Totoros and Rain Clouds Galore!

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Cherie

Well, Halloween is over! All that preparation and it’s gone in the blink of an eye! We had a great time taking Yuki on her first real trick-or-treat outing and she wore her costume for most of it, so that was a big success. Did you all have a great Halloween?

Today I’m super excited to be sharing a bunch of costumes made by readers!

When I made the Totoro costume for my daughter last Halloween, I was excited, but figured most people would have no clue who or what she was. While we definitely had to answer the question more than a few times, it quickly became an internet hit. It is, by far, my most popular post EVER. Totoro has a big following!

When people started showing interest in the costume, I thought I might make a pattern for it or sell custom costumes, but I did neither. I didn’t even make a tutorial for it. But as Halloween approached, I started getting emails from people who were making the costume just based off of my pictures and brief description. Some of them had questions, but they all drafted their own patterns and they all came out sooooo incredible! Each of them unique in their own way. I was thrilled when I started seeing pictures of the finished costumes and even more so when they said I could share them here on the blog.

As you guys may know, I love Halloween and costumes are probably one of my most favorite things to create. Unfortunately, my daughter does not feel the same way! She doesn’t like costumes and it makes me feel like I should give up on trying to get her to dress up. But when I see that my costumes have inspired other people to create for themselves and their families it makes me so so happy. Some of them are sewing for the first time or for the first time in years and I think that’s pretty incredible! And as for Yuki, I won’t approach her with another costume until she’s ready (and hopefully she’s ready by next Halloween)!

Anyways, let’s start the Totoro parade!!

Ina made this costume for her son’s first Halloween and I cannot get over the cuteness!! See more of her beautiful pictures here.
Venus of Suburbia Soup made this adorable costume for her daughter. She calls it Totoro on a diet – haha! But I think it fits her daughter perfectly. While you check out her blog, you definitely must see her Hoodie Scarf tutorial!
Bree, momma blogger of Shark and Crow, made this for her daughter and it was her first sewing project EVER. Can you believe it!? (My first sewing project was 2 pieces of fabric sewn into a rectangular pocket. And it sucked.) More pics of the cute costume here.
Raquel sent me pictures of her son, Javier, representing Totoro all the way from Spain! Look at that lil belly!
Elisabeth made this for her son and I love how she stuffed the tummy and nose and the exposed zipper in the back looks great!

Sarah made TWO Totoro costumes, one of the big gray Totoro and one of the medium blue one. How cute is this sibling picture!?Kristina made this costume for her youngest even though she hadn’t sewn since 7th grade Home Ec class. She borrowed a sewing machine from a friend. Didn’t it come out amazing?
And last in the Totoro parade, is this incredible costume that Sandie made. She used my hood and leaf as inspiration but created the rest of the costume on her own and don’t you just LOVE the soot ball bag and those shoe covers?! It’s also so awesome to see a slightly older kid as Totoro. So super cute.

The Rain Cloud costume was a tutorial from this year and there were a few created by readers for both kids and adults! This costume is a bit more simple in construction, but equally as cute, and it was fun to see some pop up so quickly after I posted the tutorial.

Kristina of Sir Bubbadoo created this adorable costume for her son and he LOVED it!Rachel, of Stitched Together, made her daughter into a little gray rain cloud and I especially love how two of her older kids helped with painting, stuffing and decision making!

Kady, a children’s librarian, said her costume was totally appropriate for her job and super comfy too!
And last, but not least, one of my staff members and her friend dressed up as a couple of clouds for a Halloween party! Maddee (left) is a rain cloud and Laura (right) is a snow cloud! I love the variation!

Thank you to all of the talented people who shared their beautiful costume creations with me and allowed me to share them on the blog with you! I really loved seeing every single one.

If you ever want to share your photos with me OR have any questions, please feel free to email me anytime (see contact tab above)! And remember there is a you & mie flickr group and I’d love to see your creations added to the group as well.

Now that Halloween has passed, I know that the holiday season will creep up on us so quickly. Can you believe it’s November already!? Here in the US, today is election day, so if you’re a registered voter – PLEASE GO VOTE! It’s truly one of our greatest rights and responsibilities. I know I’ll be anxious until the day is over, but I’m hoping for good news

So get out there and vote and have a great day!

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Happy Halloween from my sneaky lil fox!

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Cherie

Happy Halloween! Today is a big day for us over here. Not only is it Halloween and Yuki’s first in preschool (meaning her first Halloween parade and party), but it’s the SF Giants Parade. We won the World Series! Again! And this city goes craaaazy when it’s time to party! It’s estimated that over a million people will gather to celebrate the win in our little city. But I’m gonna miss the party to hang out with this little fox and her classmates.

When I made the Rain Cloud costume, I never thought it would be Yuki’s actual Halloween costume. I was proved right when Yuki hated the costume and figured out within seconds how to rip it off (if you’re wondering, there was a lot of pleading and a bit of bribery during our photo shoot ). So I started a search for a new costume idea. Since Yuki does not like hats, hoods, ears, tails, or anything bulky hanging off her, I felt pretty restricted in my choices. I was trying to think of a costume that would require no more than regular clothes, but none of the ideas felt right or had any real meaning to her.

The fox idea was one of the firsts, but I quickly dismissed it because I knew Yuki would hate it. She’s into the show “Dora the Explorer” and she loooooooves Swiper the Fox. Swiper is the show’s villian. He’s a sneaky little fox that shows up and swipes things from the other characters. When she first started watching the show, she was totally scared of Swiper and she’d even cry a little when he came around. But soon she couldn’t stop talking about him. She’d take things and hide it behind her back and say, “Swiper took it!” I think it was part of her alter ego. She would sometimes refer to herself as Swiper and also giggle and say, “sneaky fox!!” Pretty funny kid, that Yuki.

Anyways, after considering dozens of other options, my partner, Hideko, persuaded me to go for the fox outfit because it suits her so well. I decided not to make a Swiper costume, but just a regular ol fox. I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with how it came out!

The costume is pretty similar to the Totoro costume I made last year in terms of construction. In fact, I used that costume to make the pattern for this one since it was the perfect size. I used sweatshirt knit which is soft inside and warm, but not quite as much as fleece. Unfortunately, it barely has any stretch which I thought was weird, but it still works. The white fabric is also sweatshirt knit, but I sewed it on with the wrong side out so it’d be soft and fuzzy.

I moved the zipper to the front so I could attach the hood to the back and narrowed the wrists and ankles. I added visible pockets to the front. I wanted deep pockets for all the things Yuki would swipe (usually just rocks) and decided to make them contrasting for a fun visual look.

I added a little fox paw print to her booty, just for fun too. All the details are just top stitched on. Gotta love that knit doesn’t unravel!

So does she love it? No. I still have to struggle with her a bit to put it on and she definitely does not like the hood on (again, this photo shoot involved pleading and lots of treats!). But I think she likes being a fox and she also gets excited when she sees other kids in costume.

Today will be the real test. First her school Halloween Parade and then her first time really going trick-or-treating tonight! Let’s see how much loot this fox comes away with! Most of it is going to be mine anyways

Big festivities for you tonight? Finish your costumes in time? If you’ve made costumes for any of your kiddos, be sure to link it up at the Project Run & Play costume link up party and check out tons of other cute costumes!

Happy Halloween to you and your family! And GOOOOOOO GIANTS!!!

Mollie Makes and a call for Totoros everywhere

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Cherie

Today, one of my old tutorials for a felt flower pin is posted on the Mollie Makes blog! Mollie Makes is a lifestyle and craft magazine for people who live and love handmade. Their magazine is a BIG DEAL so I’m extremely excited to have my tutorial posted on their blog.

I’m also a little embarrassed because I made this tutorial a long time ago (you know, like a whole 8 months ago) and my tutorial photos are pretty bad (that polka dot background and horrible indoor nighttime lighting!? Ugh!). Anyways, hop on over to Mollie Makes to check out my tutorial if you haven’t seen it before, and definitely check out their Projects link for tons of inspiration for fall projects.

Also, with Halloween right around the corner, I know that a lot of people have been working on their own handmade Totoro costumes based off the one I made last year.

I feel bad because I said I would try to make a pattern for the costume by this Halloween and I never did. I didn’t even do a tutorial for the costume, but people are giving it a shot anyways, and I’ve already received pictures of some really incredible Totoro costumes that readers have made!

If you’ve made a Totoro costume (or are making one right now), I would LOVE to see a picture of your finished costume! Eventually I want to do a round up here on the blog sharing all of your Totoro inspired creations, so please email me your photos (or a link to the photo if you’ve posted it on your blog or in an online photo album). When you send me your photo please let me know if I can share it here on the blog and any links you’d like me to include (if you have a blog or something).

Remember, you can always add pictures to the you & mie flickr group also! I love to see what you guys have made using my tutorials or projects for inspiration. It makes me so so happy!

In other announcements, there are a lot of exciting series coming up over the next few months that I get to be a part of. Today, Jen of iCandy Handmade announced their upcoming series, Basic Bodice Design.

In this series, all of the guests are going to be taking a very basic dress bodice design and making adjustments to create totally different looks. And there will be tons of tutorials showing you how! There will also be linky parties so that you can share your creations too! Go check out the announcement. The series starts in mid-November and runs till mid-January.

How is your Halloween prep coming? Are you making costumes? I’d love to hear about what crafty projects or decorations you’re working on. Hideko convinced me to make another costume for Yuki (since she doesn’t like the rain cloud one) but I’m really scared that she will refuse to wear this one too. Here’s a little sneak peek though.

Thank you for stopping by!

Rain Cloud Costume

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Cherie

Halloween is almost here!! I LOVE making costumes and a few weeks ago, I posted this tutorial as part of The Train To Crazy’s Handmade Costumes series – click the link to see all the creative costumes that have been shared so far!

Since then, this costume made it onto the list of 21 Most Clever Halloween Costume Ideas for Kids on Babble, was selected as inspiration for Craftbaby’s DIY Halloween Costume Contest (go check it out and enter your costume!) and yesterday it was featured in a Martha Stewart Living article, DIY Kids’ Costumes from our Favorite Bloggers. Martha Freakin’ Stewart, people!! I nearly died. (Check out Kristin’s Fanstastic Mr. and Mrs. Fox outfits on the Babble and MSL lists too!) I really didn’t expect any sort of reaction to this simple costume, so I’m, quite frankly, shocked. And psyched.

Anyways, I wanted to bring this post home in case you didn’t see it and since Yuki was feeling under the weather (get it!? ) the first time around, I decided to take some new pictures for this post. Enjoy!

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Over the last several years I’ve made quite a few costumes including a Totoro costume for my daughter (it was a big hit!) and several others you can see here, including Russell from the movie, Up. But I’m a total procrastinator and also super indecisive, so I haven’t even started figuring out what my daughter, Yuki, will be for Halloween this year. So in the meantime, I thought I’d whip up a simple costume using only materials I already had a home. Presenting . . . the Rain Cloud costume!

I wanted to make something pretty simple and very comfy. I knew that Yuki would not be down with anything too big or cumbersome attached to her, so I kept it small. And a lot of this stuff, you might already have at home! So let’s get started. Here’s what you’ll need.

For the pants:
- Pants or leggings in a “sky” color (blue, gray, white)
- Fabric paint
- Contact paper (or freezer paper)

For the cloud:
- White fabric (cotton, fleece, a white sheet, anything will do! I used fleece and gauze because that is what I had at home)
- Ribbon (for the shoulder straps)
- Fiberfill or batting

The part of this project that took the longest was waiting for the fabric paint to dry on the pants, so I would start there. Make rain drop stencils from the contact paper and stick them to your pants. Use fabric paint to fill in your stencils (be sure to read and follow all the directions on the paint that you use). I made 3 shades of blue and used two for each rain drop for a kinda gradient/ombre look.

I painted the pants in 3 stages – first the front of the pants, then when that was pretty dry, I removed the contact paper stencil and flipped it over and painted the back. Then I split the pant legs open and painted a few more drops down the outside of the legs.

After the paint is almost completely dry, I hung them up to finish drying completely over night. And those are da-DONE!

In between the stages of painting and drying, you can work on your cloud.

First, use a shirt to draw out a cloud pattern. You’ll want the sides of the cloud to extend past the edges of the shirt (we’ll connect them later), but the pattern shouldn’t go past the shoulder to restrict arm movement. Add seam allowance.

Cut out 4 layers of the cloud pattern. I used fleece for the inside of the costume and gauze for the outside, so 2 clouds of each fabric.

Cut 2 pieces of ribbon for the straps. Lay the inner fabric right side up, then the ribbons right side up.

Lay the outer layer right side DOWN, being sure to tuck all the ribbon inside the cloud. Pin the layers together.

When you sew the back of the costume, be sure that you flip the direction of the pattern.

Sew around the cloud leaving an opening in the bottom. Snip each point close to the seam.

Turn it right side out and press. Fill with a thin layer of batting or fiberfill.

Hand sew the opening shut. Quilt the cloud however you like to hold the filling in its place.

Stack the clouds right sides out and sew the edges together.

Try it on your model and mark how long you need the straps to be. Trim your ribbon, fold the edge under and sew it to the back of the cloud.

Done!

Pair it with some rain boots if you got ‘em!

Sad cloud . . . err, happy cloud?

Yuki actually has a pair of rainbow striped pajama pants that would give this outfit a totally different look! I bet there are a bunch of ways this costume could get adapted.

Thanks for having me, Andrea! I’m loving all the handmade inspiration in your series and feel lucky to have been a part of it!

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Have you picked out Halloween costumes for this year? Are you making or buying? I’m still looking for costumes for our family, so if you have any brilliant ideas to spare, leave me a comment

Mei-chan

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Cherie

Yay, it’s done! My “movie inspired” outfit is finally done – better late than never, right? When Project Run & Play announced the challenges for this season and one of them was “Going to the Movies” it didn’t take me very long to decide what I wanted to do. I mean, the options are ENDLESS, but I wanted to stick with something simple and make her an outfit I thought she’d be able to wear regularly. And since the Totoro costume I made for Yuki last Halloween was such a huge hit, I knew something from the same movie would be appreciated. So that’s how I decided to recreate Mei’s outfit from the movie “となりのトトロ” or “My Neighbor Totoro.“ It’s a Japanese animated classic by Hayao Miyazaki and I’m obsessed with all of his movies. So uhh, if you haven’t seen this movie, I think you should just go see it right now.

ANYWAYS, Mei is a 4 year old and the character is such a perfect match for Yuki’s personality! Even though Yuki’s not even 2 yet, she’s got a lot of Mei’s fun, rough-and-tumble, stubborn personality and even how Mei tries so hard to keep up with her older sister. Yuki loves playing with other kids too, even though she’s such a little runt compared to them. I’m not going to give you a whole synopsis of the movie, you can look it up or watch a trailer, or better yet, just go watch the film if you haven’t seen it already.

So here are some screen shots from the movie:

And our little Mei-chan:

One of the most memorable scenes is when Mei is playing by herself in the yard and she spots a little peculiar creature running through the grass. She tries to follow the chibi Totoro, and it tries to run away. We had fun recreating that scene during our photo shoot (and I had a little fun with photo editing too ).

Got him!!

So I made three pieces for this outfit. The blouse and the shorts are from the Oliver + S pattern, Puppet Show Tunic and Shorts. I don’t have a lot of experience making buttoned collared shirts, so I thought using a pattern would be a good way to learn.

The thing about a good Oliver + S pattern is that it is pretty tedious and takes a lot of time. This, of course, results in a really high quality piece of clothing, but one of the things I love about making kids clothing is how quickly you can whip something up. That’s just me being impatient though. It’s really good that I’m learning how to do things the “right” way. I made the shirt in 2T size which is HUGE on Yuki, but that means she’ll be able to wear it for a long time. I used an embroidered white fabric just to make it a bit more interesting and added a button in the front just to make it look like the one in the movie. I’ll probably take it off since it serves no purpose.

The shorts are so cute! These came together very quickly and I want to make a few more of these for sure. I made them white to match Mei’s bloomers, but I’m not sure it was a very practical move. They make for some adorable summer shorts though!

The red jumper is a simple lined bodice that I adjusted from the Every Little Thing Tunic (recognize the lining fabric?) and a circle skirt. I added some fun yellow flower buttons on the back. This piece came together the fastest!

I also made the little white chibi Totoro right before our photo shoot out of some scraps of white fleece (from the original Totoro costume!) and tied little pom poms to her hair rubber bands to match Mei’s.

This blue Totoro is a stuffed animal – I didn’t make it.

Did you spot the creeper Totoro!?

And speaking of creepers, check out this paparazzi sneaking up on an unsuspecting girl.

Phew, that was a lot of photos! Now that I’ve made a Totoro costume and a Mei outfit, all that’s really left for me to make is the Cat bus! Haha, NOT!

60s Flower Child – Sewing Through the Decades for PR&P

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Cherie

“If you’re going to San Francisco,
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
If you’re going to San Francisco,
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there.”
- John Phillips

The theme for Project Run & Play this week is “Sewing Through the Decades.” The assignment was to pick a decade and design a children’s outfit based on the fashion trends of that decade. I just took a look at the Flickr pool to see some of the other entries and there are some fabulous outfits!!

I had a hard time coming up with this week’s outfit. There wasn’t one decade or style that was screaming out at me. I considered doing a popular 50s girls dress with the poofy skirt and all. At one point I wanted to recreate one of my mom’s outfits from the 50s. Or do a 60s mod dress. I love 20s style dresses, but I didn’t think the ones I really liked would look good on a toddler’s body. I even considered an 80s Madonna tribute. It’s pretty random how I ended up picking this style.

I chose this 60s hippie/flower child look because of a picture of a flowy top I came across while doing some research. It looked so pretty, so I drew a sketch of it and though I kept looking for more ideas, I kept coming back to that sketch. I wanted to do a hippie look – but not like the tie-dyed, super bright and colorful peace signs and big flowers exaggerated hippie look, but the bohemian flower child, super earthy, war protesting, barefoot kinda hippie of the late 60s. It’s probably because I could kinda see myself as one, had I lived during that time. I didn’t realize that San Francisco was the epicenter of the hippie subculture in the mid to late 60s. It made me want to take my little hippie child down to Haight-Ashbury or Golden Gate Park for our photo shoot to recreate some fun scenes. It may seem a little inappropriate for a child, considering drugs were such a huge part of the culture, but that part aside, it was a really fun style to try.

I had a few goals in mind for this week:
1. Sew something new and different (this is kind of a goal that I always have).
2. Keep it simple. I knew I couldn’t go all out and pull off 5 pieces like last week.
3. Make something that fit the theme (was inspired by a past decade), but was something that Yuki could wear again as part of her regular wardrobe.
4. Blog about the outfit before uploading my pictures to flickr by Friday at 8am.

I’d say I was about 75% successful.

I accomplished the first and last goal! I did attempt something new with both the top and the bottom. Both pieces were completely new to me. And look, a blog post before the deadline (barely, but still)!

As for keeping it simple, I tried. I didn’t have the time to make a super elaborate outfit this week – nor did I have the inspiration. So I thought I’d do something really simple this week and maybe start a little early on next week’s challenge (didn’t happen). I wanted to do 2 simple pieces, a top and a bottom. I made a fairly simple blouse pattern with no real crazy details or embellishments. I hit a few rough spots when I was constructing it, but I was able to finish it in half a day and once it was done, it didn’t need any altering (thank goodness)! I kept it pretty simple!

The bottoms however are a different story! Originally, I made some denim cut-off shorts. I spent a decent amount of time adding a lot of detail to the shorts to make them look like real jeans (I was inspired by all the great pants made by the contestants for Boys Week). After they were done, Hideko said that she didn’t think it went with the top and the overall hippie look (she loves to give me her opinion AFTER I’ve finished making something ). She thought I should make bell bottoms! I wasn’t planning on making anything too “hippie” because I wanted her to be able to wear it again. But I gave in.

I had a pair of my old jeans that I thought I could use for the bell bottoms. Since I was quite sure Yuki wouldn’t be wearing these again, I didn’t want to spend a ton of time on them. But they ended up being the most time consuming part of the outfit, BY FAR. I hacked apart my jeans trying to make them fit my 16 month old and make them bell bottoms. When I tried them on her, they didn’t look bell bottom-y enough, so I decided to add the triangles of fabric to really exaggerate the look. Why not go all the way!? They certainly look the part now!

I didn’t hem the bottoms, so they’ve have a bit of a tattered look – I just zig zag stitched the edge. I hope to have a tutorial relating to these pants next week, so look out for that, if you’re interested!

So, I was able to keep the top simple, but spent too much time on the pants. She’ll definitely wear the top again, but probably not the pants (unless we have a costume party to go to). Overall, I’m not THRILLED with how the outfit came out. I do like the top, but it looks a little oversized on her. The bodice is perfectly fitted, but the sleeves and the body probably could have been a bit shorter. The pants are also too long, so I’m afraid the whole outfit looks a bit sloppy. Maybe accurate, but still a little sloppy.

I did have fun putting together a few accessories for the photos though. I just bought some cheap wooden beads and strung them randomly on some string for her necklace. I got a yard of leather and added some beads and glued a few feathers that I already had at home to the ends for the headband. I also took a fake daisy and glued it to a clip for her hair, though it fell off half way through the photo taking.

I had a lot of fun on this photo shoot! It was a chilly morning on the beach, but my crazy child wanted to go IN the water. The FREEZING water. She kept walking towards it and though it would have made for some cool pictures, I did not want to lose my child in the ocean while I was snapping away on my camera! We did both get our feet wet though. I think I do have a little hippie child. Take a look at her dirty wet little feet.

After we finished taking these pictures I put her in some dry clothes and had a little cracker treat. She was quite a trooper!

You like my dirty, hippie, photo-shoot-is-more-important-than-showering look??

Next week’s theme is Outerwear! I THINK I know what I want to make, but it’s going to be quite a challenge. Have you ever looked at jacket construction? It’s complicated! What I probably SHOULD make is a raincoat – it’s finally started raining and it looks like it’s not stopping any time soon!

What have you been up to? Hope you’re staying warm and dry!

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Cherie

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends Emy and Nicky! It was a hot and gorgeous day, but we couldn’t resist getting a few pics of Yuki in her (super thick and warm) costume. We tried to make it quick and she was a trooper, but poor thing, we found out later she was actually sick

Totoro is real.

Yuki’s favorite part of the pumpkin patch was playing all the instruments along with the live music.

Getting up close and personal with a Scottish Highlander. These guys were HUGE but Yuki did not seem impressed.

“Ok, get me out of here now.”

Wearing flip flops and sunscreen and it’s nearly November. Happy Halloween from California! Hope everyone has a fun and safe night!

Tutorial: Making Whiskers and Bendable Parts

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Cherie

I wasn’t really planning on doing a tutorial on anything costume related, but I thought I’d share these two small projects with you. These can be used to help you complete a lot of costumes and technically, you don’t need a sewing machine to do either. We’ll start with making whiskers.

*I apologize for the crappy and sparse pictures. I didn’t really think about posting this until after I had already made the whiskers and everything was done at night in our not-well-lit apartment*

Making whiskers
Yuki’s Totoro costume was starting to take shape, but it was definitely missing whiskers. I knew that I wanted something thin, but stiff enough to stick out and not be droopy. I decided to try some fabric stiffener and embroidery floss. And it worked! Here’s how you can do it.

What you’ll need:
Fabric stiffener (don’t have any? read on for other ideas)
Foam brush
Embroidery floss
Wax paper
Flat surface like a cookie sheet or a cutting board
Needle

Lay the wax paper out on your flat surface. Cut and lay your embroidery floss flat. Cover generously with fabric stiffener and brush to coat evenly, but leave about 4 inches of embroidery floss without the stiffener. This part of the floss will be used to thread the needle later. Let it dry (overnight works well).

So this is my cookie sheet with wax paper and my six extra long pieces of embroidery floss. It’s a good idea to give yourself extra inches that can always be trimmed at the end. It may also be smart to make a few extra in case you make a mistake. These have already been brushed with the fabric stiffener and dried. The three on the left have been peeled off the paper and the three on the right have not. You can see the ends (closest to you) have not been stiffened.

Peel the embroidery floss off and thread the needle using the unstiffened end of the floss.

Starting from the outside of your costume, pull your thread through your costume wherever you want your first whisker to be. Pull it far enough so that the stiff part of the embroidery floss comes through. It’s a bit stiff (duh), but tie a knot on the inside. I tied it twice to make sure it wouldn’t slip through the fabric.

Trim the end.

Now you need to tie a knot on the other side of the whisker so that it doesn’t slide out from the inside. The trick here is to tie the knot as close to the fabric (and the other knot) as possible. If there is even a bit of space between the two knots, the whisker will sag. So tie the tightest knot closest to the fabric, sometimes a bit of fabric even gets pulled into the knot – this is good.

Can you see the little knots? From far away you won’t even notice them.

Now repeat with the rest of your whiskers and give them a trim!

DONE! If you don’t have fabric stiffener, there are probably other ways. Fabric stiffener is basically water soluble glue. Now I’ve never tried it, so I can’t guarantee anything, but I have a feeling that this would work using your regular old white glue (like Elmer’s) or Mod Podge. If you try this out, let me know if it works.

Now moving on . . .

Bendable Parts – in this case, a leaf.
In the movie Totoro, there is a scene in the rain where Totoro only has a tiny leaf on his head to provide protection from the rain. I thought it might be a cute addition to the costume. I wanted the leaf to have shape, so I made it bendable. This method would be great for any small part of a costume that you want to have some form and bend – like EARS!

What you’ll need:
Fabric
Pipe cleaners
Needle & thread (if you’re hand sewing)
Paper

Start out by drawing whatever shape you want on a piece of paper (I always use something out of my recycling bin which is super full around election time). Add about a 1/4 inch around your shape for seam allowance and cut it out (I forgot the stem on my pattern).

You’re going to need 2 pieces of your shape, so fold your fabric in half or layer two pieces of fabric on top of each other. Then use your pattern to cut out your shape (I added the stem in here).

With right sides facing, pin and sew up your shape leaving an opening for turning it right side out. I left the bottom of the stem open as well for the pipe cleaner. If you’re making an ear, you can just leave the bottom open.

Flip it right side out!

Now fold that fabric from the opening in and top stitch around the leaf, again leaving an opening at the top of the stem (for the pipe cleaner!).

Now we’re going to sew the casing for the pipe cleaner. Making sure the space is wide enough, sew two lines along the length of your shape for the pipe cleaner to slide into.

Now it’s time to insert your pipe cleaner. Take one end and fold it down about half an inch. This makes it so that the tip is not super sharp (the wire was getting snagged on my fabric and folding it down made it much easier to slide through). Insert it into your casing and then clip the end about 1/2 inch longer than the stem.

Fold this end up and tuck it into the fabric to avoid any super sharp wires.

And you’re DONE!

Bend it to whatever shape you want! You can probably sew up the end too, if you want, but I didn’t bother. Now you can handstitch your bendable part to your costume.

And here’s the updated Totoro hood . . .

My usual model was asleep

Anyways, there you have it!! I hope you are all having fun coming up with some creative costumes for Halloween. And hopefully these ideas may even help you put some finishing touches on them! Remember, it’s all in the details

Sew & Tell: Totoro Costume

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Cherie

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**The Totoro Costume is NOT currently for sale. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I am not taking orders for costumes at this time. There may be a pattern available for purchase or costumes in the future, so please check back here at the blog for announcements. THANK YOU!!!**

*UPDATE: Since this post has been getting a lot of views, I figure I should at least add one photo of the finished hood. This post was published with photos from her first fitting and after these were taken, I decided to add the whiskers and the leaf. You can read more about that in this tutorial. Hope you like it!*

This year, I really wanted to make Yuki’s costume, but we could not decide for a long time what she should be. We threw around some ideas, but none of them really excited me. I’ve had this idea of dressing Yuki up as Totoro for a long time (since she was born?), but was worried that no one would know what she was. But since I couldn’t think of anything better, I decided to go for it. So what if I would have to explain a hundred times who she was supposed to be! At least she would be adorable and original . . . right?

Well, I finished most of the costume EARLY this year (meaning not the night before or morning of) and I’m a little unsure of how I feel about it. It came out better than I expected in some ways and not as cute as I imagined in other ways. In terms of the construction, I’m pleased. I’d never made a full body suit before. I’d never done an outfit with sleeves. Or made a hood. I just kinda made it up as I went along and it surprisingly worked out alright. Actually, better than alright, it came out looking pretty damn clean. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like Totoro to me. I think there is something wrong with the shape. Or the face. Or the proportions. I’m not quite sure and I might have to do a little more fiddling around (eek, that means I’m not actually done yet!), so maybe you can give me some feedback.

I’m actually so impressed that I was able to get these pics of Yuki. She does NOT like hoods or hats. She generally rips them off the second we put them on. I’d tried to get this hat on her a few times while sewing to see if it fit and she hated it. She wouldn’t even let me get near her with it towards the end. But I realized that if you keep her really really distracted, she won’t notice it for quite awhile.

So in case you don’t know who Totoro is, he is a character from a Japanese animated movie, となりのトトロ or My Neighbor Totoro. Although it’s a foreign film, there are quite a few people in the states that have seen it. Here he is!

So cute, right?! Ok ok, so here’s our little Totoro . . .

Something about this costume reminds me of Max from Where the Wild Things Are. It’s well suited for making mischief!

I’m actually hoping that it’ll be cold on Halloween because this costume is made out of fleece and SUPER warm! I need to make some adjustments, but here are some of the basic details of the costume. Overall, it’s a pretty simple design that I based off of Yuki’s pajamas.

I zig zag stitched the chevrons on the chest and the white tummy to the rest of the suit. This was the first part of the costume I sewed, and the first thing I sewed on my brand new machine. It was dreamy

Instead of a zipper and snap in the front, I moved it to the back.

I also added elastic to the wrists and ankles and snaps to the legs for easy diaper changes.

For the hood, I used a hooded jacket to trace the shape. I cut two pieces and sewed them together, then made the snap collar thing with a long rectangle. I made ears (and the tail) with scraps of fleece and stuffed it with poly-fil. Then I hand sewed the ears and face on.

I want to add whiskers to the costume. Any ideas for what I can use?? I want to use something smaller and not as sharp as pipe cleaners. Maybe some yarn with fabric stiffener? I’m taking suggestions.

Now I gotta work on my costume. It’s going to be super simple this year. What are you going to be for Halloween??

Sew & Tell: Halloween Costume History

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Cherie

I love Halloween costumes. For the last few years, I’ve really been into making them for myself, Hideko and even a few friends. I probably picked it up from my mom who would always help us put together great costumes or sew awesome creations for us. Look at me and my siblings back in the day!

I was a princess and my mom made this outfit out of some old dress, I think. My sister is a bunny and I’m fairly certain my mom made that entire costume. In the back is Mike and he is a Ghostbuster, using a Members Only jacket with a homemade patch, proton pack and ghost trap (you can’t see it in this picture). I’m not sure about Rob’s army fatigue. That may have been store bought.

Anyways, now it’s my turn to make costumes, and since I work at a school, I still have to dress up too (or maybe it’s just a good excuse to get dressed up )! Here are some of the costumes I’ve made in the past.

I think it all started with this one in 2004. I was living in Japan and we were throwing a Halloween celebration for the kids in the city (it’s not traditionally celebrated there) and I thought this would be an awesome character, since it’s from a Japanese movie. Unfortunately, most people thought I was a Native American! I was not, I assure you. Do you know who I am??

(I’m the one on the right ) This is the only picture I have, it’s too bad you can’t see the rest of the costume. I didn’t have a sewing machine or any real crafting tools. But I had a lot of fun scouring the 100 yen store (like a 99 cent store), the second hand store and any other place to find pieces I could use for the costume. Here’s a pic of the actual character.

It’s Princess Mononoke. She’s pretty bad-ass huh?

I picked up the sewing bug again in 2008 when I made this bat costume. I remember coming up with the idea the night before Halloween, running to a couple of stores for the supplies and staying up late to finish it by morning. I didn’t have a sewing machine, so everything was just hand stitched together.

I really loved how warm, comfortable, simple and convenient this costume was. It was a hooded sweatshirt with stuff attached to it. I got to wear sweats to work! Could it be any better? So sweatshirt animals has been my thing, pretty much every year since.

I’ve made a cat (2009)

A dog (2009)

And an owl (2009)

Last year was Yuki’s first halloween. For her, Hideko wanted a lamb costume.

Yes, she slept pretty much the whole time she was in the costume.

For us, I went with sweatshirt animals again. A cow and a chicken to complete the family farm (2010)

One of my favorite costumes to date was NOT a sweatshirt animal. Hideko decided to be Russell from UP. I LOVE this movie. Russell is so damn cute and funny. I thought this costume would be awesome to recreate. It was also very very time consuming.

Here’s Russell from UP . . .

Haha, I can’t get enough of him! And here’s our Russell (2009) . . .

Not bad, eh? That’s the only picture I have of her in the costume, but you should have seen her backpack! She actually borrowed rope and a trumpet and hung lanyards and carabiners from her backpack AND attached a bunch of colorful balloons!!

My absolute favorite part is the sash. Russell is an over eager Wilderness Explorer. He has earned all this badges except one, the Assisting the Elderly badge. You can see that he has a space for the missing badge. The badges are made from felt. I cut them out based on actual badges from the movie that I found in pictures online and in a book.

Yes, it took A LOOONG time to do all of them, but I really REALLY enjoyed making them. Does that make me weird?? I could not be bothered with sewing them all on, so these were just glued on. After being worn a few times and then stored in a bag for a couple of years, they are still looking pretty good. I wouldn’t dare put the sash through the wash though.

I made more felt patches for the shirt, the hat and a felt flag. I made the neckerchief out of some orange cotton and used a wooden napkin ring, foam and some paint for the slide (I had to look up what the terms were for both of those things). The other pin thing was made with more foam and some painted beads and twine.

We bought the shirt and hat from the thrift store. The shorts were mine and the shoes we borrowed from a friend. The only things we bought that were new (besides some materials) were the orange shoelaces! We had a lot of fun with that costume – when we walked around you could here all these people calling out, “Hey! It’s the guy from Up!”

Anyways, those were some of our costumes from the last few years. This year I’m busier than ever so while Yuki is getting a new handmade costume, Hideko is reusing one of our old costumes (with a twist) and I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet. I was thinking about bringing Russell back (I mean, all that work and you only get to wear it for one day!?). But we’ll see. Yuki’s costume is done and the post is coming up soon! Here is the sneak peek – do you know who this is?

you and mie

let's make things

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