Tube Dress Costumes

Since the baby's due date is so close to Halloween, I won't be dressing up this year. But! That doesn't mean I can let my creative juices flow and help other people make their own original costumes, so every Tuesday in October be sure to check here for an innovative costume idea to get you ready for Halloween. While none of the costumes will take a whole month to make, the ones I demonstrate at the beginning of the month will take more time to put together than the ones at the end of the month, so keep that in mind if you are pressed for time.

While looking at my own Pinterest board of costume ideas, I noticed I had a lot of costumes that were basically just a tube dress. Tube dresses are really simple to make, regardless of your sewing level.

• Tutorial on eHow for sewing a tube dress
• Another eHow tutorial for a no-sew tube dress
• If you fit into a pillowcase, you can rip open the top seam and attach elastic there for an easy tube dress - plus, pillowcases can be dyed to just about any color.
• Or skip the fabric altogether and make it from duct tape!

Alternatively, you could use a solid colored shirt with matching colored shorts/skirt/pants for nearly all of these costume ideas. Decide what you would be more comfortable wearing, and take a look in your closet for more inspiration.

Crayons

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A crayon is becoming a popular costume because it's fairly easy to make and looks great in a group.  To make the hat, you can get a party hat or a small witch hat and cover it with the same fabric you used in your dress. I liked this photo because it shows a t-shirt version of the same costume idea.

Sauce Packets

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This was the first tube dress costume I found, and I love how ... "saucy" it is. Cut out letters and a text box from white fabric, and print out the Taco Bell logo on printable paper. Write a clever statement in the text box. Sew down or hot glue all fabric elements.

iPod

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Duct tape dresses in action! The plastic appearance of the tape really works for costumes like this. Be sure to click on the "via" link under the picture, which goes into a little more detail on making a dress like this, and also has more last-minute costumes ideas.

iPhone

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This clever iPhone costume was made out of a dress already in her closet and lots of felt (which can be purchased at most craft stores for 20-25 cents a sheet.)

Soda

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With so many soda flavors out there, soda pop dresses would be a great idea for a group costume. All it takes is some fabric, fabric paint, and patience to trace out those logos. Do you and your friends already have t-shirts proclaiming your favorite bubbly beverage? Check out this t-shirt and shorts costume of soda cans. They even included nutrition facts on the back!

There are other great costume ideas made from a simple tube dress, many of which I have pinned on my Costume Ideas board on Pinterest. Be sure and check it out!

It Is Finished

Friday afternoon, around 2:00, I went to the post office to drop off the thing I'd spent most of 2012 working on.

Well, the one knitted thing. I suppose you could say my body has spent most of 2012 working on this baby.

But in all seriousness, that scarf that I've been working on forever is finally done, and out of my apartment. Out of my life. FINALLY!

I wish I could show you pictures of the final product, but really, this was one of those things where I was so glad to be done with it that I just didn't care anymore. When my friend gets it, if he takes pictures, I'll share them here.

My original plan after I finished the scarf was to sew, sew, sew on Christmas presents to get ahead on them before the baby arrived, but guess what? My sewing machine is being a jerk. Of course. I might just fabric glue, fusible web, and hand stitch my way through some of them until I can get a new sewing machine ... maybe one of those fancy ones with lots of stitching options....

Whoops! I started day-dreaming and drooling over a new machine. Gross.

I do wonder if I can convince Mark that I need one as a push present though.

Crafting Ennui

I'm not one of those people who can keep up lots of projects. Essentially, my personality makes me  obsess on ONE THING and it is THE BEST THING EVER I WILL LOVE IT ALWAYS and everything else just sits on the side. After a (week, few weeks, month) then my love for it starts to die down and is replaced with another obsession. It's actually the main reason why I've talked for years about starting an Etsy store and still haven't started one ... I knit four things for it and hit the  "blah, knitting" wall.

Actually, a large part of that wall is my on-again-off-again project, the 15-foot-long scarf of DOOM Doctor Who scarf. Do you realize how much garter stitch is in 15 feet? Too much. Here, this is about what it'll look like it when I'm done:

The 4th Doctor and his crazy scarf.
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Really, I've made pretty good progress. I started it in February, and even after taking off a few weeks here and there, I have about 5 or so feet left. But whenever I go to work on it, I end up putting it down in favor of doing something - anything! - else. I hate the yarn I'm using now. I hate the color scheme (it looks like the 70s barfed a rainbow.) I hate the mindlessness of garter stitch, and how tight my stitches are getting.

So what did I do at the beginning of summer to get my mind off of it? I started working on Christmas presents. I'm not going to go into detail about them because some of my friends read this blog, and all of my friends are getting pretty much the same thing, but it involves sewing, some embroidery and applique, a little paint, and one will even involve lights. (Don't worry, it'll make sense in a few months when I write a post on them.)

Of course, the sheer task of sewing up approximately 20 (spoilers) in addition to the gifts I was going to make for my family is, well, overwhelming to say the least. And when I get overwhelmed, I shut down.

What needs to happen is that I need to finish something, whether it be completing one of the Christmas presents that I've already started or finish knitting the monstrous scarf. I think that, once something is finished, I will get back my energy and find the motivation to finish more projects. So for right now, I'm going to shut down my computer, pick up my needles, and knit the heck out of that scarf. Wish me luck!

When you feel no motivation to work on a project, what helps you get working on it again?