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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Costumes, exhausted.......


Here is the final costume idea for Halloween. I hope this gives you all enough time to sew this up! This is an easy costume and the jumpsuit is super cute!!! You can sew up this Burdastyle jumpsuit in a navy blue poplin or twill. Throw on a red bandanna and voila!!!! Don't forget your red lipstick and make sure you flex your muscles at every given chance!!!!



In other news, I can't wait to get back to regularly scheduled sewing!!! I have been sewing for Halloween for a couple of weeks now and I'm getting antsy!!!! My sons costumes were pretty easy, I almost feel guilty. The one giving me a bit of work is my daughters, of course! So much tulle and netting! ugh!!! I love the look and effect of these fabrics but the handling of them is just awful!!! It's like sewing through clouds!!!!!!It gets away from you so easily. I have yet to start on my own costume, I have the fabric sitting there yelling at me. My costume is going to be a last minute sprint to the finish line in true Lucha Lovely fashion! I would rock on Project Runway, because I am a last minute rock star!! I really try to do things with plenty of time to get them done right but sometimes things just don't work out that way. After Halloween I am going to start back on my wardrobe immediately!!!! For November I have a lot on deck. I would like to make a coat since the cold weather has finally come to visit us in Colorado. I love love love this Modcloth coat pictured below. You know how I feel about leopard and red, divine!!! I have never made a coat before but I feel that I could take it on without pulling out all of my hair. I also need some more pants and will be doing a tutorial on those!!! I also would like to get some dresses done for thanksgiving and my anniversary as well. I know it sounds like a lot but I know I can do it!!!! So look out for an exciting month of November and make sure to check out my Halloween post on Nov.1st with all the pics of our trick or treating adventures!!!

Besos!!!!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Costumes 3


Marilyn Monroe is an icon!!! Who wouldn't want to be her, even for one night? Her whit dress in The Seven Year Itch was a pleated confection of fabulousness!!!!!!!! For this costume we will making a dress that hits all of the right notes in Marilyn's, without the pleating. You can use simplicity 3823, a halter dress pattern with a full gathered skirt. It is pretty simple to make and in a nice white fabric everyone will know who you are!!!




For her blond hair you can again use the same spray that I mentioned before in my Sandy post. Just give your hair a nice roller set and then spray it when it is all done!!!! Don't forget some sultry makeup and you're all set. Simple and sweet!
Besos!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Costumes 2


Hello everybody! Here is the second post in our Halloween costume series. For this post we will be putting together a Sandy costume. I know that this makes 3 grease costumes, but they are great costumes and people will know who you are right away.


For our version we will be doing Sandy in her Rydell High cheer leading costume. This is basically a sweater and a circle skirt. You can make a long sleeve knit top using this Burdastyle pattern. You can make it in a t-shirt knit or you can make it more sweater like with a sweater weight knit. Next you would add a peter pan collar, also in knit, remember to sew with a stretch or zig zag stitch so you can still pull this top over your head, no closures here. You can find a tutorial by Gertie on how to draft a peter pan collar here. You can then use iron on transfer paper to print out a Rydell High cheer leading logo and iron it on to your top.


For the skirt you will need a red fabric. You can use this New Look pattern or you can draft your own. Casey just finished a circle skirt sew along and you can use her instructions to draft a pattern. To make the hem nice and swingy (I know, that is not a word) you can hem it with horse hair braid.


For her blond hair, if you don't already have blond hair, we will use spray of course! This color is from Streaks N Tips in pale blond and you can get it from Sally's. First put your hair in a ponytail and then spray it. Finish it of with a red ribbon. Keep your makeup natural and innocent as is befitting of Sandy!

Have fun with it and get lots of treats on Halloween!!!!!!!
Besos!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Halloween Time!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Halloween, like any good seamstress. It is a time to express your creativity with out the limitations of ever day dress. Costumes are to sewing as surrealism is to painting. I love coming up with fun ideas for costumes and being different and original. This is why I sew my costumes. Store bought rtw costumes are essentially a sin. First off, everybody is buying the same costumes. Who wants to show up to a party dressed the same as 5 other people? Second, store bought costumes seem to be mostly poorly made with horrible fabrics. I understand that this may be an outfit worn just once, but you want it to last through the night right? So in the spirit of a handmade Halloween, let's talk costumes!!! First I will let you know what I am making for my children and then I will discuss costumes for us grown up children. I would like to start a series to share costume ideas that I have planned out and hopefully will help some of you girls to create the costume of your dreams!!! I would like to talk to you about vintage inspired costumes that you can make to celebrate the holiday and then turn around and incorporate into your everyday wardrobe. So let's begin!


First we will talk about what I am making for my daughter. She is the fun one to sew for after all. My boys are all going to be little ghoulish things, that I will also be making and I will definitely post the finished results. That being said, they are pretty run of the mill ghoulish things, but hey, what can you do about it. So my daughter and I decided that she was going to be a lalaloopsy doll. The one pictured above too be exact. Her name is Tippy Tumblelina and she is fabulous!!! I love these dolls, they are not rag dolls, obviously but they are made to look like rag dolls and each comes with a story about the fabric that they were "sewn" with. Too cute right? Well of course this year there is a rtw lalaloopsy costume on the market. However the rtw version is for different dolls so Missy Xiu does not have to worry about having the same costume as anybody else. For this costume I will be combining  patterns from regular dresses that I already have and drafting a bit here and there. I will be using a gathered circle skirt made out of colorful netting to get this tutu look. It is a pretty simple costume to construct, but done in the right fabrics, will pack a big punch! I will not be using a wig for her, oh no, the only real way to go is to curl her hair and spray it hot pink! You can buy hair color spray at Sally's of course.


Now to get started on our retro inspired costumes!!! The first one is Frenchy from Grease!!! This is actually what I am going to dress up as this year. I had a hard time deciding what I was going to be this year, so my daughter helped me settle on this one, the pink hair was the clincher I believe!!!


This costume is a simple one to make since essentially it is just an outfit! You can use simplicity 5259 for the skirt or any pencil skirt pattern that you prefer. There are a bunch out there that you can use, or you can draft your own. You would want to do your skirt in a light pink fabric, maybe something with some stretch.


Next you will need a blouse. I have this pattern already so it will be the one that I use. It is new look 6598 and I will do mine in a pink fabric that matches the skirt fabric as closely as possible.


Now to the jacket. This is the most important part of the actual costume since it will identify you as a pink lady.  I found this pattern on Burdastyle and it is what I am going to use for the jacket. I will use a darker pink, like bubble gum pink as opposed to the baby pink for the outfit. You can get iron on letters at any fabric and craft store and just iron on "Pink Ladies" on the back. In smaller letters you can put Frenchy on the front. You want a medium weight fabric for the jacket. The jacket in this costume is great because we tend to have some chilly Halloween nights here in Colorado. I will spray my hair pink for this look as well, after all, I truly am a beauty school drop out!

You can also use the same patterns for a Rizzo costume. Just do the skirt and blouse in black and make sure to bring your sassy smile to the party!!!!!
Next up we will discuss the patterns you would use to be Sandy in her Rydell high cheer leading costume, Marilyn Monroe of course, and Rosie the Riveter!!!!!!!! So look out for that and get working on your creative Halloween costumes!!!!!!
Besos!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Back to Life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hello everybody!!!!!!!!!!! I am back from the dead!!!!! I was beyond sick for the whole week, a stomach virus was the culprit. I could barely drag myself around the house to take care of my kids much less sew!!!! I did get some much needed down time however. When you are the mother of 5 there are very few good excuses to lay around and do nothing. This little set back was probably my body's way of telling me to sit my butt down! I laid around with my kids and watched old movies, we watched Gentlemen Prefer Blonds at least 20 times! I swear that my 6 year old is officially in love with Marilyn Monroe! But just because I couldn't get any sewing done doesn't mean that I completely forgot about my obsession! I was on Etsy looking through patterns all week and picked up these 2 beauties!!!!!

                                                 This is a 1950 pattern for a beautiful shirtwaist dress! I love that you only need 3 buttons to make it!!! I also love the pockets. It is copyright 1950, so it has an in between sort of feel because it was made right on the cusp between the 40's and 50's. I can't wait to make this, I think the long sleeved version is perfect for fall/winter in a nice heavier fabric.
                                                 

                                               
This pattern is a real jewel!!!!!!! It is a 1960's era pattern and has endless variations!!! It is like getting 6 patterns in one!!!!! I bought this one from SYDCAM123 on Etsy. You have to check out this shop, so many patterns and wonderful prices!!!

So I must get back to sewing this week. You don't build a whole vintage inspired wardrobe by resting on your laurels!
On another note, please go check out the circle skirt party on Casey's blog, mine is up there, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are many other beautiful circle skirts to check out as well, make sure you check this post to see the 2 that Casey made herself, they are breathtaking!!!

So I hope you all got more done than me, but at the same time be sure to take the time to rest to keep your body working at optimum capacity to keep creating beautiful things!!!! Here is a little treat for all of you, enjoy!!!!!
Besos!!!!!!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Sick as a Dog!!!!

 
I have been sick all week. I know I am sick when I can't even think about sewing. I did get some sewing done over the weekend however, before my bout of stomach flu got a hold of me!! This however was not sewing for me, but for my sister. It was my sisters birthday last week and I promised her I would sew her up a gift. Now sewing for other people can be a challenge! I know how to fit myself so well by now that I forget how tricky fit can be!!!! I have rules about sewing for others, mostly the rule is, I don't do it!!! Now don't get me wrong, I have daydreamed endlessly about opening an etsy store to sell my wares or doing some seamstress work on the side to earn a little extra money but at the end of the day they are just dreams. Why you ask? Because I don't want my fun sewing time to turn in to the stress of work!! So that means that when I sew for others, I do it for one reason, LOVE!! It is the only way to get through the project without throwing my sewing machine out the window and/or at the other person!

Now, my sister is still losing her baby weight, and doing a great job of it! But because I know that she is actively losing weight, I don't want to take the time to make her something that is super tailored and will be a pain to take in later. So I decided to go with the super easy skirt pattern pictured above. What-an-epic-fail!!!!!! I wish I had taken the time to take a picture of said skirt after it was sewn up. The pattern is cute and simple enough, but at the end it just look like a gathered frumpy sack with elastic in the waste! HMMMPH! So I set about ripping it apart, I was not going to waste this fabulous sugar skull fabric. I hate ripping and I had to rip off patch pockets, very carefully as to not create a hole that would have no remedy. I got it apart and used the skirt for the bottom of the top I decided to make her. I draped the bust right on her to make sure we got good coverage of the" girls".


Here is the result. It pulls over her head with 3 rows of elastic to accentuate the waist and create a shirring effect. The top front is folded over and sewn down leaving a casing that I slipped the shoulder straps through. The straps gather the top of the front bust and go over the shoulder and are attached at the back bust. She really loved it and it was not only very flattering, but just what her wardrobe needed.

Then to make me feel better after all of the craziness, she danced around a bit to make me giggle!!! So at the end of this adventure, making this birthday gift for my sister,I realized that sewing for family isn't so bad, especially when you have an awesome sister who lets you try things on her without protest and makes you laugh while doing it!! I forsee many more sister projects in the future!!! 

On another note, I have plans to participate in this weeks sew weekly challenge. The theme is Spanish Harlem, come on, how could I not participate?! I did however just have a couple days of pure hell, due to stomach flu. So I have gotten no sewing done all week. I have my fabric and my pattern and it is sitting in my sewing room calling my name, of course I don't think it is quite safe to sew when your head is still spinning. So maybe I can get it done by this weekend if I am feeling like myself again by Friday. Hey, it still counts as long as it's in before the end of Sunday right? and the last time I checked Sunday ends at midnight, so if I post by 11:59, I'm good, right? I hope everyone is feeling better than me!!!!!
Besos!!!!!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Giveaway Winner!!!!!!

We have come to the end of my first give away and I only had 2 comments, sad face :o(. So since there were only 2 people to chose from, I'm gonna be honest here, I did eenie meenie mynie mo, and the winner is.................


                                                          YARNDIVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So please send me your mailing address, you can email me, at cuban mom making it (at) yahoo dot com, and I will send this little beauty out to you lickety split!!!!!!
Thank you Andrea for your lovely comment as well!!! I hope to do more give aways soon, and I have lots of fun stuff planned for October so please stay tuned!!!!!
Besos!!!!!!!!!!!!!