All our costumes

This time of year, I find myself wanting to show off our costumes, past and current.  I have albums on flickr and facebook, but neither one has all of what I want in one place.  So I’ll set that up here.  Costumes we’ve worn/made… from about 2000 to present.  Not just for Halloween; we wear costumes throughout the year.   Jake doesn’t like to wear costumes, but sometimes we can figure out a way to convince him to join us.

2000.  Scarlet Letter.  My mother embroidered me a Scarlet Letter when I was in high school, for a day when we had to dress like literary characters.  I’ve worn it every once in a while since.  The cap I made sometime in the 1990s.  Nell as Baby Pearl was the newest addition to the costume. 😉  This one was featured in the New Yorker’s book blog in 2008.

2001. Lawyers. I found Nell’s cute tweed suit in a thriftshop, and decided to dress both kids in suits to be lawyers, and make them business cards for their law firm–which specialized in disability rights, of course. Note son’s bowtie and wingtips. Daughter was just old enough to think it was fun to hand out business cards.

2006? Colonial dress.  My grandmother made the long calico dress; I crocheted the shawl, and the cap is the same one I wore as Hester Prynne, above.  I’m pretty sure she wore this for “decades day” at school (historical costumes only).  Also pretty sure she was the only one representing a decade before 1800.

2007?  Red Riding Hood, Red Queen.  I made this one from a big Gap hoodie, red fleece, men’s XL, found at a thriftshop.  Mostly just cut off front and sleeves (but not shoulders) and made the tie with the leftover fabric.  No sewing.  She had the rest of the clothes in her closet already.  Won “prettiest costume” at school fair, which explains the ribbon pinned to the front.  I was the Red Queen, mostly using various dressy red garments from my closet, and a red chef’s hat with tiara.

2008? Mozart.  She needed to be Mozart for a school “wax museum” activity.  I crocheted the wig, and the rest was clothing from our various closets.  She carried one of her brother’s toy keyboards.

2008.  Suffragette.  I made my suffrage costume that year, from thrifted bed sheets, and some bought ribbon and iron-on lettering.  I just printed the sign and attached it to a yardstick. (Yes, I do know that such a character is usually called a suffragist by historians; but if someone’s looking for this costume, they’re going to search “suffragette.”)  Daughter wore the sash/hat/sign the next year for a school dress-up event.

2008.  Veterinarian.  Found a woman’s plus-size white button-down shirt with 3/4 sleeves, had a friend use her embroidering sewing machine to add daughter’s name and “DVM” to the chest, made an animal hospital ID badge, and clipped some old EKG paper printouts to a clipboard.

2009. Garden and Snail.  My first crocheted costume.  Mostly green, with crocheted flowers and trailing vines.  Also crocheted daughter’s snail eyestalks hat, and made her “shell” from a rolled-up scrap of foam rubber (spraypainted, duct taped, and velcroed).  This snail costume was one of ten national finalists in a costume contest on Patch.com a couple years later.

2009. A Peanuts Christmas. Note sickly little pine tree with one red ornament, and Linus’s blue blanket. I made Charlie Brown shirt–just appliqued the zig-zag stripe to an old yellow t-shirt.

2009?  Nellie.  Book character day.  Nellie is one of the American Girl dolls (or was, she’s been retired), and the obvious choice for a kid called Nell.  Found the white lacy dress at a thriftshop, only a little too small (so I altered it for the day), and bought the blue ribbon for the sash.

2010.  Bagpiper.  We went to Scotland in August 2010, so this made sense for a costume that fall.  I made the bagpipes, the sporran, and the sock tabs.  The bagpipes “work” in the sense that you can insert an alto recorder and play it while carrying the fake bag the usual way.  The kilt, vest, blouse, beret, knee socks, and shoes were all from our closets.

2010/2011.  Coral Reef and Owl.  I crocheted a coral reef costume for 2010.  I also wore it in 2011.  It’s a lot of costume for just one year. Also crocheted an owl hat and scarf for Nell to wear in 2011. She made the wings at Re-Discover Center, with an old feather boa and some fleece.

 2012.  Tree, Orca, Teenager.  I crocheted a tree costume, and an orca hat for Nell.  We made the rest at the Re-Discover Center in Culver City, with recycled clothing and cardboard (and some duct-tape).  Jake just wore a t-shirt that said “My Sister is a Witch.”

2013.  Rainstorm, Skitty, Kogi Truck.  I crocheted the rainstorm and Skitty costumes; I made the Kogi truck (cardboard, spraypaint, duct tape).

2014. Submarine. Thor and Loki. (I think I rewore the tree costume.)

2015. Ostrich-y giant bird. Rocketship. Espeon.

2016. Alien Priestess (Sisterhood of Karn, from Doctor Who). Tarantula.

2017: Solar system, Rolling Rainbow.

2018: Giant squid, vintage convertible.

2019: I wore the squid again, and made Jake a Bathmobile.