Friday, October 17, 2008

Hot Glue, A Girl's Best Friend

Today I decided it was time to get to work on Jack's Halloween costume. He wants to be a monster. I wanted to create the boys costumes this year (Bren wants to be a vampire...how easy is that?), so I set out to find the perfect monster pattern...



The pattern catalogs don't have monster costumes. At least not a size 2/3.

Then, I found the great dragon costume at Old Navy that Jack was perfectly content to call a monster.

They were sold out.

What to do? What to do?

I searched the pattern catalogs at Hancock's with a fine tooth comb, trying to be as creative as possible.

The end result?

Get a Wizard of Oz pattern and turn the brown lion into a green and (I wanted blue but Jackson picked...) yellow monster.

I bought a fuzzy green fabric for the head. I didn't think about how it would shed as I cut it out and sewed it together. I needed to hem to the edges b/c they were ragged (it was really hard to cut!) There was no way I could hem this fabric. It was getting "monster guts" as Jack and I called it EVERYWHERE! I was afraid the guts would get into my machine and just ruin it.

So, I pulled out my handy glue gun and went to town. Nothing like hemming with glue, burning fingers every few seconds, and gluing monster guts all over yourself.

But, in the end, it worked out great and I can't wait for the "big reveal" coming soon. I am even considering not sewing the rest of the costume, just a dap of hot glue here and there to hold it all together. I might even hem the pair of pants Bart has that are two inches too long with hot glue.
I am getting addicted to it's ease, pain, and quickness.

So, no pictures of the monster head Jackson won't take off and will probably wear to school to pick up Bren. Nope. Not until it's all done, though don't hold your breath for a masterpiece, because it is a piece, just not anything noteworthy.

By the way, do you think it would be tacky to have Jack wear a sign that says "Scary Monster" around his neck so people will know he's a monster, not a green dog or lion or alien?

8 Words to brighten my day:

Dawne said...

I can't wait to see! I bet it looks awesome :)

Omi said...

lol. you're so fun! but sometimes sewing doesn't always give you the end result you had pictured...lol. but alas...people will be people, so even if you did put a sign around his neck that said "monster", you'd still get the people who ask what he is. like the people who call baby girls dressed in nothing but pink, little boys...doesn't make sense, but as long as jack is pleased...that's all that matters in the end. what kind of fabric are you using?

Holly said...

How funny. Hot glue is great. I can't wait to see the finished costume. Hope you were able to get all of the monster guts off of you.

Jenn said...

Love the hot glue gun too. Can't wait to see the costume. as far as the sign goes, I think he could handle the sound effects and that might do the trick. What sounds does a monster make??? HMMM...

Jamie Hamilton said...

That's funny. I decided that Allison would have a hand-crafted costume this year and hers has LOTS of hot glue throughout!

Jessica said...

monsters say "FE, FI, FO, FUM"
duh Jenn :-)
what else would a monster say?
not ROAR...nope, not roar, according to jackson.

PapaJeff said...

For Bart's pants, two words - stitch witchery. Good stuff.

Any my sweet ittle Jack as a monster? No way!!!

Creativity rules. You must have gotten that from Mama.

Nicole said...

Hot glue guns rock! Can't wait to see the pics from Halloween.