Bats, Bat, Bats
Another Halloween has come and gone and with it, the making of our annual costumes for the kids. S and I made the decision long ago (maybe even before kids) that we’d try to have the costumes mostly, if not all, handmade. And we’ve succeeded for the most part and I dare say, we’ve found a bit of a routine around it. Starting in September we start talking to the kids about what they’d like to be for Halloween. This year the answer was a BAT. A fruit bat and a vampire bat to be specific.
I then scour the internet for possible patterns. I’m a novice sewer at best, so I like to find things that are doable but with a little challenge. This year I found this great Do It Yourself Bat Costume by Ellen Luckett Baker for Alpha Mom tutorial and adapted it to make it our own. It was decided I would do the bat wings and S would do the masks. And this is key: I don’t like to convince my kids to be something or nag anyone to get their own part completed. There has to be complete buy in from everyone and that’s why we take the choosing of the costume and pattern slowly and seriously. The added intention is that these costumes will become part of the dress up clothes for the entire year or more so the time we put into making them is all the more worth it. We are still using the Dinosaur Tales that I made 2 years ago.
After choosing the costume and pattern it’s off to the fabric store with the kids. I let them pick out the fabric and help select the other needed details- steering them to think about if we have something at home we can use, can we go to the thrift shop, etc before buying it brand-new. Instead of the black felt the pattern called for the boys chose black and yellow glittery fabric. Once we gather all the materials we get set to working. Sometimes it’s been awhile since I’ve sewed when Halloween comes around and I need to refresh myself. I had the hardest time threading the bobbin…until I looked at the instructions.
This year I started sewing two weeks before Halloween…can’t say the same for S but he tends to create his best work at the last minute. In the past I have left it to the last minute too, the creating becoming stressful and leaving no room for the kids to help in the process.
It was a really fun process and of course, I figured out the best way to attach them to the shirt (a zig zag stitch) on the last wing. At least I know for next time we need some bat wings.
