DIY Knight Costume - Part 2

Last year, I made Joshie a templar knight costume.  It was a little too big last year but it fits perfectly now.  He agreed to wear it again since none of the kids at his new school have seen it yet.  I was starting to get worried that I'd be making something last minute.

We put on his costume and practiced trick-or-treating over on main street.  It was cold and so most of his costume was hidden under a bulky jacket and gloves.  Then I realized, he needs a cape/cloak!!!

So I made him a cape which took no more than 30 min and we are now set.  Maybe it'll rain again this year, or maybe it'll snow.  Either way, he'll look like he's wearing a costume.

Here's a side by side.  I used some old fabric that I had in my stash that was originally intended for me.

My model was at school so the mannequin had to stand in.

Here's how I did it.

First I folded my fabric in half.  If I made the cape shorter, then I would have cut it out (like in pic 1) and continued on.  However, my fabric wasn't long enough so I had to join some more fabric to complete the arc (pic 2)

This is what the joined fabric looked like.  

After I cut out the arcs, the rest was just finishing touches.

I did a rolled hem with my serger around the entire cape (except for the neckline).

Then I used some bias tape to bind up the neckline

Easy peasy!  Maybe I need one too...

Lion Toddler Backpack for "M"

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle..."  That song has been in my head the ENTIRE time I was designing and sewing this backpack.

Two years ago, "J"s mom asked me to make her son a dump truck backpack for school.  She was really wonderful to work with and is the only Mom who was brave enough to ask for white piping and straps. We went through several iterations for the design - probably because they were on a waiting list and little "M" was deciding between an elephant and a lion.  I really like the end result.  Secretly, I was afraid he would pick the elephant. 

Here's how we started

But then M's mom was looking for a bit more "pop" so went went with a white mane instead of dark brown.

Something didn't look right and after a couple more emails, we decided on some whiskers and a mouth.

Now to finish the bag... I still needed to put an "M" somewhere on the bag but didn't think it would look right on the lion's body.  So I put it on the side of the bag.  The other side has an elasticized pocket.

The lining is the last of my green hippos

Like all of my backpacks, this one has a quilted bottom, padded straps, a hanging loop, and real backpack connectors. 

I really like this guy

He's great at going for walks at the pond (hubby was wondering why we were gone so long)

Hanging out in the old tree

Walking over the bridge

and just being silly with the Halloween decorations.

Good bye Lion!  It's been fun making you. 

Until next time,

Tutorial: Printing on Paper Lunch Bags

Earlier this month, we had a birthday party for Baby Bunny. To keep things easy, I made my own loot bags.

This is probably the easiest thing to do.  You need brown paper bags and some tape.  I use green painter's tape because it doesn't tear your bag when you take it off.

Tape the top and the bottom flap so it doesn't get stuck in your printer.  My printer made some strange sounds whenever I fed the bags through but it all worked out.

Use your favourite font and if you're lucky enough to have a colour laser printer, go wild!  

Remove the tape and stuff the paper bags with treats.

Enjoy!