Pants And Coat For The Toddler Grandson - The Vision

After digging through my children's patterns while making Miss Harper's Halloween costume, I decided to make my one and only grandson some clothes for Christmas.  After all, Christmas is only 61 days away.  Yikes!  Joann's was having a midnight madness sale, so I picked up these fabrics for $13.06



for this pattern. 

The red fabric is fleece, the blue and black fabrics are corduroy, and the train engine fabric is flannel.  The flannel will be the lining for the fleece.  I will be using a top stitch weight thread for a black blanket stitch around the jacket edge along with black buttons.  The buttons haven't been purchased yet.  I plan to purchase a couple of white turtlenecks to finish off this gift.

Greatful Dead Bear Halloween Costume - jester collar

It's amazing what you can do with a plate, bowl, and ruler.  This pattern was produced for the jester collar for the Halloween costume.  A bigger pattern was made for Miss Harper's dog, Moe.  Poor Moe, I hope he can cope with the humiliation of wearing pink.

Greatful Dead Bear Halloween Costume - feet

I traced the three pattern pieces for these slip on booties, so I could preserve the pattern.  Seam allowances were 1/4 inches.  No trimming needed. 

These bear feet were pretty easy to assemble and fun to make.   I really didn't know what length to cut the elastic.  I measured the width of the bootie and cut the elastic less 1/4 of that width.  I'd rather have them too loose than too tight.  I stretched the elastic across the fabric and applied it with a narrow zig zag stitch.  They appear just right. 

Miss Harper could use these booties through part of the winter to keep her toesies warm, since she won't be walking for a number of months. It would be nice to use some of the components of this costume once Halloween is over.

Greatful Dead Bear Halloween Costume - hood and pants

Except for the closures, I've fininshed the top half of the Greatful Dead Bear Halloween costume.  I looked through my children patterns to locate some type of pants pattern for the bottom of the costume. 

This is exactly what I had in mind.  The pajama bottoms consists of  one pattern piece and went together quickly.  The great part is that Miss Harper can wear them for warmth once Halloween is over.  I found that using multiple rows of elastic results in a more comfortable fit around the waist.

I purchased this bootie pattern for the bear feet, but they will have to wait for another day.   I may go into a bootie rampage later and donate them to charity.  For now, this appears to be a perfect solution for the bear feet.  The bottoms will be pink and the rest purple.

The final piece of the costume is the multiple point collar.  One for Harper and one for her dog.

Greatful Dead Bear Halloween Costume - coat

I've cut out the costume coat and hood. Fleece is treated like velvet, corduroy, and fur. They have nap, which means all pieces must to be cut in the same direction, or there will be different coloration in the pieces.  I always cut with the nap going in the down direction.  Of course, I learned this the hard way by making the mistake on a pair of slacks many years ago. 

Fabric should also be steamed and not pressed, which, admittedly, I failed to do.