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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Our DIY Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker Costumes

When I was a kid, store-bought costume choices were limited. There was half of an aisle of costumes at Walmart. Not that that applied to me, because my mother always made our costumes, by which I mean that she actually used a sewing machine.

At the time, I thought it would be pretty nifty to don one of those ready-to-wear costumes. But looking back on it, knowing that my mother put so much time and work and, well, love into our costumes makes my Halloween memories even more special. And while I'm throwing some much-deserved appreciation my mom's way, let me also tell you that she made several costumes for me during the high school years for theatrical productions and the like. I think I had her thiiiiis close to sewing a Little Women-esque dress for me, though thankfully she thought better of my "Just to school" response when she asked where I would wear it.

That's what was on my mind when I decided that homemade costumes are the only costumes for us. Unfortunately, I'm not quite as skilled with a sewing machine as my mom is. No matter, though. The costumes I devised for this year require ZERO sewing.

A few words on costume selection: I determined that this year would very likely be the last year that the costumes would be MY choice. No doubt, next year Linus and Veda will have opinions of their own. So I knew that I had to make this year count. My criteria? 1. I wanted something with a twin theme. As much as I hate talking to strangers about having twins, I love their twinness.  2. I knew it had to be the thing that I would otherwise always regret that they had never dressed up as. 3. I wanted to make their dad smile. The perfect fit? Boy/girl twins Luke and Leia. Their Star Wars-obsessed father loved it.

Oh, and another thing to love about homemade costumes? Almost everything you'll see here on the materials list will be used again, either for other crafting projects or for future wear.



Now, the Materials List:

fabric tape for temporary hems (though I might use fabric glue if I was going to do this again)
Velcro
belt-size strips of brown felt
hot glue gun
toy light sabers (our tiny ones were actually M&M dispensers from the checkout lane at Toys R Us)



For Leia
white turtleneck, at least two-three sizes too large (teeny Veda's was a 3T)
white tights
brown crochet hat (Veda's is from The Ribbon Retreat)
two large brown silk flowers (also from The Ribbon Retreat)
brown ribbon
two alligator clips


See his left sleeve? Use more tape than you think you need. Then use some more.

For Luke
white t-shirt
karate jacket (ours was purchased on Amazon)
beige leggings, sweat pants, or khaki pants
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4 comments:

  1. It always makes me happy when I look these kind of children activities

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  2. I was looking for homemade Luke and Leia costumes for my kids and ran across your blog. Very cute! My daughter's name is also Veda, she is 4 and my son (Hendrix) is 2. Thank you for the tips! My husband (a huge Star Wars Fan) really tried to convince my daughter to be Darth Veda. It didn't work, she only wanted to be the princess!

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