Bulbasaur Costume for Children In Need

"As its Children in need on Friday we are giving you the opportunity to send your child into school dressed up as a character from a children's TV show!"

DUH DUH DUHHHHHH! 

Okay so here's the deal, Lil man is not a fan of kids TV [something I thank Jesus for everyday because I cannot cope with Topsy and Tim or Peppa pig]. Instead he chooses to either watch Disney movies [which I LOVE]  or he's a huge fan of sports shows like football and golf and of course for some strange reason he loves only fools and horses! Which left me in a bit of a pickle because what on earth do I send him as? Del boy? A football pundit? I mean the brief said KIDS tv!

Luckily I remembered that a few weeks ago him and Rikki binge watched the first few seasons of Pokemon and he really enjoyed it. We did try and find a ready made costume but the only ones we could find either cost upwards of  £20 or wouldn't arrive till December. So it looked like it was done to me to try and whip something up!

So I had a quick look through my fabric cupboard and found a piece of jersey that's roughly the right colour for Bulbasaur. And set about trying to make something [I started two days before he actually needed the costume because I'm a maverick like that!] 

And to make matters even harder the school had added their own list of specifications! 

1. Children must wear suitable footwear.

2. The costume must be comfortable to wear all day.

3. The child must be able to remove the costume themselves if they need the toilet/have PE

4. The costume must be warm and all children should still arrive at school with a coat! 

No pressure then!

I decided the easiest thing to do would be to send him in jeans [I added a few patches/scales to these] and to make him a simple hoody he could wear over a tshirt and to make the bulb part as a rucksack he could take on and off himself.

The rucksack/bulb is a ball of stuffing covered in "leaves" made from some green fabric I had. The leaves are lined in a salmon colour because that's the colour of the flower Bulbasaur has when he evolves [Pokemon evolve as they get bigger, its like the whole thing in the TV show].

For one brief crazy moment I did consider making it with a flower underneath so he could evolve throughout the day.... But then I realised that would be massive overkill for a costume that's only going to be worn once.  

All of the leaves are stitched on by hand to try and achieve a more natural shape and look. 

The straps are made from some webbing that I had in my stash, luckily It was a dammed near perfect colour match. And after much pinning and adjusting we found a good strap length so that Lil man could take it on and off himself. 

The pattern for the Hoody came from Freesewing.org  and saved me from having to draft a pattern from scratch. Luckily I already had most of lil mans measurements on the website the only ones I had to add were how big his head it and his wrist size. Both of which I had to guess, which is why I think the hood came out a bit shallow. But I just added a piece onto the front so I'd have enough room for Bulbasaurs face. 

I also didn't use ribbing for the cuffs etc like the pattern said because I didn't have any which is why the sleeves are a touch too short. In stead I chose to fully line the hoody with the same fabric [Luckily it was pretty thin so it needed lining to keep the shape] and them to top stitch around the edge. 

The jerseys is from my stash and I;m pretty sure it came from my friends Nans house and the darker patches are from one of lil mans old t shirts that was getting a bit scraggy. I appliqued them on using a zig zag stitch and it took blooming ages! The eyes are made from some small pieces of felt and the nose and mouth are black wool. 

I even remembered to insert some cute little ears into the hood. Although I am gutted that they don't stand up very well. 

All in all I'm really pleased with it! Even more so because it cost NOTHING! Even the zip was recycled from an old hoody! #winning

I was a bit worried that he'd be a bit obscure but lil man was really happy with it and some of the other kids immediately recognised him as Bulbasaur so that's a plus.

Now I just need to start planning for the next costume day! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

World Book Day 2017

World book day folks! and the usual collective groans have been coming from the parents at my sons school for the past few weeks. I actually don't mind the dressing up providing I don't have to spend money. I hate spending money on costumes because they are never worn again. So instead I tend to work with what we have.

So this year I gave Lil man the choice between being the mad hatter, a pirate, a cowboy, the cat in the hat or the white rabbit. [you'll notice that each of those costumes can be pulled together from what we have at home.] Anyway the white rabbit won!

Okay so the breakdown, He has on his suit trousers [which happen to be grey but I'd have used school trousers otherwise] the waistcoat from a different suit that he had for his christening. an old shirt, this ones actually a bit small but all of his other shirts were really dark. Bunny ears I'm pretty sure these were from a bag my mum, sister and aunty Debbie gave me for my hen party. But if not they are one of the pairs we wear at Easter [Yes we wear bunny ears for our Easter egg hunt, stop judging]

The face paints we had from Halloween, and the bow tie is made from one of Rikkis old tshirts. Its basically two rectangles tied in the middle with another strip and then I threaded elastic through. 

The pocket watch is made from an embroidery hoop with a clock face appliqued on. [Genuinely think this is the best part of the outfit!] And its on a wool chain that I made from doing a crochet chain stitch.

And then off course there is a cotton tail! Which I made using my biggest pompom maker! 

All in all I think pulling the whole thing together took me maybe half an hour? I didn't use my sewing machine just lots of hand stitching!

In other news i'm in bed feeling rough as hell. As usual we are putting it down to stress [not that that stops me feeling any less ill] My Uncle Gordon died last week, and I think I decided that rather than dealing with it I'd just keep telling myself that he was old and now he'd be more comfortable and that he'd be happy because he'd be with Aunty Shelia again. [ He was by the way one of the nicest men I have ever met, he kept a beautiful garden and spent the last 7 years or so caring for my Aunty Shelia before she dies with a huge amount of dedication. His patience with her even in the end is a huge testament to the love they shared] 

So I had done my typical putting it in a box method and then last night our Gizmo our guinea pig started squeaking and it became apparent they he was letting us know that his brother Nibbler was dying. So I took him out of the cage and wrapped him in a towel and cuddled him until he passed on. And then it was all of the tears, tears for Uncle Gordon, and my Grandad and Nibbler. And well now its all out. 

It pretty much sucks, which is why I'm in my jammies trying to stop myself feeling so poorly!

Gosh this blog post took a bad turn, we went from cute bunny rabbit to some big emotions.

Much Love

Frankie

x

Things I made In High School Part 3

This is the final instalment of my what I made in high school series, and you know what I'm actually a bit proud of this one!

It took a lot of work and it needed to be made at a time when I was rather poorly so it still feels like quite an achievement.

So the project, I decided to make a costume for the queen of the faeries Titania from a midsummer nights dream. Luckily we were able to set our own briefs and at the time I really wanted to work in costume design so I thought this might be good for my portfolio. I've still got all the research and sketches I did for this in the loft somewhere [I'll try and dig them out!] 

Anyway the overall concept was that she had fallen asleep in a forest and had woken up and she is very much part of the forest so pieces of it had woven their way into her dress. Hence all the leaves!

I started with a new look pattern, but I'm not sure which? It was a very simple pattern for an aline dress with small bust pleats and no other closures. I took the pattern and re drafted it to make it a wrap front. I then made that up in one layer of the very fine cotton muslin I was working with. Then I pleated the remainder of my cotton onto "shell". I made my pleats uneven in an effort to keep things organic. I also didn't even off the hem at the end, If my memory serves me correctly this was because I had a theory that the stage lights shining through the various layers of the fine cotton would make her almost glow!

The idea of making it a wrap dress was do It wouldn't have to be too heavily altered should to lead actress change, you just simply wrap it around the body, tie it off and shuffle until it looks right [And yeah it looks nice on everyone, from what I remember at least half the class tried it on]

Each one of the leaves is hand embellished and completely individual, and then I tacked them to the ribbon "vines" on the dress! [I actually made a lot of these leaves in bed when I was poorly, your not suppose to but the teacher said I could because otherwise I wouldn't have finished.] the leaves are made from a mixture of green fabrics that my mum and dad brought for me from hobbycraft, I honestly dread to think about how much money went into this dress!

To be honest I'm still so proud of this! to say I made it when I would have been about 14/15? I'm amazed that I put so much thought into it and that I wasn't scared to tackle things like redrafting a pattern.

And that's it! I must have made more things but obviously they didn't deserve saving! Apart from my banging alevel project that was done in art textiles and was based around the life of women during world war two! That was kept to put on display and then went missing....................swines. It even had a christening gown I'd made from an old shirt.

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Things I made at High school - Part 1

So after the heaviness of my last post [thank you by the way for the lovely response I received both on the blog and privately] I thought it might be nice to do something a bit lighter!

This is a three part series featuring thing my mum found in storage at her house!

Okay so this is the Technicolor dream coat that I made for my high schools production of Joseph and his technicolor dream coat. I think I was about 17 at the time and very new clothes sewing!

I think I altered a new look pattern by extending the jacket pieces to make it longer and adding some pretty serious godets! I'm pretty sure it was a panelled jacket and that's why I could use so many crazy colours!

The front closes with a big hook and eye!

The fabric was from abakhans which my mum and dad kindly payed for [to this day I'm annoyed that they weren't thanked in the program, I mean after someones just paid £30 for a costume it seams a bit rude! Especially seen as other people were thanked who did far less]

But anyway! This was my last school production and as well as making this coat I helped sew trim to dancers costumes, helped with set changes, helped back stage and was third cactus.

This is me in my cactus costume, we had to do a dance and everything. To be honest I'm struggling to see how our performance didn't earn us a golden globe or something!

Anyway the costume was cut in a size eight and was made for the sweetest lil year 8 who had a face like butter wouldn't melt. the entire thing is just stitched together, no French seams no finishing. Well actually that's a lie I made sure the seams wouldn't fray by burning them all with a lighter [which made me feel rather squiffy]

I did however put a long strip of Velcro up the centre back seam so the coat could be "ripped" apart when Josephs brothers fight over it. Me and the teacher directing didn't tell the cast so when this thing ripped in their hands their reactions were priceless! 

It was one of the more fun productions I worked on, mainly I think because it didn't take itself to seriously! It was also the production I knitted a baby cardigan during, and the one I went to the pub after every night! Where I happened to spend a good deal of time flirting with a certain bartender [who totally fell for me and my awesome cactus ways]

It was also quite sad really because it was our last one! 

But the coat went down very well and still looks pretty awesome now! Although what on earth do I do with it now? Either I put it up the loft or I see if lil mans new school wants it for school productions ! 

Much Love

Frankie

P.s keep your eyes peeled for part 2 its a corker!!!!

xxx 

Quick Toddler Pirate Costume DIY

Yet another costume for lil man for nursery, seriously its starting to feel like I'm making one of these very week. And if its not a costume its wear a certain colour or wear transport themed clothes or something!

Anyway this week was pirates, and being me I wasn't going to pay for a cheap and nasty costume instead it was just quicker to do some googling and throw something together!

Okay so from the top!

-Bandanna, this ones my dads which I stole years ago but you could just use a square of fabric.

- white shirt, Its raining today so we went with a shirt but I did have a short sleeved t-shirt option if it was warm!

- waistcoat, this is from his wardrobe and I just appliqued a quick skull and cross bones to the back.

-trousers, I especially put these to one side just in case I needed to do a costume, they were too short in the leg so I cut them down in a zig zig pattern. I might hem them into shorts now pirate day is over!

- red belt, this is just a long piece of red fleece but you could just use a scarf.

- stripey socks

as always the priority was making sure he would be comfy for the whole morning at nursery, and warm enough for the walk down.

He didn't seem to mind wearing this too much, I think he might be getting used to costumes a bit more now hes older.

I can't say I'd change anything about it I think he looks pretty good to say it took about 10 minutes to make and I didn't spend any money!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

World Book Day

Its world book tomorrow, or at least that when our nursery is celebrating. And world book day means dressing up, which means mummy raiding the house for supplies and cracking out the sewing machine.

Naturally I decided to make lil man a penguin from one of his books "the happy penguin and the little seal"  [I'm not sure why I've linked that, probably because I know there's parents out there who can probably recite every word of every book their child owns so it might be nice to give them a bit of variety!]. Anyway as it goes penguin costumes are hard! and I didn't have any black fabric and it was all just looking a bit crap really so plus I'd procrastinated for a good three weeks and now had no other options other than to wing it [I can imagine my mum will laugh at this because she always said I used to change my mind ten times before any costume event, In fact one year she mad me a pony costume and then I decided to go as something else! Looks like my indecisiveness doesn't change.]

So I decided to send him as Link from "Hyrule Historia" I.e Link from legend of zelda the video game, which him and his daddy have been avidly playing!

Naturally I had to use what I had on hand, sooooo the trousers are his new chinos, the shirt is an old white shirt that only just fits I removed the collar and just left the collar stand, the tunic is two pieces of green fabric [stash] with some neck shaping, I simply sewed the shoulder and side seams, I left all the other edges raw. The hat is a triangle sewed up one side and I added a band to the bottom with elastic in to make sure it stays on his head. The shield I drew and painted, {its one of the designs from the game} onto card from the back of a notebook. The sword came from b and ms, because I wasn't happy with any of the ones I made, and because we knew we'de get use from it anyway! The belt is an old one of mine that I cut down!

And doesn't he look sweet! Even Rikki smiled when he saw it all come together! 

My main issue was making something he would be comfortable in and something he would be able to have a wee in at nursery. I know the staff have said before to please make sure that children can take themselves to the toilet in their costumes.  

Hopefully he likes it, he kind of looks like Robin Hood or Peter Pan as well so I think that's what the staff will think he is. Although they might have played the game when they were younger I suppose! 

So yeah I've not completely played by the rules because its originally game based but their is a book and I made a whole costume in like an hour and a half so that's a win! And seen as I think its going to be a class of superheroes tomorrow its nice that h'ell look a bit different! 

Here's him and his daddy seen as they are the "team game!" and "team boy" to quote lil man! I'm actually wondering if there's another occasion I can dress him up for and have Rikki dressed up as a character from the game too! 

So yay success, now I just have to sew for me for another year!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

 

Nativity Mouse Costume

This is actually a pretty pointless post, due to my excitement and lil knitwit having a meltdown and not wanting to do his nursery nativity I didn't get a picture of him at home in his costume.

Naturally I have lots of him during the nativity but I'm not allowed to put them online just in case they have other peoples kids in. Which is pretty understandable but still, now I didnit think I'll have one to share with him online. And by that I mean on here and on Facebook.

But here's the costume anyway.

Its cut down from Mr Knitwits old onesie but I think the only original seam left is the inner leg seam.

I had to put in a new zip and I drafted sleeves and arm holes. You'll have to take my word for it but it fit him pretty well. 

I appliquéd on a lil pink tummy.

I wish i had done the tail a bit smaller but Lil Knitwit had a lot of fun waving it around when he wasn't talking . I also added elastic to the ends of the legs and the sleeves so he wouldn't trip up he looked pretty cute actually.

the ears failed a bit as they kept flopping forwards, however he did have the biggest ears of all of the mice, and they all looked pretty cute. A few of the parents were pretty shocked that I'd made his costume and not just brought one on-line. although we did look and there's not many lil boy mouse costumes out there, instead there's loads of girl mice with tutu options..... because that's how you sex a mouse... you look to see if its wearing a tutu.

As far as nativities go it was AWESOME! it was a huge change from last year where they just sat and sand this year Lil knitwit had lines to learn and he even had to crawl across the 'stage' at one point. it was a really lovely experience and there was no major meltdowns or disasters! Although it was highly amusing to watch one of the angels sing with both of her wings in her mouth and one of the sheep get dragged back across the stage by one leg! 

So yes I'm very proud of lil knitwit for doing his mummy's costume proud! even if he did have a hysterical moment half an hour before! [no seriously I had to leave him in the classroom sobbing hysterically, i have no idea what they did to calm him down but they managed it]

much love

Frankie

xxx

Quick superhero costume

Hello! Gosh it's been a while! What can I say I've been busy! Mainly starting the massive Christmas tidy up and making costumes for little knitwit! He's going to be a mouse in the nativity but more on that later! 

So onto today's costume, lil knitwit was told to dress as a hero for nursery, I know right it's broad! A hero? Are we talking teenage mutant ninja turtles or winston Churchill? I'm assuming they mean superhero not "changed the world" kind of hero. 

So I narrowed down the brief the only trouble? We don't have any hero costumes, we have a vampire one? But I'm not sure that counts, I also didn't have time to buy one so I went for the simplest costume I could think off. Clark Kent morphing into superman. 

I started with this: 

The only blue tee shirt I could fine and some felt. I quickly appliqués the superman logo to the front and voila! 

Instant costume! 

It's certainly not a life changing costume but at least he'll be comfortable all day and we've got some more wear from his suit trousers. The only thing that's missing is the Clark Kent style glasses, you know the ones that hide his identity from Teri hatcher. I tried to make some but they just looked crappy so I left it! 

In other news, I received an awesome parcel of stuff which is printing me to do a what's in my tool box post. 

I started a leather jacket but I'm not loving how it looks on my frame so I have some re thinking to do . 

I finished My chunky scarf! But I'm no further along with my cardigan. 

And I sorted out all of my sewing/fashion/knitting books so they resemble something like order 

Much love

Frankie

Xx

Starting on Delphine!

Okay so today I.......

Got ready to visit my big sister 

Selfies happened! 

Visited my sister took a good look at the pattern we will be making together! 

Consumed Krispy kremes 

Watched little Knitwit play drums 

And traced and started cutting out the delphine skirt from love at first stitch! 

I managed to squeeeeeeeze it out of the last of my grandfathers suit material!!! (Which kind of makes me sad becuase now I only have scraps left ) 

I cannot believe this pattern only requires one metre of fabric! And in my humble opinion more patterns should use this amount! It's gonna make for a very purse friendly pattern! 

I've cut all if the pieces now and in itching to start sewing! 

I hate it when I have to stop and start however it does mean I take more care and pride in what I'm doing so end up with a better garment! 

Now I just need to decide what to do as my variation! After having a good wardrobe rummage, I'm desperately trying to make myself some more wearable clothes! Especially with winter coming! 

I also made a start on little knitwits Halloween costume! I was going to buy one but they all just look so cheap and tacky and there never seems to be much for boys his age! They are either terrifying or babyish! And he didn't want to be anything scary (actually he wanted to be a football but we've compromised) 

Anyways hopefully I'll have a finished delphine to show you tommorrow! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx