Halloween Crafts: From Plain to Pretty Lace Fantasy Costume Dress

It took way too long, but I finally finished the first project on my craft list. 

A Halloween costume.

Does anyone remember this dress?  I made it two years ago around Halloween along with a couple of other accessories.  The accessories turned it into a cute fairy costume.

Sometimes great costumes can come from simple things, and I will show you how again with this dress.

I had this pink lace fabric leftover from an Easter dress (see Pink Lace for Easter).  Using the pink dress as a guide, I cut two tank top shapes out for a lacy bodice.

Then I stitched along the shoulders and “hemmed” arm area.  I just folded down the edge and zig-zag stitched it down.

I cut two half circles from the lace for cute flutter sleeves.

Just hem them and sew on along the arm area to finish.

The skirt on the pink dress is a circle skirt, but for the lace I made a half circle instead.  Here’s a great tutorial for half circle skirts.

I decided to cut the lace bodice down the center to open it up before sewing on the skirt.

Then I hemmed all the raw edges and layered the lace “overdress” over the pink dress.  Looks pretty now.

I then grabbed a needle and thread and to attach the lace to the pink dress along the front and neckline.  Just enough to keep things in place.

I wanted the stitches to be easy to remove in case I want to wear these pieces separately in the future.

Just throw on a few accessories, and my costume dress is done.  I still haven’t really decided what to call it.  This dress could work for so many pretty outfits.  From princess or fairy to anime style magical girl.  It all works.

Anyway, in addition to the left lace fabric I’m reusing the flower headband I also wore for Easter.  The color matches this dress perfectly.  Check out my flower headband tutorial to make your own.

Using more of the stretchy lace fabric, I whipping up some finger-less gloves that are easier than they look.  They are basically just tubes of fabric, hemmed and adjusted to fit my arms.

One end was pinned and stitch to go around my thumb.  An easier method it to cut the legs off a pair of lace tights and  cut off the toes for your fingers, but I didn’t have any.

So, now we have a pretty costume dress with matching accessories, and just in time for Halloween.  Yay!

Here’s the updated list:

• Costume
• Case
• Doll and Kitty
• Little Halloween
• 3 Skirts
• Accessories
• Socks
• Overalls
• Ornaments
• More Cases

One down, nine more to go.  The next one should be up soon.  Look forward to it!

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Good Day for Crafting

Don’t you just love Mondays.  Well today I do, I finished the rest of my projects today.  I said I would didn’t I?  Just don’t ask how much progress I’ve made on my studies.

First up, this is a Barbie doll that used to belong to my niece.  She didn’t want it anymore and I seem to be a sucker for forlorn looking dolls.  Well, there’s nothing more fun than fixing them up right?  

So, here’s the before…

…And after.  

She was easy to clean up except for that hair.  It took a ton of conditioner to smooth out that rat’s nest.  I decided not to give her a hair cut, though it was tempting.  

Looking at her long flowing hair, I envisioned flowers.  So I whipped up the wreath using tiny fake ones leftover from another project along with some wire.  Then I whipped up a dress that I thought would look good with the flowers.  I used the same fabric as I did for that doll dress in my last post, I did have tons of it leftover.  I made a strapless dress because it seems more light and airy, like spring.  

So now I have a “Spring Princess” doll.  You think my niece will want it back now?

Next, remember those simple $1 gloves I tweaked (see More Pretty Stuff)?  Well after about two winter seasons, they weren’t looking too good.  Trust me, they look way worse than in this photo.  I wanted to find a way to recycle them into something that is cute and could possibly be used in the spring weather too.

The solution?  These fingerless gloves, as modeled by my niece.  The fingers are the first things to wear out I any of my gloves, so why not just chop them off?  Beyond that, all it took was some lace and a lot of zig-zag stitching to transform them.  Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with them when their wear out again. 

Last but not least, these tiny plushies.  I got the idea somewhere to make tinny-tiny little plushies.  I think from a book, but I don’t remember.  

Anyway, I used some of my stash of fleece scraps and some googly eyes to make them.  They are basically two pieces cut in simple shapes, zig-zag stitched around, then stuff and stitched shut.  Finish up by gluing on the eyes, then quickly make some more.  They are after all really fun to make. 

The larger ones are about 2 inches tall and the smaller baby ones are about an inch.  They kind of remind me of the those ghost things from Pac man.  Maybe that’s why they seem so adorable to me.  

Anyway, I still need to think of what else to do with them.  I was thinking of making some key chains with them, or maybe some pencil toppers.  Decisions, decisions.

Here’s the updated list:

• Floral bag
• Wreath
• Doll
• Top
• Doll dress
• Gloves
• Black purse
• Tiny plushies
• Tiny “men” clothes

Nine down and out.  Now nothing to worry about but those pesky tests and school work.

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More Pretty Stuff

I had a bit of trouble getting started with my list, partially due to problems mentioned previously.  But I managed to get a few of the smaller cuter bits done.

These were those cheap stretchy gloves you can get for $1 practically everywhere.  I had a hard time finding white ones which I prefer over other colors.  I wanted them to look a little less plain and cheap.

With a touch of lace and some ribbon, they aren’t quite so plain now.  They were pretty easy too.  I stitched on the lace with the glove stretched out, it instantly gave it a ruffled effect.  I was lazy with the bows and glued them on with a washable fabric glue. 

I got a 4-pack of cheap plastic headbands at Dollar Tree figuring I could use them to make cuter ones, at least cuter than the ones at Dollar Tree.  Grant it that there are a ton of cute ones at that store and the largest selection ever, but it’s cheaper to decorate the plastic ones myself.  This one was made by wrapping the headband with satin ribbon while gluing it down with a glue gun.  I made little flowers and glued them on too.  It’s simple to do once you get the hang of it

This second headband was made easily by gluing faux pearls to one of the plastic ones.  I’ve seen similar ones before, including at Dollar Tree, but again this is cheaper and more fun.  It did take some time to glue all the little pearls on, and I found that glue gun glue just doesn’t cut it for this.  It isn’t flexible enough, they just popped right off.  I used Aleene’s Jewel It,  it is meant for beads and stuff after all.  I haven’t had any problems with it.

I have a tendency to “collect” hair elastics, you can get them in 36-packs for a buck and I can always find uses for them.  Although they are handy and useful for my hair, I find them to be quite dull looking on their own.  That’s simple to fix, stick pretty fabric or ribbon bows on them.  Really perks them up and uses up scraps of fabric and small leftover bits of ribbon.  Plus it isn’t too difficult to hand sew these so they make for a very portable sewing project.

Here’s the updated list:

• Pretty up gloves
• Ribbon headband
• Doll makeover
• Pearl headband
• Hair bows
• Pouches
• Alter shirt
• Yellow dress
• Hearts

Four down, five to go.  I’m a little behind schedule so far, I’ll blame it on the seasons.  This time of year makes me sleepy. 

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