Halloween costumes through the years

I have made a Halloween costume for the clever girl every year except her very first.  As a kid, my mom (then my mom and I) made my costumes every year, so it just seemed natural that I would make costumes for the clever girl.  Here is what we have had:

This is the clever girl's first Halloween and I did not make this costume.  When I was pregnant with the clever girl, I called her "Pea", so when I saw this costume in a consignment shop, I grabbed it!  It was perfect!

 


In 2009, when the clever girl was 16 months, she was a ladybug.  I made her a tutu with strips of red and black tulle.  Her wings are red felt half-circles, stuffed, with black dots on the top.  Each wing had 2 elastic bands to go around her arms.

The clever girl was an owl in 2010.  So far, this is my favorite costume.  The entire thing is made of felt, and I melded a variety of different ideas I found when googling "owl costume" to create this costume. Underneath the body is a sleeveless t-shirt (much larger than her size) that I then glued layer upon layer of felt 'feathers" upon.  There is a slit at the neck and a ribbon to tie it together.  The body itself is very stiff as I glued everything, but sewing it all didn't seem to be worth it.  Fabri-Tac is my friend!  The wings are a large piece of dark brown felt with a bit of a tuck in the corner to make it have some body, and then layers of feathers were glued upon it as well.  They had elastic straps for her arms.  Her mask is made from a plastic eye mask I found at a craft store that I glued felt on to make look like an owl face. I think this is my masterpiece.  Will I ever top the owl?  We'll see, I suppose.

Last year, in 2011, the clever girl was a cupcake! I used white felt in a long rectangle to make sort of a tunic - cutting a hole for her head and then leaving the sides open for her arms.  I glued the front and back of this tunic to additional green felt that I pleated to look like a cupcake liner.  Again, I used Fabri-Tac for this project.  Why sew such an awkward costume?  Around the top, I wrapped many yards of pink tulle for the icing.  I glued the layers together in random spots, and glued them to the tunic part to cover.  Sprinkles were made from pieces of colored felt that were, guess what, glued on the tulle!  For the cherry, I stuffed a round felt ball with poly-fill and stuck a small stick out of the top.  This, I glued to a felt covered headband.  The completed headband was a little top-heavy for her head, but it worked!  Underneath her cupcake costume, she wore some pink striped tights and a white long sleeved t-shirt.

This year, I asked the clever girl if she knew what she wanted to be for Halloween.  I wasn't sure she would have any opinion but she certainly did!  She immediately told me that she wanted to be a purple dragonfly with pink and yellow wings!  Okay, that is what we will do!  I found a tutorial online for making cellophane fairy wings and decided to give this a try.  I think the cellophane wings look really cool, but more importantly they don't actually use wire frames so there is less potential of poking someone in the eye!  The wings weren't difficult to make, though they did take a bit of time.  The frame is made of 3 sheets of poster board that are spray-glued together and then cut out into the wing pattern (that was the harder part, cutting them out).  Then the frames are coated with the spray glue and the cellophane is carefully attached to each side.  Lightly iron each side of the wings and the cellophane sticks together.  Done!  I used a clear cellophane for the top wings so I colored them in with a yellow Sharpie marker.  I found pink cellophane for the bottom, so that part was easy!

I bent a wire hanger into a rectangle and used a hot glue gun to glue each side of the wings to the rectangle.  (It may not be clear, but each set of yellow and pink wings is actually one wing - they are connected with the black poster-board frame).  I covered the top and bottom wire of the rectangle with purple bias tape so the wire would not show.  For the dragonfly tail, I purchased some white little kid pantyhose and dyed them in purple Rit dye with a splash of navy dye.  I cut off one leg into tiny strips and used the strips to shape the tail.  Then I decorated the tail with silver glitter glue in little dots for some sparkle! 

For the eyes, I painted two Styrofoam balls purple with a blue eyeball, and cut eyelashes out of black cardstock.  I glued the eyelashes to the eyes and used a black sharpie to make little black centers for the eyes.  I covered a headband in the wide purple bias tape and glued the eyes to the headband.  Voila, a dragonfly!

I love making her Halloween costumes.  I hope I can keep up with her ideas over time!