Halloween costumes 2010

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things... and now have a chance to post about our Halloween costumes this year.



Wizard of Oz Halloween costumes

Hubby and I went downtown to a Halloween party, and of course, had to leave the tin man (our dog) and the scarecrow (our cat) behind. When we got there, everyone was staring at us... and we weren't really sure why. Then we figured it out. There were 2 ladies across the room, one dressed as the Tin man and the other as the Scarecrow! They had been in search of Dorothy and the Lion all night... what are the odds of that? And, that there wasn't a duplicate?

Anyways, the costumes:

Dorothy's costume

Click to see Dorothy costume before changes (the only other thing the pattern called for is 2 buttons, which I did sew on later)

I used McCall's pattern M4948 for the Dorothy costume, but made a few changes.
#1 Adding pockets to the dress (these always come in handy!)
#2 Having the checkered fabric and straps continue onto the back of the dress, instead of being like an apron
#3 Adding a waistband in the checkered material

Dorothy Halloween costume McCalls M4948, with some changes
Back of Dorothy costume (Ingrid: my dress form, wanted to model the back of the costume, but she's a little bigger than I am... so I couldn't zip it up. Here is a wrinkly look at the back of the dress. All of the checkered fabric above the waist, is what I added to the back)

In addition to the dress made from this pattern, I cut 2 satin ribbons to tie in my hair, wore bright red lipstick, bought a "Toto in a basket" from the Halloween store, and of course, wore the bright red Dorothy shoes (from Walmart). The Toto in a basket also doubled as a purse.

The Lions costume


This was made from McCall's pattern M6106. The only changes I made were to use boas instead of longer "fake fur" fabric for the lions mane and tail (I skipped the longer fur accents around the arms and legs also). I believe it took five, six foot boas to make the mane the way it was. (with a little extra left over) I also added "pad" details to the mittens.

These blog posts show more details:
Lion paw costume details
Making the Lion's mane




Changes I WOULD make, if I made it again, or it was re worn in the future:

#1 Add pockets, or at least slits so the pockets to your pants could be accessible through the costume. (I don't know why I didn't think about pockets for this costume, since I put them in the other one)
#2 Make the mane go further down the back of the costume. We thought the mane was a bit overboard... but when hubby put the costume on, we both agreed we could have added much more to it.

**WARNING** as hubby experienced, having a big mane as part of your costume attracts people to "pet" your head. The costume overall was also very warm, which could be good, or bad... depending on where you are.

Tin Man & Scarecrow
These are the hats our pets wore for their costumes. Tin man also had a silver collar cover. For the scarecrow, I should have sewn some yarn strands or something on the hat... but the cat really didn't wear it (for more than a couple pictures by herself) I just made her hat for fun.