TMNTurtle Shell Power! Tutorial!

PROLOGUE

I self taught myself how to make TMNT shells 4 Halloweens ago.  It was a hard and exhausting processes to think through the ends and outs of the sewing project, but I learned a lot.

At the time of the "First Shells" Titus was 4 months old, Eli was 18 months old, and Isaac was 4 years old.  They've grown a bit since then, to say the least.  Along with their love for the Turtles.  Having well made and well fit TNMT shells became imperative!  IM.PER.A.TIVE.  Titus was walking around in a teeny tiny shell, with a head down, and shame written all over his face.  Now, we can't have that, can we?

So recently I made new shells for the boys.  And I didn't take any pictures along the way.  Dumb!
So today I made a shell for cousin Luke.  And I took pictures along the way.  Smart!

I'm going to try and write a tutorial.  I don't think I've ever tried to really write a tutorial, and I hope it will go smooth and none too torturous.

Here… It… Goes…

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Shell 

(I'm not a proper seamstress, just one who was taught a few skills by a grandmother.  I'm not going to go over how to sew, there are plenty of other blogs that go over that.  
I'd say I'm an average "B" student with sewing, so take what I do with that knowledge… Not a perfectionist, just one who likes having a finished product ASAP (that won't fall apart).) 


Supplies for ONE shell:
- half yard green fabric
- quarter yard yellow fabric
- half yard brown fabric
- a few scrapes of red, orange, blue, and/or purple; also some white or black
- strips of velcro
- half bag of stuffing

I like to work with felt because it's a low maintenance fabric.  Doesn't require a lot of finishing seams, and is pretty sturdy.  But if felt makes you gag, then go for whichever fabric you love.

First, layout the green fabric and draw ONE decent sized turtle shell.  I went with the diameters of 13 inches in width, and 15 in height.  I used chalk to draw, because I did.  ;)  Then cut out:

Now take that ONE shell and lay it on an unmolested part of the green.  This time trace the turtle shell cut-out LARGER.  Almost an inch, if you're up to it.  I doubled my fabric, and cut out TWO at the same time.  You will want TWO matching larger shells in the end--whatever way you like to get them. 

Now, pin the TWO large shells together, leaving a 6 six in gap.  Take some stuffing, not a lot, and thin and flatten it out.  Put the thinned and flatted stuffing in between the TWO larger pinned shells, making sure most areas have some stuff and fluff, and then finish pinning the two shells together. 

Seam the TWO larger shells (with a bit of flattened stuff and fluff throughout) together… You know, with a half inch border?  Sure! 

Now take that seamed large shell with the stuff and fluff, and trace a turtle shell pattern.  

It is now time to QUILT the turtle shell.  Go slow, I'd say.  Don't break a needle, that'd be sad.  And believe me, it doesn't have to be perfect. 

Now take the quilted larger shell and pin it to the ONE slightly smaller shell.  Leave a 6 inch gap, and then start stuffing the fluffing into the shell.  Put as much as you want.  Lots, even.  Once done, pin the gap, and sew the borders together.  

Hopefully the larger quilted shell will push out with all the fluff and stuff, and the borders will meet up fairly nicely.  

Now, the BOTTOM SHELL. 

Take the yellow fabric, and trace an outline of the bottom shell.  It's around 10 inches in width and 13 in height.  Or there a 'bouts (you hate me, don't you?).  You need TWO matching shell pieces.  

Pin the two pieces together, leaving a 6 inch gap, and add some flattened stuffing throughout.  Pin back up, and sew the borders together.  

Then quilt a turtle shell pattern on the bottom shell.

You are now the proud creator of a yellow turtle bottom shell and a green turtle top shell.  Magical, isn't it? 

Now to the brown STRAPS.  I like mine to be around 2 inches to 3 inches in width.  I also like mine to be doubled in fabric, since that seems to be more sturdy.  So do what you need to do to get one long 2 to 3 inch in width brown strap.  (The ones pictured below are thicker than I liked--I ended up making them smaller, no worries.)

The length of the strap will depend on the child.  The way that fabric comes on the bolt, the half yard of brown ended up being more than enough in length for this turtle shell. (This brown was not felt, but flannel.  I liked the look of it next to the felt.) 

Now time to make the "BELT BUCKEL NAME EMBLEM"… ???

There are a few options, all which will be shown at the end, and it's purely what suits your tastes.  

Background can be black or white, with the TMNT's color as the letter, or

Background can be TMNT's color, with the letter as either black or white, or

Background can be black or white, with the TMNT's letter as either black or white… Whatevs, no judgement here! 

For this one I had some color and some black on hand.  I decided to make the background the TNMT's color, with the letter as black.   

Trace a circle on the background fabric of your choice.  You need two matching circles.  A ribbon spool ended up being awesome and perfect! 

Then use the letter fabric and trace and cutout a stocky letter of the TMNT of your choice.  Pin the letter to ONE of the two circles.  Slowly sew on the letter to ONE of the circles. 

Take the lettered circle and pin to the other circle.  Leave a small gap and stuff with fluff.  (This is another personal choice.  I like the belt buckle emblem to stick out from the shell a bit.) 

Slowly sew the borders of the two circles together. 

Okay, now to attach the belt buckle to the yellow bottom shell in the lower-ish middle-ish section. (I'm very precise.)  

What you want to do is only sew the top of the buckle an inch, and the bottom of the buckle an inch.  This will leave a "go through".  

Let me show you: 

Once the belt buckle is attached to the bottom shell, pull through a portion of the long brown strap and pin on the side.  I wrapped the brown strap a little bit under the yellow shell. 

Now get the VELCRO.  Measure and cut a strip of the TOOTH portion of the velcro, and pin on top of the brown strap on the far side of the shell.  Um… 

And then sew the velcro and the end of the strap (at the same time, if you want) onto the yellow shell.  Don't be afraid to double sew it.  Lots of pulling and ripping will be coming from the this, so secure attachment is paramount.  

Now to figure out how this will work for your child.  I like to use my children as dress mannequins, because they have to earn their keep somehow.  It's the next best thing to milking cows, I'm sure.  Builds lots of character. 

Line up the YELLOW SHELL to the shoulders, and line up the GREEN SHELL to the shoulders.  Take the long strap and pin to the GREEN SHELL to wear it meets.  Don't assume that the strap will go in the middle of the green shell--it probably won't.  But that's okay.  Fitting the strap and green shell to wear it's meeting, instead of the middle of the green shell, will help in the finished TMNT shell not pull in weird ways once it's done.  (Okay, so THIS is where a Technical English degree would be really helpful.  Writing instructions is really difficult!)

Pin the brown strap to the borders of both sides of the determined areas of the green shell, and sew well! 

Measure the distance of the brown strap of the side that has been sewn between the GREEN SHELL and YELLOW SHELL.  This ended up being 5 inches for mine.  Use that distance length, and add the width of the velcro strap.  Attach velcro to where the width of the velcro strap was added.  Cut and sew. 

(Be sure that this is the FUZZY velcro part.  I like this to be fuzzy, and not the SCRATCHY, since I feel like it is more humane for the kids.  Nothing will be flying around and scratching the heck out of them… You know?) 

We're almost done, guys, I promise.  

Get your kid again, and wrap the half way finished shell around him/her.  Measure the distance between the top of the YELLOW SHELL and the GREEN SHELL.  This ended up being 5 inches for mine.  I added an extra inch and a half to the length for attachment purposes. 

I like the upper straps to be the same width of the long strap.  2 to 3 inches seems good. 

Then pin the UPPER STRAPS to the upper portion of the GREEN SHELL.  I like to put the straps at an angle.  It helps the large headed kids (which most of mine are) get their heads through without trouble, hahaha!  

Attach and sew. 

LAST. STEP.  

Attach straps to the YELLOW SHELL at angles.  Sew.   

DONE and DONE.  YAYAYAYAYAYAY!  It took me around 3 hours from start to finish.  That was with trying to take pictures, help sick kids, and general craziness of life.  Not bad, I think.  

We hope cousin Luke will love it!  Eli sure does :) 

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EPILOGUE 

I think Luke's shell is the best one that I've made.  It's really well proportioned and fits nicely.  

But each batch has good memories attached to them.  It's always really strange to hold Titus' 4 month shell… was he really his little?  Wow!  And man, those first shells were worn and loved to literal pieces.  

Here are all the TMNT shells, on super amazing display ;) 

  

Isaac's Baptism Photo Session and Invite

Wait, stop.  Hold on.  Isaac's 8 and able to be baptized?  Are you sure??  Well it does seem like it!  

A week before his baptism date, we took Isaac to our local park and did a quick photo shoot with him.  Isaac was a champ!  It was blistering hot and humid, but he would put on a great smile every time it was asked of him.   He's a handsome boy, that's for sure.  

Later I took the photos and created a quick invitation in PowerPoint (saving the image as a JPEG--which prints wonderfully as a 5x7, fyi).  

I think it all turned out well.  

Here are the photos and the invite, and more to follow on Isaac's BIG DAY!  

Matt's 10 Day Absence

This first part of September Matt was gone for a bit.  He had some military obligation in New York.  This was the first time since his deployment that Matt had been away from us.  It was kind of weird… I mean, me and the boy knew how to handle ourselves without him--we've done that time and time again--but we could really tell he was gone.  I guess that means we really like him around, and is an essential part of our lives!  Good to know!  ;)

So while Matt was gone we had a few things starting around here:

1.  Each boy started soccer!  Yay!  Each child is on their own team, and they each love it.
However Eli and Isaac have the same colored jersey and even with the same number!   And Eli and Titus' first game was against each other, haha.  Eli was oblivious and physical and Titus thought it was social hour, by hugging friend after friend during the game.
But I was really proud of Isaac.  18 months ago he was crying in the middle of the field out of fear, but now he is one of the stars on his team.  So nice to see his confidence.
(It's a bit much for me to keep track of everyone, but all the practices and games are on the same days and same times… Which makes it easier, but then I have to walk the whole soccer pitch to watch each boy for a 5 min before I went to watch the next boy.  Whew!)

2.  Isaac started Cub Scouts!  Yahoo!  He'd been looking forward to joining Cub Scouts since he was 6.  We waited till he was 8 so that he could be with the church group that meets each wednesday.
(Kind of a headache to sew on his patches, but I go it.  Matt usually the patch sewer (because of all his uniforms), but since Matt was gone it was left to me.  Ek!)

3.  Just lots of fun times together.  That's pretty much how we handled Matt being gone.  Lots of swimming, too.