Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween from a Galaxy Far, Far Away!


Happy Halloween!!!  Yes, we are Star Wars nerds!  And, we love to do family-themed Halloween costumes.  Double nerds!  So, for Halloween, Peter was Han Solo, Clara: Princess Leia (of course), I was Luke (from The Empire Strikes Back when he's training with Yoda), Bennett: Yoda, and William: Wicket the Ewok.

We had been planning to do Star Wars costumes for months and months, but as the time got closer, we got busier and busier.  We went to Kyoto, then there was Will's birthday and then Peter's birthday, then we went to Bali, and all of a sudden we got home and we had less than 48 hours to make our costumes!  So, I kicked it into high gear and pretty much spent the next day and a half sewing.  But, we got it done and our costumes were ready in time to debut at our church Halloween party last Saturday night.  

For anyone that's interested, here's a breakdown of how I made our costumes . . . 

Wicket the Ewok:


I didn't know where to find fake fur on short notice out here, and to be honest, I wasn't that amped about sewing an entire outfit out of fake fur; it just didn't sound very easy or forgiving.  But, then as we were at the store looking for yarn for Leia's hat, my husband genuisly (my computer is telling me that's not a word, but I think it is, so I'm keeping it!) picked up a giant brown, fuzzy towel and asked, "Would this work for Wicket's fur?"  Yes, yes it would.  And it was perfect.  It looked great and was sooooo much easier to work with than fake fur!  

So . . . for his costume, I took two giant towels and pretty much made a sweatsuit.  I used this raglan tee pattern for the top, with a few changes.  Or shortcuts really.  I sized up 2 sizes since I wasn't using knit fabric and I knew that it wouldn't stretch or give once it was made.  And, since I didn't have good ribbing and towels are so thick, I chose to not add the waist band, wrist bands, or even the ribbing around the neckline.  This saved me a lot of time and headache!  And, it still turned out perfectly enough.  

For his pants, I just used a pair of Will's pajama pants and drafted a pattern.  Then, I just added elastic to the ankles to make them into sweat pants.  Easy!

And the hood was even easier to make!  I happened to have this orangish/red knit fabric in my stash, so I threw it over Will's head, cut out a hole for his face, cut the bottom off on an angle, and marked two spots for the ears.  Then, I made two little ears out of the towel, cut slits in the two spots I'd marked, and stuffed the ears through and stitched them down.  And then to finish the outfit off, Peter made his spear with just a long stick and cardboard.



Princess Leia:


For Leia's dress, I used an old white sheet that we had and drafted my own pattern, loosely off of this cute cowl shirt pattern that I've used before.  Again, I sized up a couple of sizes since I wasn't using knit fabric, and also because I wanted it to be much looser.  I used the pattern for the neck, and then I just extended the sleeves out to be loose and bell-shaped and extended down from the bodice so that it would be floor length dress.

To make Leia's hair, I crocheted a basic beanie and then made little crocheted buns for the sides. 




Han Solo: 


Han's outfit is only half homemade.  For his tan shirt, we took one of Peter's long-sleeved military undershirts and cut the neck.  His vest took just a little more work; we took an old, black button-down shirt that Peter doesn't wear anymore and I cut the collar, sleeves, and buttons off.  Then I shortened and hemmed it and used some of the fabric I'd cut off to make extra pockets on the front of the shirt.  We got an extra pair of blue Air Force pants and I hand stitched strips of red felt down the legs, and then he just put on one of his utility belts and tucked his pants into some borrowed black boots and Han's costume was complete!  Oh yea, except for his blaster, which Peter created by simply cutting out cardboard, covering it in duct tape, and then coloring it with Sharpies. 




Luke Skywalker and Yoda:


These two costumes were the easiest because I didn't have to make anything!  We bought the Yoda hat a few months ago at the Disney Store in Texas, and then Bennett just wore some brown pants and a green hoodie that we already owned.  Then, I stuck him in our Ergo and wore him on my back just like Luke does with Yoda when he's training with him.  

To be Luke, I wore another one of Peter's military uniform undershirts, these cargo pants from The Gap, and some brown boots that I already had.  Add Will's light saber and boom!  Done.  





And that's it!  We had a great time dressing as our favorite Star Wars characters and stuffing our faces with candy!  So, with that, have a Happy Halloween and may the Force be with you!


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