I refuse to buy made-in-China junky Halloween costumers for $50 a pop – simply refuse! In the past I have borrowed used costumes, bought used costumes on Ebay, and occasionally been known to piece together things on my own. But this year when Sam announced his plan to be “Jake” from DisneyJr’s “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” and have his little sister be “Izzy,” I was ready to go totally D.I.Y.!
It was still more than a month before Halloween when I passed a $1 costume rack outside a local fabric store and saw this bizarre blue and yellow top (which originally had sleeves and was not cut in half – got too enthusiastic before remembering to take a photo).
I bought a couple yards of yellow ribbon for another $1. I don’t have a sewing machine (nor would I know how to use one), so I pulled out a hot glue gun that I hadn’t used since I was 12 (and way into very bizarre crafting). I’m pretty sure the hot glue is seriously toxic, but I figured this will only be worn once (and hopefully not eaten by baby or dog.) Fortunately clean lines were not a requirement for a child pirate costume.
I searched my bounty of buttons collected from the sewing kits of deceased relatives and found four perfect yellow buttons (sewing buttons I can do). And just for fun I sewed on a couple of cute gold pirate-looking buttons at the top – a true original!
I also needed a red bandana which ended up being magically provided by Applegate Farms in my swag bag at ShiftCon.
For the shirt, I took a random hand-me-down white t-shirt and used some leather string that I randomly had to create the “X-loop” at the top of the shirt.
Hand-me-down blue jeans and timberlands complete the look. Total cost = $2.
Now for the Izzy costume.
I wasn’t surprised to find a pair of purple pants in Evelyn’s stock of hand-me-downs. But I was pleasantly surprised to find a pink peasant-style blouse pretty much identical to the one Izzy wears. The boots I pulled out are pretty random, but definitely give the illusion of pirate style.
For the loot-bag necklace all I needed was a scrap of yellow fabric (I used a microfiber cloth), some more of that leather string, and something small and circular to wrap (I chose a wooden egg). The bandana – which she wore for exactly 13 seconds – was just some pink scrap fabric. Done. Cost = $0.
Can you beat my $2 upcycled costume? Would love to hear about your DIY and upcycled costumes!
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