Girls Love Dinos Too!: My 2012 Halloween Costume Challenge

Okay, I know in my last post I mentioned how glad I was to get out of making the kiddo's costume this year, but....

For some reason, I could just not let the season pass without giving myself an alternative challenge. Why do I do this to myself???? Probably because I am frugal and don't want to spend $40-$50 a pop on a poorly made costume from the local seasonal pop-up costume shop. I mean, really!! $40 for the basic piece for a man, not including accessories. "One size fits most" does not fit the stature of most of the male friends and family I have surrounding my life... and the velcro on the costume we checked out was not even sewn on right (no matter how hard you try, you cannot connect a strip of loops to another strip of loops). And then there are the lady costumes, which cost $10 more, but made with 1/2 the amount of fabric - seriously? And then there are still the weaponry and other desired accessories to purchase. But I digress...

Since for the munchkin we purchased a "How to Train Your Dragon" costume of the Gronckle dragon, hubby and I decided to go along with her theme and dress up as Vikings. We have been invited to a Halloween party next Saturday, so I have 5 days to create our 2 costumes and find or make accessories. I would LOVE to have my end total for BOTH to come out equal or less than what ONE ready-made costume from the store would cost.

Monday:
Hubby and I set off today for thrift shop finds to use in creating the costumes. Searching through 3 stores scored us a brown fleece blanket for $2, some laughs at interesting and some disturbing items for sale, and overall a fun cheap day-date. We stopped into Hobby Lobby and purchased 1 1/3 yards of faux fur, and 1/3 yard of faux leather for $16.

I think I can stretch this for enough for both costumes. I may go back to the Salvation Army for a brown sheet set I saw for $3. I immediately set to work on a shoulder wrap for hubby, using 1/2 of the sheet of fur:

So maybe tonight I will be compelled to work a bit more. I hope to update daily on my progress of this project. So until tomorrow....

Tuesday:
Didn't make much progress today. I had hubby stop and pick up the sheet set and proceeded with measuring and cutting his tunic:

I also found some extra scraps of fur and leather stashed in my craft closet that I plan to put to use.

Wednesday:
Got a few things done. I sewed the edges of the tunic, and got my skirt started. I used more of the piece of the sheet and measured around the largest part of my lower 1/2. I will use the existing large hem of the sheet for my waistband. I'll insert elastic into the waistband because I have not yet made friends with zippers and hooks when it comes to clothesmaking. I cut and sewed the vertical hem and chopped the bottom:

I'm out of elastic so need to run to the store tomorrow,
but I was able to grab up a bottle of brown dye for a white
tank top I already have. It came to less than $3, and I only
used a teaspoon full.
I plan to trim it with some of the fur I found in my craft closet:

I also got our belts started. The faux leather fabric was wide enough that 1 foot will make a belt for each of us:

It did not seem like I did much today until just now as I write this up. I hate ironing and learned today how very fabric dumb I am as I ironed the belt flat after sewing it. After I almost burned the fabric as my iron was too hot, I covered it with a towel to protect it while I ironed.

Current total spent: Appx $21 (with extra dye left over) and a house being neglected of good cleaning.

Thursday:
The thing I like about costume making is I don't have to follow a plan. I never know what my end product is going to look like until I decide it is done. Wow! I feel like such an artist :)
I was a busy bee today and even had some time to attend to a much needed vacuuming after fur trimmings have led to my carpets looking like I hosted an adopt-a-pet function. I first set to trimming my top:

I thought this looks pretty plain by itself and decided it would look great with a cape. I thought an all-fur one would be too much going on, so I put the fleece blanket to use. What I love about using this is that 4 edges were already pre-sewn so all I had to do was attach a strip of fur to the bottom and a button.

I love how ideas come to me as I get further into the process. I spotted these items and thought they'd be perfect to use as accessories if I could grab a can of metallic paint while I was out to pick up my elastic:

I used the hot glue to add some decorative design to these items, spray painted, and, voila! I have a medallion belt buckle, and a goblet:

It was a proud moment when I showed them to hubby and he asked me where I purchased them.

Finally I moved on to my head-dress. Hubby was able to borrow a viking hat that, for some reason, resides in his office. I thought my dino-divas' replica of a T-Rex tooth fossil would make a perfect mold. I covered it with a paper towel and wraped duct tape around it, and stuffed paper towel inside to hold shape. Masking tape would have been great too, if I had it.

I proceeded to papier mache' over my 2 molds using the strong durable paper towels I have since I had no newspaper on hand. I speed dried it by placing my oven on the lowest setting and leaving the oven door cracked. I painted over with white acrylic paint and it was dry after dinner. I measured a 2 inch wide strip of fur to wrap within 1-2 inches of my head circumference, and used a piece of elastic to complete the length and connect the headwrap so it would fit snuggly. I cut a hole a bit smaller than bottom of the "horns" and placed them through each hole till the fabric was taught, securing them underneath with hot glue.

Whew!! I'm almost done!!

Current total spent: Appx $27 (with extra bronze spray paint left over)

Friday:
I'm done! And I finished before noon - On top of an early morning grocery trip! My finishing touches were the man viking kilt made from the fleece blanket, with the waistband from a strip of the brown bedsheet: