Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A stitch in time...Halloween style!

There once was a plain brown pocket t...


who earned the chance to become more...
with a snip and a stitch and a patient hand...
became a Robin Hood costume at last!

This little indecisive imp...

got a costume whipped up in a flash!

I finally did it! I got the rest of the Halloween costumes to make, finished! I must say too, I am the queen of the cheap and easy and really cute costume ideas too! I hate the look of the cheap store bought costumes and better one's always cost a fortune and probably only get warn once. I love to turn ordinary things into cute costumes and save my wallet at the same time, don't you?
I had the idea to be Robin Hood this year when I got a green feathered hat from Lagoon last year, the only thing I had to make was the vest and that was pretty easy! I love the silly movie "Robin Hood Men in Tights" and decided to fashion my costume from this. After watching it again I had an idea for a fairly simple version of his vest he wears. I bought a plain brown Men's pocket T for 4 dollars and some brown suede cording for 2 dollars for the package along with some brown remnant material I picked up earlier for a 1.50, this costume was going to cheap and look great too! I started by unstitching the  pocket since I didn't need it  and then cut the shirt up the front and snipped off the collar too. I then made a pointed collar out of the remnant and pressed and stitched it to the T. Next I got to work making placket for the front, so that I could lace the suede cord through. The shirt in the movie had pointed detail work on the placket and the sleeves, but I didn't want to be piecing those on all afternoon. I opted to put detailing on the front instead with a little "castle wall" detailing to make it read as medieval in nature and stitched this to the opening of the shirt on either side. After getting it all stitched down and fixing what I inadvertently  stitched on backwards (oops!) I got to work making some button holes to thread the cord through (go ahead and make fun of them, my machine sucks in the button hole making department) and they proved functional. Voila! After pairing my new "vest" with a long white shirt I had and green tights and brown suede boots I had as well and the hat too of course, I was transformed into Robin Hood, "Men in Tights" version! ;0)

The last two pictures are of my little one, Mr. Indecisive. He wanted to be Capt. Underpants (fictional character), he wanted to be Mario, he wanted to be a skeleton, I tried to turn him into an X-ray as well. Seeing as thought the kids have a Halloween party to go to tonight and he still needed a costume, I made an executive decision..."How about a mad scientist?", I pleaded. He perked up at this suggestion and I got to work. I picked up a a white button down shirt made for a "large" woman at ye ol' Thrift Store and knew this costume would take just a manner of minutes to whip up! I cut off the bottoms of the sleeves where you would normally button then up and hemmed them to his little arms length. I was going to alter it to fit better as well, but the detailing on the back was nice and all it took was me gathering up the sides and stitching them down to be a little more fitted. I then took one of the cuffs I cut off and snipped it to pocket size and stitched it to the front of the shirt for a pocket. Lastly I took my felt tip red Sharpie and wrote "Dr. Boris Karlov, mad scientist" on the front to look like embroidery on a lab jacket. I also bought a spray bottle and cut off the top to look like a beaker and black rubber gloves and a turkey baster for his accessories all from the dollar store! So 7 bucks later, even my little one is ready for Halloween! He'll be such a cute little mad scientist too! I'll be sure to post pictures of everyone in costume and all made up as well, Have a Happy Halloween! ;0)