Halloween Costumes

While I may not love much about Halloween, my girls certainly love any excuse for a new costume.  We start discussing Halloween costumes long before the holiday comes around.  It gives the kids a chance to change their minds 100 times before and figure out what they really want to be.  Kaitlyn wanted to be everything this year including a ghost, a bat, mickey mouse, and even an ice cube.  Kinsley, however, didn't waver much at all.  She wanted to be a viking last year and due to other things we had going on it didn't happen, so this year she was ready.  She didn't want to be just any old viking though, it had to be "just like Astrid" from the movie How to Train Your Dragon.  Sure kiddo, Astrid it is.

Meet my wild and crazy vikings...

Completely fierce right?  They were both so excited with how their costumes ended up, I was simply happy I managed to complete them in time.  It doesn't really matter how early we start planning or buying supplies even as I always manage to be working on them right until the very last minute.  This year was certainly no exception.

 Little miss attention to detail was sure to supervise every plan and purchase I made to ensure accuracy in her costume.  It took ages to find a fabric for her shirt that would pass inspection until a friend brilliantly suggested upholstery fabric.  While it wasn't great to work with it provided the necessary colors and stripes we were looking for.  I didn't use a pattern for her costume, I just freehanded it based off of pictures of the character.  I think I came pretty darn close.

The skulls on her skirt and shoulder pieces were hand formed out of Crayola model magic dough.  I loved that it could easily be made into the shape we needed and were still really light weight.  I then made the necessary details with a crochet hook and painted each one so they weren't quite the stark white of the original clay.  The spikes were little sew on beads that I found at Michaels.  While they don't have the size of the originals, they were ready made and I think worked out just fine. 

The important thing is that she was happy with it and thought she looked "almost like Astrid" pointing out a few technical details that didn't make it into the costume due to time restraints.  Heaven help anyone who ends up working for her one day, she knows exactly what she wants and isn't afraid to let you know about it.  

Kaitlyn's costume was much easier to complete simply because she had very few opinions about it at all.  I designed her look based off of Hiccup from the same movie.  I used the Charlie Tunic pattern, with the dress add on, from Made by Rae to make her dress and it was perfect.  I've been wanting to make this dress pattern for ages and I'm so glad I did.  I already have a couple more in the works for her.  It was so easy to put together and perfect for this costume.  I skipped the buttons to save on time and with the jewelry I made her I didn't really think it needed them.  I'll definitely add them on the actual dresses though.  

 

I trimmed her dress with the leftover leather from Kinsley's skirt and love the way it looks with the green.  The necklaces were simply a couple packages of beads picked up at Hobby Lobby and strung on some brown embroidery floss.  Her costume didn't take much time to complete at all, except for one last minute added detail.  The hat.  

A viking hat had always been part of my original plan, but not Kaitlyn's.  She insisted the entire time that she did NOT want to wear a "biking hat" and wanted a headband like Kinsley's, but of course I should have known better.  Thursday afternoon she decided that she needed a hat to wear and luckily I had the right yarns in my stash to make it happen.  I used the Lael Viking Helmet pattern by Mamachee on Etsy.  I had saved this pattern ages ago and was ready to try it out.  I found that mine worked up a bit big (this final hat is the medium size).  The yarn I was using was a worsted weight but is a bit dense to work with so that very well could have been the problem.  Everyone in the family can wear this one though so that's been sort of fun to see.  Regardless the pattern is adorable and I would definitely recommend it.  It was also very quick to work up, which was a major plus since I was right down to the wire on time.  I finished the hat in just about an hour before we were to leave to trick or treat.  Whew.  Kait declared it was "so awesome" and that makes it completely worth the last minute rush.  

They had a great time running about scaring unsuspecting villagers and raiding their candy stashes.  Happy Halloween indeed.