Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Yoda Hat

I made the hat out of fleece, again, for added warmth.
Measure the person's head dimensions, from the top of the head, to the base of the neck, from the front of the cheeks, to the back of the head, and also measure the width of the back of the head. Then make a shape similar to this using those measurements. (If you are feeling a bit uncertain, I'd recommend making a pattern of this entire project on graph pattern drafting fabric.)

Make the opposite shape for the other side similar to this. Then sew the two pieces together at the top.

Make a piece for the back like this, but longer than I've pictured of course, so that the ends meet up. Pin, and sew the back piece on.

For the ears, fold over and cut out a shape as pictured below. Sew together along the edges, leaving a bit of an opening towards the tip of the ear if you desire to insert a straw for extra support. Then, pin into place on the hat, where it suits you.

Stitch ear onto hat along the same stitch lines that were made in stitching the ear together. You can see that I basically stitched an upside down L in attaching the ear.

Yoda costume complete.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Jedi Robe


1) Measure the length between the person's shoulders and tops of their feet(or where you want the bottom of the robe to hit). Double the measurement, and that is the length of fabric cut you need. I chose a light tan fleece fabric, because it was nice and cozy warm for Halloween, and Ethan was able to wear his coat underneath the robe(I detached the hood from the coat).

2) Fold the fabric in half. Have the person lay on the fabric with their shoulders at the fold, and their arms out to the side and their feet about a foot or so apart. Trace a line around the person, about 5 inches away from the body, or further away from the body for a more loose fit. For the sleeves, trace about 8 inches from the top of the fabric for a close fit, and further away for a loose fit. After the tracing is finished, measure and make sure that both sides of the costume are even, adjusting as needed. Your traced shape should look something like this(the sleeves should flare out from the body and be more bell shaped, unlike what I have shown), with the fold along the top...


3) Cut through both pieces of fabric, along the trace lines, and DO NOT CUT THE TOP ALONG THE FOLD.


4) Turn the fabric inside out and stitch along the sides, making sure not to sew the ends of the sleeves shut.

5) Turn the robe right side out. Find the center of the front of the robe, and make a straight line up the front of the robe, from bottom to top. Cut along your trace line, making sure not to cut through the bottom layer of fabric(the back of the robe).



6) I found a website that I will list below that showed to cut a circle out of the top(front and back pieces) of the robe for the neck hole. I just cut a slit to allow room for the neck, but I'm sure the circle is a better idea.


http://www.degraeve.com/jedirobe/

7) Time for the hood! There should be enough material for the hood from the piece you cut the body of the robe out of. Measure the length of the entire neck area(traced in red below). Divide that measurement in half.

Measure from the top of the head to the base of the neck. Using the two measurements, trace a basic rectangle onto a folded piece of fabric, the fold being on the left side. Then adjust the hood piece, adding curves where needed, it should look something like this...


8) Cut along the trace lines. Turn the hood inside out, and sew along the top of the hood.

9) Pin the bottom of the hood along the top of the neck line of the robe, matching right sides together, then sew together.


10) Turn under the raw edges of the robe(along sleeves, hood, bottom and front opening of robe) and sew under about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch, then trim if needed.

11)To complete the outfit, a brown turtleneck underneath the robe would be a great tunic. If you need something a coat can go under, I made this up simple and out of scraps for Ethan...


Or , there is a suggestion for a tunic on the website I enclosed. After the robe is all on, adjust the opening how you want it and just safety pin the inside in place. You should now have one sweet Jedi robe, modeled below by Oscar.


*Note that I made Oscar's robe fitted, and straight down. I forgot to have him put his little feet out a bit when I traced him. Also, I used brown instead of tan because that's what I had on hand.

Hope this helps! If you have any questions, ask away. Next blog - Yoda hat