The Halloween Costume

This year Spencer is going to be Woody from Toy Story for Halloween.  Have you seen the crap costumes they sell in the store?  They are horrible.  A bodysuit made of polyester.  They don't look comfortable and fit horribly.  Above all they are $25-$30 a piece.  That means if I bought both kids a costume it would cost $50+ .  So I got it in my head that I could probably make a Woody costume myself.  All you really need is a pair of jeans, a yellow long sleeve T-shirt, a cow print vest, a cowboy hat and a few other small accessories.  

Jeans, we already had.  One day at Wal-Mart stumbled across a bright yellow long sleeve T-shirt.  I was suprised because who needs long sleeves in September in Phoenix?  The shirt cost $4.  JoAnn's had some cute cow print fabric for $8/yard.  I bought a whole yard. Total so far $12.   I know I didn't need a whole yard to make a tiny vest, but I am glad I got it.

**DISCLAIMER**  I am NO seamstress.  I know how to sew a straight line.  I HATE using patterns because they confuse me.  So much like all the crafty things I do, I usually reverse engineer something I already have.

So, I got out a shirt and winged it.   And boy was it an epic fail.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the fail, but I was so frustrated that forever posting a picture of it on the internet would have sent me over the edge.  I decided to do what I do best and proceeded to sew and cut until it looked right, but was completely unwearable.  Then I cut it up and made my own pattern.  And whadda know it worked.  Here is the vest with the yellow  t-shirt...

To complete the costume, I need to buy some red puff paint (to make the plaid pattern on the shirt) and a cowboy hat.  I imagine that won't cost any more than $10.  So there you have it #10 on my list completed and a Halloween costume for around $20!

While I had the sewing machine out I remembered that I had some fleece leftover from making diaper soakers for Spencer a few years ago.  I thought I had enough to make a pair of pants.  So out came a pair of Spencer's pants for my "pattern" and I cut and sewed.  Viola!  A pair of fleece pants.  They are a little high waisted, but I figure that since they are only going to be a base layer while playing in the snow they will be fine.  I see many more pairs of these in our future since JoAnn's has fleece on sale for $2/yard.  It will give me a chance to perfect my technique.