Kateri Tekakwitha Hand-Made Costume

My oldest daughter (who is age 14 and has out-grown me!) wanted to be Kateri Tekakwitha for All Saints Day this year. Finding a modest Indian costume in a woman’s size is a difficult task. So we decided to try our hand at creating one from tan colored felt material.

I don’t have a grand talent of sewing so our design needed to be simple.  Because this is made to fit my daughter I can’t give exact measurements, but I took a few pictures (actually it’s a lot!) so you could get the idea of how we made ours….

We used 3 felt sheets that measured 36 inches by 36 inches.

Two of the felt sheets were used for the skirt:

The other felt sheet was folded in half diagonally and made into the shirt:

The only part that needed sewn was the bottom of the sleeves and in the arm-pit area. We didn’t even sew the sides – for ease of movement and removal.

The two skirt parts were wrapped around the waste. The first one was pinned in the back.

The second was wrapped around the waste and pinned in the front. This gave it a nice ruffled look.

The top was then added. The pointed front and back covered our pins.

Rachel did all the fringes and bead work. She added beads around all the edges. She also made the stick cross necklace and beads to wear around her neck.See another necklace idea here.

And don’t forget the shoes….

How to make moccasins from flip-flops

(Thanks 

to my second oldest daughter for taking pictures.)

The moccasins were fun! But please note: If you have a fidgety child don’t leave the child’s foot in the flip-flop as you work. My daughter is 14 and could stand 100% still as I used a glue gun around her feet.These were made totally from old flip-flops, light brown felt scraps, hot glue, string for lace, and Indian beads.

Wrap a piece of felt around the front/top of each foot. Use a sharpie marker to trace around it. You must trace the bottom of the shoe edge.

Cut it out.

I flipped them over and switched the feet that I traced them from so you wouldn’t be able to see the marker line.

Hot glue them to the side of the flip-flop. Again, don’t try this with the child’s foot in the flip-flop if you are working with a fidgety child.

Wrap a long triangle piece of felt around the back edge of the flip-flop so each of the triangle’s side points wraps around to the front of the shoe.

Hot glue it in to place by adding hot glue around the flip-flop’s edge.

Fold the top of the triangle down and cut the top off.

Use a string to sew through the two side felt pieces at the top of the foot. Tie it together. This creates a lace for a tight fit and easy removal.

Cut off any extra felt that is hanging off the bottom.

Cut fringes in the folded sides of the shoes.

My daughter added beads to each shoe.

Here is one finished with beads and here is the other one with out beads.

They turned out great and she loves to wear them!!

Her entire costume was fun to create and we are both pleased with how it turned out!

Till later, God bless,

~Jen-Marie