Today, I had my first school visit as a published author. Wahoo!!! (Shameless self-promotion:
DEAR SANTASAURUS is out on October 1st.)
I knew I needed something special to wear. I wanted to dress the part. After hitting the mall, I decided I could make my own outfit for the big day.
And here it is...
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| Modeled by my lovely daughter |
Would you like to make your own Spinosaurus costume for Halloween or just to scare the dog? (It really makes my dog nervous when I wear this. Not sure why?)
Here's how I made mine...
First. The supplies: a green hoodie, colored felt, interfacing (for stiffness), thread, scissors, glue, cardboard to make a pattern.
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| Not all supplies are shown. I don't want to make it too easy. |
Iron the stiff interfacing to the felt. Follow the directions on the interfacing. I didn't and got white goo on my iron. Luckily, I don't use my iron much.
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| Ironing - something new to me |
Create a spine pattern, trace (mirror trace) and cut. Leave a 1-2 inch space between the spines for thickness at the bottom.
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| The pattern made from an old Amazon box. |
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| Traced, then mirrored and traced. Notice the gap. |
Pin and then sew. Sewing in a straight line is optional.
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| Use more pins than I did. I was lazy. It was a mess. |
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| The lines are kinda straight. |
Trim back the edge of the interfacing. I did this in the picture above. If not, the felt and the interfacing are too thick to sew through.
Next, pull the outside of the spine together and sew.
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| Lots of pins! |
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| Sew together in harmony |
Then I added a few stitched lined for texture. I didn't want to look like turtle. That wouldn't be cool.
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| Not a turtle shell |
Things get easier now as I add teeth.
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| Teeth pattern - I recommend a triangle. A circle or a square would look odd. |
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| Pin and sew. |
And finally eyes. (The white is self-sticking.)
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| Circles are good for eyes |
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| I used the spool as a pattern for the pupil |
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| The scary head |
I did put a few hand stitches in the pupil. I didn't want to lose an eyeball.
And that is my dinosaur outfit!
