Good morning, friends! I present you the down-to-the-wire, who-knows-what-the-heck-this-is costume. I cut out the main faux fur on Halloween eve, then petered out after an hour, and finally put it all together with additional fake fur trimming after school just in time for a 6:30pm trick-or-treat meet-up with friends. Despite my attempt to make a werewolf ensemble, when K tried on the in-progress costume, she exclaimed, “Oh, it looks like a bear! I love it!”
I’ve decided to call it a werebear. Or maybe it’s a bobwolf, since the hat — which was something my mom brought for K a couple of years ago — looks bobcat-ish.
This came together surprisingly quickly because it’s essentially faux fur pajamas. At this point, I can easily self-draft a long-sleeve tee and a pair of leggings in my sleep. The trickiest part was sewing the fur trim around the neck and sleeve cuffs (so, so, SO messy) and I worked my machine hard with all the bulky layers. I used the main fabric as the facing for the trim, and that worked like a charm. The neck trim is actually a backwards collar so that K can get her noggin in and out with ease — the trim wasn’t quite as stretchy as the main fabric.
The fabric is super cool. It’s nice and stretchy like a regular knit and has all these scar-like designs that look almost burned/branded and I thought, “jackpot!” when I saw it. The texture is closer to velvet, but it’s decidedly fur-looking. I got it from here when the request was still a wolverine. I guess I imagined a cute yet battle-worn wolverine. I know, just go with it. I love how K decided to put the attached paws onto her feet up there.
The tail elicited a lot of guffaws since it looks unmistakably like poo. I’d bought into the bear idea by the time the tail phase came up, so I cut out a circular piece of the main fabric, basted the perimeter and cinched it to create a rounded tail. The top is pretty long and could potentially cover my masterpiece of a hind end, so I positioned the tail lower than I normally would. The result, I must admit, was quite unfortunate.
Though the exact animal identification is dubious at best, K adores this costume and she wore the top all weekend. That’s always the best endorsement a sewing mama can experience. For a last minute hack job, I’m sort of preening with pride at how well it all turned out. An additional bonus was that the costume kept her warm while we dashed about the neighborhood collecting exorbitant amounts of candy (in fact, K complained that she was getting hot and sweaty).
The most memorable candy giver was a young couple with a folding card table set-up on a street corner. They weren’t dressed up or anything, and they hadn’t decorated the table, but had a nice bowl of candy available for the kids. They seemed genuinely impressed with all the costumes and had a kind word to say to every child. It was a bit confusing and sort of weird, but also charming. Sadly, torrential rains started about forty minutes after we started trick-or-treating, so the fun was cut short, but 2014 Halloween is done and done with success! Did you have a good one?
P.S. I’ve had yet another poor showing with KCW, but I’ve been enjoying the creations popping up around the interwebs. I think Meg and Dorie do such an amazing job of creating community — so inspiring! Goal: KCW Winter!
My kids would love this! That second picture is awesome. Coming from a colder climate, it is always good to have costumes that can be worn over a jacket. (Instead of having everyone ask if you are dressed as a skiier or something because your jacket is covering your costume, which was the bane of my childhood Hallowe’en experience.)
Thanks, Nicole! Ha, I’ve seen lots of jackets over costumes here in the PNW over the years too
Cozy costumes are very handy indeed!
This costume is made of awesome! I agree that werewolf is not what this is. It is very wild. I would wear that all weekend too.
Yeah, the werewolf theme had to be chucked after a certain point, but I do love the whole “Where the Wild Things Are” look of the costume! Thanks, Max!
You are so brave to work with fur. I certainly will not like at all working with it! I had lots of problems sewing with crushed velvet for a Halloween costume and I still vacuuming the mess!. Now, the concept of this costume is amazing! is very wild and totally belongs to a parallel universe! Reminds me a bit of the scary dresses the old people used to scared the young in the movie The Village.Great job Sanae! you deserve lots of brownie points for this costume.
Fur is tricky, tricky! I’m still finding fluffs and tufts, especially in my hair (??). I’ve never sewn with crushed velvet, but it sounds like a similar experience, Maria!
I just love this costume. It is fun and imaginative–just open to all kinds of fun playing. So inspiring.
Thank you, Greta! K wanted to wear the top AGAIN today, to school no less — that’s how much she loves it! So satisfying…
Preen away, Sanae – you rocked the costumes this year! I can see why K is so enthralled by this one.
Thanks, Lucinda! Well, I’m preening as much as someone who managed to not make the intended costume can ;-). The fur details is really fun, and now K wants me to add fur trim to everything!
Yes Sanae, we did “trick or treat” on raining evening too but it was fun moment for the kiddos. You made great costume and from your photos I can see K was very pleased in her werebear, although at first sight I thought it was cheetah costume
Haha, that hat is very cheetah-like! I figure this costume might be useful next year too? One can hope…I think I’ve made enough costumes for the time being, though K has developed a renewed interest in mermaids and wants me to sew her a tail.