After slaving over a bunch of costumes earlier in the year, I wanted to do something easy and comfortable for Halloween (Catwoman in a sweater) but...I also wanted my husband to have an awesome outfit. So we decided to combine our skills and go as everybody's favorite Ghostbuster couple, (bearded) Venkman and Zuul! We weren't going for screen accuracy (there wasn't time and really, I was not in the mood to try and match every detail) but I think it works!


I bought a used flight suit off of ebay and sanded down the zippers (to reveal the brass underneath). I got the patches and three "name tags" from an ebay store. The white pilot pistol belt was from amazon and so were the rubber gloves. The gloves had text on them but that was removed easily with some rubbing alcohol. My wig was a Posie Wig from ebay. And I (eventually) found the fabric for my dress - sheerish orange organza and gold taffeta. I wanted silk and lamé but I couldn't find any close to the right colour!!! So my Zuul dress isn't as drapey as I would like it.




The Ghostbuster uniform belts are grey, so I decided to dye the canvass belt. I hate dying stuff. The last thing I "dyed" was my Ryuk wig - which was a horrible experience - and before that...I can't remember, probably because it was so traumatic. Much to my surprise, it worked!

   

You can find very detailed schematics for the proton pack online. I took one look at them...and decided, no screen accuracy this year! I decided to do one that would look "good enough." We really didn't want to buy anything to make the pack, so I made the entire thing out of cardboard and paper, with a few lids and spools added on. We did have to buy spray paint, and some tubing. It's amazing how spray paint makes everything better!

 

My husband made the gun, and wired up lights and a speaker to both the gun and proton pack. Again, the lights aren't in the correct place/the right colour, but at this point we were using what supplies we already had and what looked cool. There were blinking lights, triggered lights, and he had a speaker setup to play sound effects and songs from the movie.



I also ordered grey elbow pads and a yellow leg hose, but they didn't arrive until the day after the party (we'll use them next year!). We went to a party and everybody loved our costumes. And as a bonus, someone was dressed as Stay Puft. Very fitting. And yes, my husband is more of a (bearded) Spengler than a Venkman - I ordered three name tags and put velcro on the backs of them, so he can change his character depending on his mood.



My dress wasn't based on any pattern - I took a big tshirt and around that drafted a batwing dress. Maybe I'll try tackling it again next year with the 'right' fabric and some draping.

Thanks for looking!
There is no Tatterhood, only Zuul!

I feel like I've been making costumes all year-round, so I really wanted something comfy, cute, easy and quick to do for Halloween.
Artist Hanie Modh has drawn a variety of superheroines/villains in sweaters - which are all so delightful and fun, so I decided to create a costume of her Catwoman.



Surprisingly I couldn't find the right grey sweater, so I made my own out of a soft knit fabric (and pin-tucked the cuffs and giant mod-avant-garde collar-cowl). For the sweater pattern, I used Burda 7742 as a guide (I lengthened the torso and the arms, and then winged the cuffs, collar and neckline). The little cat face was cut out of fleece, embroidered, then stitched onto the sweater. I kind of mucked up the mouth embroidery, but then again, it was 2 in the morning on Halloween!



I decided to make her little cat-aviator-hood out of fleece (to keep things cozy). I looked at cowl patterns from past animal costumes, quickly cut one out of scrap material, then kept tucking and pinning it around my head until it was relatively tight (then made the final fleece version using the scrap one as a pattern). I didn't want to bother with a proper strap, so I sewed a thick piece of black elastic where a chin strap would normally go. The ears were pairs of triangles sewn together and flipped right-side out. I propped a piece of cardboard in them before sewing them to the cowl, to help them stand up a bit.



Pair with black tights, black gloves, black shoes, some red ski goggles and a little bit of eyeliner, and voila!
The Sweater Superheroines make really great, really easy costumes, so ladies, if you find you're running low on time next year, they are go-to costumes!

Everybody's favorite Shinigami. Ryuk is a death god featured in the manga/anime/live-action-films called Death Note. Have no clue what I'm talking about? It's this guy right here! I based my costume on an image from Takeshi Obata's Blanc et Noir (an art book by the artist of the Death Note manga. See previous link for the particular image I'm talking about). This guy was made for a convention (but he's just so pretty I may have to wear him for Halloween!)



Everything was either made or heavily altered, including the boots. I bought old leather coats from Value Village, took them completely apart and cut out pieces from the leather sections for the patch-worked long shirt and leather pants. These pieces were given texture with a wood-burning tool. I also made a pleather-and-leather belt, leather belt bag and leather notebook.



I sculpted 3 resin rings, 2 bracelets, earring, "arm skull", buckle, belt end, chain connector, pen, belt and notebook cross out of plasticine, then casted them in either resin or latex. I used shrink-dinks to make the chains, staples and teeth.



I sculpted the mask on a copy of my face, made an ultra cal mold, then cast a latex mask. The eyes are resin (cast from halves of ping-pong balls!) and the pupils are from old sunglasses. The wig was "painted" (it was a auburn pointy wig before) and glued to the top of the mask after painting.



For the feather epaulettes, I pulled the tips of the feathers through fabric and dabbed a bit of hot glue on them to hold them in place. This feather-adorned fabric was sewing to giant shoulder-pads I had made (that were later sewn onto the shirt). There are over 350 feathers! I kind of want to remove them from the costume and just wear them on their own, heh heh.

Thanks for looking!
For a more in-depth read/process photos of the costumes, please check this out!
And if you just want more full body costume photos, you can go here!

This was a quick look put together for a masquerade ball on the Friday of Cos & Effect (a local convention).



I had bought a medieval-ish two piece set from a thrift store a few months back, and had yet to wear it. The ball was the perfect occasion to debut it. I made my hat and hand-held mask, and adorned my shoes. And to top it all off, I also wore my beloved latex skull mask. The creation of this cosplay was inspired by The Phantom of the Opera's costume, The Red Death, worn at a masquerade. (Which in turn was based on Poe's Red Death)

I started off with some cheap supplies from the dollar store and Michaels.



This is just a plastic mask painted with lace and pearls glued on. I wanted to make a papier-mâché mask, but I simply didn't have time! The holding-stick is part of an old spoon glued to the mask.



 I bought a blocked, wide-brimmed hat, trimmed and spray-painted it, sewed on lace, and steamed and sewed it into place. Later I added a spray-painted flower and pearls.



My skirt was just a little bit too short, so I adorned some shoes with spray-painted flowers and lace. They're just held on there with paperclips (and later safety pins, thanks to a lovely lady at the masquerade ball)



When I put it all together, and I got something beautiful. And/or terrifying!


Thanks for looking

[all]

This year I went to a con called Cos & Effect, a cosplay, costume, alternate-clothing and special-effects makeup convention. I have not worn a costume to a con in quite a while, so this year I went all out - and wore 5 (4 of which were brand new!). So, this is costume #1.


The Secret of Kells is a truly beautiful movie, and when I saw it, I wanted to cosplay the faerie Aisling. Originally I was going to make her outfit out of leftover fabric from my Tatterhood (linen) and Donnie Darko (faux fur) costumes. I tweeted Tomm Moore, the main man behind the film, about her outfit and discovered all of it was supposed to be made of fur. I did not have nearly enough material leftover from DD to make everything, so after thinking it over and looking at my options, I ended up buying an old "cutter coat" off of ebay.

Out came the lining! Off came the sleeves. On came the cat!



I wanted the dress to be "Dark Age-y", so no zippers or buttons (or even lacing, for that time!). I used McCalls 6465, and tweaked it so it was as tight as it could be, but still allowed me to pull it on over my head. I had to make it tight because fur is so fluffy, and in turn makes you look...fluffy. I reused my leftover TH linen for the lining, and used the lining as a pattern for the dress (simply by tracing it onto the fur).



The boots/leg warmers were not as medieval-y as I wished they were. I tried lacing them. Then velcro. A zipper was even considered. Eventually I put elastic in the tops of them - and after a while, they still fell down! My calves are non-existent, so I ended up pinning them to the tights I wore. I attached a bit of velcro to the tip of my shoes and the leg warmer, to prevent them from flopping around when I walked.



So, after some body paint, a 6-foot-long white wig and some big ol' fake eyebrows, my costume was complete!



I was pleasantly surprised with how many people recognized her. And though it's a bit warm to wear, I'd like to wear it again, maybe for Halloween or a fall convention. (Though the makeup was a pain. It was alcohol-based body ink, so while it looks great and stays put, removing it is unpleasant, and it really dries your skin out!)

Now all I need are some wolves. Or at least a white cat.



Thanks for looking! More pics can be found here.

Hokays, so I didn't make this - but my mom did! I keep telling her she that she did a *fantastic* job and wanted her project to get some internet love. She thinks "it was nothing - it was from a kit" BUT if anybody has ever done applique work, or have taken on a Bucilla or Mary Maxim kit, you *know* how much time and effort goes into them (plus she made changes and/or improvements!).



This stocking is for my niece, and my mom worked on it for 6 months (pretty much as soon as my sister made her pregnancy public, she started on it!)



She changed a few things - like doing a different backing on the pine-cones, making double-backings for scarves and other pieces that go 'off' of the stocking base, and adding/changing some embroidery lines.



Hope you liked it! Of course after my sister and I saw the stocking, we asked where ours was!

For my niece's 1st birthday, I made her a texture book. I was intrigued by these awesome Star Trek and Star Wars quiet book. Since she's only 1, I didn't want to put buttons or snaps, etc, in the book. I found this texture book tutorial and instantly knew what I wanted to do.



I know the backgrounds are kind of blah, but the fabric is very soft (plus the fabric was 'pre-quilted' with batting so it saved me a lot of time!). I managed to use up all of my scraps - I think I used fabric from every single project I've posted on here (save for a polka-dotted dress)! The only thing I bought was trim for the 'portrait' and more green thread.



It didn't photograph very well, but the face *is* embroidered with details, trust me on this one! Looks better in person



The letters took forever to do, even on the machine. In an ideal world, I would have liked to stitch everything by hand, but I had no time - finished this in a week and a half just in time for her birthday.



I drew all the creatures, traced them onto HeatnBond Lite, and sewed over them once they were ironed down. I did some work by hand (like the croc scales) and stitched (and glued!) down some things for durability (those feathers aren't going anywhere! But if the mom wants them gone, I'll go in there and take them out).



Those eyes. THOSE EYES!



Every page has different textures on it - a lot are softer and fluffier than the pictures depict!



Thanks for looking/reading along

My sister had a daughter a few weeks ago (yay!) so I made her some plush letters for the wall (or to act as pillows). I had made some before for my sister-in-law's daughter, so this was my second go at doing them.



They are done in pink and white fluffy fabric. My sister's husband LOVES them (and hopefully my niece will too, when she's a little older). They added velcro to the backs to hang them on the wall.



Last photo taken by Hillier Photography, (who took some adorable photos of her!)

I made some little plushies for my new niece, using (and modifying) a Funky Friends horse/unicorn pattern.



My sister will furiously deny it, but she used to LOVE pink and unicorns, so I made a pink fuzzy unicorn for her baby daughter.



I then modified the pattern to make a hippocampus, since my sister is into (Ancient Greek) mythology. It took a coupe of tries to get the tail just right, but I think it turned out pretty good!

My husband is a real good sport and has been a Musketeer for two Halloweens already - the 2nd time was when we were busy traveling in late summer/fall and I had devoted myself to my Frank the Bunny costume and his brother's Terminator mask. He was going to go as a Musketeer again this year (he didn't want me to make him a costume as I was already working on a few for myself, stuff for nieces, a suit for a friend, coat, etc etc etc)...so I secretly made him a rōnin (lordless samurai) costume! I couldn't have him roaming alone, so I also put together a geisha costume for myself to accompany him to one of the parties we're going to. These outfits are far from historically accurate, and nowhere close to authentic reproductions of what rōnin and geisha ensembles should be. They are strictly Halloween costumes, for fun.



My outfit was easy to put together. I had brought back a vintage kimono (the 'robe') and obi (sash) from a Japan trip in 2010. I made a red sash (worn under the obi), obimakura (basically a little pillow the back of the obi goes around) and obi-jime (cord on top of the obi).



I also made two pieces to wear under my kimono - normally geisha would wear layers and layers of under kimonos, with a red kimono being the most-top layer (I think!) but because I was a bit limited on fabric, I made two separates. I could be wrong - they could wear separates! When I was in Japan, I went to a studio and got dressed up like a geisha and there were two parts. And in Memoirs of a Geisha, I think there were two parts... then again, neither of those things are accurate!



I also made my tabi (socks) and painted some old flip-flops in place of geta or zori sandals. There were some available locally, but they were too small! For my makeup, I took a sponge brush and used white Kryolan aquacolor on my face and neck. I accented my lips, eyes and eyebrows with red creme makeup from Ben Nye, and went over my eyebrows and eyelids with a bit of black. Everything was set with powder, but I also used a setting liquid instead of water when using the aquacolor (it just helps it stay a bit better).



I bought two cheap ninja/samurai swords of different sizes (for the katana and wakizashi), took then completely apart, repainted them and added new cloth to the handle. We actually have "real" katanas but I thought carrying those around (especially to a party with kids) would be a bad idea.



Husband also picked up an obi from Japan, so he wore that. He is so much better at tying his obi (that's why there's no back-shorts of me!). I bought tabi socks for him (and new black flip-flops) and made the rest out of linen. I had to reveal the costume-secret before everything was done, because since I was working without a "real" pattern (couldn't get one in time) I had to wing it a bit, got into trouble with the hakama (pant) pleats, and had to get him to try them on (they were HUGE).



It's a pretty easy-and-quick costume to put together (so long as you're working from a pattern or two).



I highly recommend it if you still don't know what to be this weekend!



And congrats on making it through all the text and photos! If you liked it, it'd be great if you voted for it over on BurdaStyle (you can vote for my other costumes too!). Thanks! Happy Halloween everybody