Halloween Costumes
As is traditional with me, I do my best to make the costumes my family wears on Halloween. Last year, my daughter won a costume contest, so that felt pretty good. :)
Youngest to oldest, we start with my son. His clothes were bought, but I crocheted a tiger (which seemed like it took FOREVER). When I shared the pictures, my mom said she wanted one. So now I'll be doing another forever. haha! To finish him up, I spiked his hair with some super serious gel. Then the spikes drooped and turned into little rocks that I couldn't straighten. Then I sprayed his hair yellow (oops, is that gold? the sticker on the can looks yellow!). Say hello to Calvin & Hobbes.
My daughter is all ribbons and lace and pink on every day of the year except Halloween. I love that she likes to get spooky! This year, she was a broken doll. I made the dress from Butterick pattern B4320, giving it a plain white layer and a sheer white layer. I intended to go back and make a petticoat, but time did not allow it.
The mask started as a plain, shiny white base. It was adult sized, so I had to cut it down to fit her face. These masks. Oh gracious me, these masks were my bane. I bought a pack of a dozen, and boy did I need it. I went through more than half of them, trying to get the right skin tone (which ultimately failed; this was the best one, and it was darker than I wanted). I used makeup rather than paint because I tend to make a lot of mistakes, and makeup is easier to wipe off than paint. After giving it a good clear coat, I cut out pieces and blackened her face so as to give the mask some depth. I also gave the mask some fake eyelashes. My husband painted her arms with liquid eyeliner. Amazingly, she was recognized by one her classmates while we were out.
My own costume was the easiest and fastest to go together. I bought two fleece blankets in different shades of pink. The darker pink was cut into squares and appliqued onto the lighter pink which was turned into a dress. I used tan fabric to make bias binding and lined all edges of the dress with that. The rainbow coming from under is a pair of gay pride flags stitched together and pinned to the bum of my tights. The fingerless gloves started life as trouser socks. The ears are crocheted and slipped onto a headband. The wig was purchased. Nyan nyan nyan nyan! Nyan cat!
The grand finale is my husband's costume. This is the first time since the kids were born (they are now 6 & 7) that he has dressed up with us (to be fair, for four Halloweens, work has had him in other states and/or countries), so it's a pretty special occasion for me to be able to make a costume for him. *grin*
He made the helmet. It's black poster board with dots of hot glue as rivets. A single splotchy coat of black spray paint gives it a well-used look.
The tunic is a repurposed bedsheet. He traced the sigil onto tissue paper from the computer screen. I taped that to a window and traced the reverse side. Then I taped that to the back of faux red leather and pinned that to the inside of the tunic. I sewed a straight line along all drawn lines, then I turned it over and cut out the image. Then I turned it back over, removed the paper, and sewed a tiny zigzag along all lines. The last step was removing the stray strings from the front (which was not a short process). A quick neckhole and a tiny stitch just under the armpit finished the tunic.
The shoulder nubs are two halves of a car washing sponge. I picked bits out of them to make them rough and uneven then soaked them in fake blood before stuffing them into the arm holes and pouring more blood on them. A few strips of more bedsheet sewn together made for a quick sash to tie the tunic in place.
The cowl is crocheted. I would have made it longer, but again, time constraints got to me. I was literally still working on the tunic when he walked in the door from work, ready to take the kids Trick-or-Treating. So we made due with what I had accomplished.
BEHOLD! THE BLACK KNIGHT ALWAYS TRIUMPHS!
EDIT: I updated the tags, but "masks" is not an option. Will an admin be so kind as to add it to the tags, please?
Youngest to oldest, we start with my son. His clothes were bought, but I crocheted a tiger (which seemed like it took FOREVER). When I shared the pictures, my mom said she wanted one. So now I'll be doing another forever. haha! To finish him up, I spiked his hair with some super serious gel. Then the spikes drooped and turned into little rocks that I couldn't straighten. Then I sprayed his hair yellow (oops, is that gold? the sticker on the can looks yellow!). Say hello to Calvin & Hobbes.
My daughter is all ribbons and lace and pink on every day of the year except Halloween. I love that she likes to get spooky! This year, she was a broken doll. I made the dress from Butterick pattern B4320, giving it a plain white layer and a sheer white layer. I intended to go back and make a petticoat, but time did not allow it.
The mask started as a plain, shiny white base. It was adult sized, so I had to cut it down to fit her face. These masks. Oh gracious me, these masks were my bane. I bought a pack of a dozen, and boy did I need it. I went through more than half of them, trying to get the right skin tone (which ultimately failed; this was the best one, and it was darker than I wanted). I used makeup rather than paint because I tend to make a lot of mistakes, and makeup is easier to wipe off than paint. After giving it a good clear coat, I cut out pieces and blackened her face so as to give the mask some depth. I also gave the mask some fake eyelashes. My husband painted her arms with liquid eyeliner. Amazingly, she was recognized by one her classmates while we were out.
My own costume was the easiest and fastest to go together. I bought two fleece blankets in different shades of pink. The darker pink was cut into squares and appliqued onto the lighter pink which was turned into a dress. I used tan fabric to make bias binding and lined all edges of the dress with that. The rainbow coming from under is a pair of gay pride flags stitched together and pinned to the bum of my tights. The fingerless gloves started life as trouser socks. The ears are crocheted and slipped onto a headband. The wig was purchased. Nyan nyan nyan nyan! Nyan cat!
The grand finale is my husband's costume. This is the first time since the kids were born (they are now 6 & 7) that he has dressed up with us (to be fair, for four Halloweens, work has had him in other states and/or countries), so it's a pretty special occasion for me to be able to make a costume for him. *grin*
He made the helmet. It's black poster board with dots of hot glue as rivets. A single splotchy coat of black spray paint gives it a well-used look.
The tunic is a repurposed bedsheet. He traced the sigil onto tissue paper from the computer screen. I taped that to a window and traced the reverse side. Then I taped that to the back of faux red leather and pinned that to the inside of the tunic. I sewed a straight line along all drawn lines, then I turned it over and cut out the image. Then I turned it back over, removed the paper, and sewed a tiny zigzag along all lines. The last step was removing the stray strings from the front (which was not a short process). A quick neckhole and a tiny stitch just under the armpit finished the tunic.
The shoulder nubs are two halves of a car washing sponge. I picked bits out of them to make them rough and uneven then soaked them in fake blood before stuffing them into the arm holes and pouring more blood on them. A few strips of more bedsheet sewn together made for a quick sash to tie the tunic in place.
The cowl is crocheted. I would have made it longer, but again, time constraints got to me. I was literally still working on the tunic when he walked in the door from work, ready to take the kids Trick-or-Treating. So we made due with what I had accomplished.
BEHOLD! THE BLACK KNIGHT ALWAYS TRIUMPHS!
EDIT: I updated the tags, but "masks" is not an option. Will an admin be so kind as to add it to the tags, please?