The Anatomy of a Halloween Costume

I LOVE Halloween, which means I usually go ALL OUT when it comes to my costume. Every year I always get asked "Hey, where'd you get your costume?" And every year I have the same answer "Me. I made it." Which turns into a long conversation about how I did it, how long it took,... So, here's a little behind-the-scenes on what I go through every year to make sure my costume is "Halloween worthy" in my eyes.

2011 Ellie, from Up

Bought the paisley shirt and overalls from Goodwill and the wig online.

I had to hand sew the patches on, and altered the shirt from long sleeved to short sleeved. I also had to style the wig. When I bought it, it was made in low pigtails, so I took those out, fluffed it up, and added a pink bow.

I made the soda cap pins with actual soda caps and safety pins. Except for her Grape Soda pin...I'm not a grape soda fan, so I painted over a soda cap and hand painted the grape soda logo onto it.

Then I went to Schnucks and got a balloon.

"Adventure is out there!!!!"

2012 Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones

Whew! This one was a doozey...

Blonde wig and brown leggings from Wal*Mart, boots from Goodwill, heart from a Halloween store...everything else was hand made.

I had to braid the wig, which, if you've seen Game of Thrones and looked at Daenerys' hair, is a feat in itself.

The top I cut, sewed, distressed, and altered all by hand. I didn't have a sewing machine at the time, so all my nights were spent with a needle and thread.

The bottom was made from a tan skirt I found at Goodwill, which I cut up, and distressed to hell. (Distressed means that you take a piece of clothing and make it look worn or used. Like, adding burns, slashes, frays, dirt...etc.)

I made the beaded belt, and the fingerless gloves as well.

"I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyeria. I am the dragon's daughter, and I swear to you that those who would harm you will die screaming."

2014 Megara, from Hercules

2014, AKA, the year Chynna got a sewing machine and went all out.

Nothing was store bought. Every single thing you see was hand made from scratch and without a pattern. Except for the materials of course. I don't sit at a loom and weave out all my fabrics...that'd be weird.

Dress and sash were made by me.

The buttons were made from a foam sheet I cut into a circle, then stitched a gold piece of material to, made the swirl with a fabric marker, then hot glued a safety pin to the back.

But the best part of all of this was showing up to a Halloween party and finding this:

WE DID NOT PLAN THIS. It just HAPPENED and it was AMAZING.

"I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this. Have a nice day."

2015, Catwoman, from Batman Returns

This year put all my costume skills to the test...

I bought a black bodysuit, underbust, blonde wig, whip, claws, and I had to buy paint, alcohol, and dye....I'll explain.

Though I bought the bodysuit and the underbust, every white stitch you see was hand sewn. I was sewing this baby at night AND in between my classes at USI...sometimes I even did it during class. (I paid attention! You can stitch and participate in class at the same time.) I also stitched in elastic to go around my thumbs and the heels of my feet so that the arms and legs wouldn't scrunch up when I put on my gloves and shoes.

The shoes I already had. I got them at the Goodwill earlier this year, but I know the brand and you can probably get them at the Nick Nackery if you like 'em. They WERE a dark grey with shiny black buckles, toes, and heels, but I painted over the grey in black which took a LOT of painters tape to cover those shiny black parts before I painted.

I had the gloves from a previous costume a long time ago, but I had to buy the claws. The only claws I could find in town were these glow-in-the-dark monster/zombie claw things...Any-who, I used silver spray paint to paint over them then hot glued those babies to my gloves. (Side note: If you every do this, be careful. In order to get the claws to fit just right over the nail part of the glove I had to actually wear the glove and hot glue the claw onto where my nail was...which hurt a little. (I'll admit, not the smartest idea on my part.) So, if you ever do this, buy a fake hand: a rubber Halloween hand, a prop jewelry stand hand that holds rings, or just ask someone you don't like if you can borrow their hand for a few minutes.)

I could not find the wig that I wanted so I had to improvise. I bought a curly platinum blonde wig from the Nick Nackery, cut the hairs to the length I needed them to be, and then I dyed the wig (or, TRIED to dye the wig) to the dirty blonde shade I needed it to be. It was my first time dying a wig, so there was a lot of trial and error, and I didn't get it to the exact shade I wanted, but I managed to get it darker, which was better than the white-blonde that it was. Then I had to cut and style the wig again after that.

And when I went to a Halloween party, for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, THIS HAPPENED:

Again, NOT PLANNED. There was also a Joker and a Riddler there as well.

"I'm a woman and can't be taken for granted. Life's a bitch, now so am I."

So, all-in-all, yeah, Chynna is super obsessed with Halloween and maybe spends way too much time, effort, and money on her costumes. But you know what? At least she looks damn good doin' it.