Handmade: 3 out of 4

Handmade Halloween costumes are fun and I'm glad that I can use my sewing skills to make costumes for my kids. The kids usually have an idea of the costume they want to wear but sometimes I have to guide them into a different choice simply so that I can make a costume that is quick and easy to construct.
 
In September I came across this cute cupcake costume and Julia was sold. One down, three to sew. Maria wanted to be a vampire but after going through the costume ideas on Martha Stewart's website she agreed a spider princess would be just as good. Two down, two to sew. Then JP found a dinosaur costume at a children's clothes sale and so we went with that. Phew! Three down, one to sew. A friend shared this cute onesie and I knew immediately that Miles would be a "gnomie". Four costumes figured out. Yay! This would be a fun Halloween costume year but not as fun as the year I made Word Girl and Captain Huggy Face costumes.


A note on construction:
•The cupcake was pretty simple to make especially because it is made out of felt. The instructions from the link above were vague but when I was unsure of what to do I had to remind myself that it was just a costume.  Making the "cup" was time-consuming and I ended up using a hot glue gun because it was difficult to fit so much fabric into the sewing machine.

•The spider princess instructions suggest using crepe paper but if I'm going to sew a costume I'm going to use fabric! If you look closely, you'll see we found some cool spider web fabric. I altered the skirt construction by making it a bubble skirt to resemble the body of a spider. I sewed a doily into the neckline to resemble a spider web. The spider web cape was made of yarn but that did not hold up well so, in my spare time, Ha!, I will make a white cape with a black spider web over it to replace the yarn web.

•The gnome costume was super fast and easy to make. It cost $4.75--$4 jacket from Target and 3 sheets of felt at 25¢ each. The cone hat was made using two felt sheets sewn together and the beard was cut out of one sheet. I sewed elastic to the top end of the beard to stretch it over Miles' head. A good costume for a baby and in a couple of months he can be a Christmas elf.

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