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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Project #1- Bowser Shell Costume

I know it’s a little late for Halloween costumes, but I have these pictures ready and I need to get started with this blog. 
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I was “commissioned” to create the shell portion of a Bowser costume for my nephew’s friend.  We couldn’t find a pattern for it, just a picture and a not-very-good tutorial for someone else’s project.  I will describe how I made it, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to do it this way.
I had  to use my sister-in-law, who is about the same size as the boy who will be wearing the costume, for a model.  First, I measured her back length and shoulder width so I could get an approximate size.  I cut a rectangle piece of green felt to the width and about 1 1/3 times the length.  Then I cut 2 half circles to the length that I needed and pinned then stitched them to the sides of the rectangle.
Next, I cut yellow felt in an oval to the approximate size of the child’s back.  Remember, this is completely free hand with no pattern.  I measured around the oval to get a circumference for the white felt band.  I cut the white felt to length and stitched one side to the yellow.  Then, I pinned right sides of green and yellow together so the white was in between, and stitched them together leaving an opening in the bottom so I could turn it right side out and stuff it with fiber filling.  I hand stitched to other side of the white band to the green shell.
For the cones, I undid a child’s paper party hat and traced it onto the white felt.  I stitched the sides together, clipped the inside of the points, and turned them right side out.  I stuffed them with fiber fill before pinning them to outside of the shell.  I just used the raw edges of the felt instead of trying to turn it under.  Felt won’t ravel and has a nice edge so this works for this project.  Finally, I hand stitched the cones to the shell. 
Yellow Breastplate
I cut two yellow ovals of felt about the same size as the yellow oval for the shell, and 1 from batting.  I had extra polyester batting from a seat cover redo that I used.  I cut out a notch for the neck and one for each arm.  I placed the batting on top of the two pieces of felt and stitched all three layers together leaving an opening in the bottom to turn it so the batting was on the inside and then I hand-stitched the opening closed.  Next, I started at an approximate center point and stitched all the way across from side to side.  I stitched more lines from the center out at about 1 1/2 inch. intervals. 
Voila!
My sister-in-law connected the two pieces together with yellow elastic and it was a huge success!  Also, the costume included a yellow sweatsuit and a paper mache hat.

Happy Sewing!
Julie