Halloween Costumes

We had such a fun Halloween this year! And while in the days leading up, Kolbe repeatedly asked me, "Mama, where's Halloween?" I think by last night he finally got it. At dinner time we practiced pretending like we were knocking on doors and then saying "Trick or Treat!" And sure enough, by the time we headed out to hit up our list of obligatory hot spots, he had it down. Rudy was, of course, just along for the ride. His greatest achievement was keeping on his hat when I asked him to.

I made both of the boys' costumes this year. Which isn't saying much when you see Rudy's. Like I mentioned before, I had big plans in my mind but it just didn't quite work out. His candy corn suit was a simple triangle cut of felt all sewn together. I measured the length from his neck to his ankles, divided it by three, cut pieces of felt this size, sewed them together, laid one of his summer tank tops on top, traced it, and from the arm pits down just made it flare out wider and wider. Really simple. No hems or anything since felt doesn't fray. And for the hat I just measured around his big dome, divided it by two, added a little for a seam allowance and made a triangle with an elastic band attached to each side.

Do you think I could get a picture of him facing forward? Of course not! But the back is the exact same as the front so you get the idea.

Kolbe's was a bit more complex. With very few pictures of St. Maximillian Kolbe available, I decided to base his outfit on a prayer card that we have with a picture of him on it. The circle rim glasses were a necessity, though when I took him up to the hospital on Friday to see his grandma, every single person that saw him said, "Look! Harry Potter!" At first I tried to explain but then just gave up and smiled and nodded...especially if it was just random strangers passing by. To make his outfit, I used McCalls 2340 pattern which is designed to create the outfits to use for a Christmas nativity play. It created the long "dress" type garment that I just tied with a white waist cord. It was super easy to follow and was completed in one nap time. The extra collar around the neck (I'm sure if a really Catholic-garment-savvy person reads this, they'll know the proper name for this collar/hood piece...sorry, I'm not that person.) was made by cutting a large circle and creating a hole for his head closer to the front than the back so it would hang down low on his back and lay flush with his neck in front. Not exactly like the real deal but close enough.

And of course the one good shot I get of Kolbe is blurry...

So till next year... hope you all had a Happy Halloween! Try to not imitate the sole female of this house and pig out on all the candy! Go throw the football in the great fall weather instead!