Cheerful Halloween

Want to make you own cheerleader skirt? Here's how...

For an old fashioned two-toned cheerleader skirt get too colors of fabric. Measure your subject to see how long you want your skirt. Make sure to add about an inch for the bottom hem and 3-4 for the top elastic band.

You will need enough of the purple fabric to go around your subject twice, and enough black to go around once. If you want to skip the zipper (which I did) give yourself a bit extra of each so the skirt can be slipped on.

Cut both fabrics into 6 equal pieces. When cut, the purple pieces will be twice as wide as the black pieces.

Sew all the pieces together (purple, black, purple..) joining at the end to form a very large circle. Hem up the bottom to get that out of the way.

Divide each purple panel in 4ths by measuring or folding and pressing. Fold the purple panels over so that the first fold of one panel meets the third fold of the next panel. Pin these in place until you have the whole skirt done. Stitch around the entire top of the skirt an inch or two from the top.

At this point, if you want a zipper, install it now by cutting a panel and sewing it in, or ripping out a seam and putting it there. Otherwise, sew elastic into the top hem of the skirt and you are done.

Our costume was completed with a black tank top, some dollar store pom poms and some ribbons made from extra purple fabric.

Halloween is almost here.....

I can't wait. I finished our Cleopatra costume yesterday. We will try it all on and take pictures this weekend. Stay tuned....

Don't forget to visit my shop...

Etsy Buy Handmade RissaReWax

Back in Time

A few years back my oldest wanted to be a "sock hop girl" for Halloween. This costume was soo simple.

I took an old curtain and made a large circle skirt with an elastic waist.

I found a color page with a picture of a poodle. I traced the poodle onto a piece of white felt.

I then hand stitched the poodle onto the skirt with black thread. I wanted the poodle to have an outline in black. I then stitched the lines that were supposed to be on the inside of the poodle.

Using black yarn, I made a leash for the poodle that circled around and up the skirt. The yarn was sewn on with black thread.

We finished it off with a borrowed sweater and a pony tail. Her hair ribbon was more of the curtain fabric used for the skirt.

Total spent? Zero!

Tinkerbelle

This Tinkerbelle costume had to be on of the cheapest ones yet. We didn't care for the frilly poufy Tinkerbelle costumes you could find in the stores. They didn't look quite right.

I found a little green nighty at Goodwill. After getting it past the creepy-feely check-out guy, I took it home and took it in on the sides, stitched up the front so it was less revealing, and shortened the straps.

Next came the wings. We had some left over from a previous fairy, I just spray painted them blue.

Finally the shoes. I found some cheap slip-on shoes for like a dollar and died them green. I then raided our craft cabinet and found little poof balls in blue.

Some tights to keep warm and a pony tail completed the project for a very realistic looking Tinkerbelle at around six dollars.

Holier than Thou

Two years ago I was a nun for Halloween. This Mother Superior costume required a lot of sewing. The main gown of the Habit was a long black gown. I made mine, but a graduation gown or something from a witch or grim reaper could be used.

Next came the white collar. I used a pattern I found for a quaker type costume and widened the collar. The collar attached in the back with a single sew-on snap. You could also use a white foam craft sheet. Attached to the collar with sew-on snaps was a long black rectangle of fabric.

For the head piece I used a white sheet of craft foam. I cut out a rectangular strip that wrapped around my head to just behind my ears on both sides. To this I sewed another piece of the black fabric cut into a large square. I stapled elastic to the two ends of the foam strip so it would fit around my head.

The finishing touches included a rope I tied around my waist and a rosary I made myself from beads I already had. The big cross was made for me by my grandmother a few years ago.

Here is a picture of me and my coworker Candy. Obviously she was an evil vampire goth chick or something. Though we tied for first place in the costume contest, good eventually won over evil. She still has the cross burn on her forhead to prove it.

Halloween is comming!

I love Halloween! Not really the candy and parties but the costumes! I love the process of coming up with the ideas and finding a cheap way to make them!

For the past 3 years my middle daughter has been an indian. The same indian all three years. I got so excited when she told me this year she wanted to be Cleopatra!

In celebration I will be posting a few past costumes with pictures and instructions while I work on her new costume.

Today of course will be the indian!


For my little indian I started with some fake suede from the fabric store. I used a shirt as the template for the top. It fitted like a vest and was all one piece. I didn't want to have any stitching so it would look more authentic. I cut long strips on the sides and front. The strips had wooden beads slipped on about every third or fourth one. The strips were then tied together to form the top.

The bottom had to be sewn. I made a simple skirt with elastic in the waist. I then cut a long rectangle of the fabric. This also had long strips on both ends. Beads were put on some of the strips.

The long fabric went from the outside of the skirt in the front, down the belly inside the skirt, between the legs, up the back side, and back out of the skirt. This gave the loin cloth affect, but still had her covered with the skirt.

For the shoes we used a pair of flip flops she already had. I used brown yarn and a large sewing needle. I sewed more of the brown fabric onto the flip flops. The yarn was actually passed through the sides of the flip flops and then through the fabric. The tops were wrapped around the ankle then tied on with more brown yarn.

The head dress is a simple brown stretchy head band with some feathers stuck in.

She made her own arrow pouch with a piece of leather cord and an old wrapping paper tube.

The final year my husband made her a bow from a stick in the yard. He made a notch in each end of the stick and tied string to one pulled it until the stick bowed and tied it to the other end.

Total spent? Around 10 bucks on the fabric.

It's Hip to be a Clown

Once a year, the bank where I work takes a ranch full of foster kids out to eat. They come to the beach for a week long vacation and different parts of the trip are sponsored by different companies and people.

We do dinner one night and a group of us dress up as clowns to paint faces and make balloons. This is something we look forward to every year. Below is a short video of 2009. Check out my YouTube for 2008 as well. If you are looking for me I am the fat one! :)