Halloween -- Let the Sewing Begin!

How many of you knew that I could sew -- show of hands!

Yeah, that's what I thought. Not many. Enjoy this gallery of things I've made. Mainly costumes, as you will see.

Jacob wants to be a Jedi knight for Halloween. Okay, that doesn't seem too hard. He showed me his Mace Windu action figure and asked if he could be THAT Jedi. Mace Windu was the character Samuel L. Jackson played in Episodes I, II and III.



Sure, I'll help you with that costume idea! I always am enthusiastic to help my kids when they think of their Halloween ideas on their own.

Maryann helped us out too, showing me a link to this costume.

But I did a small inventory of what we had on hand and realized that between Jack Sparrow from last year for the pants and boots, plus a Joseph tunic from a Christmas pageant last year, Jake could be a pretty good Mace with simply the addition of a purple lightsaber toy and a brown cape.

The purple lightsaber was an easy birthday purchase at Toys R Us, and I decided I could make the cape.

So on Sunday I dragged the boys to Hancock Fabrics in Omaha, and subject them to the joys of browsing pattern books and thumbing through fabric bolts looking for the perfect color/texture of a brown Jedi cape. I had a good time, I hadn't spent significant time in a fabric store in a long time -- at least not in the fabric section -- and definitely not at all in North Carolina.

I found the coolest lightweight brown faux suede fabric and an online recommendation to use the Simplicity 5512 pattern. The bottom left corner of the picture shows what "view" I'd make for the Jedi cape. If you look closely at the characters, the Jedi cape has sleeves and a hood...so even though I'm going through the motions of making a Grim Reaper costume, it'll ultimately be a Jedi cape...trust me!

I cut the fabric and started piecing panels together today, but I'm stopping till tomorrow. I need to think...I am incorporating a lining into the cape (after all, it could be REALLY COLD Halloween night here in NE!) and I have to shoehorn that into the instructions. I'm a decent seamstress, when the directions are laid out in front of me. As for making up my own thing....well, I'm not that good.

I should be done by this weekend...maybe I'll let Jake dress up for his trip to Pottery Barn Kids this weekend to meet Star Wars characters.