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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 of 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…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

 

Short on time and money and want to make coordinated patriotic outfits for your kids? I got you! (And so does the Dollar Tree!)

I am always excited to peruse the Dollar Tree‘s seasonal items. This spring was no different, as they started phasing into stocking 4th of July merchandise.

My eye was instantly caught by these packages of individual swags of bunting. I envisioned using them to make aprons for the girls and capes for the boys. This was all I needed to go into full, red-white-and-blue production!

Let’s start with the focal material: the bunting. They were very creased when I first popped open the cardboard packaging and unfolded them.

I was wary of ironing them, because I knew the plastic material could easily melt. However, I set the iron on a very low setting and hoped for the best.

I thoroughly wet a towel, (using a patriotic one seemed appropriate) wrung it out, and lay it on the ironing board. I placed the bunting on top and started to press.

The damp towel really helped the creases to disappear, and I managed to get most of them out. Nothing terrible happened to the bunting material, either. Whew!

The bunting was quite wet after pressing, but it dried in minutes and was soon ready for the next step: trim! I ransacked my stash of thrifted, vintage lace and found enough to stitch around the bottom edge of each of the three of the pieces of bunting.

Before sewing on a ribbon sash, I removed the three metal grommets that were along the top edge of each piece of bunting. They were very flimsy and came right out with a few twists of the pliers!

Now, I could stitch a ribbon sash onto the top edge of each piece of bunting. I used this red, grosgrain ribbon from my stash.

Stitch, stitch, stitch! I left plenty of extra length at each end for tying a bow.

Here’s a back view of how I stitched on the ribbon sash and the lace trim.

Ta-da! Didn’t it turn out cute? This is seriously one of the easiest and most satisfying things I have made in quite a while. (It’s really fun to use something that’s already cut and prepped.)

What’s better than one cute thing? How about three cute things?

And, here’s the aprons in action!

Emma:

Eliza:

Annika:

Next time, I’ll share how I used the same bunting to make patriotic capes for the boys!

 

Glad Midsommar (Happy Midsummer)! Today is the Summer Solstice, which is the most anticipated and joyfully celebrated holiday in Sweden. (Or so I hear. We have yet to visit!) Since Jeff and I recently received our Ancestry DNA results (and made the surprise discovery that Jeff is Swedish, too) it seems like the right time to celebrate Midsommar on the blog!

   

So, it transpires that I am only 12% Swedish. I was expecting more, due to my heredity. For some reason, I have always felt Swedish. It’s probably because it’s a shared ancestry from both my parents and because I have many sweet stories of my mom’s Swedish ancestors, photographs, and physical objects that they owned and even made. One of my great aunts has been to the old, family home in Småland (pronounced: smoh-lahnd), so I can visualize their lives in a quaint, red house, by a river. I hope to share more pictures of all these things in a future post!

It should come as no surprise that I have been slowly and steadily collecting Swedish folk costumes over the last fifteen years! This is a photo of Emma, from a couple of years ago. I bought her costume on Tradera, which is a Swedish auction site, similar to eBay. Jeff jokingly calls it “Swede-Bay”. Shipping from Scandinavia can be expensive, so this costume cost a little over $100! (I plan on sharing my best Tradera shopping tips in an upcoming post.)

Look how darling it is, though! This particular costume is from Dalarna province, Leksand parish. On holidays, the little girls there wear yellow, flannel dresses,

handwoven striped aprons,

floral shawls and bonnets,

and little purses. (External pockets.)

This particular costume even came with a silver shawl pin and a gilt, enamel bracelet.

The pin has little dangles that are similar to their more famous cousins; the solje, which are worn with Norwegian bunads (folk costumes).

Midsommar seems to be the holiday that Swedes are most likely to wear a folk costume, especially the children. It doesn’t get more Swedish than swinging in a birch tree on Midsommar!

Since acquiring this outfit for Emma, I have also found another outfit for Eliza on eBay,

and a boy’s Leksand outfit for Elliott on Tradera.

Check out these swanky, old-fashioned, drop-front britches! (Have fun trying to go to the bathroom while wearing these, kids.)

Here they all were, a couple years ago, posing by our Swedish Mora clock (a miracle find on Craigslist).

However, now we have two more kiddos to costume, and Elliott has certainly outgrown his little boy folk costume! It takes years for me to find these costumes (and believe me, I am constantly looking) and they are expensive! Plus, I’m always nervous that they might spill on these priceless, dry-clean-only materials. What is a costume crazy mama to do? I guess we’re going to have to make our own! Stay tuned. In the meanwhile, go dance outside, eat some strawberries, and celebrate the coming of summer with your loved ones! Glad Midsommar!