DIY Mermaid Costume & picking grandma's flowers

So this post is about a year overdue. Last year for Halloween, Ivy was a mermaid.  I don't know how much of a DIY this will actually be, because I made this costume so long ago! Let me try to jog my memory… 

Basically I bought purple clearance fabric and made a tube top with elastic and some pleats. I used a peach-colored elastic headband to make a little halter strap. I used my seaweed ribbon and a real starfish from the year before's costume (see the Starfish costume here). For the skirt/mermaid fin, I measured Ivy's waist and cut out a maxi style skirt out of the scalloped fabric, a little wider than her waist and added elastic to the waist. I made the bottom edge come to a point in the middle. Then I used the blue/green batik fabric to make fins (8 panels to make 4 panels - 2 fins on the front, 2 on the back.) I sewed giant sparkly green rik rak on the front 2 fins, then sewed them all to the pointed edges of the skirt. 

PROBLEM: kids can't walk in mermaid fins

To solve this problem, I made a slit up the back of the skirt/mermaid fin. Then I added snaps on the side of the fin and skirt, so it could be hiked up. Oila! She can walk!

Our ritual each year is to go to the beach in front of my grandma's condo and take pictures of Ivy in her Halloween costume. It's actually not my grandma's condo anymore. She passed away a few years ago when Ivy was about 2. I remember going to show my grandma my Halloween costume every year growing up, and it seemed to bring her so much joy. She loved seeing the grandkids all dressed up. Every time I take Ivy, I remind her about who her "G-Gma" was and that this was where she lived and talk about how special she was. She and my grandpa's ashes are spread in the ocean right where Ivy is looking. 

What was crazy on last year's trip to the condo is that Ivy stopped on the sidewalk exactly in front of my grandma's condo and picked a flower for me. I couldn't believe it! She had no idea that she was exactly in front of G-Gma's condo, (it's been remodeled by the new owners), but also, I picked flowers from that same bush for 20+ years, and gave them to my grandma. 

I don't know what Ivy is going to be this year… we are on a different island now, but will have a chance in mid-October to go visit my grandma's beach. I better get my act together and make a costume! (And hopefully it's beach-themed again, haha). 

This girl makes it too easy to take pictures! She's just up for anything. Don't you love the starfish head band? A friend of mine saw I was making a mermaid costume, and said she had the PERFECT head band for it. Pearls and starfish. I love it!

If you have more questions as to how to make this costume, feel free to comment or email me. 

Sorry the DIY part of this post is pretty lame… haha. 

Aloha, Becca

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Why I am afraid to post on Etsy and Pinterest - Along An Inland Sea

So, I've recently thought that foxes are just super cute. Not real ones, just the fake, red and white or brown or orange cute graphic ones. I've been pinning them, and "hearting" them on Etsy, but with slight hesitation. Here's why: it's almost a guarantee that my friend Cailin will research where it's from and buy it for me! It's a frequent occurrence. During Ivy's Elmo stage, she sent her hand painted elmo shoes. During the ladybug stage, we got a cute ladybug purse. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining... but here's what showed up in my mailbox this week:

Yes, those are fox print headbands! One for me, and one for Ivy. Of course I love them, but where she got them is even cooler. She got them from an Etsy shop called "Along An Inland Sea." The lady who runs it has a brother who curled with Cailin's uncle in the Winter Olympics a few years back. I LOVE random connections like that. And because of that, here in sunny Maui, I have some cute fox headbands.  

Isn't her logo adorable?! I want circular cards like that!

Check her out:

www.alongtheshoresofaninlandsea.com

Etsy

Pinterest

Instagram

So, thank you Cailin, for being the awesome friend and for having the gift of "giving gifts."

Aloha, Rebecca

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DIY American Apparel Jersey T Dress

There's this dress/shirt/shift thing I love at American Apparel. I first discovered it back in 2005, when this other company had printed some reggae logo on the front and bob marley's picture on the back thigh. Needless to say, I never really liked rocking Bob that close to my buttocks (it was a short-lived phase) so I upcycled it a year ago and now it's an awesome Jack Johnson tank. (You can see the creation of that shirt here.) 

In December I finally gave in an ordered a new one for myself directly from American Apparel. It's grey and I love it. Perfect for me to work in.  (That's me on the right... not the left).

Fine Jersey T Dress  - $27.00 - click here to go to the American Apparel website 

Last month I was on Oahu and went in to the American Apparel store, but I didn't feel like coughing up $27.00 for another one. Then I thought, "I should just make one!" Lo and behold, I came across some jersey knit at the fabric store in a fun kelly green for like $3.99/yard- so inexpensive!! 

1- I laid my American Apparel T dress on top of two layers of the jersey knit 

2- pinned it to the jersey knit

3- cut around it, leaving about 1/4" excess

4- sew a seam at each shoulder and down each side (you don't hem the neckline, arm holes or bottom edge!)

5- cut off any excess fabric or any fabric that doesn't line up

 Turn it right-side out, and that's it!

Sorry for the selfies, but I promised myself I would blog more, even if that means my photos aren't as good. I realized I wasn't blogging because my perfectionist self told itself that it could only blog with good photos! 

Anyway... there was this rectangle fabric left over and it looked like it would be the perfect head band!

So I sewed it up and cut off the excess!

I probably wouldn't wear it together, because it's too matchy-matchy. 

So of course, my mini-me, a.k.a. Ivy wanted her own green Jersey T dress :) I whipped it out in about 10 minutes-- headband and all. The photo shoot that ensued took longer than it took to make the dress.

Some reflection of this project:

-it's such a quick project!

-my jersey knit is slightly thinner than american apparel's

-jersey knit is extremely easy to work with - no fraying, so no extra hemming involved

-leave those raw edges alone and let 'em roll!

-back stitching was a little tricky - my machine wanted to eat the edge of the fabric

-i liked using a straight stitch and a zig-zag stitch

Get out there and make one! You won't be sorry!

Aloha, Rebecca

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DIY Starfish Costume

Somehow Ivy got it in her head that she was going to be a Starfish for Halloween. I have no idea how she came up with this. Why couldn't she be a Super Hero? (I made a cape for her already, see post here). Or Rapunzel? Or Cinderella? We have those costumes... (see post here). But no, a Starfish. I have to admit, I thought it was a great idea, (super creative) but I didn't want to get it wrong, because I knew my decisive child had some type of vision of what her costume would look like. After a little prying and convincing, we decided it would be a Starfish Princess costume. (That was my vision, and what I knew I could pull off). I went to Sew Special and Ben Franklin and got some fabric and accessories. Ivy had a hacking cough, so we couldn't go to church the next day, so I had a whole Sunday to put this together.

Supplies:

-white leotard (Ivy had a white leotard already)

-white tutu (I got one from Icing for $6.25)

-1/2 yard of orange seashell fabric ($2)

-1/2 yard of white star fabric ($2)

-1 yard of green star fabric (had this)

-faux fishing net ($6.99)

-starfish ($4.99)

-yellow mesh netting (had this)

-orange bias tape (had this)

-green leaf ribbon ($2.99)

-glittery gold Christmas leaf decor ($4.99)

-headband ($1.50)

-small piece of felt

-sewing machine

-scissors

-glue gun

-thread

1. I cut out 4 large stars for the skirt, and 4 smaller stars for the bodice. (Green was the underneath color. I just layer the fabric over the tutu and made it a little wider than the tutu. Same for the leotard. I wanted it to slightly wrap around the tutu.) 

2. I sewed the stars together right side in, (orange w/green, white w/green) but left a little seam open so I could flip it right side out.  

3. After flipping it right side out, I re-sewed the edges so that they would lay flat.

4. I layer the stars over the tutu, and sketched a hole over the waist band, then cut out a circle. This was a very ghetto way of doing this. I tacked net and "seaweed" (the green leaf ribbon) to the orange star and glue gunned starfish to the edge of the orange star. Then I sewed orange bias tape around the waist. I wish I thought through this part a little better. Luckily Ivy is a skinny-mini and can just slip this on over her non-existent booty, but in all honesty, I needed to put some type of elastic waistband here. Oh well... 

5. I tacked a few piece of the yellow mesh netting onto the tutu, to give it some "life & depth" under the starfish.

6. Since all the Christmas decor was out at Ben Franklin, I picked up this gold Christmas leaf decor thing. I think you're supposed to put them in a vase? (I'm not really all about putting fake plants in vases.) I made sure to choose one that looked like seaweed. I cut off some pieces and sewed them under the orange stars on both the bodice and the skirt portion, so they would "peek out" from under.

   

7. I got a yellow headband from Icing for $1.50 on clearance. I cut a circle out of white felt and glue gunned the mesh, the leaf ribbon, the gold Christmas seaweed and a starfish onto the felt. When it dried, I glue gunned the felt to the yellow headband.

Of course, as is the case in every Ivy/Becca project, it results in an informal photo shoot. No children were harmed in this shoot. All pure fun! For this particular shoot, I chose the beach in front of my late grandma's condo, where she lived for at least 15+ years before she passed away last year. It's 2 blocks from my house, and I hadn't been to the condo or the beach since July 20, 2011, (the day before it sold.) My, Ivy and my dad (it was his birthday) had gone there for one last swim in the pool. My grandma taught kids to swim for much of her life, and being the fact that Ivy just finished her first round of swimming lessons, I'm a little sentimental and wish my grandma were here to teach her. My grandma also had lived on a boat in Florida and had such a love for the ocean. She definitely passed that on to her family. Maybe that's why Ivy chose to be a starfish?!

 So for $31.71 plus tax, this is a custom-made Starfish Princess Costume! Not bad. And to think I almost gave in and picked up a Wal-mart costume for $19.99...

Be safe this Halloween!

Aloha,

Rebecca

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