Costumes for Kayli

Recently I spent a large portion of my life sewing these costumes for my sister Kayli's kids. It was so much fun. I loved it!!!! And partly for my records and partly for anyone looking to do something similar, this is what I used. Enjoy.

I'll start with Robin Hood, because he's Robin Hood.
I used this pattern for his hat. I was actually planning on using it for his shirt as well, however, I didn't realize when buying the pattern on Ebay, that it's meant for felt and most of it is glued together, or well at least not given accurate patterns for seam allowances and hemming, that sort of a thing, rendering it not very useful at all. However, the hat was perfect.
Then I used this pattern for his hood, which Kayli, is not meant to be pulled tight over his shoulders. I forgot too, until I saw this pattern again. (So take more pictures--with his belt too, just to humor me--please!) Anyway. I was planning on using costume B for his outfit altogether, but due to fabric issues (I had bought fabric when planning on using the Simplicity patten, hence it wouldn't have worked well to go to this) and the fact that I had accidently bought the man's version not the boy's, (I tried to exchange it, and even the girl at Joann's thought it should have the boys pattern in it too--so I'm not the only one--but they didn't have anymore) I didn't. While I was willing to try to scale down the hood, I wasn't as willing to try to scale down the whole thing. So I went back to my old standby shirt from making my Renaissance outfits. The tutorial is here.

The armbands were inspired by Russell Crowe. I've never seen this movie, is it any good? Anyone? I just estimated on the pattern and size for them, and punched in a few grommets. That's all.

Then of course you HAVE to have hosen. Which I used this tutorial to make--poorly. I've never mastered pants yet, or hosen. I bought a pair of wool pants at DI to make the hose (and hat) from because that is more authentic) and well, when I got them home and inspected them closer, I really think they're WWII era army pants. Why? They looked militaryish. They were from France and were stamped with the French place name and a serial number. They were the strongest constructed pants I have ever seen. Literally. I took them apart, trust me. They had double thickness throughout the thighs, the crotch was lined, there were spare buttons sewn on everywhere, and the actual button fly had buttons facing in and out (such a weird construction that I couldn't bear to throw it out, so I sewed half the fly into the hosen). Leo agreed with me too. So I really I don't know if they're actually WWII era, but that's all I could think of as to why they'd end up here in UT. Also, the guy must have been huge that owned them!! Seriously, the waistband came up to my bust when I held them up next to me. Crazy. I sewed the hosen terribly though. Kayli had to unpick parts to get them on Jethro. Oh, I also made the hole for the head on the shirt too small too. It was the last thing I sewed before mailing the package and I didn't bother to check it on Ana first. Oops. So that was Jethro's.

On to Friar Tuck's outfit.

Amazingly, I just used this pattern completely. Yes, it was meant for felt, but the pattern was so simple, that it didn't matter if I hemmed it all as it was.

No problems there except for making it black instead of brown the first time. Duh.Now for Alan a Dale. This was my most pieced together costume. I chose faux linen fabric because that looks like authentic linen but is much less expensive. :)
I used this pattern for the hat (McCalls M4805) however it is adult sized, and since Elena was asleep, I guesstimated the size to redraw it at. It was fairly close. Then I only had to unpick it four times, trying to get the lining right. Ruff.

Then I used this pattern for the pants/bloomers. Instead of adding lace I just added a contrasting color of fabric, and then added another strip of elastic. It didn't bunch together as tightly closed as I had hoped, I think because of how thick the fabric is.

Then I used this pattern for the sleeves (the kings)--but remember this was a man's pattern, so actually, I just saw how they did it and then redrew it down to Ethne's size. This is much easier than it seems, as I have Elena who is practically the same size. Still required being unpicked twice though. In fact, one sleeve took me four hours, and then the second sleeve took me 30 mins. Just goes to show what experience can do.

Then after finishing the sleeves, I kind of just made up the rest of the shirt and used the same hat edging pattern for the bottom of the shirt. I think one of the main reasons her costume turned out so well is that I had Elena to fit it to.

And last of all, Maid Marian. Maid Marian's dress turned out lovely, but much too big. The culprit: seam allowances. I never really followed the size of the seam allowances. Mine were much smaller, hence the dress was much bigger. (It was already one size too big, although I sized it down a lot when cutting out the fabric.) This is actually the most complex thing I have ever sewn following a pattern, so I'm sorry Kayli that I had that learning curve.
I followed this pattern, McCalls 5207.
My inspiration came from this website, Armstreet. The most gorgeous medieval dresses out there on the web. Trust me, I looked. I would love to be able to sew like this someday. Really, I would.I mean, seriously, isn't this beautiful? Then I made her a hat using McCalls M4806. Again, this was an adult sized pattern, and so I had to size it down for Hazel. However, in the process of sewing it, I think the wires slid together more, so it ended up too small. That is so sad. And I had no idea how big to make the ear things, because I had no one to fit it to except our neighbor's kid, who is NOT the same size as Hazel. This is the part where I broke four needles on my sewing machine. It also required a lot of hand sewing, but it is Kayli's favorite part, so entirely worth it. And this is where I got inspiration from for her hat, Kat's Hats. I LOVE these hats. Hazel's hat is in fact a Tressour Crispinette circa 1350-1405. The things you learn, eh? You should definitely check out her Cross-tree Headdress, and the Flowerpot Hennins. I personally would love to have a Flemish Hood. I wonder what Leo would say to that. It's a little squashed from the trip.
I didn't go for an authentic material on her dress, just a beautiful one with the color Kayli requested. I thought all in all, it turned out beautiful. If you would like to see more pictures of their costumes, here's a link to my sister's blog. Maybe next week I'll get a different camera and post pictures of my kids' costumes--Isabel and Elena won best costume at our ward's trunk or treat. Sweet.