So here are some pics of stuff I made for my Halloween costume this year. I was Leia from Endor in Return of the Jedi. The poncho was courtesy of my awesome Mom: 2-ish yards of camo fabric folded over, edges finished with stitch witchery, and the gathered fabric at the neck sewn in. Boots I already had and some thrifted blue pants and some yellow ribbon ironed on with more stitch witchery. The stuff I made to go with are:
The helmet, believe it or not, started out life as a bicycle helmet I bought for $15 used. A lot of scrap cardboard and masking tape later I had the form finished to add detail and paint to. The ridges on top are strips of leather thong glued on and covered with more masking tape. Thanks to boyfriend for being my hand model here.
Can't brave the wilds of Endor without a blaster to take down any pesky empire thugs wandering around. The blaster started life as scrap cardboard for the basic shape. Pencils were taped on to both sides for shape. I used manila folder strips to wrap around the pencils to make the blaster round. More finessing of the details, and a lot of electrical tape for color, and voila! A blaster. Masking tape colored red on the end to avoid police involvement. It is a fake gun officer, I swear! Oh! And a holster of course. I wanted the holster to hang well from my belt so I got some suede for it. Did you know suede is very hard to sew by hand? Lots of swearing later I hit on using pliers to hold the needle so I could put more force and leverage behind pushing the needle through both layers. Still more swearing later it was done. Thank goodness for a simple fold-over holster design.
Final touch was a belt pouch. Leia had one, but mine had to hold all my stuff since I figured a purse would ruin the effect. Not wanting to subject myself to the suede hell again, I opted for cheap felt instead. It doesn't hold its shape well, but it did the job. It was the last thing I made so I opted for contrasting belt loops on the back instead of worrying about matching. Glad to be done.
Of course, since I was making a holster for myself, could I make one for boyfriend's costume? He was Snake Plissken from Escape from New York. Hmm, lots of stuff you can't get in the store. Well, holster first. No way was I making another out of suede. Learned my lesson there let me tell you. Felt it was. Oh no, I'd cut up the sheets I bought so all I had left were strips. No problem! Some black thread and smallish stitches later I had this:
Then there was the final detail unaccounted for. We had a lifeclock for his wrist. No pictures because it has gone missing - not good if you have explosives in your bloodstream! Imagine some cork cut to appropriate shape and covered with electrical tape. Elastic strips sewn on for the wrist-band and numbers painted on top.
Snake also has that weird sleeveless shirt with zippers near the shoulder. Not exactly something you can buy in a store. Though apparently neither is a sleeveless shirt for a man in black. Strange. So an old black t-shirt was sacrificed to the cause. I carefully cut the sleeves off the t-shirt with some additional chopping to get the shape right. The top shoulder seam is longer for a t-shirt than a sleeveless shirt. I sewed on zippers face down on the inside of the shirt then cut through on the right side to expose the zippers. I was concerned I would alter the shape of the shirt if I cut the shirt first. Marker applied to the collar completed the shirt makeover.
So I think I did more sewing for Halloween than I had done the entire year previous. On the upside it rekindled my interest in making my costume instead of buying one. Very fun, and much cheaper. Hope you guys like!
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