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.