Thinking Ahead to Halloween

This morning, it finally feels like fall.  Previously, this week felt like a hot summer inferno, complete with record breaking upper 90's temps and a forest fire haze that reduced visibility, caused air quality alerts and even led to the public school system cancelling outdoor recess (overkill, in my opinion, but my kids don't have asthma so I guess I should shut up about it.  I happen to be on the downswing of a cold and I admit I felt a bit worse yesterday and I'm sure the smoke had something to do with it.)  It rained in the night, and the smoke is still in the air but not as bad.  I suppose the rain needs to happen 600 miles away in Montana to make it stop.  Anyway, who can resist a cool and crisp September morning that is not actually cold?  After a mediocre night of sleep due to Milo having whatever I have and being feverish on and off yesterday, the morning craziness, meeting the bus, and hiking back up the hill I was ready for coffee and a few minutes on the couch perusing the Internet.  And before everyone starts in with the whole, "must be NICE not to have to WORK!" routine that stay at home parents often hear, I will add that I clearly remember what went on during the first 30-60 minutes at my old desk job and I know what lots of other people with desk jobs do and drinking coffee, Internet catching up and visiting with coworkers is exactly what is happening at offices all over America between the hours of 8 and 9 a.m.  I found myself checking Zulily, the flash sale site, because after a long period where everything I price checked on Amazon was actually cheaper on Amazon I have found a few truly good deals lately.  One of the features of the day was a kid's costume store which made me think of Halloween and Tessa's Elsa costume she has been committed to for months.

Ugh, I really am not a fan of store bought costumes.  They are generally overpriced and complete junk with practically glued on Velcro closures and flimsy mesh fabric everywhere that rips so easily. I can't shake the idea that I should make her a costume.  Never mind that with the fabric, extra materials, pattern and time required buying store bought is almost always cheaper anyway.  I just know she will use it a lot for playing beyond Halloween and I want it to last.  I decided to go where I haven't gone in years-the virtual version of the big table piled with pattern catalogues in the fabric store.  You can now look at them all on the Internet, although it's not quite the same.  After growing up with a sewing mom who made costumes and dresses and lots of other things, I knew the names to find:  McCall's, Butterick, and Simplicity.  Forget the more sophisticated brands like Vogue and Burda-I need easy and fast.  First up:  the obvious choice-Simplicity.  The name says it all.  Alas, they didn't have what I wanted and the patterns were listed at $11.99.  WUT?  Of course, at the store they are always on sale but still...that's almost half of a very low quality and junky store costume without even buying fabric or spending hours cutting and pinning.   So, on to Butterick.  I feel like these must have been my mom's patterns of choice because I think she probably has this exact same pattern in a different adaptation.

Ah, the onesie pajama with animal adaptations.  I just checked my scanned photos, certain I had a picture of my sister and I in our pink kitten and spotted Dalmatian suits that were just like these but it seems I scanned every costume but those.  Oh well.  No one needs to see that anyway.  Butterick had plenty of selection but not what I was looking for.  On to McCall's.  

First I saw this: 

Even the wholesome and traditional pattern companies are catering to this lingerie as a costume nonsense?  The pattern even includes the thigh highs?  OK...

Finally!  And these patterns are only 2.99.  

The Anna dress has way too much applique on slippery material for my abilities but maybe I could pull off the small Elsa version?

Oh...lined...that word in relation to sewing always intimidates me...zipper?  Oh crap.  My lack of being able to learn how to put in a zipper is legendary and that is one duty that was taken away from me at the NDSU theater costume shop where I worked in college.  I got good at sleeves, gathering, and all kinds of finishing stitches but that eludes me.  Velcro?  Maybe not such a bad idea? I also freaked out about the stand up collar but upon further examination it looks like that is for Anna's cape and I'm not going there.  Tessa has mentioned that I could be Anna.  At 7 months pregnant I would not give sweet, innocent Anna such an image.  

I was surprised that I couldn't really find much else for patterns for Frozen costumes since Elsa has been one of the top girl costumes every year since the movie came out.  After a general Google search of course Amazon had the Simplicity pattern I was hoping for all along.  It's not prime eligible though...ughhh!  

I suppose I could actually...gasp...go to a fabric store or the sewing section of Wal-Mart (ugh...I try to avoid it since I have learned that the employees who they place there generally have no knowledge about even basic sewing or fabric terminology) and see what is there in person or get really creative and adapt a very basic girls dress or nightgown by changing the colors to sparkly blue fabrics.  Or I could just buy one for $30 and be done with it. I love a challenge but let's be realistic here...at least we still have six weeks until Halloween!  

Ben is still non-committal about a costume.  Some days he wants to be a solider and some days he says he wants to be one of the Wild Kratts, who are two brothers on his favorite PBS nature show about animals that he watches after school.  They wear khaki shorts and hiking boots.  They are great characters but not exactly costume worthy, in my opinion.  Milo will be Spider Man or a brown bear, which are the 2T costumes we already own.