Halloween 2014: Venipede!

Video games are the hotness at our house! Both boys wanted to go as video game characters, Little Bear as a Baby Beefalo from the game "Don't Starve" and Big Bear as a Venipede, a type of Pokémon:

While the baby beefalo felt rather straight-forward, it took some time for me to wrap my brain around this insectoid creature.

For the main body, I went with old standby Kwik Sew 2711 in a size M. But because I didn't want a back opening (since there were the green carapace bits on the back), I used Kwik Sew 3099 to guide me on doing a front zip opening. Worked like a charm!

From that point, there was lots of customization:

• Did some color-blocking on the back and arms and machine appliqued the circles onto the back shoulders.
• The hood I created was influenced by a fabulous hat by StephyDesigns. There was a lot of color-blocking in the hood itself. I handstitched the stuffed antennae. The eyeballs were created with 2.5" styrofoam balls that I cut in half. I then used glue to cover them with fleece and handstitched them to the hood as well.
• The carapace pieces on the back were each filled with foam cut to fit and then machine stitched to the back. I did some handstitching inbetween the pieces to hold them together vertically.
• I pieced together the tail and then stuffed it using a combination of decorator foam cut to size as well as polyfil stuffing. After it was inserted in the back I handstitched it to the bottom carapace to stabilize it and keep it pointing outward
• The "legs" (the fin-like things on the arms and legs of the costume) were filled with decorator foam (helped them to stand away from the body nicely, without too much flopping about).

Phew! Thankfully, all of the work paid off. Big Bear LOVED his costume.

The Venipede is ready to battle! (And trick-or-treat!)

The boys had an awesome Halloween with LOTS of candy goodness! Yay, for Halloween costume fun!

Fierce!

Oh, my...

Have you ever seen such cuteness ferocity???


Watch out! He's on the prowl...


For cookies!!! (Tigers love cookies, you know.)


The costume is from Kwik Sew 3099. I made a size small (12 months), and it fits pretty well on Little Bear (he's 21 pounds and about 31 inches tall... I probably could have shortened it a little, but it is fine when he is wearing shoes). The body is fleece and then I used "bunny fur" for the belly and ear contrasts. The paws are just white fleece with some black faux suede that I found in my stash. This is actually the second time I've used this pattern, so it went pretty smoothly (other than sewing the hood on inside-out... thank goodness for seam rippers!).

I'm so thrilled with how it turned out. Super cute, nice and toasty warm (perfect for chilly night of trick-or-treatin'), and he actually seems to enjoy wearing it. Yay!

Dragon Boy and other things

Wow! Quilt Festival was amazing! This was not my first time, but every time I go it is inspiring and wonderful. It was made extra special this year because I got to visit with my friend Mikki and make some new friends. As always, the judged show offered tons of inspiration and incredible eye candy. I also enjoyed some of the special exhibits, particularly the Daughters of the American Revolution quilts (some dated back to the 18th century!). And, of course, the shopping was spectacular and I spent way more than I should have.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share from Festival because I left my camera at home. Since I was missing Halloween at home, I felt like I'd much rather have pictures of the Boy than a bunch of quilts.

Speaking of the Boy, here he is in his dragon costume:


I made it using Kwik Sew pattern 3099. The pattern includes a dinosaur, a bear, a bunny, and a lion (all of which are very cute). I used the dragon view and combined it with the belly from the other views. The black is just polar fleece and the lavender parts are made from crushed panne velvet. Because I decided to use the panne for the belly and scales (instead of the fleece the pattern suggested), I gave it some stability and stiffness with fusible fleece. I also added seam allowances around all of the scales, cut two of everything, and then sewed right sides together and turned so that all of the edges would be finished. Ridges were quilted onto the belly to make it look more dragon-belly-like. The tail was partially stuffed with poly-fil to give it a little body. The only other modification I made was to shorten the arms about an inch or so.



I was feeling all proud because I finished it two weeks early (so very unlike me!). But I couldn't figure out why it was still looking so dinosaur-like. I woke up one morning with an epiphany. What is the difference between a dinosaur and a dragon? Wings!


I drew a shape, traced it onto tissue paper and used it as the pattern. Again, I used fusible fleece on one side, but on the other I used super-stiff fusible Peltex. I sewed right sides together on three sides and turned it right side out. Then I used strips of the black fleece and sewed it on like a binding to cover the raw edges. Then I sewed velcro strips onto the costume and the wings so that they would be removable (as I didn't think they'd work so hot in the car seat).


If I had it to do over, the only thing I'd change would be to sew the velcro on before I sewed the front and back of the wings together. That way there wouldn't be stitching showing on the outside of the wing. Other than that, I'm really happy with how the costume came together. I think he's the cutest dragon-boy ever!