Oopa Gangnum Style! {Halloween 2012}

In honor of being in Korea, Isaac decided that he wanted to be Psy, of Oopa Gangnum Style fame for Halloween. Are you not familiar with Gangnum Style? Then you HAVE to watch the video, I die every-time I watch it, the words are really funny in English too, they talk about how it is better to be smart then muscular, and modesty is the real sexy for women, in complete contrast to what you would think! Gangnum is the fancy shopping district in Seoul, and oopa means father, so it's essentially making fun of sugar daddy style/mac daddy style. (you should probaby watch the video EVEN if you've seen it before, don't worry, I'll wait!)  

You feel happier now right? Anyway, Isaac wanted a tuxedo like Psy, and I looked in my stash and found a lime green tropical weight wool, that would be perfect for making this version of Psy's signature look,

I used this pattern (I know a pattern right!) to make the jacket, but I heavily modified the collar to get the rounded tuxedo shape, and eliminated all the edge seam allowances so I could bind them in the black cotton bias tape (I made the tape since I couldn't find any ready made here) I cheated and the pockets are just flaps, not real pockets, and there is no facing in it or shoulder pads (couldn't readily get any here in Korea) 

And here is my little ham of a Psy,

 I found the pants at the air force base thrift store for $1 (along with a matching suit coat that also fit him, so score!)

 The shoes were some we found on clearance for $9 out in Korea

 It was pretty funny trying to find my blonde boy a black wig, we had to look out in Korea, since they don't celebrate Halloween, we had to go to regular stores. After us not understanding them, and the shop owners not understanding us when we said "short black wig" eventually we just said "Gangnum style" and they knew EXACTLY what we meant, this song is HUGE here!

 My baby dances like a white boy for sure!

 HEEEEYYYY Sexy Lady!!!!!!!!!!!

 The shirt and bow tie are Paul's from his high school band days! I did have to take a thrift store dress shirt and pick its collar off and then pick the collar off of Paul's shirt and add the dress shirt collar, since Paul's shirt was a traditional tuxedo shirt (I mostly used Paul's shirt because I wanted the pleats on the front, and I didn't feel bad using it because it is seriously on its last legs!)

 The sun glasses were just $3 ones from Amazon (yay Amazon Prime, saving American booties stationed in foreign lands)

 I added the slit to the coat back for more easy movement (my child has a booty!)

 I LOVE that I can get my 12 year'old to dance for me, I wonder how long that will last?

So that's the last of the Halloween costumes I made this year! I might upload some photo's later of what Paul and I wear, but we will see what comes together with that!

Marie Antoinette {Halloween 2012}

I promised Emmie a Marie Antoinette costume last Fall, but got too busy with school to actually make it, so this year she had me fulfill my promise,

(this is her snooty queen face)

Apparently Emmie was destined to be a snooty queen!

 I made the back a sack back gown, no one who knows a ton about this period judge me, I am pretty sure I am stealing from various decades, since I didn't do any research for this so much as winging it!

 The fabric is a poly-taffeta in pink and blue that I got for $4 a yard on clearance last summer, and the pink has an overlay of a fancy beaded and embroidered bridal tulle, that I got on sale at the same time as the taffeta (I want to say is was 40% off $25 a yard?)  

 The jewelry piece sewn to the front is the entire inspiration for the color palette, we found it in Alabama on the Endless Yardsale, and I immediately thought of a Marie Antoinette gown to go with it!

 Why not eat the cake myself says my Marie Antoinette!

 The cake is a felt one that I have had for several years as my Valentine's table centerpiece, I got it at TJ Maxx. I just hot glued a strip of elastic to the bottom to make it easier to hold onto. 

 I used pinking sheers, leftover embroidered tulle, and ombre wired ribbon that I got on clearance for $1.00 a spool (at the same time as everything else last year.) on the sleeves and down the front of the dress. I sent the ribbon through my pleater foot, (which was a nightmare) to get the ruffle.  

 Emmie's hips are padded out with shaped little pillows I made from cotton canvas, stuffed with batting, and then I sewed them under all the layers in order to give her the correct silhouette, but also the ability to sit! 

 I drew a heart beauty-mark on her cheek in eyeliner; she thinks she may want to be dead Marie Antoinette for actual Halloween, so she might get a whited out face with black rings under the eyes, and a line of blood at the neck...... I keep hoping she will stay with pretty Marie!

 We got A LOT of looks from passersby while I photographed her, she was loving all the attention!

 The lining of the bodice is actually fully boned like a corset, so she has the right shape (she isn't being squeezed, the back laces up as loosely as she needs it too) 

The pink cameo is one I have for my everyday wear, and I think it came from Target at some point.

 Her hair is my favorite part! (and was blogged about in my last post) 

They want to chop off my what?

Well I'll give you your stink'n cake then....

I hope you liked this dress, it was super fun to make, and I love how Emmie looks in it! (blue and pink are totally her colors!) I was briefly worried while making this that I wouldn't have enough fabric since I had bought everything for it last year, and she had a major growth spurt this summer, (and I don't have access to ANY American fabrics) but happily it worked out, and I was able to fulfill my promise of a pretty, pretty princess dress (although she corrects me and says its a "queen's" dress) even if it is a year late!

Marie Antoinette Powdered Wig {Halloween 2012}

So I have been trying to put together my giveaway for my 200th post, but while I have been at it, Halloween time is slipping away, and it will be too late to share my projects for that! So instead I am going to catch up with what I need to, and then I will do the giveaway (I am trying to put something really fun together.)

This year for Halloween Emmie wanted to be Marie Antoinette (I actually bought all the stuff for this costume last summer while we were in Alabama for Paul's Air Force training, but I ran out of time to make it since I was doing school work in the fall, and she was a Lion in a tutu by recycling her school play costume.) Anyway, this year I promised her I would actually make her the costume I intended for last year, and I think it turned out pretty fantastically!

I'm going to share the whole look later, but for now, I thought I would share the wig I made over for her costume. I started of with this wig for $8 from amazon,

It's supposed to look like a rock and roll bride of Frankenstein, but when it arrived, it actually looked like a flattened and squashed cotton candy wig. The first thing I did was cut off the 4 little sections of green hair right by the cap that the hair was sewn down to, and then put it on my poor scarred foam head (the movers were NOT kind to her poor face.) Here are the before pictures, I had brushed the wig out by this point.

There is a fantastic cone built into the cap of this wig, so you get a nice tall top. The first thing I did was begin to roll the front into big curls,

I did this with just my fingers, taking one section at a time,

and rolling is around.

After rolling the whole thing, I would pull my finger out,

and then add a line of hot glue.

that I then squished down to the cap. After rolling the whole front, including dealing with the front bangs, I sprayed the whole front section with a ton of hairspray.

For the sides and back, I fired up my smallest curling iron, I tested it first to make sure I wasn't going to melt the hair, or ruin my iron on a small section, but after I knew it was going to be fine it went quickly.

I then hair sprayed and glued the snot out of the whole thing to keep everything in place. Here's what the styled wig looked like when finished,

I could have been done here, but I didn't really want the neon pink color, and it was meant to be a powdered wig, so I covered the foam head in plastic (spray paint will eat foam) and took the wig outside for a gentle coat of white spray paint. I wanted the pink to still show, so it was a very light coat, but the effect was just as I had hoped and worked to REALLY glue the hair in place, make it look less plastic-y and it made the wig the perfect color for Emmie's dress.

 As a final touch, we added some blue fabric roses, a line of blue feather trim, and a little of the embroidered tulle that is over the pink on her skirt and bodice. The cone in the cap is perfect for fitting her long hair, which is all bundled up on top of her head in a bun.

  I am absolutely in love with how this turned out, it is almost exactly how I envisioned it, and she feels SOOOOO fancy in it! I'm going to share all the pictures of her whole dress in the next post, I don't have a dress tutorial since I was mostly making it at night, and fitting it to her, so I am afraid there is not much to share as far as making it is concerned, but the finished product is pretty fun!