El Matador vs. El Toro

I decided to make homemade Halloween costumes this year. Huck as a matador and Milo as a bull.



For el Matador:
The inside shirt is a simple white button up dress shirt. I made the jacket from a pattern (New Look 6398), cutting it off just under the waist and not putting on the pockets. Since this was a quick and dirty job, I didn't bother to line it, either. I used a slightly stretchy black fabric with a bit of a sheen to it that I found in a remnant bin and bright teal thread for the seams in a zigzag stitch. I added embellishments like a few gold buttons and red tassels, as well as lining the bottom with the same gold trim used for the pants. I made gold shoulder patches, which I decorated with a little puffy paint.
I used an old pair of velvet pants which I hemmed just below the knee and made a bit narrower. I then added gold Christmas ribbon and some braided gold trim along the outside seam.
The cape was very simple with gold on one side and bright red on the other, using the same gold trim to tie it over one shoulder.
The hat is made of felt with three small red tassels on each side. I didn't use a pattern for this, I just looked at some pictures online and winged it. In hindsight the hat shouldn't be quite so tall. The pink tights are from Target and the shoes were a $3 find at Wal-Mart. They're shaped like cars, but they're black!



For el Toro:
Milo's costume was much simpler. I just found a plain brown sweatsuit set and attached stuffed horns with some black fabric marker to darken the tips and felt ears and hair. Steve suggests that I should pin some straws sticking out of Milo's costume to look like banderillas.

Gift for Baby Maia

Another velour baby jumpsuit.

Jumpsuit for Baby William

I found this little velour jumpsuit on sale at a store that was closing and decided to spruce it up for a baby shower I'm supposed to attend tomorrow. I made the trunk by once again doing the freezer paper printing technique, then appliqued on the the leaves and owl and finished it off with some detail stitching. It worked pretty well except that the paint is a bit stiff on the velour, even though I used "soft" fabric paint. Maybe dye would work better. I also found a great new repositionable fusible web. It sticks temporarily, so you can even try on your outfit before committing to a spot for your applique, and then bonds permanently when ironed. I fpund it at Jo-Anns and it is called Lite Steam-A-Seam2 Double Stick Lite Fusible Web. Quite a mouthful!

My Obama T-shirt

I finally made an Obama t-shirt. It reads "Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. Obama '08" From Obama's "Yes We Can" speech.
I found this shirt on sale for $5. I used freezer paper to make an iron-on stencil and applied vinyl letter stickers to write the quote. I then applied a 1/2 bleach 1/2 water solution to the t-shirt using a sponge. I think a bolder effect could be achieved by using full bleach. You have to be careful not to let the bleach seep under the stencil or your edges won't be crisp--so the sponge should be fairly dry. When the color bleached out enough, I rinsed the shirt well under cold water and allowed it to dry. The next day I used fabric markers to ever-so-lightly trace the letters and the outline of the USA. Ironed the shirt to set the marker and you're all done!