Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Despicable Halloween

It all started with Sydney. When we watched Despicable Me, everyone kept saying how much Sydney was like Edith. So I told her I'd make her a hat if she wanted to be Edith for Halloween. Then I got the idea for a Minion hat for Spencer and it just steamrolled from there. The hardest to convince was Trey. He didn't want to be nerdy Vector. But we finally sold him on it.


Then the costumes had to come together. As I said, it started with Sydney's hat.
Minion
... But I actually finished Spencer's Minion hat first. I didn't use a pattern, just made it up as I went, taking the goggles out a couple times until I was happy with how they looked. I found a yellow shirt (don't mind the butterfly) that's actually Sabrina's size but we rolled up the sleeves, to help him appear slightly more twinkie-like.
Edith... The funny thing about Sydney's costume is that I actually did everything in duplicate for her... so even after Halloween, she and Sabrina can dress like the twins they are (Sabrina's hat is almost done). I sewed the skirts from cord I just happened to have, because I have a fabric stash the size of Rhode Island.
Gru... I knit a scarf for Gru, er, Adam... who can do a spot on imitation of Gru talking about Kyle, his dog. We bought some skinny black jeans for him (and tucked a pillow up behind his shoulders under his shirt and jacket). And the day of Halloween, we buzzed his head. He wasn't quite up for going completely bald. Not a method actor, my son.
Agnes... Sabrina was the easy one. We found a striped shirt and some overalls. I bought some black hairspray from Walmart and put a red bow in her hair. We do have a red scrunchy like in the movie, but it somehow went missing. Her hair actually stuck straight up at first, just like in the movie, but ended up flopping over.
Edith... The most spendy, thanks to those pesky Chuck T's. I think the thought of getting herself a pair of red Chuck T's was actually the selling point of joining the DM cast for Sage. I sewed her a skirt that a drafted following a tutorial from the wonderful Ikat Bag. But I actually ironed down and then topstitched both the inside and outside folds of each pleat. I figured that way she could more easily iron it for wearing after trick or treating. No point in sending her to the loony bin young, since I know first-hand that ironing pleats can make you a crazy person. We found her a jacket at Goodwill, and the glasses were reading glasses from the dollar store that we popped the lenses out of.
Vector... Isn't he vastly cuter than the real guy? And he's not nearly so obnoxious! I sewed him that groovy yellow/orange outfit (from a couple different Ottobre patterns) that may never get worn again. C'est la vie. He had the fanny pack, all ready to go with a first aid kit. And we got his amazingly groovy glasses at the dollar store, too. And since we were surprisingly short of piranhas at our house, he crafted his own mini-shark gun.

I think this is the most fun I've had putting together Halloween costumes in ages.