Halloween 2011: Cow and Sheep Costumes

When Halloween rolls around, I am ever so thankful for my husband's hoarding ways, as it provides rich fodder for any number of make-it-yourself costumes.   Our do-it-yourself attitude about costumes stems not from any skills in sewing or pride in making unique and amazing creations, but perhaps just from cheapness and laziness :)  We can't bring ourselves to shell out a lot of money for an outfit worn for a few short hours (wait, that sounds a lot like wedding attire!).   And I already mentioned my aversion to trips to the fabric store.   So we created this year's costumes solely from materials we had lying around.  Now I'll be the first to admit that our outfits might be a little ghetto, but you can't beat free!

My mother bought the kids' costumes at garage sales, so all we needed were complementary costumes for Jeff & me.  It's almost embarrassing to post instructions on how to make these costumes, because they are so simple, but here goes.

Sheep Costume

I got the idea here but of course no grown-up in a sheep costume can compare with a baby dressed as a lamb.   Nonetheless, we went for it, improvising with the supplies below:

• large white t-shirt


• old pillow


• white hat


• black and white paper


• needle, thread, scissors, paper glue

Instructions:

Cut open the pillow and pull apart the stuffing into a couple large sheets for the front and back of the sheep

Sew the stuffing/batting onto the shirt using large, running stitches.  I did this in a somewhat random pattern, bunching up the stuffing to make it fluffier.

Cut out an ear-shaped piece out of black paper and a smaller piece out of white paper and glue them together.  Crease length-wise, and attach to the hat.  (I used safety pins since this is my regular winter hat, and I'd like to wear it around afterward without sheep ears attached)

Wear over a black shirt and black leggings.

Cow Costume

This is another testimony to J saving random stuff that later comes in handy.  See the bodysuit he is wearing?  That is the surgical garb he wore into the OR during my C-section.  The spots?  Old worn dress socks that he couldn't bring himself to throw away.  The ears?  A cereal box cut up and wrapped in tissue paper from our gift wrapping re-use stash.

Supplies:

• white shirt, pants, and hat (or a surgical coverall, if you're lucky enough to have one handy)


• black fabric


• lightweight cardboard


• white and pink tissue paper


• needle and thread, fabric glue, or other adhesive of choice

Instructions:

Cut random shapes out of the black material and affix it to the white clothes.  I am sad to report that, despite its ease of use, duct tape will not suffice.  We tried this for this year's first Halloween party at Bethany Community Church, but J arrived home with far fewer spots than he left with.  Oops.

For the ears, cut out the shape in cardboard and wrap it in white tissue paper.  Cut a smaller shape out of pink tissue paper and glue to one side.  Curl the ear into a circle, secure it with tape, and pin it to the hat.