I know normally, I post in the afternoon, but I'm so excited that I couldn't wait..... It's done! Taylor's Halloween costume is officially complete!

My normally sweet, smiling child is now a zombie bride... you can tell that she's gotten into the look by posing for this photo:

We did decide to make a few omissions from this dress. For one, we omitted the tulle bows (they just didn't add anything to the look) and the glitter spiders. And after putting the whole look together we also liked the dress the way it was - no grunging up was needed. Also, all the seams are unfinished except for the white satin contrast insert - it does have a zigzag stitch on the end to keep it from fraying to nothing.

I've put up a review on Pattern Review, you can check it out here.

It's back to costume sewing, even though temperatures here are going to reach 97 degrees and it feels very unfall like at the moment.

Here's the progress that I've made so far:

The bodice is complete and the drapes have been constructed, embelished and attached to the top. I've started on the skirt panels, however, I made a mistake - I attached the lace ruffles so that they point toward the black part of the dress and not the off-white inset. It didn't look horrible, but you couldn't see it either. So, I wound up taking it all off and will start over again on it. I'm sure that it took 3 times a long to remove it than what it did to sew it on, but I think that I'll like it better in the long run.

Hopefully, by Wednesday, I can chalk up this costume as 'complete'!

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon cutting out costume fabric. So by the time evening rolled around, I was very excited to get started sewing.

But, I got distracted doing other things and I wound up never getting near my machine. It was a good thing too, because as I was laying in bed drifing off to sleep, I had a thought. "Oh, my goodness, that black fabric is so sheer in places, Taylor will never wear it! What am I going to do?" Lots of things crossed my mind... Wearing a tank top - I figured it would never look right because of the cut of the dress. Maybe a black sports bra? - Here again, depending on the style, it wouldn't look right, plus Taylor would never go for it because someone might see it. Then I thought about lining it! It's not my ideal, but I do have some nude swimwear lining stashed away from my recent swimsuit making binge that I went on this spring. Agh, problem solved. I'm just glad I figured it out before I started sewing!

Anyway, this morning, I went to work on sewing - adding in the extra step of lining the entrie bodice of the dress. This is what I have done so far:

The off white lace still looks way too white and not nearly dingy enough for my taste. I figure after I construct the entrie dress, I'll grunge it up.

What you're looking at is the headpiece for the Zombie Bride costume. While there is no sewing involved, there's lots of cutting - if you plan on making this and you don't already have a rottary cutter and mat, now is the time to invest in one.

For this piece, I took a padded white headband (cheap black ones are difficult to find) and used a fabric marker to color it black. Once it dried it tured out more of a dull black\dark grey, but since most of it is covered with fabric, hair, and roses, I didn't think that it would matter much. Next, I cut 20 strips of tulle in red and black (the pattern only called for 18, but I think that it needed a couple more pieces) and hot glued them to the band then covered all my messy glue marks with small roses that I had painted over a month ago. I figured that I needed to keep the flowers on a smaller scale so it didn't look obnoxiously large on Taylor's head. I think that Taylor liked the headband, her comment "Cool, I look so goth!"

Besides working on Taylor's costume headpiece, I went shopping yesterday. Not the fabric kind (well, I did that too), but the clothing kind. I wound up getting a Cropped Denim Military Jacket from Old Navy and I'm feeling a bit guilty about it. I had planned on making one from Burda's Spring\Summer Easy fashion magazine. I'm not sure that I could do it as inexpensive as $21 (and I had a $10 reward coupon that I used, so the cost was really $11) and the Old Navy one is pretty nicely made. Can you see that I'm talking myself out of the guilt?

Last, but not least, I have two book reviews that I'll be putting up this week. One is for M'Liss Rae Hawley's (who has a striking resemblance to Julie Brown) Mariner's Medallion Quilts. This is a no-math, paper piecing style of quilts that has a variety of embelishment, style, and size options. The other is Fabric Leftovers: Simple, Adaptable Ways to Use Up Scraps. This book literally uses scraps - not necessarly the big chunks either. The projects in this book also use those odd-shaped, tiny pieces too.

So, what did everyone else work on this weekend?

Fall is here and the change in seasons seems to bring about a lot of changes in other things. So to keep the theme, here's some before and after photos for you!

Here is Taylor's muslin before I made all the changes and after making the 3rd. I'm sure by now you're tired of looking at that plaid muslin fabric - so you'll be happy to know that I'm ready to cut into the costume fabric and get started on the real thing!

I got my hair cut yesterday. As you can tell from the photo below, I took off a ton of hair (it's also shorter in the back than in the front, sort of any asymetrical style), and do I feel better. It's a bit messy since it was incredibly windy, but you've got a general idea.:

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the changes Santa Cruz Designs made, but their new line drawings are a definate improvement from their original comptuer generated designs (which looked like a cross between the characters on the Sims and My Virtual model)

First off, I want to thank everyone for all the birthday well wishes - I had a wonderful day yesterday! Since I was so unproductive, it's time to get back to work - the real kind. That's why this post is coming so early today, I'll be away from my computer all day (I hope I don't get the jitters from computer\internet withdrawl). But, enough about work and deadlines, let's talk about sewing!

What you're looking at is the second muslin that I've made for Taylor's costume.

I made all the changes that I talked about in this post and I like they way that it's starting to look. I've decided that I still need to take in the bust and stomach area a bit more, with gives her a more shapely fit. Since I made all these changes, I decided not to do anything else to the back of the dress. It actually looks o.k. and I'm afraid that if I make it too snug, she'll feel uncomfortable in it. I'm going to make this next round of changes and hopefully, we'll be on our way to using the real fabric!

Taylor is getting a bit tired of this process - I haven't done too many muslins with her patterns before and the fitting is a bit time consuming in her view (not to mention a bit painful if I accidently poke her with a pin). At least she's looking on the brighter side of things, she said she feels like a model on Project Runway. I'm happy that she said that and not that she's a human pincushion!

I spent the evening sewing up a muslin for Taylor's costume.

I decided to cut out the bodice insert, front, back, one sleeve with a flounce, and the front panel of the skirt. Of course, the final result looked crazy, see for yourself:

I was rather suprised at the fit - not too bad considering that I didn't make any changes yet (and I had envisioned a huge sack sitting on her shoulders). I'm taking up the neckline, and taking in some around the bustline and around the sides near the insert (it's very bulky there). The back piece has darts and I intend on taking those out all together - the seams for the zipper are going to be too tight otherwise. I do think that I'll have to add darts in the back eventually, but more around the upper back area and not the lower back. I like the length on her as well. Instead of using the full length on view C, I used the cutting lines for the alternate shorter view (this comes to just above floor length on her). WHEW! Now I've got to transfer all these changes to the pattern and see what I've come up with!

Even though I have a few more projects that I would like to squeeze in, I decided that it's time I get to work on Taylor's Halloween costume.

I really dislike having to make a muslin, but I really think that it's necessary in this case. According to the pattern, a size 4 bust measures 29 1/2" (Taylor is approx. 1 inch smaller than this), but the finished costume measures 34" in the bust. The completed picture on the envelope makes it look fitted in this area, but I'm not sure how this is possible if you got that much ease. I'm thinking this is going to look very sack-like on her if I don't make some changes.

At this point all I've done is cut out the pattern pieces and muslin fabric. As you can see from the photo, I'm working with 3 large pattern sheets. YIKES!

During this whole process, I've noticed two minor errors. One is the gauntlets. The back of the envelope shows two views having fishnet gauntlet\gloves (one of them being the zombie bride). However, they've marked the views incorrectly - the zombie bride isn't one of them. That would explain why I could never find the fabric requirements for them! Secondly, the pattern piece for the contrast skirt inset is incorrectly marked. I'm hoping that finding these errors so early on doesn't mean that I'm going to find a lot more when I start sewing up this costume.

Wow, it's hard to believe, but I have been 'collecting' fabrics for Taylor's costume for a little over a month. Last night, I picked up the final piece - some white satin for the contrast inset (that will lay under the off white lace that I already purchased).

Aside from the 14" zipper that I keep forgetting to pick up, the grand total for all the fabrics, notions, pattern, and accessories (the roses, paint, etc.) is at $41.67. Everything was purchased 40-50% off (either with regular sales, coupons, etc), which has really helped to keep down the cost. Early next week, I plan on starting a muslin, since this pattern is going to run a bit big on Taylor - and then getting down to business with the real fabric!

Of course, I didn't stop at buying the satin when I went to the store last night. I also picked up a pattern too - Kwik Sew 3455. I looked in the Big 4, but really didn't see anything similar to this one. Basically, it's a close fitting, long sleeved 'activewear' top, that has (as Kwik Sew decribes it) forward shoulder seams and "wrap-around" side seams. I also picked up some paint so that I can start my ornaments for the Winter Ornament ALREADY swap. I've got my ornaments cleaned and ready to go for this one!

On a completely unrelated sewing note, we're taking Taylor to her first concert tonight - Raven Symone (Cosby Show, That's So Raven) is playing at our state fair. It looks like we'll be dining on turkey legs and fried candy bars this evening!

I continued my craftiness yesterday by decaying roses. Well, at lest making them look decayed.

These roses will eventually beocme part of Taylor's Halloween costume and are actually much darker looking in real life. Since I'm incorporating some red into her costume, I wanted to mix in some red color into various aspects of her dress. I thought that by taking some darker red roses and spray painting them black (with floral spray) it gave it a more decaying look while adding the color I wanted. The flowers will become part of the bouquet and headpiece she'll wear. Beware, this is a very messy project - wear gloves, old clothes, and work outside.

Aside from crafting, I'm swimming in magazines (not that I'm complaining)! My latest purchase was the holiday issue of Sew News. This has become a traditional purchase for me - even if I don't wind up making anything from this issue, I like the inspiration it gives me. I'm attempting to plan ahead this year for Christmas and may craft a few items up, especially for Taylor's teachers. My Burda Fall\Winter Easy Fashion magazine arrived in the mailbox today. I really like this issue too - even though it's not quite as impressive as Summer and it's not in English. I glanced over the instructions for some of the projects and I think that I can make most of the without translations and strictly go by the pictures. My big question is - are knickers coming back? This issue is filled with several pairs and I'm just not seeing them making a comeback at the moment.

Lastly, I'm a Jalie junkie. I just purchased another Jalie pattern - 2561. I actually have the fabrics purchased for this one and if all goes well, I'll have several pairs of new pants for the fall!

All I can say is that I am beyond excited to get started on Taylor's Halloween costume. I made my way to Joann's to pick up the black burnout fabric for the main body of her costume and left with almost all her materials.

So, here's what I made my way across town for - waiting in line for 20 minutes (and used a 50% off coupon). Was it worth it? Oh, yeah.

Tulle and netting was on sale today too. I picked up black and red as her colors. I figured it would be easier to find trim in that color. Now all I have to purchase is trim (11 5/8 yards), pre-gathered lace, and black flowers (which I have only been able to find at Michaels).

I also had a some time to work on my Burda wrap top this morning (I got up early and was very productive) - be on the lookout for a review & completed project photo(s) late tonight or tomorrow!

I believe that all of our air conditioner woes might be over (knock on wood). The air conditioner repairman had to come back out to our house again yesterday - it seems to be working right now. So now, back to our regularly scheduled sewing.

Last night I got to work on my Simplcity Kimono style top. It's coming together well, and I can see this is going to go together fairly quickly. I think that I'm going to keep the sleeves long - since this fabric is so thin, it drapes nicely, but I could see that if you used anything too heavy, it would make you look heavier around the midsection.

As promised, I'm posting the (hard to describe) fabric for Taylor's costume. The above photo is the main fabric for the zombie bride. I plan on 'ripping' some of the lace like inserts to make the fabric look rotten in places after everything is sewn up. Now to find something for the contrast insert and front skirt piece. It would be nice if I could find some off white\grey fabric in a similar pattern, but I'm not holding my breath finding any.

It seems a bit early, but we've already begun Halloween costume planning.

Let me start off by saying that the number of pattern costumes for children seems infinately smaller than those available for adults - especially since Taylor is out of the size 8 range in the Big 4. I was very suprised to see that Simplicity had some costumes for adults which went as small as a size 4. This is roughly the same measurments as what Taylor would need, except the bust is too large as well as the neck to back length. Both of these should be fairly easy alterations, so we decided that we liked Simplicity 4028 the best - the Zombie Bride.

I had seen that Joann's had Spooky Hollow fabrics on sale this weekend - I didn't realize that this wasn't their costume collection, but printed cottons (like the kind used for crafts and quilting). So, we made our way to Hancock Fabric. There we saw the BEST fabric. It was sort of a black taffeta type fabric with a mesh lining under it. Pieces of the taffeta were burned or torn out to give it some sort of rotting fabric look to it. Unfortunately, this unusual fabric was $15.99 a yard and since the main fabric would require about 4 yards or more, this just seemed to unreasonable. So after searching the store, we found a stretch knit fabric that had a woven, lace design cut through out. It's a bit on the heavy side, so I think the overall shape of the dress will change a bit, but I like the overall creepy effect that the fabric gives the pattern. I have yet to take a photo, but will post one soon.

I also got two new books today. One of my favorite snarky craft sites has released their book, Subversive Cross Stitch. I think that I like it so much because it's something that would have given my dad quite the laughs - so much so that I would have had to make several of their patterns so that he could put them up in his office. The second is an upcoming book,
Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To. I'll be posting reviews of these this coming week!