I have created a garment!

I finally ventured into the terrifying world of sewing clothes!  Now, I will be the first to admit that I dipped the tiniest part of my tippy tippy toe into that vast pool of sewing, but I still did it. :)

I made a pair of lounge pants for Clark with more on deck for him and Lauren, as well as Dan and myself.  So easy, so much cheaper than the store *and* they can be whatever we want them to be.  Very excite.

More photos as more are made.

Adventure Time Costumes - Princess Bubblegum and The Ice King

Princess Bubblegum

Princess Bubblegum worried me the most as her dress is very plain and I was concerned with being able to find something in the stores that would work, or if I would have to resort to *gulp* making a dress.

Luckily, I happened upon a very inexpensive costume dress at a Halloween shop that would do the trick with just a little bit of help.

Before

After

With an enormous amount of help from my good friend Jana (who has dress and costume making experience!), we just had to remove the netting from the neckline and waist and add a purple yolk and scallop neck, poofy sleeves, and sash,  and it had to be hemmed.  I don't know what I would have done without her help as this was all well beyond my capabilities.

Wearing a pink shirt and pink leggings took care of the pink skin issue, for the most part, and that left her crown and long pink hair.

The hair was another large hurdle as I needed it straight, parted down the middle or short bangs, super long and pink.  I found a great white wig that would do the trick for little cost and eventually found a tutorial on dyeing synthetic hair.

I figured out the best white:red ratio for the ink and went to town over the next two days to dye the wig:

The gear

Day 2, trying out soaking

Out for spraying and drying

Unfortunately, after all that work, the color was pretty great but the fibers couldn't stand up to the effort.  Despite washing it and using detanglers and other conditioning agents, it looked like this:

A pretty in pink rat's nest

Soooo I looked around online for more wigs and decided to invest in a cosplay quality wig from a Chicago supplier, Arda Wigs.  I received it in two days, the quality was incredible, and it will be used and enjoyed for years to come.  Plus, it looked perfect.

Lastly, I had her crown.  I really wasn't sure how to do this item as well but in the end found some gold-ish colored felt, covered posterboard with the felt and added a blue gem at the top.  I also reinforced it with a popsicle stick.

Here's my PB

Ice King was by far the easiest costume, partly because my husband didn't want to wear any blue makeup and in the end didn't want a fake nose or anything similar.

Ice King

I found a graduation gown in a thrift shop that was just the right shade of blue.  That left his beard and wig, which I found online for pretty cheap.  I made the crown much like I did Princess Bubblegum's, but added red sparkly foam "gems".  Easy peasy lemon greasy.

This experience has gotten me past the fear of making costumes and now I can't wait for next year!

Adventure Time Costumes - Finn

I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about how I made their costumes, in case anyone was interested.  In truth, not very many people knew who they were and I figured that would be the case.  At all the events we went to for Halloween I heard only two parents recognize them (one who seemed embarrassed that he had and another who was thrilled) and many, many kids who were excited and declared them the "best costumes ever!" to their confused parents. :)  But really, I was just happy that my two loved their costumes and were proud to wear them.

I'll start with Finn as he was the most work (for me) but really defined everyone else's costumes.

Finn with his best friend Jake, the dog

My little Finn

For this costume I absolutely needed the hat and backpack.  It was nearly impossible to find exact color matches for the shirt and shorts, especially at this time of year, so I went with a sky blue shirt he already owned and found the fleece pants (perfect color) at Walmart and hemmed them (my first time hemming!).

I bought the sword and the stuffed Jake at ToysRUs as I'm not quite ready to attempt to make a stuffed animal.   And to be honest, my time was rather limited.

I found a pattern for the hat online. I ended up making two hats (and lots of mistakes...keep in mind this was my first time sewing something that wasn't a quilt/tag blanket) and discarded the first as I didn't like the placement of the "ears" (though I'm thinking it might be my winter hat!).  I also went back into this one to reinforce the ears with popsicle sticks, though they were still a little floppy.

I had my usual "helpers"

For his backpack I ended up covering up a round pillow form and sewing on straps and a button.  You can't imagine my frustration when I realized the straps were two colors, but at that point it was too late and I had run out of fabric and time.

The Finn costumes I found online sort of stopped at the shorts, but I felt it was important to roll his white socks and put on dark shoes.

And there you have it!