This weekend I actually finished all my littles' Halloween costumes! And with a whole 5 days to spare, phew! :-) We even carved our pumpkins and into more than just jack-o-latern faces too, I tell ya we are on a R.O.L.L.
So back in August (yes AUGUST! Don't your kids start planning out Halloween costumes months in advance?), Noah kept telling me he wanted to be a zombie...a zombie?! Thankyouverymuch Plants vs Zombies. I figured this was finally the year of store-bought costumes and you know what? I was okay with that...I mean it has to happen at some point. I even took him to a few different stores but he just didn't like anything he saw. Finally he asked me if I would just make it for him. Really??? Okay, sure! And then Penny literally begged me to make her a witch costume with lots of purple (her favorite color)...and Ellie, well, she had her heart set on a kitty cat :-) So thinking all this through I figured they were all "classic" halloween characters and, since Oliver really doesn't care what he is, I decided to make him a little baby mummy. Gah! His turned out so stinking cute!
At first I wasn't really sure how to make a zombie costume. I mean they are just an un-dead version of regular people in regular people clothes, ya know. We talked about his vision and really he just wanted to be all bloody and have ripped up clothes, lol! Well, that was easy enough for me.
I sewed up a pair of light grey twill pants using an existing pair of his pants as a pattern except making the legs much wider so he looked really skinny and zombie-like. We wanted the pants to be light enough so that you could see blood and dirt but not white in color.
Then I bought a simple white t-shirt and stained it with tea to make it look grungy and found a flannel at a local thrift shop for $3 to finish off his costume. To make everything all dirty and bloody, we actually just grabbed some Crayola markers in red, brown, and black and went to town marking up his clothes. I used a pair of scissors to make small cuts all over and then took a piece of sandpaper to rough up all the edges.
I bought some face paint at Target and lightly painted his face white and then added some black around his eyes so he looked tired and undead.
I was even able to get him out of character for this one...do zombies ever smile?
Penny had her heart set on a purple witch...you know, a "good" witch. A witch! I didn't think my kids would ever want to be a witch with all the princess-y stuff out there. How fun it was to make a witch costume!
I made Penny's dress from a lightweight knit fabric so it has a nice drape and some stretch to it. I patterned it after a peasant dress but extended the sleeves into bell sleeves for that perfect witch look. I added a black cord for a witch-y belt and I bought her tights a Jo-Anns for 60% off. PS. they have lots of fun colors!
To make her cape, I bought some of this fun purple "Halloween" novelty fabric at Jo-Anns for 50% off...come to think of it all the fabric I bought for these costumes was 50% off...so inexpensive! When I did the math it costs about $12 or less to make each costume, such a great deal for handmade costumes!
I made a big witch-y collar on it and sewed a length of bias tape at the top of the collar that doubled as the string to tie it on.
I found the hat and broomstick at Target for a few bucks a piece, you can't beat such inexpensive finishing touches!
Ellie wanted to be a kitty cat, so sweet! All she wants to do is say "meow, meow" which actually sounds a lot more like "mow, mow" when she says it.
She picked out this kitty (cougar-y?) fleece fabric all by herself, it is so dang soft! And it's nice and thin and a dream to sew with.
I used
Simplicity Pattern 1584 to make the dress except I added a small velcro closure on the back and omitted the black fuzzy collar as I figured that would annoy her after awhile.
I was also lucky enough to have just enough leftover fleece to make her a pair of pants to match. Love when that happens...and I actually don't mess up and have to buy more fabric after deciding to go through with it ;-)
Oliver.
Oh, this costume is just so fabulous on him! I just love everything about it!
I bought 4 yards of white gauze and tea stained it in my crockpot along with a simple white onesie. I bought some white fleece and made him a pair of pants and a little hat and then just hot glued the gauze all over. Back and forth and side to side.
If you are planning on doing a mummy costume and using hot glue, may I just warn you that you will want to stretch the clothing as you hot glue or you will have a really hard time getting said clothing on. Since it was hot glue and gauze it stretched and ripped apart without a problem but just took a bit of extra time having to re-do some of it.
I was a little worried he would hate this costume but he actually really enjoyed having it on! I think since the base is a simple onesie and a nice cozy pair of fleece pants all the gauze doesn't really bother him.
I just had to black and white one...so mummy-like!
I have to laugh at my attempt at group shots...4 kids in one frame...it's tough stuff, especially with a 16 month old who has no desire to stand still!
I hope you enjoyed this year's Halloween costumes!
Are you done, getting close, or just buying at the store this year?
Thanks for stopping by today!!!
XOXO,
Labels: DIY, Halloween, Life with Kids, Sewing
