Last of the Halloween costumes

I kept hoping I would get some better pictures of Blake's and Dean's costumes.  Once we finally got everyone all dressed and ready to walk out the door for Trick or Treating I couldn't find my camera anywhere.  We ended up just getting a few bad pictures on Mark's cell phone.  Really bad quality, but all I've got.

Here we go... Erika and her friend were going to an Anime Convention on Halloween weekend - Oni-Con.  Erika changed her mind.  She had initially planned to be someone else, but then changed to Sailor V from the Sailor Moon series.  Here's the inspiration:

Her friend wanted to dress as Luna from the same series.  Here she is:

So we based Erika's costume on a cheerleader pattern.  The skirt is not quite right, but I definitely didn't want to go without a pattern for this one.  She ended up painting the glasses and the shoes to get the right colors.  Brittney's was just based on an a-line dress pattern.  I would have preferred something with a fuller skirt, but the girls picked out the pattern so I went with it.  It looks a little "Wilma Flinstone" to me, but they were happy and actually got stopped by several people at the convention - people asked to take their pictures.

Blake wanted to be Ezio from the Assassin's Creed 2 video game.  This was probably the most ambitious costume but actually came together fairly quickly.  The white tunic is a boy's dress shirt - I sewed the red fabric underneath and then cut through the shirt to make the stripes.  The gray is a small man's dress shirt.  The cape is made from some faux-suede and then red satin on the inside.  The shoulder piece is just craft foam (as is the belt medallion) and then the wrist and boot pieces are made some from faux-leather.  I was able to get a few closer pics of the pieces after the fact.

 And here's Blake:

I ended up running out of time (ugh!) so poor Dean got the "Sweats, Felt and Glue Gun Special".  I actually did scour the Halloween aisle at WalMart on the morning of and could not find a single boy toddler costume in his size.  Good thing, though, as he turned out to be an adorable puppy.

Everyone had a great time and all was a success!  I plan to start much earlier next year - maybe like in January!!  Happy Belated Halloween!

Lady Gaga is IN THE HOUSE!

Unfortunately, lots of sewing = very little blogging.  Lots to come in this next week as I finish up Halloween and a few other projects.

Other costumes are still in the works, but Paige needed hers before the Girl Scout Halloween party - it was early because we had it during our last regular troop meeting of the month.  Here she is in all her Gaga-glory:

Once she decided she wanted to be Lady Gaga for Halloween, we perused pictures of Lady Gaga fashion through the years.  Not wanting to deal with raw meat, go sans pants, or be overwhelmed by Kermit, Paige picked the 'Triangle Dress', but not strapless and a little more coverage down the legs...

I was working without a pattern, but it turned out pretty good.  I bought 2 yards of costume satin for $1.98/yard (50% off) and less than 1/2 yard of the sequin fabric.  Everything else I had on hand.  I made a quick tulle underskirt but it still didn't make it stand up enough, so there is flexible tubing along the side hems (to round the sides) and then angled coat hanger wires that run down the sides of the bodice in a casing and then angle out under the sides of the skirt.  Still not perfect, but good enough.  I reworked the skirt several times trying to get that nice flare without gathers, but it just didn't work out, so I ended up just gathering the circle skirt.  The back of the bodice has grommets down either side that we just laced up with ribbon.

 
She will actually get the most use out of her costume since she wore it at this party, will wear it at another event Saturday night, and then for Trick-or-Treating.

I can't figure out why this picture won't rotate, but here's the food I made for the party.  Deviled Eyeballs and Used Q-Tips (lollipop stick with mini marshmallows on the end, dipped in melted butterscotch chips). 

 

 I'm not quite ready to share the full picture of my costume, but it required just a little bit of sewing and some creative makeup.  Here's my feet at the end of the night: 

The girls all had a great time.  Here's a group shot... we had Athena, a cop, Old Grannies, Pirate, Punk Zombie, Annabeth Chase from Percy Jackson, Evil Queen, Graveyard Bride, and a Hot Dog!  Quite the motley crew.

In other craftiness, I made Paige a pencil case to match her new messenger bag.  I didn't have any more of the fabric from the cargo pants I used for her bag, so I just 'recycled' a pair of Blake's outgrown cargo shorts and accented it with the froggie fabric.  It zips at the top and has buttonholes to fit into her binder at the bottom. 

Blake joined choir this year and had his first performance last week.  We may still need to work on this rythm a little bit (chronically off-beat during clapping sequences) but he did great.  Center, bottom row... blond hair...

And lastly, I have some sad, sad news to report.  It is still unconfirmed, but Lady Gaga herself is believed to be dead after taking a bite from the poisoned apple of Evil Queen Grimhelda.  The apple was meant for Snow White, of course, but in a rare moment of opportunity, the Evil Queen realized Gaga herself would make a much more profoud victim (and Snow White wasn't at this party anyway).  The following picture could be disturbing to some... please use caution. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Fun!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

What do these three characters have in common?

This is Ezio Auditore Di Firenze from the video game Assassin's Creed 2:

This is Yukari Takeba from the video game Persona 3:

And THIS is Luna (the cat) in human form from the Sailor Moon book series:

Any guesses? Any idea what these three characters might possibly have in common? Two are from video games and one from a book/TV series (although I'll state my Sailor Moon ignorance here that I don't know if this character was in both the books and the TV show... I know she is in the books.)

Wanna know? Really? You're gonna laugh... hysterically.

I've been asked to make and/or assist in making them as Halloween costumes! For this year!

Oh, I guess that hysterical laughing was coming from me.

Stay tuned!

Ezio is for Blake. Pretty cool costume, really, and something I'm hoping I can make with fabric from around the house and maybe some craft foam made to look like faux leather.

Yukari and Luna are for Erika and a good friend of hers. They're going to be attending an Anime convention (Oni-Con) that's coming to Houston on Halloween weekend. Erika wants to learn how to sew, so is thinking with some basic lessons from me she'll be able to make these two costumes... so we shall see.

Wish me luck... I think.

This isn't even counting any costumes needed for Paige and Dean... not sure if we'll make them though. I might already have enough on my plate.