I sewed a rocket costume for my child - from #LRCrafts - DIY Passion: if you can think it, you can make it by Rici86.
I already said that we are kind of space nerds in our family. We like to watch rocket launches and keep up-to-date on the latest conquers of space exploration and rocket science.
One day at home we watched the Spacex Super Heavy 31 engine static fire with our daughter: she got mesmerized! She was all about fire and rocket and the engines on fire! I lost count of the times she re-watched it. We also happened to have at home an engineering magazine of my husband with photos of rocket engines and the Moon: she got hold on that one as soon as she saw it and now it’s hers.
Well, what a best occasion to make her feel on fire like a rocket on launch day? I decided to make her a rocket costume for her school Carnival party: something easy to wear all day, and with the engines on fire she likes so much.
Embroidery and sewing
Click for the finished project detailed photos
To begin, I had to make a tunic. I wanted it to be like a long T-shirt, so it could be comfortable enough to wear all day at childcare and possibly have her nap in it.
I had a white strong fabric in my stash I wanted to use. It wasn’t stretch, so I had to plan a neckline with a closure.
I didn’t follow a pattern: I just picked one of my daughter’s T-shirts as a model, choosing one that was quite large, so she could wear her costume even on a hoodie to go outside. I turned the chosen T-shirt upside down, place it on two layers of fabric and traced it, leaving about 1cm for seam allowance. I didn’t want to add sleeves, so I just traced the armscye. To do this, it’s best to pin the two layers of fabric together, so after the tracing you can cut two identical pieces, one for the front and one for the back.
This was the first project where I used a new kit I bought at Abilmente Milano, which I visited for the second time in 2022: cutting mat, ruler and cutting wheel. I couldn’t believe it at first, but this combo speeds your process a lot and helps you be more precise than with scissors, while cutting out patterns.
Well, the trickyest part about the tunic was the neckline. My fabric wasn’t stretchy, so I couldn’t simply make a T-shirt neckline. I needed a closure.
I decided to cut a vertical opening on the back and close it with a couple of laces. And to make those laces I simply prolonged the refinishing borders. I discovered my fabric retained shape easily, so pressing with my fingers was enough to leave a durable mark. It was then easy to cut 4cm borders and fold them around exposed cuts to finish, the neck ones longer so they could become my closure laces.
I then added the same borders to refinish the vertical opening on the back and the armscyes. To be sure, I measured whe length I had to cover, but I left the fabric longer: when the sewing was almost complete, I cut off the excess. I cut the ends of those borders like a ribbon, so I could fold the short side in and hide the exposed fabric. The main defect of this fabric is that it’s prone to fraying, so I had to be careful with the seam allowance.
Making the tunic decorations was quick and simple: I cut out from paper felt two windows and two wings.
For the windows, I cut two circles, the smaller one gray to be the window pane sat on top of the bigger one, that played the part of the window border. A small zig-zag on top was meant to be a reflection on the glass. I assembled those pieces together with hot glue, but I thought doing the same on the tunic fabric could ruin it, so I decided to sew. The seam could be taken for a row of rivets, after all.
Then the wings, cut out of azure paper felt. I placed them in the lateral seams of the tunic before sewing, so they could pop out of the dress.
The final touch was another azure cut out that I glued on top of a circlet: that became the top of the rocket. Sewing a seam in the middle, I wanted to suggest the two fairings before separation. Too nerdy?
Well, my rocket costume could be finished this way, but I wanted more. Since my daughter loves watching the liftoff moment, when the engines are at full power, looking at the flames bursting, I needed to add engines on fire to her costume.
I designed and cut out from paper felt two engines. For each one, I cut the nozzles and tri-colored flames. I wanted the engines to pop out from the bottom of the tunic on the back, but I wanted them to be goodlooking from both sides, since you can spot them also from the front while the child walks.
So for each engine I cut out two nozzle bells and six flames, the two yellow ones smaller, then the two orange ones bigger and the two red ones the biggest. The final engine composition was a bit thick, but I’m glad I have a sturdy sewing machine! I stitched together the engines in two parts, the front and the back, then I stitched them together sewing just the nozzle pieces together. This way all the pieces were secured, but I didn’t have to pass my needle through eight layers of felt!
Final step: I sewed the engines under the bottom of the tunic, making a seam on top of the bottom border seam.
It took me a few hours to make, scattered along several days, but the final result was exactly what I wanted.
I am proud in particular of how the engines turned out. When my daughter saw the costume with the two flames, she burst into joy at the thought of wearing fire. I am so happy, she wanted to wear it all day! I’m glad she had more than one occasion to go around dressed like a rocket. I should think about making her a rocket T-shirt she can wear outside costume parties.
And what about you? Did you like the project? Tell me your opinion down in the comments!
