form, and then just sewing it together with no regard to finishing technique or sturdiness or whatnot--it only had to last for one night, after all. I originally intended to shir the bodice, but totally failed at it and switched to a wrap style with ties. Here's a detail shot revealing the total slapdashedness of it all:

Pattern Description: Two-piece wedding dress. Top has a draped/surplice wrap style with wide straps secured with a tie. Skirt has loose elastic waist and back bustle/flounce that secures with several messy ties. Cheap single-faced discount red ribbon, a mosquito-netting veil, surgical gloves and a stethoscope complete the medical humanitarian look.

Fabric: Dress made from old XL MSF T-shirts from the office storage closet. Veil made from a cheap non-chemically-treated white mosquito bed net (I just cut a few strips of the netting and sewed them to an old haircomb).

You can see that it's a bit baggy on me in the back, and I had trouble tying the sash myself for the photo shoot:

The intended effect was more this:

Successes:

• Back at the sewing machine.
• I love making costumes.
• Everyone loved it, especially the wearer.
• I actually sewed something for someone who wasn't my husband or daughter.
• "Draping" (or my sad attempt at such) is fun.

Room for improvement?:

• NONE. It got the job done.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I won't sew it again, but I do recommend playing around with knit fabrics on your dress form if you have one, and just seeing what happens.

Wear to: A skit. Or maybe just around town to help spread the word about MSF. (I did actually try this on at my sewing club, though I didn't wear it home for fear it would fall apart on the way).

P.S. Z found the dress very inspiring (as you can see from the surgical glove she is wearing in the above photos), and grabbed one of the leftover T-shirts and a hat to make her own MSF look:

P.P.S. I would be remiss in not getting on my soapbox for a minute with a poster from the advocacy side of MSF about access to essential medicines for all. Look closely.

Accordingly, today's question doesn't relate to sewing: What issues are you most passionate about?