Edna Mode Cosplay

LittleLoloCosplay as "Edna Mode" from Disney's The Incredibles.

"Edna Mode" is a quirky fashion designer who creates costumes for super heroes, most notably known for saying "No capes!" and "I don't look back, darling..."

I made this costume dress in under 5 hours (over a span of 3 days), using mostly decade-old remnants from past projects. In total, I spent less than $40 to make this.

Dress: Made from upholstery vinyl and fashion pleather, a roll of insulating foam, sport zipper, black corset boning, with stretch gauze lining and pink shirting trim. Everything was remnants (free) except for $2 worth of pink fabric.

Glasses: under $10, purchased via Amazon Prime.

Boots: $30 purchased at Nordstrom (I "splurged" here since the rest of the costume was basically free)

A snapshot of my pattern pieces.

I drew my pattern from scratch. For the dress, I just traced one her shirts and used the same pattern for the front and back. I cut the V neck out of the front later.

The sleeves were the most time-consuming part of making this dress. The pattern for the sleeves was a little tricky, but here's a little explanation of how I made it. 

It took three layers of sleeve to make all of the arched pieces.

I started with a lining made out of a breathable stretchy gauze in the shape of a normal sleeve or mutton sleeve. Then I cut 6 copies of a "top" sleeve out of the vinyl (3 layers per sleeve) and split each of these into the arched shapes (which I numbered so I would know which order to put them in).

This is what the sleeve looked like before cutting the triangles.

The finished sleeve.

The real trick to sewing this vinyl was LOTS and LOTS of baby powder!

A zipper in the back makes it much easier to put this dress on a 2-year-old.

Costume Stress Testing, Toddler Style

When you're making a costume for a toddler, you want to make sure it will hold up to toddler antics. I put this Boo costume (from Disney's Monsters, Inc.) on my daughter to see if she would like wearing it. It's a bit like wearing a sleeping bag, with flippers. Needless to say, she liked it so much she started dancing around!

After I posted this video on Facebook it quickly went viral and amassed over 1.2 million views! Wow! I can't even read all of the comments, but apparently a lot of people know someone who has a little girl who would also make a really cute Boo. :)

Once I finish the costume I'll do a blog post on it. All I have left is finishing the hood and getting the eye stalks attached. I may also need to make the shoe "flippers" all over again because her feet grew.

Fun fact: I started making this monster costume months ago, but my daughter was scared to get into the "tunnel"; the costume did not look like clothes to her! Now that she's two-and-a-half, she is much braver. Once she is three I will see if she might be interested in wearing foam armor.

Ruffled Diaper Cover

Sometimes I find a pattern on sale that I can't resist. I mean, look at this adorable ruffled diaper cover! Little Lolo needs this.

I used some fabric and lace remnants I inherited from my grandmother's stash and put this together while Lolo was napping. In all I think this took about foir hours at a very leisurely pace. I added my own trim and front pockets but otherwise stuck to the pattern (view A).

For a tip on gathering fabric to make ruffles, check out my quick video on Instagram here: http://instagram.com/p/pFbkTlBb48/

Baby Teemo

 

It's Teemo!

 

I made this costume for my daughter for Halloween. Babies need comfortable costumes so I translated Teemo's outfit into just a simple hat, beard, and booties.

 

 

For the hat I had an adult version I bought from Riot, so I used it as a visual guide to make a baby version out of fleece and flannel.

 

I added a Velcro chin strap to the hat because babies need one to keep their hat on.




Here she is with her hat!




For the chin beard fur thing I made a bib!

Here are the finished costume pieces!




Soooooo cute!

Click here for my post on making the baby booties.

Burp Cloths

Burp Cloths are easy to make from scraps of flannel cotton.

 

Each of these is about the width of my shoulder and about 18 inches long.

 

I added lace to the end of one of them to be fancy. I had all of this blue and yellow fabric leftover from making baby boy things for a friend (5 years ago) so I decided lace would make it a little more girly... ha!

Easy Nursery Crafts with Flannel

I'm 41 weeks pregnant so I decided to work on some easy crafts for the baby's nursery to pass the time while I wait for labor to start. I completed these projects in one afternoon using flannel prints (purchased on sale at $2.99/yard).

 

 

First up, I made a fitted sheet for the Pack N' Play with this fun "imaginary friends" print. Then I made a matching burp cloth out of the leftover scrapts (plus strips of a coordinating flannel).

 

To make a fitted sheet, all you need to do is cut out a rectangle, leaving a decent amount of edge around the outside (a few inches). Pinch the corners and mark where the corner should be, then fold and sew the corners, cutting away the extra square of material out of each corner (I used a serger which made this really easy). Lastly, trim the edges (or serge all four edges) and then turn over the edge, sewing elastic underneath, pulling the elastic tight as you sew it to the fabric using a zigzag stitch.

The other project I completed was a fitted cover for the diaper changing pad. The process for making this was basically the same as the fitted sheet. Again, I pieced together leftover scraps to make a little coordinating wash cloth/burp cloth.

Both of these projects were quick, easy, and cost-effective. Considering that fitted sheets are usually $20 and up, I made these at less than 25% of what it would cost to just buy one.

Materials:
Flannel (pre-washed) at $2.99/yard
Thread (white)
Elastic (1/8" wide)

None of these crafts require a pattern.

Fantasy Forest Theme Nursery

Baby Obi's room is all ready for her arrival.

Come on in!

Custom Slip-covered Graham Glider by West Elm
Tree & Bird Curtains from IKEA

Refinished heirloom dresser.
Paint color: Blue Whisper

Crib from Target
Wall decals from Etsy

Painted nightstand dresser - Craiglist $25 + paint supplies
Commissioned artwork

On right: "Lagoon Love" by Illustrator Brittney Lee @britsketch

Wall hanger rack with Owls from IKEA

Baby Obi's closet! #somanydresses

Baby Obi has her own en suite!
(It's literally two steps from the diaper changing station... can't get more convenient than this in a poo disaster, right?)

Slipcovered Glider Chair

 

 

This chair is the Graham Glider by West Elm, which is gorgeous and comfy, but I am afraid of getting baby goo all over the nice grey velvet. I really want this chair to last for years to come.

 

Graham Glider by West Elm





So I decided to make a slip-cover for the chair (and matching bolster pillow). Going with my fantasy forest theme, I found this fabulous fabric at JoAnn's. Using coupons, I purchased the fabric for more than 50% off; the original price was $9.99/yard. It is a sturdy cotton and easy to pull off and throw in the wash if I need to.

 



 

 

Clearly I didn't have a sewing pattern, and I didn't want to fully reupholster the chair, just make a slip-cover, so I decided the best method to make this slipcover would be draping.

 

I draped fabric over the chair wrong-side out, and pinned it to the chair one piece at a time, starting from the back. At the seams I pinned two piece of fabric together, then pulled it off, sewed the seam and put it back on the chair to add another piece. I worked symmetrically, doing two seams on opposite sides at once. But I still ran back and forth between the nursery and sewing machine a lot.

 

When I finished the slipcover the way I wanted it, I serged all of the seams to reduce the selvages. I love how it turned out!

Flannel Booties for Baby's First Cosplay

I made more baby booties. They are irresistible. This pair just happens to be made of soft green flannel so they will become part of baby's first handmade costume.

Here is what the pattern (McCall's M6342) for these baby booties looks like once you cut out the pieces (2 of each):

More: Itty Bitty Baby Booties

Itty Bitty Baby Booties

I made baby booties!

JoAnn's had patterns on sale for $1 so I picked up McCall's M6342 and a few others to make baby clothes and so far I have had a blast just making a bunch of baby booties!

 

This is a great project for using up scraps because the pattern pieces are so small!

Easy Paper Bunting

Need party decorations and short on time? I whipped this up in 30 minutes or less, for my cousin's baby shower. These are also really cute in a baby nursery.

Start with a selection of coordinating scrapbooking paper. For one-sided paper bunting flags, you can get two flags from one square sheet.

Create a pattern out of a piece of scrap cardboard. Draw a line down the center. Then measure an equal distance out from one end of the line and mark two points which will be the corners of your triangle. Draw lines to connect the points to the other end of your line. Cut out the triangle.

Place your triangle on the paper. You can position the base of the triangle against the edge of the paper. Use a roller cutter and mat to quickly cut the triangle out.

Flip your pattern piece and cut a second triangle from the same sheet. Repeat for all of your sheets of paper - you can cut 2 or 3 sheets at the same time to go faster. I used 6 sheets of paper for 12 total flags.

You need string and a sewing machine for this part.

Place your first flag pattern-side down. Using the widest zig-zag stitch and a length of about 3, stitch along the top edge of the triangle, keeping the string under the zig-zag so your stitches land on either side.

When you finish, the flag will look like this. Stitch the rest of the flags in a row, leaving a couple of inches between each flag.

When you are done, string them up and party on!

Fantasy Forest Nursery Design

I'm expecting a baby this summer! So my latest project is working on putting together a nursery for my baby girl.

I decided to go gender-neutral with the overall design and all the major purchases because this is our first child, and who knows, there may be a boy using the same nursery in the future. I am calling this design "Fantasy Forest".

• Graham Glider by West Elm
• (DIY) Handmade slipcover, fabric from JoAnn's, 45" home decor cotton
• IKEA EXPEDIT bookshelf, white
• IKEA EIVOR curtains
• IKEA hanging toy storage
• Simmons Kids Slumber Time Elite Crib
• (DIY) Refinished French Provincial Dresser, purchased off of Craiglist
• (DIY) Refinished White Dresser
• Valspar wall paint, "Blue Whisper"

I already had a few items I wanted to work into the design: the crib, my white dresser (for a changing table), the yellow night stand, and the white tree curtains.

The "BEFORE" picture of the mostly-empty bedroom, from several angles.

My design and color inspiration began with these Mary Blair pictures, and I decided I wanted to go for a fantasy-style forest, not something "realistic":

I came up with this design concept for painting the walls...

Then at Emerald City Comicon I found this amazing illustration by Brittney Lee and had to buy a print for the nursery. It coordinates perfectly!


"Lagoon Love" by Brittney Lee @britsketch

To solidify my color palette, I found a picture of a nursery that used the green, blue, yellow, and turquoise colors very effectively in a gender-neutral design.

I love how the yellows and pinks pop against the light blue wall. Who says light blue has to be a boy color? So I ran with it. Isn't it pretty? The room is so much brighter now.

The room is painted!
My dad did most of the work because he knows what he is doing. I helped!

The room is still a work in progress, I've got three months to go!



Finally, I can move in some furniture...

Want to know my entire design process in a nutshell (sort of)? Here you go...

Ava's Advice on How to Go About Designing a Nursery:

1. Create a "Nursery" board on Pinterest. Do a search for "nursery" and start pinning everything you like. Eventually you will be able to spot trends on themes and colors that really speak to you. Create 1-3 new boards for the themes that most appeal to you and move those pins to those new boards. The two themes that spoke to me were woodland/forest and Star Wars (and other nerdy nurseries).
2. Add inspiration images to your themed nursery boards (keep generic "nursery" pins in your "Nursery" board). These inspiration images could be color palettes, scenic photography, artwork, or merchandise, anything that fits your theme and potential colors.
3. Decide on general theme and color palette. Expect that your theme and colors may get more refined as you purchase items, so this may need to be flexible.
4. Purchase/pick out the big items (crib, changing table/dresser, glider/rocker chair). An unexpected sale on an amazing crib may throw your color palette off, so if you can get the big items early, this will help you tweak your design as needed. Don't know where to start? Create a "Nursery Furniture" board on Pinterest and start pinning pictures (including the price and linking back to the item). When you find one you like or plan to purchase, move that pin to your themed board to see the image alongside your inspiration images.
5. Copy images of your furniture and decor items from your Pinterest board to Microsoft OneNote* and organize your furniture around the room layout. If you have a picture of your room, add it to help you visualize the space. Use the Online Room Planner by Urban Barn to figure out your furniture layout (don't forget to copy a picture of your layout into OneNote as well).
   * OneNote is great for organizing text and images all in one place. You can copy and paste from your browser, and can resize and drag things around easily. I created several OneNote pages, including design images copied from Pinterest (to help solidify the color scheme), a visual layout (above), color scheme details with paint color names, and even a list of furniture items with measurements.
6. Pick out your paint color and paint the room! This color should be influenced by your inspiration images and should coordinate with the furniture and decor you have picked out already.
7. Lastly, move your furniture in, set up the crib, and pick out the rest of your decorations. Curtains, crib sheets, storage baskets, a pouf, toys, and other small coordinating items can be added to your Baby Registry.

You can find my Pinterest Board here: Fantasy Forest