Actual Halloween Costumes

We had a great Halloween this year. Part of what made it so special was that I decided to hand make the girls' costumes. Please note that I HAVE NO SEWING MACHINE! Yet, I did it anyway. I asked Annabelle and Jillian what they wanted to be and their responses were a mermaid and a peacock, respectively. I chose Sarah's costume for her - an octopus. I was most concerned about making a mermaid tail. I planned on making up my own pattern and would be hand sewing everything. I should have taken pictures during the process. It was quite a difficult feat.

I started with Jillian's because I was most excited about it. I bought a teal colored headband and tied different colored tulle to it to make the tutu. Then I cut out pieces of felt to make the feathers.With her peacock feather headband, teal shirt and black pants, she made one of the cutest peacocks I've ever seen.


 



Sarah's cosutme was next. It was super easy. I just stuffed 6 pairs of socks and glued them to a ribbon to tie around her waist. Her own two legs served as the additional 2 legs. Annabelle and Jillian had a blast stuffing the socks with me and helping me glue the buttons on.

 I purposely put off Annabelle's costume because I had no idea what I was doing. After Annabelle picked out the color of material she wanted, I started by sewing the waistband. I had to redo this twice, but finally got it so it would stretch around Annabelle's legs and sit comfortably around her waist. I took 2 wire hangers and shaped them like the 2 sides of the fin and sewed the fabric around them to keep the shape. Then I sewed down the back of the tail. It looked better than I expected it would, but Annabelle couldn't walk very well in it, so she held it up off the ground the whole time she wore it and you couldn't even tell it was a mermaid tail. Oh well. She loved it and that's all I could have asked for. We added jewels to her shirt and headband and the mermaid outfit was complete.

I love with how her hair turned out with the headband. She looked amazing and so grown up!

And here they are all together. What a bunch of cute girls!

I was very please with how all 3 costumes turned out and considering that Annabelle and Jillian have worn theirs several times since Halloween, I think they liked them as well. However, it was a lot of work and took a lot of time, so I think I'll take the next few years off and buy them their Halloween costumes.