Crazy Owl Costume

CRAZY OWL COSTUME

I believe that I started a tradition last year of hand making a costume for Mila for each Halloween (a tradition I may regret later).

This year, as Cat and I were discussing costume ideas I was disappointed at my complete shortage of creativity. I had no idea, no inspiration, and no motivation. I had too many things on my plate (while not being a very good juggler). Perhaps many of you know this feeling?

I thought of things that I like…… a hamburger, a donut… a cake… a big wedge of cheese. I passed these ideas by my husband and his response made a lot of sense. He said, “Why make Mila into something she won’t understand? Make something that she will recognize at once, like an animal.” Ugh, I hate when he’s right.

So I thought about the animals that she knew by name. A cow… hmmm… that’s going to be difficult. A dog… too common. A cat… not crazy enough for this mother. AN OWL!!! She loves owls. She knows its name in both Chinese and English and she says, “hoo hoo” every time she sees one. That big head, those big eyes, the layers of feathers! I was immediately excited, “obsessed” is a more accurate word. I researched owl images all night and sent so many of them to poor Cat in the middle of the night.

I began by thinking about the costume structure. If I make a feathery body and an owl head as a hat, Mila would just yank the hat off and she would end up trick-or-treating as a headless owl.

I had to think about a headpiece that would stay on, well at least a few minutes before I would have to beg her to put it back on again. So I came up with the cape solution.

Mila received this great poncho from a friend in Japan. It fits perfectly, so I used it to create a general pattern. I drew an outline of the poncho shape onto a large paper bag.

Then I used the pattern pieces as templates for cutting my fabrics. I didn’t want a literal owl translation with accurate colours, so I used a colour palette that I thought was really fun. Also if people don’t recognize that the costume is of an owl, I can fall back on the excuse that I took artistic license and created an abstract interpretation.

I had this great gray Italian fabric from last year’s Christmas stocking project and used a bright green fabric as the lining. I also dug into my scrap bin and found complimentary pop colours.

I wish that I can show step-by-step instructions on my costume making process, but it got so complicated I wouldn’t know how to explain myself, as well as hide my embarrassing goof ups. This is my first time sewing something on a sewing machine. This owl developed over many nights and many mistakes. Before this attempt, my sewing experience consisted of mending holes and reattaching buttons. So I just have to skip to the end results.

Here is the cape/owl head. I purposely left the seams on the outside because I simply don’t know how to make clean and neat seams. Also the raw and slightly frayed edges remind me of feathers.

And here it is with the bottom dress section. I made a bubble dress and stuffed it lightly with batting. I used fabric scrap circles to create the feathers on the body.

And this is my Mila monster in the costume. She started hoo-ing right away when I put the costume on her. I was so please that she recognized what it is.

Here is a view from the side.

And here is the back.

Mila is such a busy body, I could not get her to stop pulling off the cape (uh-oh) nor stay in one place. So I turned on the music and asked her to dance, which she loves doing. So I snapped some more photos.

Next, I'm hoping that I have time to make her a matching trick or treat bag. Look HOO's trick or treating.

The "I'm Not a Boy Hat"

It's true I don't dress mila like a girl. I prefer her in the soothing shades of blue, grey, black, brown and an occasional muted purple. I opt for tunics and pants over dresses any day. For my baby shower and Mila's first birthday I specified on the invitations, "please nothing pink."

And I'll be the first to admit it. She looks like a boy. I'm ok with it. She has close to no hair (unless you call that peachy fuzz on top of her head hair). There is no discernable difference between the shape of her body and that of a one year old boy. And she doesn't have those delicate features that make some babies undeniably girl like thick long lashes, cheruby rosy cheeks, nor long wispy hair. When I put her in a dress, she looks like a boy dressed in a Halloween costume. So I let her true proud-to-be-active-tom-boy-crawl-all-over-the-place-don't-let-a-dress-slow-me-down personality come through in her clothes.

Everywhere I go people say:

"Aw what a cute boy"

"I just love him"

"Like father like son"

"I can tell what you will look like as a young man"

And my favourite is, "Hey there Joey!"

I'm never offended. I get baby genders mixed up all the time. I just feel bad when they look embarrassed as I announce that Mila is a girl.

They usually say something like, "Oh I'm sorry. She's not in pink." or "Oops the blue tripped me up."

So I created a solution. Since I'm not about to invest in shiny pink items, I thought of the next best thing.

I present the "I'm Not a Boy Hat"! This idea comes from the hat I made for Mila's "Crazy Octopus Costume" last Halloween. This was so easy and I'm more than thrilled with the results. Variations are endless. Here I will show you how to make the "I'm Not a Boy Hat with Fun Bouncy Rosettes".

Start with a pair of tights. I went with a size larger than what Mila would actually wear to fit her big old head. This is a very good way to recycle tights from an older sister, holes or runs not a problem. Since Mila doesn't have any siblings I bought these tights specifically for this project. These were size 4 but I think I could have used a smaller size.

Tie knots at the start of the leg openings.

Make small loops with the length of the leg and sew them to the knot. Start at the base closest the knot and work your way to the toe. Wrap the thread around the loop and be sure to secure each loop by making a stitch or two before moving to the next loop.

Continue until you get to the end of the leg. Tuck and sew the toe part in. Repeat with the other leg.

I really like the way this looks, as is. I like the loopy numbs but I intended to make these into rosettes, so rosettes are what I'll make. Cut through every loop at the center.

Ta da! I'm so glad I stuck to plan. Because I love these rosettes! This hat ended being a bit big so I folded up the lip.

"Excuse me, how old is your little boy?"

"Oh pardon me, I can clearly see she's a fun, strong willed, active, and bouncy little GIRL."

And behold - the "I'm Not a Boy Braided Hat"!

Of course my Mila monster, like Nolan, loves nothing more than ripping the hat off.

Really Ugly Dress

So this was my first sewing project I made with my new sewing machine. I was so excited to make something I couldn't even breathe. I bought a couple books on sewing, but since I hate reading manuals, I had to jump right in to make something, anything.

I decided to make Mila Monster a dress using an old Marimekko fabric that I had.

I used an old beat up t-shirt from my husband to make a ruffly trim. This t-shirt was so old, it had holes everywhere.

Here's a closeup on the ruffly trim.

And here's a photo of Mila Monster looking like, "Get me out of this god awful dress."

I'm sorry Mila. I promise my next attempt will be after I've read a few chapters in my sewing books.

First attempt... embarrassing!

Fun Stockings

Ever since Jackie posted the library bag she made for Graham on Designing Moms, I've been thinking about a fun-with-felt project. I went to the fabric store and decided that I would make some fun stockings. My new favourite colour combo for Christmas this year is red and grey. I happened to find this gorgeous grey Italian fabric from their scrap bin, so I was giddy to start this project.

I wanted the stockings to have an elf toe rather than the traditional round toe. So I made a template for myself. Anyone is free to use this template. Just print to the size you want, pin to fabric and cut. Sew around the stocking, but leave the top open so you can fill it with goodies.

I made Mila Monster's stocking out of the red felt.

Kiril and my stockings are made from the italian grey fabric. I cut out the first letters of our names in a "times roman" font. Although my current favourite font is "eurostile", I wanted a serif font for this look.

I hope I get some nice surprises in my stocking. Fingers crossed.

Twisted Cinnamon Bread

Yum! Have to make again.

A - Pillow

Our friends Laura and John just had a baby girl named Athena. They live in Park City so we haven't had the chance to meet her yet, but based on photos Athena looks like a stunner. I decided to make her a little A-pillow. Athena's room colours are predominantly pink and green so I found these really great Japanese fabric in those colours.

Since I'm new to sewing this pillow is a little wonky... a buckle here, a lump there. But I don't think Athena will know the difference.

I also made a card with the left over fabric.

In fact this card was so much fun to make, I made a few more. Idea from Made.

I also made some matching envelopes.

Next time I will take better photos with a real camera rather than these horrible snap shots from my iphone.

Sock Kitty

I recently also made a sock kitty for our downstairs neighbors' daughter, Marginitte. She just turned one year old, so this was her birthday present.

This kitty was made from a pair of Marginitte's socks.