Tin Man Costume

The kids at my church are doing a music revue. I was asked to make a Tin Man costume. I didn't have a lot of time bc I'm leaving this weekend to be in my brother's wedding, and I still had to alter my dress! So this is how this costume got made....I didn't do step by steps this time bc those take too long. I will show you details.

First of all, I made my patterns from the teenager's pajamas so I could get an idea of fit.

The heart is velcroed on bc I guess he has to remove it during the scene.

The bottom shirt hem.

His pajamas were jersey and this fabric doesn't stretch, so I made a keyhole opening in the back for him to get his head through.

A close up.

Inside the front and back collars.

I understitched the collar.

I topstitched the shoulders to keep the innerfacing from coming up. (This is the inside. The outside has grey thread.)

I learned this "easing the sleeves in" trick from the PBS show "It's Sew Easy." I zigzag stitched some bias binding onto the sleeve heads first, before easing them onto the bodice. Worked like a charm!

I cut all the pieces out beforehand with pinking shears so the seams wouldn't fray. This is the shirt's side seam.

Because I'm not exactly sure how wide he is, how long his legs are, or how long his arms are, I elasticized all those places. This will keep his hands free onstage, for instance. 

I didn't put side seams in down the legs. This saved sewing time. If you do this, just make sure your back is cut longer than the front.

The finished outfit again.

(Because Blogger for Android sucks big time, it deleted this picture from up top and won't let me put it back up there....so it's here now...)

A side view of the heart. I spray adhered the back felt to a piece of foam, then sewed the velcro on through the felt and foam to give the velcro stability. Then, I spray adhered the front felt piece on. I was going to sew it all together, but the adhesive was gumming up my machine's needle, so...hey....work smarter, not harder!

(Sorry for all this space. Again...Blogger sucks.....)

The End!!!!......

(...Whew....Just do it on a computer next time, Jess!!!)