Renaissance Faire 2013: Boy's Knight Costume

inspiration found here

     Since E's costume is all done and we are just waiting for a final fitting, I have been working on G's costume. We will probably not get to new costumes for Hubby and I this year, Steven and I have many conversations that are much more important than sewing.
     E had wanted her peacock fairy costume, G wanted a knight costume with a red "T" on it. I am assuming that he saw a picture of a Templar Knight, so that it what I used for inspiration. Since I wasn't 100% sure on his size and he isn't around to have fitting sessions with, we made the top of his costume out of old shirts of the Hubby's. A gray one was just cut down and slimmed to fit the smaller body and a white one was trimmed down a little bit with the sides left open to imitate a tunic. It should be nice and light, the weather is supposed to stay warm, while still looking like a costume.

after cutting out the shirt, I cut out 2 identical red cross shapes for the front and back, although
now thinking about it, he probably just needed one on the front. *sigh*

zig zag stitching the crosses onto the shirt in an applique style

playing with my camera effects 

wretched photo that I sent to the Hubbs to show how much I finished while Steve napped

     His pants are proving to be a bit difficult since I have lost the gray fabric that I could've sworn that I had, but if I don't find it tonight, he may just end up wearing black pants and his sneakers. I may also stitch on some armour on the sleeves of the gray shirt. As soon as he gets her on Friday we will doing a full dress rehearsal to ensure it is perfect for Saturday!!!

Renaissance Faire 2013: Peacock Fairy Fantasy Costume

     So after worrying for the past three weeks about what we are going to do for Renfaire costumes considering my limited amount of time, the kids not being here all the time for me to sew around them and a complete lack of idea on a nursing appropriate costume for me, I finally sat down to start sewing this weekend. The week before we are planning on leaving. Six days before I had to have them done. All five costume. One week.

some inspiration pictures were
found on Pinterest and Google

    After the mental freak out on how I was just starting the costumes now, I was able to finish almost all of E's costume, a peacock fairy, with the exception of sparkling up a pair of sandals to match. 

    We were going for a combination fairy and peacock, mostly since I already had peacock butterfly wings from Halloween clearance last year. I am trying to make a point of not needed to go out and buy anything for costumes this year, my stash is a bit unmanageable at the moment so things need to be used. For the top, since I don't particularly like putting in zippers or buttons, I just reconfigured on of her tshirts, making it into a slight peasant blouse with cap sleeves.

before, just a plain tshirt
(not the one that I actually changed,
I forgot to take before pictures)

gathering that I put in the back to
give the shirt a bit of form

front of blouse, with peasant gathered neckline, cap sleeves and flower embellishment

     The skirt was a bit easier, we were going to do a full tutu, and I am still debating just using up all of the tulle that I have to make the skirt more full. Right now, it is a simple circle skirt with three inch black waistband elastic with a tulle bustle sewn onto the back. We added some ribbon and peacock feathers for embellishment and pre-made fabric flowers that I had for embellishment. On this part, depending on what time I have left, I might make some felt peacock feathers for more oomph, but I do worry about putting so much time into costumes that they only wear once or twice. 

fabric flower embellishment on bottom of skirt

tulle bustle with peacock flowers sewn onto ribbon

     While I want them to look adorable and amaze my husband with my crafty wiles, I have to remind myself that as long as we have fun, it will not matter what they wore. The first five times I went to Renfaire, I went in civilian clothes. Once I found petticoats though, it was on. When all was said and done the costume was pretty cute, Hubby liked it, E liked it and it only took me an afternoon. It was definitely a "while the kids are napping" project (by that I mean, the infant was napping while the other children and Hubby were playing video games). It was nice to get behind the machine again, considering that I haven't done any sewing since before Steven was born. I can still see the pile of un-sewn burpclothes sitting on my dining room hutch, staring at me angrily and stressing me.  

     A full picture of the costume on will come on Saturday with a lovely family shot (hopefully) and my family outing score for the New York Renaissance Faire.