Most years I make our Halloween costumes. By "ours" I pretty much mean anyone who is in earshot. Stand around me long enough and I will probably put you in a coordinating outfit too! With an entire cast of characters to costume, I can't make everything from scratch. Lots of outfits are recycled, either from thrift stores or from previous costumes. Here are a few examples.
This was my Halloween costume in 2007, they year I made all my friends into carnival freaks. Most of it
came from the thrift store with some minor adjustments. PJ's jacket started out as a red blazer that got the front cut a an angle and the extra sewn on as tails. I added a felt color and a lot of gold fabric paint. I lucked out finding my jacket which matched a skirt I already had in my costume bin. I bought some old shower curtain valance for $1 just to have that long black ruffle to add to the skirt. I gathered the skirt vertically in a few places to show some leg, glued on some facial hair, and we were a carny couple.
Pj's jacket reappeared in 2010 as part of his Mad Hatter costume for Lydia's Alice in Wonderland birthday party.
In 2008 I was on maternity leave prior to Halloween and
PJ was out of town for the holiday, so I turned three thrift store dresses into mermaid costumes for Jennifer, Lydia, and myself. They were a challenge that I enjoyed making and then promptly gave mine back to Goodwill after Halloween. I kind of wished I had kept it, but I was overwhelmed with baby stuff and my body was a weird post baby shape and I don't repeat my costumes and couldn't see a way to turn this one into anything else, but still I kind of wonder who loved it after me.
OK, remember my skirt from 2007?
It became Jennifer's witch skirt in 2009. It was supposed to be her Flower Fairy skirt, but that idea never really panned out so the day before Halloween, I scrapped it and made us all witch costumes out of our failed fairy skirts.
Remember that jacket from 2007? It became part of my Wicked Witch of the West costume for 2010. I had a black skirt and a black shirt from the thrift store, but the outfit needed a little something. I wasn't sure about adding
the jacket at first because it wasn't solid black, but in the end I loved the extra shape it gave my outfit and even the pop of the red, blue and purple that stemmed from
the jacket. I still need to figure out a Flying Monkey costume for
PJ. I think the circus jacket may make an
appearance in that one too. Hmm, I wonder what it will turn into next year!
This was my Halloween costume in 2007, they year I made all my friends into carnival freaks. Most of it came from the thrift store with some minor adjustments. PJ's jacket started out as a red blazer that got the front cut a an angle and the extra sewn on as tails. I added a felt color and a lot of gold fabric paint. I lucked out finding my jacket which matched a skirt I already had in my costume bin. I bought some old shower curtain valance for $1 just to have that long black ruffle to add to the skirt. I gathered the skirt vertically in a few places to show some leg, glued on some facial hair, and we were a carny couple.
Pj's jacket reappeared in 2010 as part of his Mad Hatter costume for Lydia's Alice in Wonderland birthday party.
In 2008 I was on maternity leave prior to Halloween and PJ was out of town for the holiday, so I turned three thrift store dresses into mermaid costumes for Jennifer, Lydia, and myself. They were a challenge that I enjoyed making and then promptly gave mine back to Goodwill after Halloween. I kind of wished I had kept it, but I was overwhelmed with baby stuff and my body was a weird post baby shape and I don't repeat my costumes and couldn't see a way to turn this one into anything else, but still I kind of wonder who loved it after me.
OK, remember my skirt from 2007?
It became Jennifer's witch skirt in 2009. It was supposed to be her Flower Fairy skirt, but that idea never really panned out so the day before Halloween, I scrapped it and made us all witch costumes out of our failed fairy skirts.
Remember that jacket from 2007? It became part of my Wicked Witch of the West costume for 2010. I had a black skirt and a black shirt from the thrift store, but the outfit needed a little something. I wasn't sure about adding the jacket at first because it wasn't solid black, but in the end I loved the extra shape it gave my outfit and even the pop of the red, blue and purple that stemmed from the jacket. I still need to figure out a Flying Monkey costume for PJ. I think the circus jacket may make an appearance in that one too. Hmm, I wonder what it will turn into next year!
Wow, great skills! I love your recycling attitude... I usually try to find a few key pieces that I already have and try to make a costume out of them as well...
ReplyDelete