Meet Frank & Vlad

September 16, 2011
The Boo Boys - a fun boy Halloween doll pattern from Shiny Happy World

Today I want to show you how I Halloweenified the Karl pattern to make Frank and Vlad. First, I’d like you to meet Frank.

Frank is made with the basic Karl doll pattern – with just a few key changes. First of all, he’s green. 🙂 And he has a couple of scars. I stitched one scar on his face, and another on one of his legs.

You could of course, give him lots and lots of scars. Just be sure to do it before you sew him together. It’s much easier that way.

I used the selvage edge of some dark gray fabric for the edge of his shorts. It just had the perfect fringe and I loved it.

For the sleeves I simply cut the edge all jagged.

You know how to get a really nice, irregular jagged edge? Wad up the fabric you want to cut and then cut into the wad. It works beautifully every time.

So that’s Frank. Except for the addition of the scars, his changes are all about fabric selection.

You met Vlad yesterday, when he was Sad Vlad and I was having a lot of angst about his hairline. Thanks to your many helpful comments here and on Facebook, I realized that it was the baldness at the sides of his head that was bothering me – not the height of his hairline, as I originally thought. I changed out his hair to gave him some sideburns – and Vlad and I are both much happier. Thanks again for all your input!

Except for his fangs and hair, Vlad is made exactly like Karl. I used white fabric for his sleeves and collar, and black fabric for his pants. I used red corduroy for his vest – it gives a sweaterish look without any stretch. Of course, he has a black cape too – but I forgot to put it on for his photo shoot. Drat!

Want to make your own Frank and Vlad? You’ll need the Karl pattern (available here) and this handy-dandy free PDF with the pattern for Vlad’s hair, his fangs, and some scars for Frank.

If you want to make Vlad, replace Karl’s hair with the new Vlad hair. Don’t give him the tufts sticking up on the top. Vampires don’t have cowlicks.

Trace Karl’s face on your doll, then overlay it on the Vlad pattern to add the fangs.

If you want to make Frank, just trace the scars wherever you want to add them. I stitched mine up in DMC #3371.

Have a fabulous weekend! Stitch up something scary!

Applique Wendi (with fabulous hat)

Best,
Wendi

 

What are some good commercial patterns for costuming?

September 8, 2011
My Favorite Patterns for Making Costumes

Today I thought I’d share some of my favorite commercial patterns with you all. I drafted the pattern for Jo’s Sally dress – but only because I couldn’t find a commercial pattern with the right silhouette. If there’s an already-made pattern available for use – I use it! Especially for kids patterns because they’re generally easier to fit.

A lot of you wanted to know about Jo’s Hogwarts cloak. That’s Simplicity #5512 with just a few modifications.

The Hogwarts cloaks have sleeves, so I used view C (the red robe) and made the sleeve openings less huge. I added on the hood from view A (the white robe) and lined the whole thing with Gryffindor satin. Adding a lining is really easy and adds so much!

Jo is a big fan of cloaks. My favorite non-sleeved cloak pattern is Butterick BP223.

This pattern is actually no longer available, but I’m sure you can find something similar from other companies, or use the pattern number to search for a copy of it on Etsy, or Amazon.

I used that pattern as is for the cloak in Jo’s Jedi costume here. . .

. . . and I lined it for Jo’s Raven costume here.

I love hoods on cloaks – so dramatic!

For the bodysuit part of the Raven costume I used Butterick 6787.

I love this kind of basic pattern, with lots of possible variations built right in: skirt attached or separate, sleeve hems straight or pointed, collar or scoop neck, plain body or fancy piecing. This one shows nine possible combinations, but of course there are more possibilities than that with a little additional mixing and matching of the basic pieces.

I don’t have any good photos of things I’ve made, but McCall’s 4103 is another great basic pattern. Scrubs costumes and martial arts uniforms are both good basic silhouettes that can be used for lots of things – and this pattern includes both! The pants are easy elastic waist pants that could be used for ANY costume – make them up in silver fabric for a knight, in burlap for a scarecrow. . . you get the idea. Lengthen the martial arts top, use a contrasting color for the neck band – and you have a Samurai Jack costume.

That’s a teeny-tiny Jo as Samurai Jack next to her Dad as Aku, from Dragon*Con two years ago.

Finally – shoes. Boot covers are great – but sometimes you just want to make shoes from scratch. Butterick 5233 is a great pattern – though it runs WAY SMALL so check your measurements!

Jo used a modified version of the tall moccasins to make the boots for her Pokemon Trainer costume last year.

It was REALLY important to her that her boots be the exact same color as her skirt – and the symbol on her hat. She crocheted that scarf too!

So that’s it – some of my favorite commercial patterns for kids costuming. I make fewer costumes for big people. 🙂

Do you all have any favorites you want to share? Tell us in the comments! And tell us even if they’re out of print – old patterns are REALLY easy to find online – especially if you can give us the pattern # to search by.

Happy sewing!

Best,
Wendi

Applique Wendi (with fabulous hat)