Author Archives: Erica Dietz

About Erica Dietz

Erica lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and 5 children. She started crafting at a young age and enjoys crochet, sewing, embroidery and more. She now shares many of the crafts she makes, along with free patterns and tutorials, on her blog 5 Little Monsters.

Harry Potter Quote Embroidery

Hi everybody, Erica here from 5 Little Monsters to share another Geek Craft with you today. I am actually posting this as part of the Happy Harry Potter Series that Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings does each July in celebration of Harry Potter’s birthday. Be sure to go check it out because you will find tons of craft ideas, recipes, and other posts from lots of different bloggers, all Harry Potter related. There are even a couple of giveaways. The series runs for a couple weeks and I will be sharing another Harry Potter project over on 5 Little Monsters next week. Continue reading

Batman v Superman Reversible Capes

Batman and Superman reversible capes aren’t really a new thing or something that I came up with, they have been around forever, and you can get a hold of kids superhero capes quite easily from different places online. The thing is though, they are something that I enjoy making for my kids and for gifts so I thought I would show how I make mine. With Batman v Superman opening next week I thought it was a good time to share them. Also FanX is coming up next weekend and these capes are perfect for an easy cosplay option for kids. I made the traditional Batman on one side and Superman on the other but I also decided to make a girl version. I thought about doing Batgirl and Supergirl but since Superman and Supergirl’s capes would look the same I decided instead to do Batgirl and Wonder Woman.

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Crocheted Lightsaber

Hi everyone, Erica here from 5 Little Monsters sharing another Geek-Craft with you. For a while now I have been wanting to try making a crocheted Lightsaber. I really wanted to try to make it last month before the new movie came out and before Christmas but that is such a busy time of year that it just didn’t happen. I still really wanted to try it though, so a month later here it is.

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Skirts and Bags for Comic Con

This year with Comic Con coming up I started thinking about what to dress the kids up in. Sometimes we will buy their halloween costumes early and they will wear those to Comic Con, in fact we did that this year for the boys, but this year for the girls I decided to do something a little different. All of our kids have plenty of geeky shirts, superheroes, Star Wars, etc., so I decided to make them little skirts to wear with their superhero shirts. I bought more fabric than I needed so I decided to make them some little bags to match, that is why this post is  called skirts and bags for Comic Con, the original plan was just skirts but since there was extra fabric I figured I might as well. Besides, they will be perfect for trick or treating next month. I thought the skirts would be nice because they can wear them anytime unlike a costume that you wear once or twice.

dc skirt and bag

I only made the skirts and bags for my 2 little girls. One of them loves Batman and Batgirl, in fact the other day Jake asked her “What do you want to do today?”, her response, “be Batman”. So for her I bought some fabric that has Batgirl, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman.

marvel skirt and bag

My other daughter is obsessed, and no that is not an exaggeration, with Thor. The best I could find with Thor was some Marvel fabric but as long as Thor was on it she was happy. And she had the perfect shirt to match so it worked out great.

skirt and bag

Both the skirts and the bags are very simple to make. Just a couple of seams on each one. I will explain how I made the skirts but the exact measurements will depend on the size that you want the skirt to be. I will give measurement for the bag but know that I made them small for little kids, they would be easy to make bigger by simply cutting a larger piece of fabric. I also used french seams on the bag so that, even though I chose not to line it, there are no exposed seams inside the bag.

comic con skirts

How To Make Simple Skirts for Comic Con

The skirts I made fit a 2 and 3 year old, the amount of fabric you need will depend on the size of skirt you are making.

You will need:

  • Character fabric in amount needed (I bought 1 yard of fabric and that was enough for a skirt, a bag, and some leftover)
  • 1 inch wide elastic, enough to fit around waist
  • safety pin
  • thread
  • sewing machine
  • scissors and/or rotary cutter, mat and ruler

Instructions

To determine the length to cut your skirt first measure from the waist to the point on the leg where you want the skirt to hit. To that number add 3 inches for the casing around the waist and 1-2 inches for the hem (depending on how narrow of a hem you want). For the width you probably want about twice the waist measurement to make the skirt nice and full. Because my girls are really small I just used the width of the fabric which was more than twice their waist measurement. The measurements I used for my skirts are these:

3 Year Old Skirt: width of fabric x 20 inches

2 Year Old Skirt: width of fabric x 17 inches

Because I used the width of fabric I only had one seam up the back of the skirt, If you need more than the width of fabric you will need to cut 2 panels and sew a seam up each side of the skirt. I could have bought 1/2 a yard for the smaller skirt and 5/8 of a yard for the bigger one. If you need to cut 2 panels you will need to buy enough for twice the length. For example if I needed to cut a skirt that was two panels each 30 inches long I would need to buy 60 inches of fabric. Keep in mind that most character print fabrics are directional so you have to cut them a certain way or your pictures will be upside down. Cut a piece of elastic to fit around the waist and overlap an inch or so.

Once you have figured out your measurements and cut out your fabric, fold it in half (or place the 2 pieces together if you have 2 sections) right sides together and sew the back (or side) seam. Fold down the top 1 1/2 inches two times and sew no more that a 1/4 inch from the edge to create your casing, leaving an opening in the back large enough to put the elastic through.

Attach safety pin to the end of your elastic and push through the opening and around the waist of the skirt, be sure not to pull the other end through. Overlap the ends and sew together with a zigzag stitch. Stitch the opening closed.

Fold up the bottom of the skirt 1/2-1 inch two times and stitch close to inside edge to hem.

That’s it, your skirt is done. A super simple, cute, and fun little outfit for Comic Con.

marvel bag and skirt

How To Make Simple Bags for Comic Con

Finished Size- 9″ x 10″ not including handles

You will Need:

  • 1/2 yard of fabric (you will have leftover)
  • 40 inches of cotton webbing, ribbon, twill tape or something similar for handles (I used this)
  • thread
  • sewing machine
  • scissors, rotary cutter, mat, ruler

Instructions:

Cut 2 rectangles 11″ x 14″

Cut 2 lengths of webbing or ribbon 20″ each

Place 2 rectangles wrong sides together and sew around 3 edges, 2 long, 1 short, with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. (see first and second picture below)

Clip the corners and trim a little bit off of the seam allowance on all three sides. (see third picture)

Turn inside out, make sure seams and corners are all pushed all the way out, it helps to press it at this point. Then sew around three sides again with the right sides together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. (see first picture, bottom row)

Turn right side out. Your seam should now be fully enclosed, there should not be any parts of the seam showing through on the outside of the bag. (see last 2 pictures of both the outside and inside of the bag.

french seam bag

To attach the handles, first, fold down top edge 1 inch to the inside of the bag.

Measure 2 inches in from the outside seam on each side and pin the handles in place.

Fold again so that the raw edge is now inside and pin so that the handle is folded up and in the position it will be in on the finished bag, the raw edge of the handle will be tucked up inside of the hem.

Sew around the top of the bag twice, once close to the inside edge of the hem and once close to the top edge.

Now you have a little bag perfect for carrying around treasures from Comic Con, toys, or to collect trick or treating candy on halloween.

ready for comic con

I hope you enjoy these quick and easy little outfits for Comic Con. My girls are all ready for tomorrow, are you?

TARDIS Pencil Bag

It has been quite a while since I last shared a geek-craft here on The Geeky Mormon. I thought it was probably about time I shared another and hopefully I can make this a more regular thing. Today I am sharing the pattern for a crocheted TARDIS pencil bag. Last year I shared a Ninja Turtle pencil bag as my very first geek-craft and since school it is back to school time again I thought another pencil bag would be a good idea.

doctor who pencil bag

The pattern is similar to the Ninja Turtle bag, this year on my blog I have shared a basic pencil bag pattern based on the Ninja Turtle as well as a couple of other variations. When I was trying to think of another geeky themed bag the TARDIS seemed like an obvious choice since it is already a rectangular shape. The tricky part was trying to add the texture to the doors and windows so that it looked like the TARDIS.

TARDIS Texture

I used a combination of front loop only (flo), back look only (blo), front post (fpsc), and back post (bpsc) to create the texture. I also used a few color changes to show the windows and the signs. If you want to you could embroider the words POLICE BOX on the black strip and window panes on the windows so make it look even more like the TARDIS.

Tardis pencil bag back

The back has a simple button flap closure just like the Ninja Turtle bag.

police box pencil bag

TARDIS Pencil Bag

You will need:

  • worsted weight yarn in blue, white, and black (I used Red Heart Super Saver in Blue Suede, White and Black)
  • H crochet hook
  • 2 buttons- 3/4 inch-1 inch
  • yarn needle
  • sewing needle
  • sewing thread
  • scissors

*when changing color always change color on the last step of the previous stitch, in other words begin your single crochet as normal by inserting hook in the stitch, pull up a loop, then yarn over with your new color and pull through

*when working with another color, carry the blue yarn by crocheting over it

*make sure to always pull your yarn to the wrong side when you change color so that your color changes look neat

with blue yarn ch 31

Row 1: sc in second ch from the hook and each ch across (30 sc)

Row 2-19: ch 1, turn, sc in each stitch across (30 sc)

Row 20: (this is a right side row) ch 1, turn, 1 sc, 5 sc blo, 1 sc, 5 sc blo, 1 sc, change to white yarn, 5 sc blo, change to blue, 1 sc, change to white, 6 sc blo, change to blue, 2 sc, change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc (30 sc- 17 blue, 11 white, 2 black)

Row 21: (wrong side row) ch 1, turn, 1 sc, change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc, 1 bpsc, change to white, 6 sc, change to blue, 1 bpsc, change to white, 5 sc, change to blue, 1 bpsc, 5 sc, 1 bpsc, 5 sc, 1 bpsc (30 sc- 17 blue, 11 white, 2 black)

Row 22: ch 1, turn, 1 fpsc, 5 sc, 1 fpsc, 5 sc, 1 fpsc, change to white yarn, 5 sc, change to blue, 1 fpsc, change to white, 6 sc, change to blue, 1 fpsc, 1 sc,  change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc (30 sc- 17 blue, 11 white, 2 black)

Row 23: repeat row 21

Row 24: repeat row 22

Row 25: repeat row 21

Row 26: repeat row 22

Row 27: ch 1, turn, 1 sc, change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc, 1 bpsc, 25 sc blo (30 sc- 2 black 28 white)

Row 28: ch 1, turn, 25 sc blo, 1 fpsc, 1 sc, change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc (30 sc- 2 black 28 white)

Row 29: ch 1, turn, 1 sc, change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc, 1 sc blo, change to white, 6 sc flo, change to blue, 1 sc, 5 sc flo, 1 sc, 5 sc flo, 1 sc, 5 sc flo, 1 sc (30 sc- 22 blue, 6 white, 2 black)

Row 30: ch 1, turn, 1 fpsc, 5 sc, 1 fpsc, 5 sc, 1 fpsc, 5 sc, 1 fpsc, change to white, 6 sc, change to blue, 1 fpsc, 1 sc,  change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc (30 sc- 22 blue, 6 white, 2 black)

Row 31: ch 1, turn, 1 sc, change to black, 2 sc, change to blue, 1 sc, 1 bpsc, change to white, 6 sc, change to blue, 1 bpsc, 5 sc, 1 bpsc, 5 sc, 1 bpsc, 5 sc, 1 bpsc (30 sc- 17 blue, 11 white, 2 black)

Row 32: repeat row 30

Row 33: repeat row 31

Row 34: repeat row 30

Row 35: repeat row 31

Row 36: ch 1, turn, 26 sc flo, 4 sc (30 sc)

Row 37-38: ch 1, turn, sc in each stitch across (30 sc)

Row 39: ch 1, turn, sc dec, 26 sc, sc dec (28 sc)

Row 40: ch 1, turn, sc dec, 24 sc, sc dec (26 sc)

Row 41: ch 1, turn, sc dec, 22 sc, sc dec (24 sc)

Row 42: ch 1, turn, sc dec, 20 sc, sc dec (22 sc)

Row 43: ch 1, turn, sc dec, 18 sc, sc dec (20 sc)

Finish off, You should now have a rectangle that has one end that is slightly angled on each corner, that is the flap. Half of your rectangle will be plain and half will have the TARDIS design. The plain section is the back and the TARDIS side is the front.

Fold your rectangle so that wrong sides are together and 18 rows are on the back and they are matched up with the 18 rows of the front that make up the TARDIS. Starting in one corner, sc evenly up one side of the bag through both layers, continue to sc up the side of the flap, when you reach the corner sc in the corner, ch 4, skip 1, sc in 16, ch 4, skip 1, sc in the other corner of the flap, sc evenly down the side of the flap and the bag being sure to go through both layers of the bag. When you reach the end finish off and weave in ends.

Fold the flap shut to figure out where the buttons need to be placed. Sew them on, sewing thread and a small needle are usually easiest for this. Now you just need to fill up your bag and enjoy.

tardis

Check out these other crocheted pencil bag patterns:

Ninja Turtle Pencil Bag

Basic Crocheted Pencil Bag

Monster Pencil Bag

Owl Pencil Bag

doctor bag