Hello and Happy Halloween! Man, as much as I love costumes and dressing up, Halloween can often be stressful around here. Three kids with multiple costume demands, a variety of events all with different rules and weather conditions...it wears me out. But today is the last day, so time to recap what we wore this year and take a break until next time!
My oldest daughter wanted to be Mary Poppins this year. This was an AWESOME costume idea, because most of it is just regular clothing! And she got by far the most compliments. The shirt and bow tie were bought second hand, it's a simple school-uniform type polo shirt. The skirt was found at Goodwill and is actually a ladies' size 18. I bought it for a 101 Dalmatians costume many years ago and never wore it because my kids were sick that Halloween. To make it fit my 10 year old, I cut the center back seam, overlapped the pieces and just sewed them down. The hat is a standard black bucket hat. We hot glued flowers (fake and paper) onto it.
My middle daughter was part of a group costume with her BFF, who was going as an artist. My daughter is a paintbrush. Believe it or not, this was THE hardest costume to make! I dare you to think through how you would do it. I originally made a hat sort of thing from dollar store mops, but it was heavy and difficult to keep upright. In these photos we went with teased hair wrapped around a paper cone, and colored with temporary hair spray paint. Her clothes are just black.
My youngest daughter wanted to be Taylor Swift. IDK man. I just do what I'm told. Her clothes were also second hand purchases. My daughter did not gravitate towards any specific looks when I showed her photos. I picked out things that looked like Taylor Swift would wear them, added a toy guitar and microphone and a blond wig (this one, from Amazon). Red lipstick and a winged eyeliner and she was...not recognized by anyone. But don't tell her that.
Lastly, my husband and I had a couple's costume that is such a deep cut from The Office (Mose and his lady scarecrow) that even some of my Office-watching friends didn't get it. But that's okay, because I could be seen as a scarecrow without him and it still worked as a costume.
I made a Sew Liberated Hinterland Dress from a cotton shirting. The shirting was from Jo-Ann's and was just about the perfect color, I was glad to find an apparel fabric instead of having to resort to quilting cotton. It does have one slightly brushed side so it was nice to sew.
I modified the neckline to be square like my inspiration. I already had the hat (it got totally smashed en route to Hawaii so it was perfect for a scarecrow costume). In order to wear straw, I pulled out a super tight Nikko Top that wasn't even all the way finished (I only made it for my Sinead O'Connor parody video), cut off the turtleneck, and then sewed straw to the neckline and chest. Yes. I sewed straw to fabric.
For the arms, I sewed straw to a circle of knit fabric and just pulled them up my arms. It was better than trying to force the straw through the sleeves of the dress.
That was our handmade-ish Halloween!