My mother didn’t care for halloween, to put it mildly, and really I don’t blame her: whining for expensive costumes that last for one night, demanding different ones at the last minute, coming home with a pillowcase full of candy and then belly aches and sugar melt downs for days.  I can feel the hate for halloween in my genes, but I try to fight it. As long as I treat halloween costumes as quick and dirty projects then I’m not mad when they are rejected or ripped or ugly or whatever.  A lot of people love halloween though and thank goodness because they make awesome costumes for us to ogle.

amazing and creative handmade halloween costumes

1. Baby Woodpecker, 2. Devil(ed) Egg, 3. Jedi Robe, 4. lace crown, 5. Star wars birthday courtesy of oliver and s and ottobre, 6. angry/suprised owl, 7. Infant Elvis Costume, 8. week 9.2, 9. in lieu

This is just a small selection of the fantastic tutorials out there for kids’ halloween costumes. The creativity and the construction of these costumes blows me away. If you know of any good tutorials (or have made some yourself) please leave a comment linking to it.  And get ready because the challenge starts on Monday!

hilarious halloween costume tutorials

1. strong man 2. freezer paper skeleton costume 3. sock monkey 4. pukka costume 5. care bear costume 6. frankenstein 7. happy mutant three armed baby 8. last minute kids owl costume 9. daisy costume

I know it not cold enough for mitten and hats yet, but it will be–even though somehow every year I try to convince myself that it won’t get that cold, what am I thinking? I live in wisconsin! We better make some cute things while they are little enough to actually wear them (unlike teenagers) and I’ve scrounged up some pretty fantastic tutorials for winter gear. I’ve made the martha stewart hat a bunch of times and if you can get the sizing right it is quick and stylish and warm to boot.

beautiful handmade hats, mittens and scarves

1. Dog Hat I made today toddler, 2. Handmade Holiday: mittens for Avery, 3. 12-09 Brown OrgFlwer Cap 1 Full, 4. Felt Mittens with Knitted Cuffs, 5. Button Me Up Scarf , 6. kid’s patchwork scarf::2, 7. snarves, 8. Make It Yourself, 9. Mittens, baby variation

wonderful tutorials for warm winter gear

1. cozy slippers 2. muff 3. felt hat 4. balaclava 5.yarn scarf 6. sweater mittens 7. wool scarflet 8. felt mittens with knit cuff 9. patchwork scarf

I’ve been thinking about making a kids clothes week challenge FAQ page, so if you have any burning questions be sure to send them my way in the comments or in an email (elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com).

Oops! a little late today with the round up of tutorials and pretty things. You probably don’t need any inspiration for baby things.–they are so little and cute and ridiculously fun to make. Be sure to add your favorite baby tutorial (not how to make one, silly, things to make for one) in the comments.

amazing handmade things for cute winter babies

1. Swing Coat, 2. Buttery Alpine Pixie Longie and Hat set made from two different wool sweaters, 3. Felted Wool Slippers – Size 18-24 months, 4. Modified and sewn in knit from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for Baby., 5. Sold 6-12 month Royal Purple Wool Romper with Flower Buttons, 6. Handmade, 7. little winter hats, 8. the sneeze., 9. log cabin baby blanket (folded)

fantastic tutorials for things to keep your baby warm

1. baby legs 2. pompom hat 3. easy peasy swaddle sheet 4. heirloom cut chenille baby blanket 5. hooded baby towel and washcloth set 6. baby bonnet 7. baby booties 8. winter buggie bag 9. baby snuggler

Wow, tutorials for coats are hard to find–understandably so–but honestly after making a few I can say that really they are not as hard as you think they are. I think a wool kimono top–ooo, like this–lined in something soft would be a beautiful fall jacket and simple to make (here is a kimono pattern for 6m0-8yrs).  On the other hand, inspiring images of handmade coats are everywhere! Oliver + S has a beautiful pattern for a toggle coat with a removable lining called the school days jacket + coat. And really you can’t go wrong with Liesl’s patterns; they are timeless, but somehow modern too and cute as all get out.

amazing handmade coats, capes and sweaters

1. QTPI Hoodie, 2. Swallow Cape, 3. New Fleece Vest, 4. duffle coat, 5. Sweet Pea, 6. Olive Shirt Coat, 7. Vintage Simplicity 5536 pattern, 8. hoodies, 9. St. Chickn

awesome tutorials for coats, capes, vests, sweaters and a skirt

storybook cape and muff, reversible vest, flutter cape, jacket placket, reporposed sweater tutorial, the smartigan, draft your own coat, lengthen coat sleeves, reversible patchwork scribble skirt tutorial

I know the last one isn’t really a coat (well it’s kind of a coat for your bottom half), but I somehow forgot it yesterday and was kicking myself for it because it’s the perfect fall skirt for us to make and for kids to wear:  patchwork (I’m looking at you scrap basket about to take over the world), quilted, wrap around and reversible. Doesn’t get any better than that. So go over to Nan’s house and tell her just how much you love it.

There are a bunch of projects that for some reason I never got around to posting this summer–probably because I was lying around in a pool of my own sweat, but now ahhhh fall is here and I feel human again.  And now my camera is broken, so all you are going to get for a while are whatever old projects I took pictures of. Sorry.

These shorts were a sucessful project all around: they looked like I imagined and my daughter loved them. I took a simple shorts pattern and added a long narrow triangle on the side (this is where my camera would come in handy), sewed a facing onto the triangles–a pink flower print that my daughter picked out–and then sewed the shorts up. They tie on both sides and the little pink flowers stick out just enough to be cute, but not cutesy. And hey, I made that shirt too. I made an adult size shirt I got at the dig n save into a kid size one: I took it in on the sides, reattached the (shortened) sleeves and hemmed the neckline.  I need to do this more often I think.

These shorts came from my well worn copy of Everyday Bottoms.  They are just plain old shorts, except they have a million details that made them take forever to finish:  pockets in the front, pockets in the back, flat felled seams, belt loops, double elastic casing, and then I had to go and use stripes so I had to (almost) match them.

But they held up all summer and will fit next year too. I’m crap at finishing garments properly; at some point I loose interest making it and just want the sewing to be over already, so I’m extra happy about these shorts. Everything is done on these shorts and stitched twice even.

These projects (and a few others I never took pictures of) are the products of leftover motivation from the kids clothes week challenge in the spring. It put me in the mindset that I didn’t need to buy any clothes for my kids because I could just make some silly.  There are almost a hundred of you signed up for the fall challenge already! Yee haw! Which is great because all that leftover motivation has gone stale and I need some of the fresh stuff.

p.s. some of you are having problems with the kcwc buttons and I really want to help, but I don’t know how.  If there are any of you more html savvy than I am could you head over to the comments and help them out. thanks!