The Halloween Let Down

As a kid, I always wanted to cosplay my favorite characters at Halloween. When we'd go to look at costumes, I'd always be horribly disappointed, searching for the costume my favorite characters would have worn. For some reason, marketing gurus thought that costumes should have a picture of the character or the name of the show they were from printed prominently on the costume. I'd feel heartbroken. No self respecting cartoon heroine was going to walk around with her own face plastered on her dress. It was disheartening. I didn't want to dress up as a nod to my favorite character, I wanted to step into their role for a moment. I wanted to look in a mirror and for just a moment, completely embody them.

My mom was always frustrated. "What do you mean you don't like any of the costumes? I thought you said you wanted to be Rainbow Brite? This is a Rainbow Brite costume, what's wrong with it?"

Seriously, when did Rainbow ever have her name plastered on her skirt? Do you remember it? Neither do I. Same thing goes for She-Ra and Strawberry Shortcake. They were not the ultra-vain name brandishing types. Lady Lovely Locks was all about the hair, not about the picture of her hair on the front of her dress (but let's be honest, I'm a brunette, I wanted to be Maiden Fair Hair. That costume wasn't even available for purchase. Don't even get me started on the pitiful Cleopatra costumes out there.

Ultimately this led to a lot of homemade costumes that couldn't be bought, but they weren't the characters I loved either. They were always something that couldn't be bought, because "if you're going to be something I can buy in the store, why don't we buy it in the store?" And as a grown up sewing maven, I get it. The amount of time I pour into every costume for my kids, I get it. Every year we make my daughter's costume and buy one for my son. Why? Because cosplaying Darth Vader is easy for a preschooler, right off the rack. Cosplaying Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night as a teenage girl? Not so much.

So, this year as I work on my zaftig Mina Harper cosplay and my daughter's Starry Night, I smile and remember the day I realized while holding a cheap polyester Rainbow Brite costume that was just wrong, that dressing up can be more than that: deserves to be more than that.

Cosplay over costumes any day.

Let Them Play Dolls

In the spirit of the Halloween season, I spent the evening in the Sewing Cellar working on a Marie Antoinette Zombie doll.

They cut off her head, but now she's back, and she isn't looking for cake.

I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out. This was my first attempt at a cut & sew fabric design from both perspectives. I'd never designed one, and I'd never tried to sew one before either. She came together almost exactly the way I had envisioned, and all in less than the time it took my daughter to watch the latest in awful vampire dramas on television. :-)  The hardest part was turning the sewn doll body. I always struggle with turning, and this was no exception.

Now that my ghoulish gal turned out so well, I may be on to making more cut and sew dolls. It was a lot less labor intensive than my usual process, and since I had the design printed on Kona Cotton, she's just as durable as my typical Raggedy Rebels.

Now that I spent this evening playing, tomorrow it's back to the serious work of sewing on Halloween and Teslacon costumes.

What are you working on these days? 

Quick Costume: A Guide for the Halloween Impaired

1. Old globe + masking tape + old jacket- you are Atlas. 


2. Draw on a 3rd Eye with Makeup. Done.


3. Fluff your hair up, wear too many sequins, smear on some orange face paint, and talk with an overblown "Joisey" accent all night.


4. Zipper glued to your face (use washable glue stick for the quickness) leave it open over part of your face and smear red lipstick (or fake blood if you've got it) over the open area. Creepy "human suit" accomplished.


5. Wear all of your purses and backpacks at once. You are a pack mule.


6. Put on your fancy schmancy-est clothes and a sneer. Wear a "Hello my name is" sticker which says "The 1%."  I promise, America remembers.


7. Way too much makeup. You are now Tammy Fae Baker.


8. Bedsheet Toga. Double props if you tell people you're dressed as the Emperor Winston Churchill.  (Obscure Doctor Who reference, don't worry, it works if you say you're a Roman too.)


9. Take off your wedding ring and go as a Spinster.


10. Navy, Baby Blue, Red, and White clothes, same colors in face paint. Paint your whole face and wear a label that says "Hope."


11. Dust baby powder and glitter on your skin, go as a creepy Sparkly Vampire.


12. Draw on gills- you're a fish out of water.


13. Draw tally marks all over your arms and face. Put eyeliner on a lanyard. Act like you have absolutely no idea what anyone's talking about when they ask what your costume is. (Again with the obscure Doctor Who reference.)

Halloween Picture Parade!

Zombie Fairy.

She did her own makeup. I was impressed.

She even borrowed my punk tote bag.

 "I didn't get a punk tote bag!"

"Grandma, I didn't get a punk tote bag, and then this red blob swallowed me, digesting me down to just bones!"

"I think it was more fun to be just bones than to be a scary dragon."

Apparently not even a wagon could make up for the silly thing on his head.

For more picture parades of what all went down this Halloween, check out the SitsGirls blog.