Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Finished Project: McCall's 6814 - Children's costumes

You know it's a bad sign for a sewing project when you have to Google one of the notions from the pattern notion list because you've never heard of it before.

For the record, "headliner fabric" is a soft, spongy foam-like "fabric" that is typically used in upholstery. Also, it's a bitch to sew, and I hope to never have to deal with the stuff again.

Anyway, backing up a few steps, my 3-year-old daughter wanted to be a robot for Halloween this year. Specifically, she wanted to be a blue robot. I really, really tried to push her towards the DC superhero costumes put out by Simplicity, but 3-year-olds know what they want, and Eva wanted to be a blue robot. I'd vaguely remembered seeing a robot costume pattern on the McCall's website and wound up ordering the recently out-of-print McCall's 6814.
McCall's 6814
Note that the robot looks suspiciously similar to the robot Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba (a former favorite tv show of Eva's):

Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba
Several trips to JoAnn's, $65 on fabric and notions, and many hours of work later, Eva had her blue robot costume:

Eva in her robot facepaint, post-office-Halloween party
Given the labor effort and expense that went into this costume, I probably shouldn't be too surprised that I couldn't find any reviews for the pattern on PatternReview or on sewing blogs. This costume was a case where it would have been really helpful to have found a previous review or some tips or anything to help out with some of the tricky bits.

 

Fabric and Notions Used

 

Oh boy...you know you're in for a marathon when the pattern envelope splits the notions list between the actual envelope and the paper instructions inside. If you want to tackle this costume, here's the supply list that you'll be buying:
  • Fabric for the jumpsuit (in my case, I used a lightweight poly silver lame that shredded if you so much as looked at it).
  • 12" zipper for the jumpsuit
  • Poly crepe-backed satin for the vest and helmet
  • Headliner fabric to interline the vest and helmet pieces
  • A variety of felt squares for the gear and button appliques
  • Paper-backed fusible webbing to fuse the applique pieces to the vest
  • Velcro (for the vest closure)
  • Foam (the disks on the helmet are foam disks wrapped in the silver lame fabric)
  • 3 pipe cleaners
  • 1 pom-pom
Oh, and to attach the lame-covered-foam disks, pipe cleaners, and pom-pom to the helmet, I had to buy one of these:
I now own a hot glue gun. Is that "Mom" enough for ya?

I omitted the window screen from the helmet for the sake of not obstructing visibility (this is also why the helmet is somewhat collapsing on itself).

Pattern Drafting, Sizing, and Alterations

 


This pattern is available in McCall's childrens' sizes 2-8.  Eva should be a size 3 based on the size chart. I considered sizing down because of the huge amount of ease that Big 4 children's patterns are known for, but I'm glad that I didn't. The jumpsuit would have been too short on her had I sized down; go with the size chart and/or your usual RTW size for your child with this one.

Pattern Instructions

 

Oy.  The pattern instructions are enough to get the job done, but they don't really point out any "gotchas" for working with these materials.  The headliner fabric is a nightmare to work with, and they have you underline all of the outer pieces for the vest and helmet with it. This stuff squishes and stretches all over the place. There must be an easier way to underline your "fashion" fabric with this (I did machine basting), but I have no clue what that would be. There was no way that I was going to hand-baste all of those pieces for a kids' Halloween costume. Also, the seams involving the headliner fabric are all horribly puckered. No one said anything about it, but I was glad that this costume wasn't an entry on Project Runway.

 

Final Thoughts

While this project was a huge pain that took forever to sew, but Eva loved it, and that's what counts. She got to wear it to her preschool Halloween party, trick-or-treating at my office, and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.

"My name is Eva. I am a robot."
Would I make this costume again?  Hell, no. Would I recommend it...well, there aren't a whole lot of other robot costumes out there that don't involve an aluminum foil covered box, so there's that.  If you are asked to make a robot costume, this pattern will likely result in a happy child, and that's the important part.

32 comments:

  1. Your daughter is SO CUTE! Her dance that you posted on Facebook made me giggle so hard! Well done on the costume - I wonder what she'll ask for next year!?

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    1. Thank you! Whatever she asks for next year, I just hope that it's easier than this robot costume or last year's Elsa dress.

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  2. Wow - you get a Good Mom gold star for that. (no reason why parents shouldn't get star charts too). Sounds pretty challenging to make, though. I have never heard of headliner fabric but the result is convincingly robot looking and I bet a whole lot easier to sit down in than a foil covered box.

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    1. Thanks! It did seem to give her a lot more flexibility than a foil-covered box. ;)

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  3. Oh, wow, I feel your pain. When my son was 4 (1995 or so), he desperately wanted to be the red Power Ranger. How hard can it be to whip up a kid's costume, right? OMG, I've never in my life struggled with so many piddly little pattern pieces. The helmet, in particular, was a horror to assemble. He loved it, But. Never. Again. (Luckily, starting with the next year, monster-dom ruled...nothing that a torn shirt, fake blood, and scary mask couldn't handle. Whew.) Eva looks adorable, and maybe next year, she'll just want to be a ghost. Hooray for thrift store sheets!

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    1. OMG, I can only imagine what a nightmare that Power Range costume must have been. Eva is really into superheros right now (in addition to robots), so I'm hoping she goes that route next year. A bodysuit, possibly a skirt, and a cape--how hard can that be?

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    2. Danger, Will Robinson!

      The sewing mom's red flag phrase: "How hard can that be?"

      (My mom once sewed three burlap bags together, end to end, so make a snake costume for my 4th grade school play. Her reply to my teacher probably started with "How hrd can that be?")

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  4. Cuteness! All the work definitely paid off. :) Headliner fabric is no joke-- I used it for my son's costume this year, and it is a pain the patootie. But it does allow for a light, curvy look with some flexibility. I used it to help me create "wings" for a helm and to give some body to arm armor for my son, The Purple Shogun. Your robot girl looks amazing!!!

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    1. Thanks! I bet your son's costume turned out amazing!

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  5. Oh well done!!! My daughter is now 13 and while I thought we were done with costumes, she went as a 'broken doll'.... Is this the last year?? Enjoy it while you can!!!

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    1. My mom made my Halloween costume nearly every year when I was a kid (or some combination of making and thrifting). We actually had a lot of teenage trick-or-treaters this year, so I'm not sure when that stops these days!

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  6. Aaaaah, what a great robot!
    Darth Vader and Tiny sidekick Stormtrooper were cute, and 100% NOT made by me. Husband taking the kids out to buy costumes? Excellent, that's an hour's sewing time! I can't bring myself to sew for them, because I'm just not that excited about any boy stuff I've seen out there, and they are sweats-and-hoodies kids, so it works well for me! One day, maybe... Until then I'll be impressed by what others do. :D

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    1. It's waaaaaay more than an hour's sewing time, if you're counting the number of hours that it would take to make those two costumes. That is, of course, if by "sewing time", you mean "selfish sewing time". ;)

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    2. heh heh, that's my ONLY kind of sewing time :)
      I thought of your 'hot-glue-gun= peak MOM comment earlier." My husband had a day off and bought himself a jig-saw with our 5 year old: "It's the same brand as my drill. I am now Dad-er than my own Dad ever was. HEAR ME ROAR!"
      I'm gonna need a hot-glue gun if he's bringing that kind of parenting into the house, just to keep up!

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  7. She looks adorable! You are a saint for getting through this project. I'm so glad you detailed out the difficulties because I have this pattern and can go put a big black X over the robot picture to remind me not to try it. I don't have the patience. Good thing you did though because it is super cool on Ava.

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    1. Thank you. I'm trying to decide which was worse--dealing with the headliner fabric this year or dealing with the sequins in last year's Elsa costume.

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  8. Gah! SO ADORABLE!! :D :D Major kudos to you! You're a wonderful mom. :)

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  9. What a cute little blue robot! You did an amazing job and it's never an easy task working with new materials, but I am sure you learned some new stuff along the way, so that counts for something.

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    1. Aw, thanks. And yes, it was definitely a learning experience.

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  10. I think you did a great job! It looks great, and she is adorable.

    I've never heard of headliner fabric either, but that sounds so Vegas. Like some kind of diva who gets all pissy over where her name is on the sign and demands only green M&Ms in her dressing room and a ranch dressing scented candle after a show.

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    1. Thank you! And when you put it that way, it does sort of fit with Eva, who highly prefers blue M&M's over all other colors.

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  11. You did great on this! Such cuteness!!! Don't fret over having to buy the glue gun. Halloween costumes and glue guns are a match made in heaven!

    Kuddos to you for sewing headliner fabric. I am familiar because I help my hubby restore old cars, but I have never had to sew with it. I can only imagine what a pain it was!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, that headliner fabric should have come with a warning. Ugh.

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  12. I support your decision to not put a window screen on your daughter's adorable face 😊

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  13. Awe, that's so darn cute! She looks so darling in that costume. What a good job, Mama! :)

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  14. I'm deeply impressed!

    I have bought two glue guns. The first I threw out as it was terrible. The second is out of bounds to me. Apparently it's me that is terrible at using the glue gun. How much glue did you get on yourself?

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  15. How absolutely adorable. Extra brownie points for all that sewing effort though. The end result is very cute. Xx

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  16. Way to go! My 6 year old wanted to be a robot this year, and we sprayed a box silver (partly because my husband wanted to add electronics). I'm very impressed with all the work you put into this!

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  17. Way to go! My 6 year old wanted to be a robot this year, and we sprayed a box silver (partly because my husband wanted to add electronics). I'm very impressed with all the work you put into this!

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