Fall Projects - Daddy Vader and Baby Leia

One of the reasons I have been blogging less often these past few weeks has been that I have been busy with several fall projects. From apple picking and making pies, to throwing first birthday parties, to working on costumes for our Halloween-related celebrations, there has been a lot going on! I don't have a passion for sewing, baking, or making costumes, but I think I do these things anyway simply because I like to be in control. I like to do things the fast way sometimes, and I am usually more concerned with relaxing and having fun with my family than pulling off the perfect costume or making flawless cakes and pies. I don't typically blog about crafts and projects, but I thought I would make an exception this fall and share some of the things I have been working on. It's not going to be Pinterest-perfect, but it is going to be "real" (and hopefully fun)!

So for the first post in a short series of fall projects posts, here is a peak into the costumes I made for my family this year.

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Dressing up as Star Wars characters for our church's Trunk or Treat this fall was my husband's idea. He wanted to be Darth Vader, and then when the idea of dressing our daughter up as Princess Leia occurred to us we thought that would be the most adorable thing ever! 

An iconic father-daughter pair! But then the challenge started. I don't buy Halloween costumes, in part because I usually don't like the way they're made and feel, but in a much larger part because I'm cheap and I don't want to pay for something we're only going to use once. I confess I allowed myself to stress unnecessarily over these costumes, and with the busy week or two we had before the event, I ended up doing my sewing late at night, which is not the best time for me to work! 

Baby Princess Leia

My daughter's Leia costume was very simple. My wonderfully talented cousin was kind enough to crochet the hat for me. I saw many like this on Etsy, and when I saw them I realized that I knew someone who could make that for me! The hat was really the key piece of the costume.

The dress... oh boy... I originally thought I would just cut a T-shaped tunic out of the 1/2 yard of fabric I bought, sew up two side seams, cut a head hole and be done. But then I pulled out the fabric, laid it out on the table, and started to get ideas.

I traced my own pattern for the dress on tissue paper, based off of measurements of a few different pieces of clothing that currently fit Baby Girl. I measured carefully, traced the pattern, and cut out the fabric.

Because I did my sewing late at night I didn't try the costume on my daughter until it was all done and she woke up the next morning. When I did try it on her (this is the embarrassing part) it was too small. The skirt was not as long as I wanted it to be and the arm holes (the only thing I didn't think to measure before making the pattern!) were too small. With some seams ripped out she was able to wear it though, and we made it work. I decided to say that "I wanted it this short because she can crawl around better this way" and went with it. There wasn't time or enough fabric to make anything else.

Underneath her costume she wore a long sleeve white onesie and two pairs of tights to keep her warm.

Of the three of us, her costume received by far the most compliments, but it was probably mostly due to how cute she is!

My Husband, Darth Vader

We did not have as much time or money as we were hoping to sink into this costume, so what we ended up with was a very simple Darth Vader look. Fortunately, Darth Vader is such an iconic character that all you really need is the mask. The control panel, cape and lightsaber, combined with wearing all black ended up doing the trick perfectly adequately. 

This was a very pieced-together costume. Jonathan's brother loaned him the helmet without the mask, so I went to Party City and bought a cheap ($3.50) adult Darth Vader mask to complete the helmet/mask ensemble. 

I bought a piece of black fabric that turned out to have exactly the right sheen and swoosh for the cape. It is simply sewn to the neckline and shoulders of an old black shirt. The control panel we made with a piece of cardboard and multi-colored electrical tape. I pulled up a picture of Darth Vader online and copied what I saw, and I think it came out perfectly!

We could have had a utility belt, gloves, boots, and a chest-plate, but we didn't get to those things, and it turns out we really didn't need them. 

Of course, I had to dress up too. I wasn't as excited about dressing myself up as my husband was about being Darth Vader or having a little baby Leia, but I wanted to go along with it and make it a family thing. So naturally, I chose the obvious choice, and dressed up as Leia's mom, Padmé. 

Being Padmé

I decided to try to copy Padmé's most well-known and simple costume, the one from the battle scene in Attack of the Clones. 

All I did was purchase a pair of white skinny jeans and a white longsleeve shirt. I sewed a simple brown belt using flannel I had around from a previous project, wore my brown winter boots, and that was it! I was thinking about using a blanket for the cape-like part of the costume, but decided that would be in the way when I was taking care of a baby and passing out candy. 

Here we are, the women of Star Wars:

I am especially proud that I was able to pull off a decent imitation of her hairstyle. Here it is in the movie, for reference:

And this is what I ended up with: 

I apologize for the sub-par picture. It was taken a few hours after the event. I promise it looked even better at the beginning.

And here is the finished product - the whole "Skywalker family". We had a lot of fun! 

I loved being able to bring to life this Halloween costume fantasy of my husband's. I also love that I didn't spend too much on the project, and apart from a few stressful evenings of sewing after the baby was in bed, it was relatively easy and simple to do! The point is not to have perfect, flawless costumes, but to have fun together as a family. And have fun we did!

Bonus: Duct Tape Death Star Candy Bowl

Made with two cheap, plastic candy bowls, duct tape, and a sharpie. Lined with the extra fabric from Darth Vader's cape.