Halloweens Past

I've finished making all the costumes for this year.  There were four complete suits, and one hat only.  I actually feel like I'm on top of things for once.  Amazing.  I need a cookie.

I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet.  That will probably happen on Halloween.  And then I'll blog about it next month.  You know.

In the meantime, I thought I'd round up all the halloween costume pictures I could find from the past. I've made most of the boys' costumes since Eamon was three, and altogether it seems like a lot!

2009--Eamon wanted to be a puppy!  He wore this for a full month after (I had to sneak it into the wash when he was sleeping...)  This was my first time using fleece, knits, and modifying a pattern.  It was a labor of (swear word infused) love.

2010--Eamon wanted to be Buzz Lightyear.  I had just had his brother in August, and this was my first project postpartum.  I made all three costumes entirely, except for the wings.  It was also one of those projects (all three costumes) that made me love sewing even more.  I found my groove hand-sewing the pieces of the alien hat.  And my nephew was the garden gnome (that's Fini in the picture,) which I found absolutely hysterical!  Babies in beards!

2011--Eamon was into Star Wars so much.  That cloak is still used for various dress up imaginings.  It's particularly useful as a Harry Potter getup, with a sweet wand from my friend Kayce.

2012--Eamon was into Pokemon so hard this year.  He wanted to be Ash, so I thrifted the shirt and vest, and added a stuffed Pikachu.  The only thing I actually made was his hat (I just hand-sewed a few pieces of felt onto a store-bought Angry Birds hat.)  I went to Sewing Summit just before, so I didn't have a lot of time.  Fini's costume was from a friend.  (He loved it!  And I loved his big giraffe booty!)  (I sang "I Like Big Butts" a lot that year.)

2013--by far the most labor-intensive costume I've done.  I made the entire Swarm (from Skylanders) costume.  There was a lot of swearing involved.  And wine.  Lots of wine.  It took many hours.  But, he loved it, which is why I do what I do.  Fini's costume was a leftover from when Eamon was 2.  It's from Old Navy, and absolutely adorable.  He wears it randomly all the time.

I love Halloween!  It's so much fun!  I love that my boys are into it, and I love the challenge of translating their ideas into wearable costumes.  This year's costumes are a mix of simple and complex, easy and time-consuming.  More later (you know, next month or so.)

Note: I have had a few comments in the past regarding people's feelings.  This is by no means a statement against anyone.  I like making Halloween costumes.  It makes me happy.  I truly enjoy the challenge.  If it makes you want to poke your eyeballs out with a pencil to even think about spending hours making a costume, by all means, buy something at the store!  Store-bought costumes can be awesome and amazing too!  So don't leave thinking that you are not enough.  You are.  We all are.  Namaste.

Halloween!

 

This year Eamon is super into Skylanders.  Like obsessed.  Months ago he told me he wanted to be a Skylanders character for Halloween, so after some negotiation (he wanted his favorite; I wanted something that wasn't going to make me hate sewing) we settled on Swarm.  Finian, not to be left out, wanted to be Spyro.  In September, determined to get a head start, I bought all the fabric and most of the notions, plus a generic dragon costume pattern.  (Of course, it all sat on my desk until about three weeks ago.)

I started by sketching out what I wanted to do, then started tracing all the pieces out, modifying them as I went (not only to match the characters, but both up and down in size as it was a 4, 5, 6 size pattern, and my boys are 3T and 7.  I cut all the fabric for the main pieces, and sewed together the Swarm pattern.  It was about this time that Finian decided he didn't want to be Spyro, and instead wanted to be a puppy (after seeing and wearing the costume that I made for Eamon when he was three.)  

I had a couple of snags while making this costume.  Apparently Swarm has glowing eyes…so I appliquéd a pocket for the eyes, then used a couple of the flameless candles.  When they're on, his eyes appear to glow.  His antennae also stand up a bit more, but I did the best I could with some cleverly placed stitches and an old headband inside the lining of the hood.  And the wings also needed some shape, so I bend a couple of pieces of thick wire and inserted them inside the wings before sewing them shut.  The rest of the details were either sewn separately and attached later, or appliquéd on as I was going.

I finished it the night before last (I like to procrastinate,) and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  He says he's in love with it, so I that's all the validation I need.  (Also, at this time Fini decided he didn't want to be a puppy, rather he'd like to dress up as a dragon (that we already had, from Old Navy, NOT made by me.)

People always ask me why I bother making costumes that my kids will only wear once.  I enjoy the challenge, to be honest.  Also, my kids will wear them many times throughout the year.  Eamon was Buzz Lightyear and a puppy for a good two months after Halloween, and Eamon Skywalker (later Eamon Potter) for about six months.  The only year he didn't wear his costume repeatedly after Halloween was last year, when he wanted to be Ash from Pokemon.  That was also the only year that I didn't do much for his costume.

We decorated for Halloween, too.  My mantlepiece is full of stuff because since we rearranged the living room I don't have many places for everything.  And the kids keep making art at school and bringing it home, which of course has to be displayed front and center.

A few weeks ago my sister and her family visited, along with my mom.  The three of us ran in the Black Cat Run.  We did the 2.5 mile option.  My mom kicked butt and came in first in her age range (and beat my sister and me by about 4 minutes!)  We spent the day at the zoo with all the kiddos.  It was Zoo Boo, so we dressed them up in whatever costumes we could find lying around the house.  My nephew wore the Buzz Lightyear that I made for Eamon, which was super fun!  All the animals had pumpkins in their habitats, and the boys thought that was amazing!

We're heading out tonight to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood!  Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!