Costumes 2013

Happy news! After sewing various costumes for myself and etsy friends since June, I am all done! Hot dog! I am over the moon and am almost at a loss for what to do with my free time first! Actually, the reality is that I get to tackle the rest of life that had to be put on hold for a while I filled orders and cluttered up my house with fabric. But for tonight I will revel in the feeling of freedom!

This year I really wanted my boys to do a safari theme and have the boys dress up as various African animals. I had my heart set on a zebra for The Coob, a rhino for Char, and maybe an elephant or a giraffe or an explorer for Mason. Sadly, Mason would have none of that because he had it in his head that snugly little animals get the most candy and insisted on being a raccoon. At first I was at a loss why he was so bent on being a small snuggly animal until I remembered my efforts to brainwash him several years back. Woops! So if you see a teenage Mason dressed up as a snuggly bunny down the road, I guess you can blame that on me! Oh well, no family theme this year since my 6-year-old raccoon was going to cramp my style.

Then Coobie tried to defy my costume power by wanting to be a baby lion (since he is obsessed with lions this year) and wear Char's costume that he wore when he was a wee one! I know that I have some major issues and that I should have been thrilled that I had one less costume to design and make, but I really wanted Coobie to be a zebra! Just when I had given up all hope and was trying my best to be normal about it all, James surprised us with Little Debbie Zebra Cakes on a family picnic and something about the cartoon on the front of the box won McCabe over! That man is far too good to me! After that (and after renting every zebra book that I could find in the children's section of the library) my zebra dreams came true! Now Coobie proudly tells all that he is a baby zebra for Halloween as if it were his idea all along! Brainwashing. A mother's best friend.

If any mother out there wants there son to be a zebra, beware; everyone will assume they are female. But seeing as Coobie originally wanted to be Pippi Longstocking, he doesn't seem to mind.

I really wanted to have hair that stood straight up but didn't want the kinked wire look that comes from pipe cleaners so I got two skeins of yarn and starched the heck out of them! Liquid starch is my new best friend!

So even though it turned out a little rounder than I wanted (the problem with never trying it on your child before it is done) he loves it and aside from me getting my way, that's all that matters, right?!

This costume reminds me of this video that I saw earlier this year

Charlie loves rhinos so this one wasn't too hard until I let him watch the first two Harry Potters and he was torn between Harry or the rhino for the rest of the year. I was equally torn (and now wish that he went with Harry Potter) but good ol'  Mr."cute snugly animals get the most candy" Mason talked some sense into him and a rhino it was! 

Let's be honest; what animal better to represent the Char than a cute little rhino?! Aside from having to dye the fabric myself and getting to figure out the fold on the costume with fusible fabric webbing, this costume was the easiest. I just love how round he is and how seriously he takes himself in it!

Char's selling point was being able to "bam" into people with his big horn!

 Maybe Mason is right because is so cute and snugly that I just want to shower him with candy!

 Char is a fan!

Last but not least, my raccoon. I actually did Mason's costume before the others because was really miffed that I was sewing costumes for other people before I fulfilled his Halloween dreams. "What is wrong with them? Why don't they just sew their own costumes!!!" So, before finishing any more, the two of us sat down together and sewed. To be honest, it was one of the highlights of the season for me. Hearing Mason say, "It's kinda fun having it just be the two of us" made my heart melt. They don't come any finer than Mason.

Brothers

So who cares if his costume looks more like an over-sized wolf than a raccoon, I couldn't have a more grateful and sweet customer!

My men.

Jamesy-cakes surprised us by coming home early the day that I finished all of these costumes joined us on our photo-shoot  I love this picture because it captured the moment so well. Mason posing for the camera, James chasing Coobie to get him out of his post-nap grump, and Char charging James from behind. How did I get so lucky?

My baby zebra