Yes You Can Costumes

Making the Extraordinary from the Ordinary

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Me
  • Blog
    • Animal Adventures
    • Cultural Creations
    • Flights of Fantasy
    • History With The Hemingers
    • Holidays with the Hemingers
    • Laundry Lab
    • Oh No You Didn’t!
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My account

Upcycle a Shirt into a Costume Vest

March 22, 2021

*Purchasing through my affiliate links earns me a small commission to keep creating!*

Need a simple costume vest in a jiffy? Look no further than that old, button-down shirt at the back of your child’s closet! Is it the wrong color? Dunk it in some RIT dye, like I did for Elliott and Oliver’s Kelly Green leprechaun vests. So, let’s upcycle some shirts into costume vests!

The beauty of converting a shirt into a vest is that you don’t need to add buttons, or really much of anything else! You mainly just remove elements that you don’t need. 

Supplies

  • Button-down shirt
  • Double-fold bias tape, 1/2 inch wide
  • Thread
  • Safety pins
  • Sewing pins
  • Ruler
  • Fabric scissors
  • Rit dye (optional)

Fitting

First, I nabbed my little leprechaun for a fitting. I determined which buttons I would keep as the top and bottom ones of the vest. I pinned the hem and spread the collar. The fold line of the opened collar would be the future line on which I would cut to begin to remove the collar. I also marked where I wanted the shoulders to land. You can see me gauging whether or not to take the side seams in. I ultimately decided not to, but you could to achieve a trimmer fit.

DIY Easy Vest

Pinning/Sleeve Removal

Next, I folded the shirt perfectly in half on my work surface. I matched the armscye seams with pins, and then marked the new shoulder grade down to the armpit with more pins.

The pins holding everything in place allowed me to cut through both sleeves at once to achieve the (basically) exact, mirror-image armhole shape on each side.

Now, to alter the collar! I removed the safety pins and marked the grade of the new vest neckline from the shoulder to the button placket with quilting pins.

Collar Removal

Next, I used a ruler to guide the straight cut I made from the shoulder to the center front.

Here, you can see the cut-open collar. See? It’s starting to look like a vest!

It’s a bit awkward to cut through all the layers, like the button placket. However, covering the newly cut neckline in bias tape soon fixes that problem. It is very satisfying to encase all the internal weirdness with a cohesive strip of material!

Next, I finished removing the collar entirely with just a few scissor snips along the collar band. I saved the collar, along with the sleeves, to make matching, Irish princess accessories for the girls!

Bias Tape

Regretfully, I was in such a hurry to finish the vests, (when am I not, though) that I don’t have pictures of me sewing on the double-fold bias tape around the neckline. However, it is pretty intuitive, and there are lots of great YouTube videos that can show you how, like this one!

Hem

The above series of photos showed how I quickly tacked up the hem of the shirt with a few back and forth stitches in strategic areas. Then, I ran over the hem with an iron to make a crisp, finished look. (Did I mention that I was in a hurry?) Below, I show more hem and bias tape details. By far the trickiest part of handling bias tape is how to tuck and fold the ends to created a clean, mitered edge.

Armholes

I finished the armholes of the vest by serging around them and then folding that edge inward and stitching around it one time. The result was rather puckered armholes This is probably mostly because it is difficult to hem a curved edge. Encasing the armholes in bias tape would have produced a cleaner, more polished look, but, c’est la vie! Fortunately, this shortcoming isn’t as noticeable when the vests are worn.

DIY Upcycle Shirt to Vest

And, there you have it, folks: Yes You Can make cute vests from button-down shirts!

More St. Patrick’s Day Content

  • DIY Dyed Green Leprechaun Costumes – RIT Dye tutorial
  • DIY Irish Princess Crowns and Necklaces – Turn shirt scraps into Celtic capes, chokers, and tiaras.
  • Happy St. Patrick’s Day – The photo shoot with the finished costumes!

 

Share inspiration!

  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email


Filed Under: Cultural Creations, History with the Hemingers, Holidays with the Hemingers Tagged: Costumes, DIY, Dyeing, Easy Costume, History with Kids, Holidays with the Hemingers, Irish, Kid Costume, Kid Costumes, Leprechaun, RIT Dye, St. Patrick's Day, Upcycle

DIY Suffragette Costumes

October 23, 2020

*This post contains affiliate links.*

Celebrate women’s history by assembling your own, amazing, suffragette ensemble with carefully curated thrift store finds. Make your voice heard with all the right symbolism in your accessories. Votes for women!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

When you think of “history”, do you see a series of black and white photos in your mind’s eye? I confess that I sometimes do. That is why I love to explore the past in a tangible way. For me, that entails clothes! In past posts, I showed you how to make suffragette picket signs and sashes. Now, it’s time to put together the rest of the outfits…

DIY Suffragette Costumes

…In color! As with any organization, the suffragette movement chose its colors very strategically to convey its message: Equality for women. To my surprise, I learned that the main color used by all American suffrage organizations was yellow! Later, the National Woman’s Party was the only group to adopt purple, white, and yellow (gold): “Purple is the color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause. White, the emblem of purity, symbolizes the quality of our purpose; and gold, the color of light and life, is as the torch that guides our purpose, pure and unswerving.” The Suffragist, December 6, 1913.

DIY Suffragette Costumes
  • Hats

Well, I happen to really like purple, so I decided that we were members of the National Woman’s Party. Simple as that! And, would you look at what I stumbled upon at the Dollar Tree? Pre-made purple bows on hair clips!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

You know what you can also find at the Dollar Tree? Hats! (In the spring and summer, that is.) I got two matching ones for Eliza and Annika. (One came via the thrift store.) All I had to do was snip off their pink flowers and slide the purple bow clip onto their white, elastic hatbands.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Voilà! I did the same “cheat” on my mom’s hat (center), and Emma’s (tan straw hat on the left). Emma’s hat was borrowed from my husband’s grandmother’s costume collection. This particular hat had a convenient loop of ribbon on its band that made attaching the bow a cinch! Easy-peasy suffragette hats on the cheap!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

My hat took a little bit more work. (Of course!) I snipped off its white and yellow sequined flower. Those stitches had also held the brim up. So, I took needle and thread and re-stitched that part of the brim back to the crown of the hat. I made the last 3-4 stitches large and loose to make a loop for the hair bow to slide through and stay secure.

DIY Suffragette Costumes
  • Props

If photographing kids has taught me any lesson, it’s this: Give them something to hold, aka “props”! (I plan to discuss this further in a future post.) In brief, props serve as toys that the kids can play with, while also helping them to get into character. Physical items can help the costumes and setting to merge into a cohesive story. The props I selected for this photo shoot were bouquets of yellow roses.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

A variety of flowers are associated with the woman’s suffrage movement, with yellow roses and sunflowers being the most popular. I selected these yellow roses from the Dollar Tree, since they would be durable.

DIY Suffragette Costumes
  • Outfit Pieces

Let’s put it all together and make our costume ensembles, shall we? It’s actually really difficult to find historically-appropriate dresses with sleeves. All of these outfits are assembled from blouses and skirts (my mom and me) or sleeveless dresses layered over blouses (the girls). Here is Annika’s little outfit. I’m pretty sure her shoes only cost a dollar. I already had the tights and vintage pinafore. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a blouse in her size or a good under-dress. (The pinafore was sheer with eyelet holes all over. It really needed some kind of layer beneath it.) Then, it occurred to me: I could use a larger-sized girls’ blouse! The sleeves and collar worked with the pinafore, and the shirt’s length also functioned as an under-dress. I’m not gonna lie; I felt pretty clever for coming up with this “cheat”!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Next is Eliza’s outfit! She’s already gotten some mileage out of these shoes, since she also wore them in our 1960s family photo shoot. In fact, I like to make sure that each of our girls has a pair of black and a pair of white dress shoes. This carries us through the year for church, and it also takes care of footwear for lots of costume looks.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Eliza’s blouse is a vintage one that I used to wear! (Wait. Does that make me vintage?) Her darling, eyelet dress is a Hanna Andersson piece I found on eBay.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Emma’s dress was an amazing find. I scooped it up for twenty-five cents at a thrift store sale!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Under her dress, Emma wore another vintage blouse from my childhood wardrobe. (Maybe I am old!) Tights, white shoes, a hat, flowers, and a suffragette sash and picket sign completed her ensemble!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

*This post contains affiliate links.*

Speaking of great thrift store finds…(Okay. I’m always talking about great thrift store finds! This one is really fantastic, though.) Look at this gorgeous blouse with pin tucks and insertion lace! I have been looking for a blouse like this for YEARS. This piece is a treasure that will, henceforth, have me covered for looks from 1890 – 1920. The only flaw was the small, brown stain on its front. Fortunately, a soak in OxiClean took it right out!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

The skirt I paired with the blouse definitely wasn’t the cheapest thing I’ve ever found at a thrift store, but I couldn’t resist its lace panels.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Then, I completed my suffragette look with my modified hat, white knee socks, thrifted belt, vintage shoes, and, (of course) a picket sign and sash.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

My mom’s outfit was also made of separates. Her skirt was a $5 vintage find.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

The rest of my mom’s outfit came from various thrift store excursions, except for her blouse, which I bought on eBay. Her shoes deserve a special mention: vintage ballroom dancing shoes make excellent costume footwear for multiple time periods! They can be found in all sorts of colors and heel heights. Keep your eyes peeled for them!

DIY Suffragette Costumes

If you’ve made it this far, you may be wondering, “What is up with all the white?” Well, lots of women in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods already owned white blouses and skirts as parts of their everyday wardrobes, especially for summer wear. These were clothing articles that were quite accessible and made a big statement when worn during parades, demonstrations, etc.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Additionally, the suffragettes wore white in a deliberate attempt to bolster their feminine image. Opposing propaganda sought to paint a negative image of them as aggressive and masculine. By contrast, men who supported women’s suffrage were depicted as hapless fellows left at home, holding the babies and wearing the skirts. When suffragettes gathered en masse, they were literally sending a strong cultural message of bright hope, purity, and femininity.

DIY Suffragette Costumes

Speaking of gathering, I hope you’re ready to see the pictures from our suffragette parade photo shoot! Grab your sashes, hats, and picket signs and join us in the march. See you there!

*This post contains affiliate links.*

Share inspiration!

  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email


Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged: DIY, Easy Costume, Feminist, Halloween, History with Kids, Kid Costume, Suffragette, Votes for Women, Women's Suffrage

DIY Pillowcase Biblical Costumes – Part 2

October 10, 2019

*This post contains affiliate links.*

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…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share inspiration!

  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email


Filed Under: History with the Hemingers Tagged: Biblical Costumes, Church, Church Play, DIY, Easy Costume, Pillowcase, Upcycle

DIY Pillowcase Biblical Costumes – Part 1

September 19, 2019

*This post contains affiliate links.*

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share inspiration!

  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email


Filed Under: History with the Hemingers Tagged: Biblical Costumes, Church, Church Play, DIY, Easy Costume, Pillowcase, Upcycle

DIY Newsie Costume Pieces and Alterations

May 27, 2019

The beauty of this photo shoot is that I basically threw it together in one day! How is that possible?

Well, there’s no doubt that we have more costume-y things lying around our house than the average family. We also benefit from having both girl and boy clothing to pull from, given that we have three daughters and two sons. In any case, these Newsie costumes are very attainable!

Let’s start from the top, shall we? A Newsie just isn’t a Newsie without that iconic cap!

We already owned this beautiful plaid one. Jeff’s parents got it for Elliott, in London, a few years ago. Elliott just loves this hat and he’s worn it quite a bit. It has an extra sentimental history because he wore it when we went to see Jeff as Bert in the musical, “Mary Poppins”. Was that really three years ago? What a magical, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious show that was!

Eliza ended up wearing the plaid hat in our Newsie photos (she loves red), and I bought three more caps on Amazon so our older four could all wear them when they came to see us in “Newsies”! (I kept trying to find them in thrift stores, but they just weren’t turning up.) So, I ordered this set of two, Newsie Flat Caps.

Then, I ordered a smaller Newsboy Hat for Oliver. Moral of the story? These hats aren’t cheap. I intend to snap them up whenever I find them at the thrift store, from now on. They are very versatile, so they will get lots of use in our family!

Moving right along…Here’s Emma’s outfit. Only the socks were hers. The other pieces came from the rest of the family!

Emma’s vest was one that I bought at Target and wore in my early 20s. I just took it up at the shoulders so it would fit her.

When Emma tried on the vest, I pinched it up at the shoulder seams until it was raised to a good length on her torso. Then, I stitched the vest at the shoulders.

Emma’s knee pants were a pair of long shorts that I also used to wear. I altered them to fit Emma by pinching two darts at the back of the waist. I also made them fit more snugly under her knees by moving the button at the hem farther over. This drew the tab closure tighter under her knees.

These simple alterations took mere minutes!

The darts are triangular shaped folds of material that start wide and then taper in. Normally, I would make darts taper to a fine point, but the bulky, back pockets on the shorts got in the way. Meh. Good enough for a Newsie costume!

Emma’s boots were a last-minute find! I saw a pair on Facebook Marketplace and met the seller in our Target parking lot the day of the shoot. At $5, the price was right! The zippers are not historically accurate, but boots can be hard to find. Plus, I knew they wouldn’t be as noticeable when the pictures were in black and white.

On to Elliott! In addition to his new hat from Amazon, Elliott wore a thrifted vest, boots, a pair of my socks, one of his own shirts, and his Pilgrim pants.

Eliza wore one of Oliver’s shirts, an old vest of Elliott’s, thrifted boots, and some shorts that I turned into knee pants.

The shorts came from our YWCA thrift store. Green tags were 50% off, so the shorts were actually $1.50! The hems were double-stitched. I simply took my seam ripper to the lower row of stitches, and made a small opening in the upper row. Then, I took some thrifted elastic and fed it through this make-shift elastic casing with a safety pin.

This is definitely the fastest and easiest way to make short pants or breeches!

The downsides to using elastic are: 1. It’s not historically accurate. 2. The activity of the wearer causes it to ride up, as you can see, here!

Oliver’s outfit was the most colorful, although you can’t tell in the black and white photos! He also wore his Pilgrim pants.

We ran out of vests, so, I decided to break in the suspenders that he’s going to wear in my sister’s upcoming wedding! (Emma was also wearing a set, hidden under her vest.)

Annika wore one of Oliver’s shirts and some shorts that I took in by making a small pleat at the hem of the inseam. Her vest and boots were thrifted and the hat is one of mine!

And that, my friends, is how I put these outfits together!

Here’s a look at our Newsies in full color!

Share inspiration!

  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email


Filed Under: History with the Hemingers Tagged: DIY, Easy Costume, History with Kids, Kid Costume, Musical Theatre, Newsies

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Recent Posts

  • Multicultural Costumes and Cooking with Kids
  • Upcycle a Shirt into a Costume Vest
  • Marzipan Reed Flutes – Costume Pieces
  • Marzipan Behind the Scenes Bloopers – Homemade Nutcracker
  • Marzipan Reed Flutes – Homemade Nutcracker

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • March 2022
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • December 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • November 2017

    Categories

    • Cultural Creations
    • Fantasy Fun
    • History with the Hemingers
    • Holidays with the Hemingers
    • Uncategorized

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org

    Connect

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Theme Design By Theme Fashion · Copyright © 2023

    Copyright © 2023 · Craft Haven Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Enter your name and email and get the weekly newsletter... it's FREE!
    Introduce yourself and your program
    Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.