Here they are. On the left is Thing 1 in his velociraptor costume. Center is Thing 2 as Spongebob, and on the right is Thingette as a butterfly. Spongebob was the biggest hit, by far. It was the best Spongebob costume I've seen anywhere, if I do say so myself. Thingette was a bit dissolusioned with the butterfly and was wanting to be Spongebob herself by the time Halloween rolled around, and I guess I can't really blame her.
I'm most pleased with Thing 1's velociraptor costume. I came up with this one from scratch, and it looked *really* good. I found some fab dinosaur-skin looking fabric, and it all just kind of came together without a lot of dicking around. The first head I made was too small and I had to redo it, but the basic design was spot on so enlarging it wasn't a big deal.
If I were to do it again, I'd use 1" rather than 1/2" foam for the body so it would have more body. The tail got kind of floppy. Still, it was great, and Thing 1 loved it.
The butterfly worked pretty darned well. I found some good quilting fabric for the wings and covered the body with velvet, like a fuzzy caterpillar. I wanted to find a headband with some dingleballs on it for antennae, but couldn't find anything at all. Just a few years ago. those things were all over the place. They're no longer popular, apparently.
Here's the head in production. I love working with foam rubber and making soft-sculpture pieces, and this was a really fun project. I suspect that my messing around with soft-sculpture in crochet long ago really helped with putting this together. You have to look at things in terms of semi-flexible planes, and the increases and decreases in shaping a crochet piece give a good sense of how things are formed.
Although this year's costumes were a hit, Things 1 and 2 have told me that next year they want store-bought, gory costumes. I let them know that this was okay with me, and that I'd help them put together some good zombiewear.
So next year, I'll have the time to put together something fabulous for hubby and I for Halloween. There's always a party somewhere...
FT