Better Late Then Never: Halloween Costume Edition

I really wanted to post about my Halloween costume creations earlier but you see I had to wait for the photos to come back from the printers...and they were arriving by horse and buggy...and there was a blizzard, so that is why this is so late.

Obviously I'm lying and it's because there is really no excuse for the delay. Although to my credit these costumes weren't actually worn until after Halloween and after that there was the excitement of the election and I was sickly. But better late then never so here you go:

We got invited to a Halloween party and of course my boyfriend, being the eternal 5 year old that he is, decided the day before that he wanted to be Rorschach from the Watchmen. (If you aren't familiar with the graphic novel you can just watch the movie that will be out soon but not soon enough.)

At first I was going to veto this since I didn't feel like going on a hunt for a reasonably priced trench coat and hat. That was until my dad informed me that he had a tan trench coat which turned out to be perfect. I then recalled that some old man had left that exact hat at work so after grabbing that all we needed was the mask and a white scarf. For the mask I bought a pair of white pantyhose onto which my boyfriend drew a Rorschach-ish pattern. For the white scarf we ripped some white fabric from an old test run of a pattern. Grand total for his costume: $4 for the pantyhose. And after all that would you believe only one person even figured out who he was supposed to be?

Even out of context this is a pretty creepy costume, except of course for the mojito. He wasn't very good about staying in character. Plus he had to lift his mask to drink, which is always something that should be taken into consideration when designing a Halloween party costume.

My costume on the other hand was much more practical. I looked at my already existing wardrobe until inspiration struck. I already had a black shirt and black skirt that were very witchy. I also happened to own a pair of black and white striped knee high socks and some very witchy high heels. After that all I needed was a witch hat. After a trip to the store I realized the only hats left were not only children's but also very poorly constructed. I knew I could do better so on the spot I decided to make myself a cute mini witch hat.

(This is my fabulous work table, it may not be easy on the knees but it's generally fairly clear.)

For this I bought: black felt, black ribbon, a giant hair clip and some black beads. I experimented with paper to design the hat, then cut it out and sewed it together. I used the ribbon as a hat band and the beads for decoration. I then cut four slits out of the bottom panel to form two loops to slip the hair clip through and I was done! (I make it sound simple but it really took hours between the experimenting with the design and the tedious sewing. Plus I would have saved time if I had sewed the beads on before I had put the hat mostly together.)

Grand total for my costume: probably about $10 for materials for the hat but I have a lot of it left over.