Tin Man progress

I wanted our dog to have a full fledged tin man costume for Halloween to go along with hubby and I being the Lion and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. But, hubby didn't want anything to do with dressing up the dog.

The compromise:
1) Beagle gets a funnel hat, and a silver collar cover

2) These items are only to be worn by the dog for photographic evidence, but no longer. (In my eyes this is largely for the safety of our destructive little guy who would likely eat chunks of his costume if we looked away for more than a second; in hubby's eyes, dressing up a dog is just plain ridiculous)



Funny thing though... hubby was pretty excited about the spray paint we picked out and decided he was in charge of making the hat.



It should be dry now, so it just needs a strap.

Completed coat!

My first coat is finally finished! It shouldn't have taken so long, but there were other things with more pressing deadlines.

I used McCalls M5525 pattern, style "B" and absolutely loved the pattern. It was easy to follow (with one exception discussed later), and there are several cute options to make. I'm already imagining the next coat/jacket I'm going to sew with this pattern... however, I do have a Simplicity coat pattern that I may try first.

In case you missed it and are interested, here are links to posts about the earlier stages of this project:
picking the pattern
finding the fabric
starting to sew
back panel & early stages of the infamous vent
lastly, the lining

Here, the lovely Ingrid (dress form) models the coat:
McCalls M5525 style B, front (looks like some of those buttons might to need adjusting... I'll have to see)

Here's the (blurry) back view, on me:
McCalls M5525 style B, back

I must admit, I had some issue with the coat lining... which, luckily is hidden. While sewing in the lining, I had a lot of trouble figuring out the vent, but after re-reading the pattern several times, thought I had it under control.

That was not the case. I think I either cut the lining on the wrong side, or sewed it inside out which caused some troubles. More than likely, this problem was not with the pattern, but with me. I have a habit of sewing things into the wee hours of the night, when I'm not thinking as clearly :)

Dorothy costume "done" but not really

I've been working on a costume of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz using McCalls pattern M4948. Here is what it looked like:

McCalls M4948 Dorothy costume

This picture was taken before I sewed white buttons on the straps, and after I hemmed it about 9 inches shorter. The skirt was VERY long before, and now falls just above my knees. Unfortunately by adjusting the length so drastically, the proportions look a little crazy, oh well.

This pattern was very easy to follow, and overall I'm happy with how it turned out. But, there are several changes I am in the process of making to make it look a little more like the original. That's why the costume is "done" but not really.

The Tin Man costume I wanted to make for our beagle is underway now too. Hubby and I compromised... I wanted to make a full fledged suit, he wanted nothing. So, the dog will have a funnel hat and silver collar cover. (hubby is in charge of the hat, and I think he actually had fun painting it!)

Lion Paws

The lion paws for hubby's Halloween costume screamed "mittens" so I cut fabric pieces to sew onto them to look more like the bottom of a paw. Hopefully they will now scream "animal feet looking mittens" But, we'll see :)



I cut brown scrap fabric into shapes that resembled the bottom of a paw, and used fray check around the edges since they were hand stitched directly on without turning the fabric under. There was much debate on the number of pad cushions and placement of them, but since it's hubby's costume, I let him decide. After the decision was final, I sewed the little pieces onto the mittens, and before they were fully sewn on, stuffed them with cotton to give them a "pad" look. (This would have looked a lot nicer had I sewn them on before finishing the mittens, but I didn't think of it until the mittens were done, and didn't want to rip them apart)



Finally, to complete the paw mittens... I had to add a little puffy paint around the perimeter of the pad cushions. I may have a slight addiction to puffy paint, and find any excuse to use it.

from lioness to lion... almost

The lion pattern (McCalls M6106) I used to make hubby's Halloween costume called for the use of longer fake fur fabric for the mane of the lion. When we purchased our supplies to make the costume, the store was out of it... and, since we live pretty far away from a decent fabric store, we didn't want to go back. So, we decided to look around for a substitute.

That's when we found tan/brown boas. We bought 3 of them, and instead of using the long fake fur in the pattern, I used the same material for the entire costume (fleece) with the plan of hand sewing the boas on for the lions mane.



Here is our lovely TV antenna modeling the mane. Obviously, there is still some work to do. This is what it looks like with 1 boa sewn on.

Besides the boas, I still have to add the dreaded elastic to the ankles of the costume. In the hopes to make hubby look "cooler" (ie, not wearing sweatpants) I did sew it without the elastic at first, but thought it would actually look better gathered, so the elastic is back in the picture.

To see earlier stages of this years halloween costume making process click the following links:

Picking out Dorothy & Lion costume patterns and fabric

Finding Dorothy's ruby red shoes (for cheap!)

Sewing the skirt to bodice for Dorothy costume