Halloween Costumes for Girls
Of all the Halloween costumes for girls, which I have made over the years, this Audrey Hepburn outfit for Sophia is my favorite. Her outfit was complete with the tiara, which I bought at Hobby Lobby, in the wedding section, when it was half price. The pearls were from my jewelry box. We bought the gloves, took them in to fit her little hands, and then cut off the excess. I made the dress from a Simplicity pattern #2265, out of satin, and added two layers of gathered tulle over the skirt. The gathered tulle was pinned to the top of the gathered skirt just before sewing them both to the bodice. We also purchased a little black fur jacket, in case it was chilly.
This Wonder Woman outfit was made using Butterick pattern B5545 and adding self-made appliques. A couple of coats of red Valspar spray paint for plastic were applied to the black boots. I looked for a Wonder Woman applique in all of the local stores and there was none. So I pulled out some Pellon interfacing, some fusible transfer web, and the gold-lamé.
Using the computer, I found a picture of the logo here.►Wonder Woman Logo.
I copied the logo and put it on my 'Print Artist' program, resized it, then printed the logo onto regular copy paper and traced it onto the transfer web backing. The web backing is paper. ( The iron is applied to the paper side only! ) The transfer web was then ironed onto the back of the gold-lamé. Using the sewing machine and black thread, I stitched around the edges of the design, transferring it onto the fabric.
Then the paper was removed from the transfer webbing and the transfer web side was placed face down on the interfacing and ironed, adhering it to the gold-lamé. Flip the fabric side up and then it was just a matter of *zig-zag stitching over the stitches of the design. Some areas needed a wider stitch and some a thinner stitch. Just adjust when needed. I went over the pattern a second time to get the effect I wanted.
* I actually used the left side of my buttonhole stitch on my Singer sewing machine, because it gave me the effect I wanted.
The original pattern didn't have a waistband as wide as this one in the picture. I just measured her waist and cut the fabric longer to allow for overlap and seams, lined it with interfacing and sewed it to the skirt. Notice there is a little loop on the right side at the bottom of the waistband. That was added between the band and the skirt before sewing. It holds the rope.
The stars were drawn on fusible interfacing, which was ironed onto white fabric (red for the headband) then cut out and hand sewn to the tulle skirt.
This year, Sophia decided she wanted to be a fairy! After school, she came by to try on her dress and see what adjustments were needed. She seems to be happy with it thus far. I like the way her leg looks on the left, where the arrow is pointing. That is where the hem will be. The shoes I bought were too big. The size was marked wrong. That means another trip to the store, but I love the way the ribbon looks wrapped on her leg! I have some little flowers left over from the headpiece, which are going to be sewn to the ribbon. The ribbon kept falling down, so Alex suggested double sided tape at the top. She said she had done this before and it worked perfectly!
These are the patterns used to make the costumes. I don't necessarily use a 'costume' pattern to achieve the finished product.
That's where we are now! I love making Halloween costumes for little girls!
