DIY Disney costume: Jake and the Neverland Pirates

My son outgrew his store-bought Jake costume, so I made him a new costume.  The problem with a store-bought jumpsuit-style costume is you have to take the whole costume off in order to use the restroom.  But since this DIY costume functions like real clothes, it won't have that problem.

This costume was actually made from upcycled clothing.

I made the vest from a thrifted blue hoodie and yellow T-shirt.

I made the shirt out of a hole-y men's undershirt and black scraps from my quilt project.

The pants are just any pair of blue jeans that my son wears.

The boots are from the original Jake costume.

The bandana is from the original Jake costume.

First I started with the blue vest.  

Step 1:  I cut off the sleeves from the hoodie.

Step 2:  I removed the hood & front pocket.  Then I cut straight down the center of the front.

Step 3:  I used the material from the sleeves to make the collar flaps.  I pinned them to the vest collar.

Here's the front (left) & back (right) of the collar.

Step 4:  I sewed the flaps in place.  Then I trimmed them into the shape.

Here's the front (left) & back (right) of the collar.

Step 5:  I cut a yellow T-shirt into strips and used the strips to line the edges & collar of the vest.

Now onto the pirate shirt.  I started off with one of my husband's old undershirts. It had a few holes in it, which was perfect for the tattered effect.

Step 1:  Spread out the adult shirt flat on the floor.

Step 2:  Placed one of my son's T-shirts on top of the adult shirt.  My son's shirt served as a pattern.

Step 3:  I cut around my son's T-shirt, leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 4:  I sewed up the edges of the fabric to make at new shirt.

Step 5:  I cut a through the front and back of the sleeves.

Step 6:  I cut a slit in the front collar, then sewed two pieces of black ribbon (also upcycled) into an X over the slit.

Step 7:  I used black fabric scraps to make a "belt" and sewed the belt to the bottom of the shirt.

 

To assemble the costume, all my son needs to do is wear ANY PAIR of blue jeans, put on the boot covers, put on the pirate shirt & vest, and put on the bandana headband.

Yay-hay, way to go Mateys!  We just made a pirate costume!  Yo-ho, let's go have some fun!  Arrgh!

Super Bowl Sunday: Running Tech T-shirt Quilt Tutorial

It's amazing how many shirts you can accumulate from running races. It can be quite an addiction.  But then these shirts just pile up in the closet, unworn, and unappreciated.  What better way is there to enjoy them than to turn them into a blanket?

So, while our husbands watched the big game in the family room, and our kids played in the living room, my cousin-in-law (Sole Sister) Dawn and I set up shop in the dining room to make a quilt out of some of her race tech shirts.  And the amazing thing is, we FINISHED the entire project in ONE EVENING...and using TECH shirts.

The most common comments that I've read on social media when people discuss sewing knitted fabric or even tech fabric are "It's too difficult to sew" or "You HAVE to use fusible interfacing." My response to those naysayers is "It's actually not that difficult.  You just need the right technique."  (See Step 4 below.)

What were the reasons we made the quilt ourselves?

1.  Sewing is fun...for me at least.

2.  It saves money.  $200+ to send shirts to a company to turn them into a quilt?  I could sign up for another half marathon with that money. [Update: After posting, I've seen that some websites charge up to $1200 for a king size quilt. Yikes!]

3.  You can control the entire creative process, from start to finish.

4.  The added satisfaction of knowing that, in addition to the achievements each shirt represents, the quilt itself represents an achievement of your own craftiness.

So what was the creative process?

STEP 1:  Figure out what size quilt to make.

The typical T-shirt quilt panel size is 12"x12" after the quilt is finished. There is a good reason for this: it maximizes the amount of graphic that can be included in the panel, AND it's the maximum width of most tech shirts (we used size medium and large tech shirts for this quilt.

We decided to use a Twin-size flat sheet (68" x 98") as the backing of the quilt because it's light-weight (it doesn't really get that cold in SoCal), inexpensive, and easy/fast to find at most stores.  But you can use any type of fabric (eg. Fleece from the fabric store, an old blanket, sheets from your closet, thrift store finds, etc.).

Based on your backing fabric's dimensions, just divide each dimension by 12".  That means our flat sheet (68" x 98") would be able to fit 5 x 8 shirts = 40 shirts.

Dawn brought 24 shirts to my house. So we had a decision to make:

Make a quilt that's 4x6 panels and therefore smaller than the twin sheet.

vs.

Make a quilt that's 5x8 panels but only use 20 shirts and make 20 "filler panels".

We decided to make the 4x6 size because it would be faster to make and would incorporate all of her shirts.

STEP 2:  Figure out quilt design.

We decided that the best arrangement would be a checkerboard design alternating between dark and light shirts so that each individual shirt could stand out.  So we divided the shirts into two piles: dark & light. 7 shirts were obvious dark ones, so the challenge was deciding which medium ones we'd consider as "dark".

Once we had the two separate piles, we arranged the dark shirts first into the checkerboard, then followed by the light shirts.  We tried to evenly distribute the color families so that one row/column didn't have two of each color.  Can you say t-shirt Sudoku?

When we were satisfied with the arrangement, we snapped a photo to use as reference.

STEP 3:  Cut the shirts.

Okay, so we've established that the finished panels are gonna be 12" x 12". If you factor in a 1/2 inch seam allowance, that means you need to cut out a 13" x 13" square from the shirt.

To make cutting out the panels easier, first make a cardboard template.  Then place the shirt onto a cutting mat, position the cardboard template onto the shirt, then cut around them using a rotary cutter.  But for the life of me, I couldn't find my rotary cutter; so instead I used my 3-year-old's chalk to trace around the template, and then handed the shirt to Dawn so she could cut it out with fabric scissors. Assembly line style baby!

Here's the cardboard template on the left, and a pile of some cut shirts on the right.

This was the toughest part of the process because it was the most tedious, but mainly because making the first cut into the first shirt was the most difficult emotionally.  I can only imagine what Dawn was thinking as she cut into her shirts, but it probably went something like this: "Am I really doing this? Am I really going to destroy my beloved race shirt? I'll never be able to wear it again. Oh here I go! Hmm that wasn't so bad. Hey these cut out panels look great. Well, this isn't so bad after all.  I can't wait to see what they look like when they're finally sewn together!"

STEP 4:  Sew the panels together (aka. The secret to sewing with knitted fabric and tech fabric)

What's the secret trick? How do you make the knitted tech fabric keep it's shape and prevent it from stretching when you're sewing it WITHOUT using fusible interfacing?  ANSWER: Tissue paper.  Ooooh, mind blown!

Place two panels front-sides together, then place the seam edge inside a folded strip of tissue paper making a sandwich.  Pin the seam together, then sew the seam using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  I placed a strip of masking tape on my sewing machine at the 1/2 inch seam allowance mark to make it easier to see.

Fabric edge sandwiched between tissue paper to help it move smoothly thru the sewing maching without stretching or bunching.

At first we used traditional pins, but found them to be time-consuming.  So we used my box of  Wonder Clips instead. OMG! So easy and so much faster, and they held the tissue paper sandwich more securely than traditional pins.

Once the seam has been sewn, just tear off the tissue paper.  Don't worry about the little bits that might be left over, they'll wash off in the laundry. 

Dawn pinned the shirt panels together, and I sewed. Hooray assembly line!

First I sewed the panels into rows of 4, using the reference photo from Step 2 as a guide.  Once all 6 rows were completed, I sewed the rows together.

Back of finished row

Front of finished row.  You can see the other rows all pinned and waiting to be sewn.

STEP 5:  Attach quilt front to backing fabric.

Since we decided upon a quilt size that's smaller than the black twin sheet, we ended up with extra fabric. To fix that, we just placed the quilt face-down onto the twin sheet and Dawn cut around the quilt to make the back sheet the same size as the front sheet. Then we pinned the seams together using the Wonder Clips.

(NOTE: If you want to add a cushiony layer of batting to your quilt, now's the time to do it.  All you would need to do is sandwich the T-shirt layer between the batting and the backing fabric.  Or instead of batting, you could use a fleece blanket.  But since we live in SoCal, it doesn't really get that cold, so we wanted a lighter weight blanket and omitted any batting layer.)

This time instead of making a tissue paper sandwich, I just laid a strip of tissue paper on the tech fabric side of the quilt when I was sewing it.  The twin sheet fabric was non-stretchy, so it didn't need the tissue paper on that side.

I sewed a seam around all 4 sides of the quilt, leaving a 12-inch opening at the top seam.  Then we flipped the entire thing inside out (or should I say correct side out?) like a pillow case.  Then, I sewed a top stitch (1/4" seam allowance) along the the outside border of the quilt to bind the border and to sew the 12-inch top seam opening shut.

(NOTE:  This was the lazy way to bind the blanket...I know.  But binding the blanket the traditional way would have taken longer.  It was a school night. {Autotune} I ain't got time for that!)

STEP 6:  "Quilt" the blanket (aka. Attaching the front layer to the back layer)

Sew along the seams between each shirt panel.  This is called the "stitch in the ditch" technique.  It's great because it's fast, it's easy, it uses straight lines, it doesn't require invisible thread, and it doesn't stitch over any of the shirt graphics.

STEP 7:  Admire your handiwork and enjoy your quilt.

Yay!

Loki's Scepter selfie stick tutorial

Turn your selfie stick from boring to burdened with glorious purpose

Loki: "I come with glad tidings of a world made free."

Iron Man: "Free of what?"

Loki: "Free of boring selfie sticks."

When I was making my Loki running outfit for the inaugural runDisney Avengers Half Marathon (see my recap of the race in my previous post), I had a sudden flash of inspiration.  Instead of just making a prop scepter to carry, why not also make it functional by making it out of a monopod selfie stick?

Can you imagine the uses?  Not only could you use it for costumed races, you could also use it for ComiCon and for Halloween!  And the idea could be extended to other types of props.  How about turning the selfie stick into an Ewok spear for the inaugural Star Wars Half Marathon?  Ok, now you know what I'm going to be running the Star Wars race as.  

[UPDATE:  As of Summer 2015, Disney no longer allows selfie sticks inside their parks.  As of January 6, 2016, runDisney has made even more restrictions regarding the use of costumes and props for security reasons. See my post for further details.]

The "aha" moment when the strangers around me first realized my scepter was really a selfie stick. Basically every time I attached my iPhone to it people commented on the awesomeness of my selfie stick scepter. TAKE HOME LESSON: Loki scepter elevates selfie stick from geeky to badass.

Well, now you can make one yourself.  It's actually quite easy.  I literally made my scepter in the hotel room at 10pm night before the half marathon.  All you need are a few simple materials:

1. Corrugated cardboard or foam board.  I used a groceries box from Costco because I procrastinated and didn't have time to get foam board.
2. Sharp Scissors or a box-cutter blade.  You actually don't even need a box cutter razor because, in a pinch, I actually used one blade of the scissors like a box cutter.
3. Gold (or silver) duct tape.  I had some left over gold duct tape from when I made my Loki horns.  You can find that tutorial here.  I know, some purists might say "But Loki's scepter blade is silver and the handle is gold."  But I wasn't able to find a golden selfie stick, AND it being 10pm before the race, I didn't have the time to spray paint my selfie stick into gold.  So yeah, the colors are reversed.
4. Selfie stick, also known as a monopod.  I found mine at a vendor's cart at the mall for $30, but you can find them on Amazon.com or Walmart.com for much cheaper.
5. Template of the scepter blade.  I used this template from The Woodland Elf as my guide.  However, I didn't have the time or a way to print out a template because I procrastinated, so I actually free-hand drew my scepter based on a screenshot of The Woodland Elf's video on my iPad.
   

STEP 1:  Draw out the shape of the scepter on the cardboard.  You can use a template, or if you're confident in your drawing skills, you can free-hand draw it like I did.

STEP 2:  Cut out the cardboard shape.

STEP 3:  Cover the cardboard with duct tape.  This takes a bit of finesse.  The trick is using small pieces of duct tape, especially for the curved and tight edges.  You also might need to duct tape a few supportive rectangles of cardboard to give the piece more strength.

STEP 4:  Tape the selfie stick to the scepter blade.  I basically wanted my phone to be in the position where the glowing stone is supposed to be [Ahem, there's peculation is that Loki's scepter has a destiny stone, but it hasn't yet been officially revealed it as one in MCU] [UPDATE: My hunch was correct.  The Avengers 2 movie confirmed at Loki's scepter stone is indeed the Mind Stone, one of the destiny stones].  So I placed my phone onto the selfie stick and positioned it until I was satisfied with it's placement.  Once it was in position, I taped the stick into place using the duct tape.  Just make sure that you don't cover up the telescoping parts of the stick.  That way you can still lengthen the scepter or shorten it just like Loki did in the Avengers movie.

STEP 5:  Now go out into the world, wield your scepter, and revel in the awe of the lesser beings.  After all, you are Loki and you are burdened with glorious purpose!