Harry Potter Wands and Robe

This is actually from last year's Halloween, when Pockets wanted to make her Hufflepuff outfit.  But since we are using them for our Comicon outfits this week, I felt it a good idea to post this as well!

The wands:

Pockets found this tutorial on Pinterest, and we followed it.

Materials:

Paintbrushes

Clay

More paintbrushes

Paint

First, decide on a paintbrush to fit your needs.  Pockets used a medium sized one, but since my wand is "slightly springy" I used a smaller, more dainty paintbrush.

Start by covering the bristle in clay; this will be the wand's handle.

(this is the clay we used)

Next, use the clay as you desire to shape your wand.  I wanted mine (made of hawthorne) to be woody and knotty.  Pockets went with a smooth, but decorative style.

Next bake it.  The directions we used said 10 minutes for every 1/4 inch thickness.  Ours were about 1/2 an inch, so we cooked them for 20 minutes.

Then we painted them.  We had three shades of brown, and a white to mix them with.  Pockets did hers lighter than mine.  I decided to paint my handle a darker color too.

Pockets added a darker wood grain onto her wand, and then painted the swirl that went up from the handle.

Since her's looked so awesome, I added wood grain onto mine as well.

The robes:

For the robes, we used Simplicity pattern 5840.  For fabric, Pockets chose a beautiful black poplin.  It was so easy to work with, and super heavy, for that robe-like look and feel.  She used a light yellow poplin for a faux lining.

The first attempt, just doing as the pattern said, turned out HUGE.

It fit her boyfriend better.

So he got those robes (he's a Gryffindor), and Pockets made a new set for herself, shrinking the pattern an inch in every dimension.

She paired it with a gray skirt, white button up blouse, gray cardigan, a Hufflepuff tie, and a House badge.  It turned out SO CUTE!!

(A Hufflepuff wearing an Aes Sedai ring???)

And for the whole effect (but through a mirror):

Now we're all set for Comicon!

~Buttons

DIY Ravenclaw Uniform

Or, how to make a long sleeved shirt into a sleeveless shirt.

Or, how to make a shirt smaller.

I had many reasons for altering this shirt, as the various titles of the thread suggest.  For the Phoenix Comicon this week, Pockets and I are dressing up in various costumes.  Pockets already had a Hufflepuff outfit from Halloween last year, so I had to come up with making a Ravenclaw one for myself.

First I ordered a Ravenclaw iron on patch from Amazon.  I was very happy to find one in bronze and blue (which is the book canon) rather than the silver and blue (which is the movie canon).  I wanted to be book canon.

With that in mind, I had to find a tie.  Any online are from the movie, so that wouldn't work.  I had to look the old fashioned way and buy one at a department store.  I searched online and found one that looked good at JC Penneys.  I went to the store--with my patch--and it looked pretty good together.  I got it on clearance, $15!

Now I just needed a white button up shirt and a gray cardigan.  Urged by my husband to save some money, I went to Goodwill to see what they had.  First off, I was impressed that everything was grouped by color; that made looking so much easier!  I found a white shirt for $5, but it was an XL--way too big.  I got it anyway.  And I found dark gray (almost charcoal) cardigan for $10.  Lucky!

So, for the shirt, it's ginormous!

And it's really hot here, so I figured it might be best to cut down on the materials I'd be wearing.  So I decided to make it sleeveless.

I cut off the sleeves, right below the seam.  This shirt is a very fancy material and it cut beautifully and has no need for heming the cut.

Next, I put it on inside out and pinned how much I needed to take in the sides.  It's about a inch and a half on either side.

There was still too much fabric in my chest area, so I decided to try a dart.  I've never done darts before and it looked easy enough.  I put the shirt on inside out again, and pinned how much fabric I wanted to take away.

It turned out decent.  Not the best ever, but definitely an improvement!

Now, for my cardigan, all I had to do was iron on my patch!

And here's the whole outfit!

This will be our outfits for Friday.  I'm so excited!


~Buttons

Hogwarts House Scarf and Hat

Pockets is a very proud Hufflepuff, but it's hard to find nice Harry Potter things that aren't Gryffindor.  So, we're always on the look out for things we can make into Hufflepuff things (and Ravenclaw for me).  While at JoAnn a few days ago, I found a really cute gold and black argyle fleece.  And since I'm going to crazy making fleece hats, I'm enjoying working with the material.  And I thought it would be awesome to make Pockets a Hufflepuff hat and scarf!

So, the first thing I did was determine if I wanted the argyle diamonds to be horizontal or vertical:

Vertical

Horizontal

I decided that the vertical looked better, having the diamond's long points be up and down.  Then I had to decide if I wanted it to have two full gold diamonds, or two full black diamonds.

Black

Gold

I decided to go with the black.

I cut out two strips (the fabric was 60 inches wide).

Then I lined up where the diamonds met, and trimmed both edges.  Using clear quilting thread, I sewed the two edges together.

The seam is hardly noticeable!

Now, for the hat, I traced the pattern, again with the diamonds going vertically.

You cut a front and a back piece, then sew up the sides, right side to right side (see a more detailed tutorial on that here).  I left about an inch or an inch and half undone at the bottom, because I wanted to sew that seam on the outside, and fold up the brim.

Turn it ninety degrees, and sew up the little V that's still open.

This is the outside of the brim, with the seam on the inside.  (Does that make sense?)

And the final product:

It turned out so cute!  She really loved it when I gave it to her!

(This is me, trying it on.  I only wish they had the blue and bronze of Ravenclaw, and I'd made myself a set!)


~Buttons

Hogwarts House Bows!

Hello there!!  Pockets here with a very important question!

HAVE YOU BEEN SORTED IN POTTERMORE YET?!?!?!?!

It is AWESOME!  The only thing that makes me a tiny bit sad is that even if I was a witch, I'm an American one so I wouldn't be going to Hogwarts.  :(  What would the American schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry be like?  Would they have similar Houses?  More?  Less?  None at all?  Now that I think of it, did Beauxbatons or Durmstrang have Houses?

Anyway, back to the important question.  I recently signed up for Pottermore and got my wand and was sorted.  I've always fancied myself a Ravenclaw since I retain knowledge pretty easily and LOVE to read; but I've never been one to apply myself or even been able to really care about furthering my education.

I took the Sorting quiz very seriously and was very disappointed to not be in Ravenclaw but am now absolutely thrilled and think it's perfect that I was put in Hufflepuff!!

Yes!  Potato! 

Anyway, since I immediately made Buttons sign up and be sorted, (Ravenclaw for her, the aspiring math teacher) I have been obsessed with all things Hufflepuff. So as a quick project we decided to make little felt bow barrettes.

Materials:

One sheet of felt in both colors

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Barrettes

Alligator clips

Start by cutting two rectangles out of your main color. I think we did our about 4 or 5 inches long and maybe 2 inches wide. You will also need two much smaller rectangles to go around the middle of the bow.

Take the large rectangle and pinch the middle of the bow to make a pleated look.

Gluing the pleat in place makes the next step easier.  Once the pleat is secured wrap the smaller rectangle around the middle and glue that in place.  We forgot to take pictures of this step.  These were so quick to make that we let a few steps slip.  :/

Once your smaller rectangle is in place glue the bow to a barrette.

Ta da!!  All done!  Miss Buttons sporting her very stylish Ravenclaw barrette.

We also did large ones on alligator clips.  The procedure is exactly the same just bigger.  We also wanted a bit of a different look so we added a stripe down the middle.  

NOTE:  For these when you are gluing to an alligator clip it has to be open or you will glue it shut.  I almost did this but luckily Buttons is a pro.

And there you have it.  Hogwarts House bows!  I've been wearing mine every day since.  :D  Now I just gotta get some other cool Hufflepuff swag.

So what houses did you guys end up in?  Any other Houses represented in bow form yet?

~Pockets