In Technicolor
First of all I would like to say this was probably the most inexpensive costume I have had in many years.
Everything used for construction and crafting the house as well as the rest of my costume, I already owned.
The only purchase I made were the striped tights, the awful awful striped tights.
(More on that later)
I started with a basic cardboard box that I opened up by removing the top and bottom and left just the ” walls” in tact with the exception of one seam.
I flipped it inside out because I thought the plain cardboard would be easier to paint over than the printed side.
I reconstructed the top of the walls by cutting angles to form the peak of the roof.
I cut out tabs in the edges to make it easier to tape it back together
I crawled inside and used packing tape to hold everything together.
I used an additional scrap of cardboard I had cut off the bottom of the box to create a 2nd roof line on the front of the house.
I attached it using tacky glue and tape.
Next I cut out an opening in the roof to fit my head through but small enough to sit on my shoulders.
At this point I also adjusted the over all height of the house.
I chose to trim the bottom more to allow the house to hit at my waist.
I thought this would make it easier to move around and possibly sit in the costume as well.
I cut windows in the sides for my arms to fit through.
Then I drug the thing outside and spray painted it.
I went with light blue….because that’s what I had sitting around.
Then I began gluing on my shingles.
These were all cut from an old Fred Meyer gift box from Christmas.
I chose this because it was a thinner cardboard than the box I used for the house.
Since I wasn’t using hot glue, my tacky glue takes a while to set so I also used double stick tape to hold the shingles in place and prevent sliding since they were on an angle.
I also cut out shutters and a front door from scrap cardboard.
I glued some fabric inside the windows for curtains and cut the hem so they appeared tattered.
Nothing needed to be exact on this because the end product is suppose to have gone through a twister.
Next I started painting my siding and damage on the house.
I also added some moss to the grass line along the front for more texture.
On Pinterest I found a Certificate of Death that I glued on the front of the house.
And there ya have it!
My heels were from Halloween 2005
I painted them with a coat of Mod Podge and dumped Red glitter on them.
Then I hit them with a clear coat of spray paint to prevent the glitter from going anywhere.
Finishing touch -I added a crow to my hair
So, back to the terrible tights.
I should have known better than to believe that one size fits all would fit me… but I have bought this brand before and it was fine.
Apparently I grew.
Of course I waited until it was time to get dressed and go on the night of Halloween to try them on and discover they didn’t fit.
Note to self: Do dress rehearsal next time.
When I pulled them on I looked a bit like this…
Now, I realize it would have been socially and fashionably acceptable to just wear the tights out like this
( After all, the Biebs does it)
But I just couldn’t imagine it would be comfortable to walk around in.
Only one thing to do;
I cut the toes ala’ ballet class and sprayed the raw ends with hair spray to prevent runs.
This is why I am wearing socks with my costume.
In the end it all worked out.
My engineer husband pointed out the flaws in my home building and the lack of realism in symmetry, but sometimes you just can’t take life…..or Halloween too seriously.
PS: The entire costume took me about a combined total of maybe 2 hours.
Sorry.
I’m not sorry.
I’m crafty.
