halloween sewing :: wings

I saw this post on Prudent Baby last year and I’ve been daydreaming about making bird wings ever since.

Luckily Lila made no specific requests for a Halloween costume, so I was able to steer her in the direction of “bird” pretty easily.

I had a hard time getting motivated and came close to ditching the idea of a handmade costume, but once I got started, it was a totally pleasant project – time consuming with all that feather cutting, but straightforward and easy. And choosing the fabrics was the most fun…per usual.

I used this tutorial from Llevo el Invierno for the wings, and just made a few changes.

After measuring Lila’s “wingspan” I decided to add a few inches to each wing (the directions say they’ll fit 18 months to age 3, but it doesn’t hurt to measure and cut accordingly). So my wings are 15 x 15 inches, rather than 13 x 13. I added 1/4 inch elastic loops instead of finger ties, and instead of tying at the neck, I attached elastic shoulder straps under the top binding so that she can get into them herself.

I also bound the side edges along with the top, just to clean things up a bit.

And a felt bird mask to finish things off.

Happy almost Halloween!

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halloween proper

Lila was really into Halloween this year, giddy with excitement all day long. It could be because she got to eat a cupcake first thing in the morning (no frosting, so that’s really just a muffin, right?), or maybe it was because she got to sit on the dining room table with said cupcakes while enjoying an unauthorized Dum Dum.

Whatever the reason, she could tell it was a special day. And she was a pretty cute little tree, blue leaves and all.

Not sure what this facial expression is all about – concentrating on keeping that precarious bird’s nest on her head, I think. I covered her headband in the woodgrain fabric, and it wasn’t quite grippy enough. (There are more details about the costume in the last post, if anyone’s interested).

The little squirrel came out to play, too.

We went to a Halloween party at the library and trick-or-treated a little bit nearby with her buddy the referee. We must have rehearsed the trick-or-treating script a hundred times at home, and her performance was flawless…of course she completely clammed up once we were out. Isn’t that always the way (it is over here, anyway)…

The highlight of the day for me was how she kept mysteriously disappearing, and each time we’d find her upstairs in her room, door closed, under the covers, getting into her candy stash. Sneaky.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween and got to eat their candy in peace!

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halloween progress

Lila’s tree costume is coming together. It’s a simple little costume, but I managed to make it a lot of work anyway. I’ve heard people say it’s silly to put a lot of time and effort into a Halloween costume that’s going to be worn once, and that makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to do it any other way – maybe I’ll feel more comfortable throwing things together once I become a better sewer, or maybe I’ll never be a corner-cutter, who knows. So yeah, all my seams are finished and the oak leaves have veins. And I didn’t get anything else done all week.

The wood grain dress is Leila & Ben’s Sweet Little Dress pattern with lengthened sleeves. And a knothole.

The blue leaves were Lila’s idea, by the way. She really, really wanted blue leaves. I got a blank stare when I tried to explain photosynthesis, and besides, who am I to deny my daughter a couple blue leaves on her tree?

I’m pretty sure the squirrel is what sold her on the costume. It’s attached with velcro (a la Sophie’s super cool interactive stuffie shirt) so it can scamper around in the branches and collect acorns. Lila’s into it!

There are a couple details still in the works, but it’s almost done, and I’m pretty excited for this thing to get its couple hours of wear. And maybe we can throw it into the dress-up bin (which we don’t yet have, but hope to someday) after Halloween…

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