Katniss Everdeen – Oooooh yea.

When my twinny said that she wanted to be Katniss Everdeen for Halloween, I was thinking we were just talking about a black body suit. Well, I was mistaken. This twin wanted the whole works. She wanted the white sleeves, the white piping, the round inserts, everything.

That’s right. Move over Katniss Everdeen. There’s a new badass in town.

 

The Set-Up

I used Jalie 3135, the skinsuit, to create this look. I had to slice and dice this baby up to match the Katniss jumpsuit. It was pretty easy actually. I just eyeballed the style lines and sliced up the pattern. I highlighted all the edges to remind myself to add seam allowances. This pattern isn’t a raglan sleeve so I made a faux-raglan sleeve.

I found this matching fabric at JoAnn’s. It was part of the Yaya Han Cosplay collection and it’s PERFECT for this costume.

For the “piping,” I just freehanded the lines and then zigzagged over the lines. Then, little Katniss herself ran elastic through the zigzag until it created a piping effect.

The Result

A very happy little camper. She even made herself a little bow and arrow.

She wore it all day so I think it’s pretty much a win.

Whew, now something for me!

The Costume (almost all of it)

How much fun is this costume?? I think the loin cloth actually kind of looks like leather. And having a tail is always so fun.



See? And you guys were totally right about the black heels. They do lengthen and extend my legs. And that Avatar girl is so long and lean, I need all the help I can get.


 
The next time you’ll see this will be once I’m all duded up and ready to rock. I'll also give you some details on how I put everything together (including attaching the tail you naughty girl, you!).

Halloween Progress . . . The shoes

You guys were right. You almost always are . . . .
Black heels make it look so much better! I bought mine at Famous Footwear.


Next up: The whole kit and caboodle sans make-up and wig.

Halloween Progress . . . Stripes, and lots of them

So I’ve been wracking my brain on how to make a template for my stripes. Tape? Way too time consuming. Paper? Maybe but it’ll get soggy. Cardstock? Maybe but how to get it around the corners smoothly. Then, mental head slap, why not use fabric??!? I only have 500 yards or so of it lying around. I dug out the rest of that ugly, cheap polyester felt and put that to the test. I knew I needed something beefier than a cotton. The felt was just perfect. So I cut out some larger and smaller stripes in my felt.



I stuffed my pants with newspaper and pinned on the felt templates. Notice the yard is snow free! Yea October in Alaska!!


Here’s a better picture.


Here’s the first run. I did one set down each side and then came back to each side a few times to get the holes and empty spots. I can tell you that I really, really like the Valspar spray paint from Lowe’s. No stupid wobbly spray knob and no mess.



I think the stripes look very nice. I didn’t want perfect moon-shaped arcs.


Look! A dismembered Na’vi on my lawn!!


Here’s the top. There aren’t many of the top because it started snowing on me. Damn Alaska in October! I had to hurry and get done!


Here’s the back of the finished shirt. I cut several inches off the bottom after I was done. I knew it was way too long so I didn’t really do much painting down there.


Next up: The Shoes!

Halloween Progress . . . Tail!!

I wasn’t sure how this spray painting shin-dig was going to go so I wanted to start with something easy and that I didn’t mind throwing away if it didn’t work. Therefore, the tail seemed like the easiest choice. I used blue painter’s tape and made some stripes. I put it on the lawn and sprayed the heck out of it. One thing I learned is that I do not want to be wearing this little outfit when I spray paint it. That paint goes right through.


When I removed the tape, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked good although it smelled like, what else, spray paint.


Then I used the “tail” method in my handy dandy Singer Halloween costume sewing book. I love that thing; bought it at a garage sale for a buck or something. This picture shows the set up right before I sew the fabric together right sides together. Click to make this bigger so you can read the text.


Here’s my tail in all it’s glory.
 

Here’s the “hair”. I used black twine and just untwisted it to make it more hair-like. I probably should have added more hair.


Next up? Makin’ stripes!!

Halloween Progress . . . Loin Cloth

I’m not sure what else to call it but a loin cloth. I used cheapy brown polyester felt and just made a rectangular pocket. I cut more of the felt into strips and braided them together to make the belt.


Here’s a close-up of the belt. I added beads to the last part just by braiding them in.

I added a casing on the back for the beads to go through. I made the belt super long so it can go around my hips a few times.


Next up?? The tail!

Halloween Plans!! You guys'll love this!

Last year I had a blast making (and wearing) my Halloween costume. If you don't recall, I went as Amy Winehouse and had a lot of fun. This year I'm planning on going as Neytiri, the Avatar girl. How much fun will that be?

So I ordered yardage of the Orina Nylon Swimwear fabric from Fabric.com. I am planning on either melding two patterns to make a jumpsuit or making a pant/top combo out of the fabric. I know the combo would be easier and maybe I could wear it for some other occasion (not). The combo would also be easier to alter and change the torso length. Once I cut out the one-piece jumpsuit, I'm stuck with it. I'm planning on making some templates for the stripes and having a friend spray paint stripes on while I'm wearing it. Then I'll make a simple loincloth like above. Then, all I need is a wig. I love wigs! I might even be able to take the Amy wig and braid it and add beads to it. We'll see.

I plan on using Jalie 2215 because I've made it numerous times and the fit is snug for the top and the bottom. Here's one of the versions that I've made. The knit top here is a little loose because it has very little recovery.

I was also a bad girl when I went to Fabric.com. I loved that Slub Rayon Jersey Knit so much that I also bought it in black and grey. Oops!! But I HAD to get up to the free shipping mark of $35. 

Halloween

We had two Halloween parties to attend this year. Because most of my friends have kids, we did the adult party on Friday night so that on the actual Halloween night we could do trick or treating with our kids. My husband is Biker Dude. The tats are all fake but look great. Needless to say, I danced my little toes off and had a great time. My mother was here to watch the kids.

We took several cheesy couples photos before we left.

This is Amy Winehouse being naughty. My husband is so patient.

Here's me after I've had a bit to drink. Do you think I could be smiling any wider?? The doctor is not nearly as into this photo as I am. Part of it is that my hair is all over the place. Like my tats? It's one of those tattoo shirts.

Ginormous hair. The back combed it to within an inch or its life. And, it's really, really, really hard to get that much eyeliner the same on both sides. I figured the worse it was, the more realistic is really would be for ol' Amy.

I made myself leather arm bands to hide the ends of the tattoo shirt. I just cut two strips of leather and added copper snaps.