The Great Holloween Costume Caper!

Once again, it's Holloween. I remember just dressing up as a ghost, a fisherman, a trash bag, and other nondescript characters when I was younger using simple materials around the house that I had to put together myself. Today, I indulge my kids with store-bought costumes and when the mood strikes (or lack of funds), I bring out the sewing machine and put together some very interesting characters with needle and thread.

So, a few days ago, I was challenged by my daughter to make her a costume. It was short notice, to say the least. Her school's Fall Carnival was in three days and she didn't even know what she wanted to be. Enter Martha Stewart.  Her craft empire was apparently all we needed. We searched her site online for ideas when we ran into a segment about Martha's "glampire" outfit several years ago. The girl looked it over and was immediately sold on the idea of a vampire in a cape. We found ourselves the next day scavenging at the local thrift store for materials. And with nothing more than a black bedsheet along with a roll of black wool and metallic yarn, we were ready to create a costume.

The trick was to make this in several hours without having the cape look like it was put together at the eleventh hour (which it was but totally beside the point). I made minimal cuts to the fabric, saving time but added decorative stitching for detail.

Ta-dah! What came to be was a very cool, well-made hooded cape that she liked because it was perfect for her character as a ghoul.

Yes, she changed her mind. A ghoul was more to her liking so I added the draping hood. Then again, she looks a little like Chancellor Palpatine from Star Wars Clone Wars, but who am I to argue?

I was so pleased with the result of this creative spark. It didn't lack in style or ingenuity considering it's humble origins–a faded twin flat-sheet and scrap yarn. A while back, I recall a Sponge Bob costume  I made using a large paper shopping bag as the framework and it turned out better than I expected. I wish I had the sense to take a picture of it five years ago. Ditto on last year's creation when I suited up my son to be a dice using cardboard.

This year, I've made a concerted effort, if not a moral one for the sake of my kids, who will one day ask me about a particular memory–for which I shall have no pictorial evidence because I wasn't very good about keeping a camera handy. Thankfully, my maternal instincts re-emerged a year ago along with the camera, a cell-phone camera for back-up and a family blog to which all memories are recorded. No small feat for this particular slacker-mom, let me tell you.