What is my favorite part about costuming? It might be this part! I love putting the entire vision together and seeing my kids explore their world, while in costume. And I get to stand back and capture the experience.

The shrub-steppe landscape of the Columbia River Basin, complete with dramatic cliffs and rock formations evokes an epic, Biblical landscape, for me. Plus, our Classical Conversations home school curriculum was going to focus on ancient civilizations, that year. So, the kids strapped on their sandals, and we struck through the wilderness for the “River Jordan”.

Our summer family activities often revolve around visiting extended family at Lake Chelan. On the way, I am always making mental note of future photo shoot locations. There are so many beautiful views! Actually finding a good place to pull over, from the highway, and access said views is a bit of a challenge, though!

Getting there . . . As the kids were walking through all this dry brush in sandals, I was thinking, “Gee, I hope there aren’t any rattle snakes around here”.

River sighting! I’ve been talking a lot about sandals, but didn’t discuss footwear in the costume tutorials. Elliott is just wearing his fisherman sandals that he wore everywhere, that summer. Emma is wearing a pair of white, hand-me-down sandals that had seen better days. I spray-painted them brown, which immediately transformed them. However, they looked awful after this photo shoot! Spray paint might hold up for a church play, but it doesn’t stand a chance in actual shepherd-like conditions!

Speaking of church plays, Emma and Elliott love acting as shepherds in our church’s annual Living Nativity. It was eye-opening for them to have this experience. (Minus the sheep, thank goodness!)

This might be my favorite shot of Emma, during this expedition.

I wish I knew the name of the rock formation, behind her. It’s so majestic. Oops! Look at Emma’s feet, and you can see that the spray paint is already wearing off her sandals.

Just a shepherd boy, hanging out with some sagebrush.

Looking for that promised land…

Did you know that I love plants? Like, really, really, REALLY love plants? Well, I do. I still have a lot to learn about Wenatchee flora, after growing up near Seattle. So, I had to look up what this gorgeous, yellow, flowering, sage-like bush is called. Turns out, it’s “Rabbitbush”, or “Ericameria nauseosa“. No, I am not making that up!

Something was funny…

Cover from Vogue, Shepherd Edition, October, Year 1, A.D.

Props can make or break a photo shoot with kids. In this case, the staffs (fallen branches from our yard) totally enhanced the experience.

We hopped into the Suburban and drove a bit farther along the river so that we could get a little closer to this amazing rock formation.

“As I went down to the river to pray, studying about that good old way. And who shall wear the starry crown, good Lord, show me the way . . .”

You gotta be tough to make it as a shepherd.

Charleton Heston in The Ten Commandments *may* have influenced me, just a little bit.

Just a kid, with a stick, surrounded by lots and lots of rocks. Does it get any better than this? The kids could have played out here, forever!

I don’t know why, but wistfulness is a quality I like to hear in music, and it’s something I like to capture in photographs.

Maybe the elusive has an appeal.

 

“Look, I found some leaves!” I later learned that these leaves come from the “Great mullein” plant. It is a tall, imposing plant, with lots of healing properties attributed to it. The leaves were velvety soft, and the looked nearly pristine for months and months, afterward, in the car. (Elliott had a kind of natural history museum going on, back there!)

To be honets, the last part of our photo shoot felt a little dodgy. We were heading back towards home, and I really wanted to get some shots on a hillside. I couldn’t find any good place to park, so we totally just pulled over onto the shoulder and began to climb.

The light was fading, and the kids were skeptical. I was also not so sure this was a good idea. However, those gorgeous rocks and red bushes were calling to me!

Let’s do this!

This is when the staffs ceased to be props and actually became tools!

The hillside was steeper than it looks in these photos. Emma was a little freaked out.

Me: Act natural!

Emma: . . .

*sigh*

I’m not sure if this “natural” either, but it looks cool.

We made it up to a more stable spot. Kings of the hill!

“There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night . . .

. . . And lo! The angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them . . .” Handel’s Messiah, anyone?

The sun was setting, and it was time to go home. Elliott did a good job helping Emma down the hillside.

Thank you for joining us on our shepherd costume adventure! I hope this journey has inspired you to see God’s handiwork in your surroundings, and to explore them with your children.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills – Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2 NIV

To see how I made these Biblical costumes from pillowcases, head on over to my Part 1 and Part 2 tutorials.

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Alrighty! Let’s wrap up these Biblical costumes! In Part 1, we made the basic tunics. In this post, I’ll walk you through how I embellished them and made the headdresses and belts.

In this photo, Elliott is holding the one dollar pillow sham that became his vest, and Emma is holding the brown pillowcase that became his headdress.

Here, you can see the pillow sham laid on my work table. I planned to make the shorter side the front, and the longer side the back of the vest.

To mark the front center line, I folded the sham in half, vertically, and marked the fold with a pin. Then, I marked the spot with my trusty, purple Dritz Disappearing Ink Marking Pen.

How on earth do I figure out how to make things without a pattern? I cheat. All the time. For example, I used one of Elliott’s T-shirts as a guide to determine how wide I should make the front opening of his vest. All I had to do was to mark and and extend the lines down the front with a ruler, before cutting.

Next, I zipped around the new front opening of the vest with my serger and took out the decorative stitches that were down the sides of the pillow sham. (They would get in the way of the armholes that I was about to make.) I measured down from the shoulder to mark the length of said armholes.

As you can see, I still couldn’t find my seam ripper! I opened the side seams of the pillow sham with these little scissors. Bias tape for twenty-five cents? Yes, please! I selected this brown bias tape to trim the neck opening and armholes.

Need double fold bias tape but only have single fold? That’s okay! Just put the edge you want to encase in the center of the bias tape, and fold the sides down around it.

Trims have a tendency to creep and stretch while sewing, so I like to wait to cut the trim to length until after I’ve sewn it most of the way down. So, I began by pinning the bias trim at one end and continuing around, waiting to cut it until after I sewed it. These photos show how I fold and tuck the raw ends of the bias tape to conceal raw edges at the end.

Here, you can see the steps even more clearly, as I trimmed the vest armholes.

And…Ta-da! Finished vest!

Now, we’re going to switch over to how I made the headdresses, belts, and trims. First, I took the brown pillowcase and chopped it up! The top panel became Elliott’s headdress. The bit I removed from his vest pillow sham became the center of the headdress head tie. The material I removed from the hem of his tunic became additional tie length. I used more of the brown pillowcase material for Elliott’s tie belt. It has a stripe of brown bias tape running down the middle of its length, in addition to burgundy top-stitching. The top stitching is decorative and also makes the belt sturdier.

I used blue, striped, canvas-like material for Emma’s headdress. The “right side” seemed a bit too bright, so turned it over to show the “wrong side”. I trimmed a bit for her belt. Then, I did a stitch line about a half inch from the front and back edges of the headdress and on the ends of the belt. I unraveled the material up to the stitch line, which created a lovely little fringe. It’s all about the texture! There was a bit more of the brown pillowcase material left, so that became the tie for the headdress, along with a bit of vintage trim.

So, as you can see, all it takes to make a Biblical headdress is a rectangle of material with a long tie sewn in the middle one of the long edges, with a bit of the tie left free on each end for the, well…tying!

And now…For the moment we’re all waiting for…(or, at least I was waiting for)…The trims! I decided that Emma’s tunic should tie in the front. I stitched some narrow, vintage trim on top of the bias tape that went around her neckline. Then, I added vertical stripes of bias tape down the front and backs, and more vintage trims from shoulder to waist. 1970s earth tones, anyone?

To keep Elliott’s tunic a bit different from Emma’s, I decided that his should tie in the back. I used some leftover bits of fabric and trim to create a geometric design at the front of his neckline.

That’s it! Here’s a look at the different costume components. Emma:

 

Here are Elliott’s costume pieces:

In my next post, I’ll show you pictures from our photo shoot along the Columbia River. For now, here’s another teaser…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I can’t see you, but humor me and raise your hand if you ever wore a Biblical costume in a church play! Did you do it? Both my hands are raised! Well, I thought it was time to make Emma and Elliott a set of Bible costumes, too. These were made almost a year ago, in preparation for Classical Conversations Cycle 2, which focuses on Ancient World history. Yes. I made these a year ago and am just now posting about it! Welcome to my life.

These costumes have already gotten lots of use, and have been loaned to many other home school families. They’re a good, staple costume set to have around, so let’s dive right in!

It all started with two pillowcases I found at one of my favorite thrift stores. I chose them for their neutral color, the subtle stripes, and the piping trim. In my opinion, subtle textures really elevate what could otherwise be very plain costumes.

Here it is, folks! This is a spread of nearly all of the materials I used to make these costumes. The pillowcases were fifty cents, each. The striped pillow sham was a dollar. The trims were all bargains that I snapped up on my various thrifting adventures. I’m tellin’ ya! Grab those trims when you find them. Buying new trim gets expensive, ya’ll! (I went to college in Oklahoma, so I can say y’all from time to time.)

Next, I washed and dried the pillowcases. I always recommend a good soaking in OxiClean, and/or a natural product I also love: Rockin’ Green. It’s truly amazing/horrifying to see all the funk that these products can remove from clothes and linens! Then, I measured and marked how deep the arm holes would be, along the side seams.

Snip, snip! I can never find a seam ripper when I need one, so I used these little scissors to snip the stitches out of the side seams to make the tunic armholes.

I reinforced the side seams right at the base of the newly-made armholes, so the stitching wouldn’t continue to unravel.

One of the pillowcases had a worn spot at what would become the top of the shoulder. So, I pulled out my favorite “fixer”: Fray Check! I also ran a bead along the newly created armholes, since the bias trim I intended to use wouldn’t encase the raw edge.

While waiting for the Fray Check to dry, I turned my attention to the neckline. I used one of Elliott’s T-shirts as a guide for how big the neck opening should be. I used my favorite, purple, Disappearing Ink Marking Pen to mark the width and the depth of the vertical, T-line for the neck opening. I cut along these lines.

Before this next step, I had the kids try on their pillowcases to make sure their giant heads fit through the neck openings! Then, I sewed narrow bias tape along the vertical slit in the neck opening, by stretching it into as much of a straight line as possible as I sewed along.

Stretching creates a smooth stitching line and reduces fabric puckering, but it creates a U-shaped neck slit, instead of a sharp point. So, I folded the neckline slit edges together and stitched a small dart to taper the slit opening back into a point. There! Isn’t that prettier?

To finish binding the neckline, I stitched more of the bias tape around the top edge of the neckline, leaving extra tape at each end for ties.

Now, it was time to relieve this sea of beige with some accent colors! I trimmed the armholes of Emma’s tunic with brown, vintage, bias tape, leaving about an inch-and-a-half at each end.

I mitered the ends of the bias tape so that raw corners would be concealed and encased more easily when I folded the ends of the tape together.

Aaand…Here is the folding process. It takes a little patience and practice, but this is just one of the ways you can finish the base of the armhole.

I did the same for Elliott’s tunic armholes, only I used tan colored bias tape, this time.

Since pillowcases are long and rather narrow, I wanted to make sure the kids had some leg-room. This was achieved by opening parts of the tunic side seams to make leg slits. As with the armhole openings, I re-enforced the side seam with some extra stitches.

I gave Emma’s tunic one, longer side slit. As with the neck opening, I encased the edge with bias tape, stretching the slit completely open as I went. Then, I sewed a small dart at its top, to make the slit finish in a sharp point and lie smooth.

Next, I decided that Elliott’s tunic should be a bit shorter, so I removed the lower band and decorative piping from his pillowcase. I saved these scraps of material for later use.

Then, I gave his tunic two, shorter side slits and finished them just I had with Emma’s. I gave the bias tape a bit of decorative top stitching with burgundy thread.

At this point, both pillowcase tunics were ready to wear, with the edges all finished. However, they were very, ummm, beige. Time to add more trim and accessories! I’ll show you more in Part 2. See you soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to costuming, the magic is in the styling and the accessories. I know, I know! It’s hard enough to make the “main” pieces. Now we have to make the cherries on top? Well, never fear! Accessorizing can be quick and easy at the Dollar Tree.

When I was planning patriotic outfits for the kids, I grabbed these bows and hair barrettes at the Dollar Tree. (How convenient that the barrettes come in sets of three! Perfect for our three girls.)

Once I got a tube of Loctite Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Repair Adhesive, I had everything I needed to make patriotic hair bows for the girls! So, as you can see, the only thing holding these bows together is a twist-tie. I tied the ends in a knot to better secure the center.

Next, I trimmed the ends of the twist ties.

With the center of the bow secure, it was time to glue it to the barrette.

I popped a barrette out of its packaging and got ready to glue it to the bow.

I spread a wide swath of glue down the center top of the barrette.

Next, I pressed the bow onto the barrette and clamped it with clothespins to hold it secure while it dried.

The next morning, I removed the clothespin clamps, and ta-da! Hair bows!

Finished bows!

Now, it was time to use the same bows to make matching, patriotic bow ties for the boys! All I needed was another 2-pack of the patriotic bows and two packs of Headwrap headbands from the hair accessories section of the Dollar Tree. (Because I wanted to use the gold ones!)

All I had to do was to twist the twist-tie in the center of the bow around a headband!

In hindsight, I would have added a few dots of Loctite Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Repair Adhesive to bind the bow ribbons to each other and then to the twist-tie, at the center before securing it to the headband. This is because Elliott’s bow started falling apart whenever it started twisting off of the headband. (And, this happened a few times during the shoot.)

Other than that hiccup, I have to say, these bow accessories were super quick and satisfying to make!

Time to see the bows in action! First, the hair bows:

And the bow ties:

 

 

So, do you remember those patriotic bunting aprons I made for the girls? Well, I made capes for the boys, too!

Each cape was made from two pieces of bunting from the Dollar Tree…

…and red, grosgrain ribbon. Yep. That’s it!

After opening the bunting packages, I pressed the bunting on a damp towel and with an iron on low heat.

Then, I measured the boys’ “wingspans” and overlapped the two pieces of bunting for each of them, accordingly. I stitched the bunting together, along the top edges, at the overlap points. I stitched in a rectangle, since a larger stitch area provides extra strength.

All that remained was to find a way to fasten the capes onto Elliott and Oliver! So, I threaded the ribbon through the metal grommets that were already in the bunting and tied them to the boys’ arms.

This was quick to make, but rather cumbersome when it came time to dress them. Next time they wear the capes, I will probably stitch the ribbon onto elastic loops that can just slide onto their arms.

And, voilà! Capes!

Here are my silly superheroes in their bunting capes!

In my next post, I will share how I made the patriotic hair bows and bow ties. Thank you for reading!