Happy Halloween!

After weeks of toiling we finally finished our family Halloween costumes just in time to go to an awesome Halloween party Friday night. It's very weird to think that last year my little guy was a part of my costume (in my belly) and that I looked like this:

I was the Earth and the Moon. I had the night view of the Earth on my back.

My husband made my moon out of a big block of Styrofoam. (This was exactly one week before I went into labor.)

This year my little guy got his own awesome costume.

My little baby dragon in action.

I dressed as a knight.

My husband dressed as the castle I was defending from our baby dragon.

 

The drawbridge really worked.

Damage from the dragon.

I have always enjoyed dressing up for Halloween but it's even more fun now that we have a baby in our lives. I love that I can continue my family tradition of making homemade and unique costumes with my son. I never thought to ask my husband how he felt about making costumes before we got married, since it's not like it would be a deal breaker if he had said no. But, I am super glad that he likes the challenge of making a fabulous homemade costume too and that he has so many wonderful ideas.

Fast fix for a too-long top

I recently bought this cute, lightweight tank for super cheap at Wal-Mart but it's too long on me. I seem to have this problem a lot. At first I thought it was just my slightly shorter-than-average torso. But, that coupled with the popularity of extra long shirts is just too much for me. I hate having to hem or shorten clothes. Especially lightweight, swingy tops like this. Unless you have the patience (which I do not; "Patience is a virtue," is my husband's motto, not mine) to be very careful it's too easy to end up with an uneven hem. Enter some elastic and a few pins.

I wrapped some 1/4" elastic I had leftover from another project around my waist and then cut it about an inch shorter. I overlapped it slightly and sewed it together with a zigzag stitch. Next, I used the existing hem as a guide to make the elastic casing. I just ironed the hem up and pinned it in place.

I sewed my new hem closed, pulling the elastic tight as I went. Now the bottom's all gathered up.

If I want to wear the top longer the elastic helps hold it closer to the body. Having recently had a baby I'm not really into flowy tops anymore; they just feel like my maternity tops.

When I want to wear the shirt shorter, I just put the elastic around my hips, or wherever I want the shirt to fall, and then I get this fun bubble effect. Everything took about ten minutes to complete. Getting my husband to take some pictures took longer than the sewing.

Too much yarn? Is that even possible?

So my husband says I have too much yarn. What does he know? Honestly all the yarn I own is stuffed into these four little 12" square cubby holes. I don't think he knows what too much yarn looks like. Besides, if I didn't have all this yarn how could I make my cute little baby his cute little toys?