Friday, February 17, 2017

Amelia Earhart Costume with Conifer Jacket.

What is going on? A homemade costume on my blog and we are months and months away from halloween.

A biography project in school and a sold out costume is what happened! 



So my third grader had to choose a famous person to write about and dress up as and I'm so happy that she choose Amelia Earhart (First female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...badass in other words!).

A Mom at the school (who's daughter had chosen the same person) told me that Party City had the perfect costume for a very reasonable price. And they did! But when I decided it was time to buy it, it was of course sold out. Which, now that I see this homemade result, is very happy about.
Also halloween 2017 costume is a done deal! YEAH!

Of course there were other Amelia Earhart costumes for sale but the prices were quite higher and you know, I can actually sew, hehe.

Right away I thought of The Conifer Jacket and Vest, which is one of Hey June Patterns' junior patterns (size 6-16). It is a moto style jacket for stable knits with some great details like zippers at the sleeves etc. I was pretty sure that a very simple version of that pattern would work perfectly as an aviator jacket too.


And when I found this brown faux suede with faux sherpa fur backing at Jo-Ann (I can only find it in grey on their website. I bought the brown at my local shop), I knew I scored a touch down. It was exactly what I was looking for.

I had been unsure whether to make her the size 8-9 or the 10-11 but now that I had non-stretchy fabric for a pattern made for knit it was easy....make the bigger size. The fit is perfect. The sleeves are even a bit tight. Not too tight but no room for a sweater under. Again, that is obviously because of my fabric choice and not a problem with the pattern.

I went in all costume sewing mode and skipped all zippers, made the pockets for show only and left all seams raw, but stitched them down because it was a bit hard to press properly. Although with a cloth over and full steam it ended up working okay.

Seriously I think the result is fantastic and I could kind of see her wear it in real life too.


Ha, I was trying to get her to run so her white scarf would flow in the non-existent wind behind her. Better luck next time I guess. 


I didn't cut off the seam allowance on the front, lapels and collar so it's slightly bigger than the normal sewn result would be, but in the name of costume sewing I thought it was okay.


Of course she also needed jodhpurs....you know those riding type of pants with extra width in the thighs. (don't we all needs those pants, hahaha).

I bought some beige knit ponte which is quite a stable knit but still with some stretch for comfort. I started with a self-drafted leggings pattern (but Coffee + Threads' Wild and Free Lounge Pants pattern would work very well too).
My leggings pattern didn't have a side seam so I created that first and then I simply added a curve at the side seam from the knee and up on both the front and back piece. I sewed the side, inner and crotch seam(s) and then did a fitting, where I pinched in the extra fabric at her waist to create pleats front and back. Then I cut a rectangular waistband piece, the length of the new waist circumference (after pleats were made), sewed it on folded and pulled an elastic through. Done! And that was very very easy!



The aviator hat and googles are from Amazon. I was a little nervous ordering her a men's size hat but it fits perfect. All in all this project was just good luck upon good luck. Everything went smooth. I went out to buy all the fabric Monday morning and these photos are taken Wednesday around 6pm. I don't think I have ever made a full outfit and photographed it in 3 short days. I didn't even have real sewing time two of the days, so this really is a miracle.
Now I just need to find her some brown leather boots she can borrow, or we will check out our local thrift stores and see what we can find. The presentation is only mid March so we still have plenty of time.

Get your own Conifer Jacket HERE.

Thank you!

16 comments:

  1. Wonderful job, the jacket looks so delightfully warm, too! Amelia Earhart is such a fascinating woman-did you know she was a fashion designer at one point, even sewing up her own samples? She was the first to market suits as separates, and her clothes were intended to be as comfortable and practical as possible-she drafted the blouses with extra long tails, so they wouldn't budge, even if a woman stood on her head. Seems like an appropriate choice for a handmade costume...

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    1. I didn't know but thank you so much for telling me! She was really all over super cool!

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  2. Costume looks so awesome, even for every day wear.

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  3. I love the pants and I love the jacket! I would totally wear this outfit in daily life, except for the goggles of course ;) She looks so cool, a real heroine. Here in Belgium, this week is Carnival week and all children dress up like US kids do for Halloween, so your costume is just in time to inspire some Belgian sewing mums!

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    1. Ah yes, they do that in Denmark in February too :-)

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  4. Your daughter looks SO adorable--and what a great costume. Minus the goggles, also a pretty stylish outfit!

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  5. so awesome! I bet nobody else had a mummy made costume like that! Love the black and white shots!

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  6. So awesome! 💙💙 I did gasp when you mentioned raw seams. What?? Mie??? Noooo. 😂😂😂 Just messing with you! Thank you for the shout out, too! I appreciate so much! 😘😘😘

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  7. This is so perfect, that Jacket really turned out absolutely fantastic, and the pants are pretty cool too, nailed it!!! Love her famous person choice and she sure has an amazing outfit for her presentation <3 Sewer moms rule! heheh

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  8. she is the cutest Amelia Earhart ever!

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  9. This is such a wonderful outfit! And I had to come back to admire it again, haha. I was so busy admiring the jacket the first time that I totally missed the pleats in the pants. I really like that detail. And hurray for extra thigh room, lol!!

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  10. If you wait for so long to get a costume it is indeed a good thing that you can sew hahaha All jokes aside, you did a fab job with this costume! The jacket has all my love heart shaped eyes.

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  11. Ahhhh she makes the best Amelia ever! She is so stinking cute and you did such a fantastic job with this costume. Way to go mom!

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