Care Bear Hoodie Costume

After making the dinosaur hoodie costume for my oldest son, I knew at the time that was only the beginning of many hoodie costume projects. There are just so many possibilities and the hoodie gives you a great base to start from if you aren't a super talented sewer (cause I'm quite at a beginning level for sure).

This year, my daughter wants to be a care bear -- more specifically, "rainbow bear" (who I think is really name cheer bear). I found an old, pink hooded pull-over sweatshirt in her closet that would work. I figured a zip up hoodie would get complicated with the chest badge.

Here are the supplies you need:

*pull-over sweatshirt in the care bear color of your choice

*liquid stitch

*matching thread

*sewing machine

*scissors

*colored felt to make your ears, badge, tail, and face

*stuffing

1. Cut out your pieces from felt. Cut two pink ears (front and back), 2 sets of white and black circles for eyes, a pink mouth, a pink heart-shaped nose, a white snout, a large white oval for the chest (I pieced together two parts so it was large enough and hid the seam under the rainbow), and the strips for the rainbow.

2. Sew the ears together around the rounded edges. Leave the bottom, flat part open so you can flip the ear right-side out and fill with stuffing. I used liquid stitch to secure the white part, but you could also sew that on before you sew the two pink pieces together if you prefer.

3. Stuff the ears and stitch to the hood.

4. Sew the white felt together. To make the oval large enough to cover the tummy I had to sew two pieces together.

4. Add the rainbow pieces and sew on the tummy badge. I used liquid stitch and then sewed the ends of the rainbow to the white felt. Then I stitched around the outside of the white oval, securing it to the hoodie. It took a little finagling to get the sweatshirt under the sewing machine in the right position, but it worked!

5. Sew the snout. I used the liquid stitch on the nose and the black parts of the eye and then did a small stitch on each to secure it a little better. Then I sewed the eyes to the snout and stitched around the top half of the snout securing it to the front of the hood. I left a little overhang off the front of the hood.

6. Add some hair! I was getting a little cone head effect in between the ears so I added a piece of pink felt that looks like some hair in between which finished off the head nicely. You could also stuff and add a little tail to the back, which I still need to do.

Add some pink sweat pants and you've got a care bear costume! You could get creative and make some fun slippers or socks with the cute care bear feet too...I might still do that, but we'll see if I get to it :).

The sweatshirt was starting to get small on her, so I need to go back and see if I can adjust the hood part a bit so it doesn't look like it's going to fall off of her, but you get the idea! :)

Let me know if you give it a try! I'd love to hear from you!

Dinosaur Hoodie Costume

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to re-share a project I did last winter for my oldest son who was/is very into dinosaurs. I am thinking about doing another hoodie costume for my daughter so keep your eyes open for more on that. :)

I am not a seamstress by any means, but I have pulled out my sewing machine on occasion to make pillow covers or hem pants or do a simple project. I want to learn to sew better and more difficult things, but I know that takes time and practice. Our trip to the museum this week spurred a project that was pretty easy to pull together and my little dinosaur-lover is quite happy! After seeing the costumes at the science museum that were made from an adult sized hoodie, I decided I could make something pretty similar at home. (And frankly, I'm astounded by how many costume possibilities there are with a hoodie if you think about it!) So Bubba Roo and I took a trip to the store yesterday to pick up the supplies.


Materials Needed:

* Adult-sized hoodie jacket (I purchased a Large because that was the smallest size they had in green and I didn't want to make another trip, but a medium or a small would work well too)
* Felt squares - 1 white, 1 black, 1 orange, 1 green, 1 yellow
* Green thread
* Scissors
* Liquid stitch glue
* Pins
* Green fabric (I used a jersey knit fabric that worked really well, because I also used it for my scarf project and it was on the clearance rack - you could use whatever fabric you prefer)
* Stuffing

Steps:

1. Cut small triangles from the white felt and pin around the rim of the hood for teeth. Using a straight stitch, secure them to the hood.

2. Cut out two yellow eyes, and a white and black piece for the center. Glue them to the top of the hood using the Liquid Stitch. I ran a stitch down the center of the eye to reinforce all three pieces.

3. Cut two nostril pieces from the black felt and secure them to the hoodie with the Liquid Stitch.

4. From the green felt, cut several large triangles. Follow the seam from the hood and starting at the top of the hood pin the triangles upright down the center of the hood and continue down the back of the jacket. On the inside of the jacket, use a straight stitch to secure the felt.

5. From the orange felt cut 6 triangle pieces for the claws. (I made the center triangle larger than the others). Pin three triangles on the top of each cuff and stitch them in place.

6. For the tail, take the green fabric and fold it in half. Cut a large triangle shape, as big as you want the tail, making sure the fabric is "wrong-side up". Sew up the open edges, leaving a small opening for the stuffing. Turn the fabric right side out, and fill with stuffing. Sew up the opening.

7. Pin the tail in place and on the inside of the jacket, stitch along the center to secure it.

8. Zip up the jacket on your little dino-lover and viola! A scary (cute) little dinosaur!

Excerpt from original post: Race Cars & Ruby Slippers, Feb 19, 2010

P.S. I'm sharing this post over at the new craft blog, Polly Want a Crafter. Check out all the great fall craft ideas!

The Jersey Ruffle Scarf: Two Ways

October has brought with it my favorite season, and with that season comes one of my favorite accessories -- scarfs! And it looks like last year's trend in scarfs is back and even more popular -- ruffles! I *heart* ruffles. Add a little ruffle to a purse or a skirt or shirt cuff, and you add instant femininity and cuteness. I do think ruffles can be overdone, but when used in good measure it can make an outfit and a scarf is an easy way to sprinkle a little "rufflage" in :).

Back in February, I had some of my best girls over to make some of our own ruffle scarfs. Now, you can pick up some pretty cute ones for about $10-$12 pretty much anywhere this season, but if you're feeling crafty and want to save a couple bucks, you should try to make a few of your own! They would be great for gifts too if you want to make a few extra for friends!

Now, I'll be honest -I had a little trouble figuring out the elastic thread part. It was trickier than I expected...and one of my friends had a top -loading machine (I have a side-loader for my bobbin) and I'm not sure we ever figured out how to do it on hers. But if you can get it to work, this makes a super cute ruffle. So I figured out an alternative way to make a ruffle scarf that doesn't use the elastic that is even easier if the first way isn't working for you.

Ruffle Scarf #1 (with elastic)

Supplies:

* 1-2 yds jersey knit fabric (FYI: 2 yds will give you the right length and you can make several scarves from it...1 yd you can sew two strips together to get the length you need and not have as much left-over)
* Matching thread
* Elastic thread (you can find it in white or black in the elastic aisle)
* Scissors
* Sewing Machine

STEP #1:
Cut your strip of fabric 12 inches by 72 inches. You can play around with the width if you'd like to give you different looks. As far as length -- your scarf will end up being about half the original length once you ruffle it, so if you like it really long you may want to sew a couple strips together.

STEP #2:
Starting at the end of the fabric strip, cut up the middle at least 12 inches. Do this on both ends of the fabric. It will look like two tails on each end.

STEP #3:
Wind the elastic thread by hand onto your bobbin, keeping it loose NOT taut. If you keep it too tight it will pull and break. Load regular thread, preferably a color that matches your fabric, onto the top. *Turn your tension OFF* --very important!!

STEP #4:
Start at the end of one tail and sew up the middle of the tail all the way to the end of the opposite tail. Don't forget to back-stitch to tack the ends or else the elastic will just pull right through. The fabric should start to automatically gather as you go. Repeat on the other side. Here you can see the two straight seams from one end to the other. (This scarf was a bit shorter than some of the others I did, by the way.)

And there you go! Warm neck + cute accessory = happy ME!

Ruffle Scarf #2 (without elastic)

Supplies:

* 1/2 yd - 1 yd jersey knit fabric
* Matching thread
* Pins
* Scissors
* Sewing Machine

STEP #1:
Cut your fabric into squares, approx. 4"x4" or larger. The more squares you cut, the longer your scarf will be. I cut 2-3 dozen for this scarf.

STEP #2: Line up the squares so that the corner of one overlaps the other and the point is in the middle of the adjoining square. Secure the squares with pins.

STEP #3: Start at the corner of the first square and sew a straight seam all the way from one end to the other down the middle of the squares. Remove the pins as you go!

This scarf won't be as full and ruffly as the first one, but it is still a very cute look and is great if you can't use the elastic! Let me know if you try either of these -- Ruffle it up this fall!