The Sweetest Halloween Candy

Ever.

Of all the Halloween costumes I’ve ever made, this one is my absolute favorite:

This was Monkey’s first Halloween.  He was three months old. 

…and just to be silly, I made these tee shirts for the Hubsters and me:

Since the Hubsters is such a “Big Hunk,”  I had “Reese’s Pieces” and became “The Milky Way!”  I was nursing…yes, I know, inappropriate, but it was really funny.  Ash’s and my grandma laughed hysterically, so it must be okay!

Anyway, the Reese’s Pieces costume was really easy.  All I did was cut two rectangles out of orange felt.  I cut all the letters and candy out of different colors of felt. 

I used spray adhesive to keep the letters where I wanted them then sewed them into place.  Oh, yeah,  I sewed the letters and candy to one of the rectangles that became the top of the costume.

Next, I placed the top of the costume on the other orange felt rectangle.  I sewed the pieces together, but I left Monkey a neck hole and some arm holes.  The blue lines are where I sewed.

It was a fun, fast, and easy Halloween costume.  For the Hubsters’ shirt and mine, I just used a freezer paper stencil and paint.  Easy peasy.

I know that in my last post, I said I was a Halloween cheapskate, and I am.  But, I got thinking about it, and I have made a bunch of Halloween costumes.

I’ve made a lion, ninja, frogs, and a dinosaur out of a hoodie and sweat pants.  Similar to this:

Source: zitzmanfam.blogspot.com via Nat on Pinterest

 

I’ve also made cowboy costumes, pirate costumes, an 80’s punk rocker costume, a pumpkin, Harry Potter, a hippie, Oscar The Grouch, Buzz Lightyear, and much more.  I guess I’m not a complete Halloween cheapskate, I haven’t made a Halloween costume for a while. 

Well, there’s still time this year.  I’ll let you know if any of my kidlets want a homemade costume.

READ MORE - The Sweetest Halloween Candy

Skirts!

Okay here’s 2 more projects that I’ve made for Halloween costumes. They’re pretty straightforward, but each one is a little different. Ready? Here’s the one for Thing 2.

First off I cut a bunch petal shapes from different colors of fabric, that I was going for in my costume. I cut 2 for each petal.

Sewed around the curve, leaving the top open

Snipped every 3/4” –ish around the curve to make sure it would lay flat, then turned them right side out.

Ironed them flat, and cut an elastic to the waist measurement. Overlapped it about 1” and sewed it together securely. Then, I pinned the petals onto the elastic, making sure they were nice and loose. Meaning the top of the petal was 5”, and I pinned them so they took up about 3 1/2” of space on the band. And I overlapped the petals about 1” so there wouldn’t be a gap.

Then, sewed it on the machine.

I pulled the elastic tight after sewing 1 end of the petal down, so the elastic would bunch up the petal when it’s relaxed.

It was getting very pretty

I decided to add a 2nd row of petals, so I hand stitched 6 petals to the inside middle of each of the 6 I just put on.

See how you can’t see any gaps?

Then, I added some tulle to the inside. I just cut it to the length I wanted, and just gathered it up as I was sewing.

Voila! The finished product turned out just how I wanted!

I’ve had sick girl so she wants to be in pajamas all day long

Now, for Thing 1’s skirt. This took a bit more brainstorming on my part. She’s being very specific about color. So, I kind of sat there contemplating dyeing something, then realized I had the PERFECT fabric from Miya Design’s sale that I’ve raved about before. It was actually sitting by me on the sewing table because I knew there was a Halloween project waiting for me to discover it. Isn’t it pretty?

It was the perfect color, and it was sparkly, which can’t miss with my princess. So, I cut it to the length I wanted, and then used part of the pantyhose from here and here to make the waistband.

I just cut a strip longer than the waist measurement by a few inches, and then sewed it to the sparkly orange fabric, gathering it up as I went. To make things easier, I pinned both pieces to match in 1/8s, meaning I folded it in half and marked it, then quarters, and then 1/8s.

I just sewed through the waistband folded in half, because I made it big enough for my elastic to go in after.

Then, I added a bunch of layers of tulle in behind the orange fabric in different lengths. Just because I can. I pinned those all on, and then sewed them on the line I already sewed to attach the waistband.

I did a layer of red tulle, a layer of orange (that is more bright than I wanted) and 2 layers of black tulle. Nice and poufy

Next I put my elastic into the waistband casing

Sewed both ends shut, even with the casing.

And then I sewed the orange outer layer together with the casing, to finish the skirt. I did as close to the edge as I could.

And made sure the elastic was nice and secure.

Finished!! She wanted to wear the gloves, antenna, and wings, but I wouldn’t let her wear the wings yet….

Okay, here’s some other things that caught my eye if these skirts don’t do it for you.

This tulle skirt is awesome. I pretty much love it. Word to the wise, don’t think it’s that easy to dye tulle black. You’re better off buying it black. I speak from experience. This skirt is from Etsy.

Again, from Etsy and very similar, but still awesome. I guess it’s actually for a Prom or wedding, but I’d totally be a witch in that!

Here’s a round-up of some awesomely unique costumes. Go look at Catching Fireflies.

Welp, that’s all for now folks! If you want help/ideas, please let me know!

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Playing with Fabric

Okay, this isn’t anything new and mind-shattering, but it may help to have a bunch of tutorials all linked up together. First, here’s what I did for my costumes.

Take your shirt (which I wanted a brighter yellow, but it is what it is. Tape off what you don’t want painted.

Including the sides

I used the ruler to get perfectly space, nice straight lines.

Get your fabric paint (mine is leftover from this shirt)

Put something between your shirt so you don’t get paint on the back, like lots of cereal boxes and envelopes from the recycling

Paint your stripes.

Let dry for 4 hours flat.

Peel up your paint, and voila!

Is anyone really not sure what one of our costumes is? I mean, wings, antenna, and now a black and yellow striped shirt? So, here’s more tips and tricks of different fabric things you can do.

Of course, I have to point you towards my post on how to dye fabric. It’s a keeper. Best thing is you can do any color your heart desires. Rit has a whole color dyeing chart on their site to help too.

My friend IRL Natalie has a great tutorial for bleaching awesome shirts. Do some cross and bones, or ghost for Halloween! We actually did this recently for scouts (bless our hearts we’re Webelos leaders together!) First time using freezer paper, and it won’t be the last! Here’s some more bleach tutorials here and here and here from Lil Blue Boo. Don’t be scared of bleach, like I am . It’s fun and dangerous and makes unpredictable colors!

Let me just interject right here that you don’t have to buy ANYTHING for Halloween costumes. Just reuse or refashion what you have. I have a whole board here for Refashioning if you want some ideas, or check out our Tutorials.

How about some glitter? Pretty sure you guys can dream up lots of ideas with glitter, but here’s some shoes glitterized over at Teen Vogue.

 

I really want to get my hands on some Martha Stewart Craft paint, and think these shoes that Craft Test Dummies showed are perfectly Halloweeny.

What else can you do to make awesome costumes? Let me know what you’ve done or seen!

READ MORE - Playing with Fabric