A History of Handmade Couples' Costumes

Halloween is absolutely my FAVORITE holiday! Candy, pumpkins AND the opportunity to get creative with costume ideas...are you kidding me??? Awesome sauce! I was going through past pictures of costumes my husband and I have worn over the years, and wanted to share them with you! Some of the pics are not super quality (and, in some cases, pictures of pictures), but you will get the idea and hilarity of it all. Hope you enjoy!!!

 

Here are some pics of my hubby Jason and I as Papa Smurf and Smurfette almost nine years ago when the Halloween party theme was "Cartoons." We purchased winter hats in red and white, red pajama pants, a white dress, two, white turtlenecks and 1 pair of tights dyed (terribly) blue and LOTS of blue face paint (my poor sister-in-law's sink was dyed blue for years after this particular party). I used white felt and Poly-fil I had lying around for Papa Smurf's beard and Voila!

Here's a shot of us with Jason's sister, Jen and her husband, Max (aka-Mario and Princess Peach) and his sister, Julie and her husband Bill (aka-Peter Pan and a 7-month pregnant Tinkerbell).

 

The next few pictures are of terrible quality but too awesome not to share. I hacked up two children's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costumes and sewed/glued them to green sweatshirts and sweatpants for the "Superheroes"-themed party. We added green face paint, balloons for muscles, plastic weapons, and orange and red pieces of fabric tied around our heads. If I remember correctly, my husband and I fought over who got to be Michaelangelo and had to settle the fight with a coin toss (which he obviously won)!

As for the "Fairy Tales" theme, we dressed up as Goldilocks and the Three Bears (myself being Goldilocks and Jas repping the three bears). To create the bear costume, I used brown sweatpants and a hoodie, along with two, brown bathmats. We tied a teddy bear to each of his arms to create 3 bears. My costume was made from an old dress of my mother's, tights, and Mary Janes. I am sooo sad I don't have a better pic of Jason's costume, as it is still my favorite to this day! If I do find more, I promise I will add them to this post!

 

 

Hubby and I went back and forth for weeks deciding what costumes we would wear for the "80's"-themed party until finally agreeing that we would veer off into the world of "80's toys" and go as My Buddy and Kid Sister. Using denim overalls we had on hand and white, painter's overalls I purchased, along with a white hat I painted red, a white, foam visor, and shirts purchased at my local thrift store, I got right to work! I added pinstripes to the white overalls and visor using a ruler and a pink, paint pen and multi-colored stripes to my husband's yellow shirt using paint and ribbon. We added some eyeliner freckles to our cheeks, and I pigtailed my hair into braids with pink ribbons to complete the look!

Our most recent (not to mention most embarassing) costumes were for the "Celebrities" themed party. At the time, Jessica Simpson was fresh out of the theatres as Daisy in The Dukes of Hazzard movie and dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo. My husband and I weren't satisfied with modeling these two celebs...until we decided it would be hilarious for me to dress like Tony and Jas like Jessica! Yikes! The Tony Romo costume was made using a jersey and blue hat purchased at Wal-Mart and detailed using iron-on decals, windpants and sweatshirts worn as shoulder pads. Jessica's costume involved a blonde wig, plaid shirt purchased at a thrift store, tanktop, cutoff shorts, false eyelashes, lipstick, nylons, and cowboy boots. Needless to say, my husband was a very good sport...but a very ugly woman!

Infant Owl Costume

 

As cute as Halloween costumes for babies are, I have a hard time being willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on them, when they only fit for 1-2 wears and runs the risk of being spit, peed, and pooped upon at any given time. I love owls (much like everyone else) and wanted to turn my little munchkin into one for Halloween last year, but wanted to keep my budget to a minimum. Using a white hat, onesie, tights, felt, my handy dandy glue gun, and a small, fleece blanket purchased at my local dollar store, I was able to do exactly that (in fact, since I had the tights, hat, shoes and some of the felt on hand, the whole sha-bang cost me about $5!)

Here's how...

 

 

Materials:

 

-white, long-sleeved onesie

-white baby tights

-white baby hat

-RIT dye in brown

-felt sheets (2 of each of the following colors-orange, bright blue, bright green, bright pink, orange, brown)

-small, fleece blanket

-glue gun and glue sticks

 

Instructions:

 

1. Dye hat, onesie and tights according to RIT package directions (be SURE to follow the directions to a tee, or I assure you it will not dye evenly!). Wash and dry according to package directions.

 

2. Cut out leaf shapes in all colors of felt (enough to cover the front of the onesie)

 

 

3. Beginning with the bottom of the onesie (near the fasteners), alternate leaf shapes (aka-"feathers," according to color, creating three across (refer to picture above as a reference).

 

4. Hot glue the tops of the feathers to the bottom of the onesie

 

5. Glue a row of four feathers above the original row, overlapping them slightly. Continue to glue rows of feathers on top of each other, adding feathers across as needed, until reaching the neckline of the onesie.

 

6. Cut the fleece blanket in half diagonally (making 2 triangles) and glue the long side of the triangle across the arms of the onesie

 

7. Cut out six circles-2 pink (large), 2 green (medium) and 2 brown (small with triangle cut out for the pupil) for the eyes and glue to the hat

 

8. Using leftover pieces of the blanket, make two bows and adhere to the hat.

 

9. Cut a triangular piece of orange felt and glue to the hat for the owl's beak

 

 



Despicable Me Minion Costume

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My inspiration, courtesy of http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/The_Minions

If you know me at all, you know that my sewing skills are limited and that following any sort of pattern is beyond my attention span! Needless to say, I would love to give you the step-by-step directions to my Despicable Me minion Halloween costume last year, but I sort of cut and sewed as I went along. Sorry! I can tell you that I purchased 2 yards of yellow felt, one yard of blue felt, 1/4 yard of white felt, 1/4 yard of black felt, 1 small piece of gray felt, and 1 small piece of brown felt, along with craft glue, and a sewing machine. In the simplest terms, I folded my yellow felt in half and cut the sides and bottom to fit my body. I then cut out a "U" shape at the top of the fold so that the costume would fit over my head and sewed from the bottom of each side, leaving room for arm holes near the top. I turned the costume inside-out (fortunately, with felt, there is no right-side/wrong-side) and layed it out on a flat surface. Looking very carefully at Google images of minions, I cut out all of the necessary pieces to fashion the face, overalls, and accessories and used fabric glue to adhere them to the costume. Not too shabby for a "no directions, day-before-the-party I was attending" costume, haha!

Posing in the finished costume, along with some costumed cuties

Best Christmas Gift EVER!!!

Pic of Kellen modeling the stork costume



Every holiday season, I am reminded just how fortunate my husband and I are to have the family and friends that we do! This holiday was no different...except for the fact that we now had the pleasure of telling the people we love that we would be helping to expand the family with an addition coming in June!!! In case I haven't made myself clear, WE'RE PREGNANT!!! Being the nerd that I am, I knew that simply telling extended family the great news would not be enough. As a result, I recruited my brother Kellen, always the life of the party and never one to turn down an opportunity to draw attention to himself, to help me out in spreading the word.

Using 1 1/2 yards of white felt, 1/4 yard of orange felt, and 1/2 yard of black felt, I created a stork costume for Kellen. Using a mixture of hand-sewing and machine stitching, I sewed together a hood with a beak and eyes, along with the body and wings. Using the orange felt, I cut out legs and feet and pinned them to the body once my model was ready to be costumed. Since we were at my grandparents' house for the big reveal, we decided to use their chair lift to help the stork in his descent down the stairs. My brother certainly did not disappoint as he flapped his "wings" and squawked down the stairs, explaining to the confused bystanders that he was a stork. He then presented my grandparents with a package that, once opened, held our sonogram pictures and a message that read "Merry Christmas from the newest addition to the Dalby family. Coming to a hospital in Pittsburgh: June, 2012." After a brief moment of confusion as to who exactly was having the baby (as I have a number of cousins and siblings, all around the child-bearing age), we revealed what we had been keeping a secret for FAR TOO LONG, and the reactions were more than we could have ever imagined! Video for further proof to come in the future!

A stand-up view of the bird himself (don't mind the elbows of others taking pics!)



BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!!!!

My Buddy and Kid Sister Halloween Costumes

Not only is Halloween my favorite holiday, it brings out the competitor in me. My sisters-in-law host an annual Halloween party, which includes a new theme each year with high stakes costume competitions (Pizza Hut gift cards, Heck yes!!!) for individuals and couples. Fortunately for me, my husband is a great sport about it and wears whatever I make for him so that we coordinate appropriately for the theme. Two years ago, the theme was “80’s.” I knew I wanted to make costumes based on toys/games of the 80’s, but nothing too obvious (aka-PacMan, Cabbage Patch Dolls, My Little Pony, etc.). After a TON of brainstorming (because costume-making is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, people!), I decided on Jason and I dressing up as My Buddy and Kid Sister! For Jason’s costume, I couldn’t find a striped shirt I deemed “My Buddy appropriate,” so I bought a yellow t-shirt and painted stripes (except for the blue stripes…I used painter’s tape for those to save myself some time) on it and paired it with a pair of old denim overalls I found at my mom’s house. For my costume, I bought a white pair of painter’s overalls online and used a ruler and pink paint marker to make pinstripes on them and found a long sleeve shirt that looked cutesy enough to use under the overalls. With the addition of a red hat and yellow label for Jason’s overalls, a white visor, label, and pink ribbons for my hair, and eye liner to use as freckles for both of us, our costumes were complete!