Spooky Fun

I love Halloween. I love dressing up, I love the smell of the autumn air, I love the magic of being out at night with other people and seeing what unique costumes they’ve come up with. I love seeing little kids and adults alike enjoying the atmosphere and some candy, and I love the decorations, like pumpkin carving….

Spooky Jack-o-lantern

Cute witchy Hello Kitty

…and other crafts:

Spooky spiders

And I love the sense of community you feel as you knock on doors, wait in anticipation for someone to answer with a treat and a smile (hopefully!). But best of all, it’s an excuse to get creative with the sewing machine (or knitting needles, or crochet hook)! This year, I did a little of all three.

My son wanted to be Herobrine, from the game Minecraft. That costume was relatively easy – a turquoise shirt, jeans, and a Minecraft sword. My husband crafted a Herobrine head from a cardboard box and some print outs he found online. He glued them on, cut eye holes, and glued some netting over them to make them appear white. My daughter was equally easy: she wanted to be a princess. And this was easy because I had made her a princess dress a year ago, as a Christmas present. I also made one for my niece, because what little wanna-be princess wouldn’t want a beautiful dress of her own?

She was thrilled. My daughter is a girly girl and loves to be pretty, but I love that she always prefers to be her own princess rather than someone else, like Elsa or Belle (nothing wrong with them, but I admire her streak of independence!). I used the fabulous pattern from the Five and Ten Designs Book, volume one.

Here she is modeling the aqua one for fit last Christmas:

        

And the purple one she wore this year (same size!):

The Princess and Herobrine:

Then it was just a matter of what to dress the little one! I originally thought of a lion costume, as his name means lion and I’ve always wanted to make a lion hat.

He was less than impressed, however, and I had a hard time trying to decide what I wanted the rest of the outfit to look like. Then I hit upon the idea of one of my favourite characters, and the costume would be so fun to make! And what could be cuter than a baby Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon?

He wasn’t entirely thrilled with that either, but he came around to the idea.

I made the sweatshirt by modifying the Urban Unisex Hoodie by Heidi and Finn, and then I drafted a simple trouser pattern. I made the whole outfit out of black stretch jersey. I made the wings using this pattern, which I’ve mentioned before here, and inserted pipe cleaners to give them a bit of body. I also made them removable with velcro so that Baby A would be more comfortable if he were lying down. I used shapes cut out of felt for the eyes and hand stitched on those and the horns and ears.

All in all, it was a fun night. And of course, my husband and I have already collected on our chocolate tax! 😉

Hope you had a happy Halloween!