Sunday, October 6, 2013

Time for fall and....costume ideas!!

So I learned something important about myself....I am terrible at blogging when the weather is nice. The minute those promising rays of sunshine start to peek from behind the clouds, I completely forget about my poor computer. For several months.

But, now the air is getting crisp and cool and I remembered: I was supposed to be documenting cool stuff to share with you. And I did...I documented it to myself on my phone and in photos. I just sort of forgot to do anything else after that. So we will be playing a bit of catch up in the future, but for now, it is time to talk about my favorite time of year: fall!!

Now if you ask me what my favorite time of year is, I will tell you I love summer, because everything is green and warm. This is a lie. Okay, not the "green and warm" part, but the part where I tell you my favorite season is summer. It's not. I love pumpkins and cider and hot cocoa. I love the cool air and buying school supplies, and cozy sweaters. But most of all...I love HALLOWEEN!

My absolute favorite is deciding what costume I will wear this year. I spend all of September and nearly half of October coming up with ideas of things I can put together...it has to be creative, fairly inexpensive, and something I can wear to work and in public (so nothing too scary or revealing). The best part is just thinking about all of the different options. Do I want to be funny or odd? Should I dress like a pun (party animal) or a cartoon character, or an inanimate object?

This year, I'm pinning my favorite ideas to Pinterest, so if you want to follow along, check out my favorite ideas on my Clever Costumes board. I'll leave you with one of my costume ideas from years past: the human windsock!

TheBreelyn dressed as a human windsock holding a normal windsock!


This was very easy to make, and only involves a $20-$30 budget, a trip to the hardware store and the fabric store and maybe and hour or two of your time. Its great for a budget, surprisingly easy to sit in, and pretty lightweight.

If you're interested in the instructions for how to make this costume, stay tuned...I'll post them soon!

UPDATED: how to make the human windsock costume

Supplies:
- two 5-foot lengths of 1/2" diameter hot/cold PVC pipe (you can get these at Lowe's for less than $4 each)
- two couplings for 1/2" diameter pvc pipe
- two yards of blue lightweight fabric (I used ripstop fabric, but feel free to use whatever you like, or whatever's on sale!)
- 1/2 yard of green lightweight fabric

Instructions:
Cut the blue fabric into two sections 30" wide by 34" high. On both sections, fold the top 1" down and sew in place. This will be the top of the windsock. Fold the bottom 1" up and sew in place.

Cut the green fabric into three-inch strips. Leave the strips long for now - you can cut them shorter once they are on the costume. Cut 10 strips.
Sew five strips to the bottom of each blue section. Sew along the same line you used to sew the pockets.

Now, thread the pipe through the top pocket of both blue sections of the windsock. Thread the second pipe through the bottom pocket. Use the couplings to connect the pipe sections together....and taaadaaaa! windsock!

To wear the windsock, you can try to balance the top ring on your shoulders, or do what I did and attach a few strings to a colander and put it on your head. Once you are wearing your costume, trim the green strips as long as you would like, I'd recommend about ankle length, so you don't trip on them. To top it off, find an actual windsock and take it with you. Enjoy!