Monday, March 12, 2012

Baby Cthulu

So after I did some collar extenders for the Children's Choir, I decided to do something for a friend of mine. She got married a few years ago, and she and her husband had a son this past summer. This is generally a Good Thing. I made a little sailor outfit for him at the time, which is about all I could think of making for him (I can think of tons of ideas for little girl outfits). This past December, a different friend of mine had a daughter. She and her husband are gamers, so I figured I'd try making a little Cthulu outfit in pink fleece. I figure that babies are generally mind-alteringly cute, tend to ooze slime, and make lots of noise and mess. Kinda like Cthulu, only Cthulu's not terribly cute. So I thought, hey, I could do another one of those in green fleece for a boy...
I used two different patterns, modifying them a little as I went along.
I made the bonnet without a brim, but I made a ruched overlay in sparkle organza for the top of the head, and sewed it down in a sort of ribbed pattern with trim. I painted red catseyes on the brim with some shiny fabric paint.
The bodysuit is pretty much to the pattern, but the cuffs, collar, tab and soles of the feet are in a slightly lighter color green than the body. I made little claws out of a slinky gold knit fabric. I cut a long narrow strip, turned down one edge, then folded it in thirds lengthwise. I then folded little triangles out of this and basted them to the soles of the feet before I sewed them in. I did the claws on the mittens in the same manner.
I made the wing form out of heavy craft-weight interfacing, stiffened at the top with sew-thru plastic boning, with a bit of the same for ribs. I covered it with the fleece and attached it to the back of the bodysuit with velcro, to keep it a bit more manageable. I put the loop side on the body and the hook side on the wings.
I wanted tentacles, but again, wanted them manageable. So, I sewed fleece tubes to a bib. Hopefully, this will help them clean the individual components when they get slimey. :)