Trick or treat! Happy Halloween!

About a month ago Hayley told us she wanted to be an Orca for Halloween. She told us she had seen an Orca costume at the dollar store, so we went to look and it turned out it was the end-of-summer clearance sale on swim stuff and it was just a small inflatable Orca for a pool. She was really disappointed and I said that there was just no way I could make her one.

Fast forward to last week. Hayley had finally decided to just be a vampire since they were doing some sort of age-appropriate Dracula project at school. Great, that’s easy! Dressed in black, a cape, some plastic fangs, and a bit of creative make-up. And then I saw a picture of a cat costume on some web site. It was black with a white belly and I suddenly thought how easy it would be to modify the black and white cat outfit to look like an orca. So the wheels in my head started turning and you know, it’s almost like a genetic quirk that I inherited from my mother where I can’t help but be crafty from time to time (though she is far better at it than I am – remind me to tell you about the Oscar the Grouch costume she made for me once which then got recycled into a Bookworm costume).

I couldn’t find any cat costumes in black and white so instead I bought her a pair of six dollar black stretch pants, got out my brand new black hoodie, an old white t-shirt, some cardboard and black tights, and I set to work. (Clicking the image will take you to a photo with notes on it.)

I cut out a white shape to attach to the front of the sweater, which will be paired with a white turtleneck to make the white underside of an Orca. I also cut out two white ovals to sew on either side of the hood, which will be the trademark white patches Orcas have on either side of the head.

I wanted to sew the white parts loosely so that I can hopefully remove them without leaving any damage since I’ve only worn the sweater twice. Luckily I suck at sewing in general so I couldn’t sew tight stitches if you paid me anyway.

I also cut out a piece of cardboard to make the shape of a dorsal fin and a tail, then wrapped them in chopped black tights. Those will be pinned to the back of the sweater and the pants. Since it’s my sweater it’s just big enough to fit a light jacket underneath.

Hayley was so excited this morning that she had to try the sweater on after she got dressed for school. She loves it and I think it’s gong to be a hit with her. I’m sure some people will think that she’s a penguin or a panda, but that’s okay. We know what she is, and since she’s so good at imitating Orca noises, she can just do that all night long. All I know is she loves the movie Free Willy with a serious intensity and she is thrilled to be dressing up as an Orca tonight.

(Can I just take a moment to be irate and point out it was just after 7 am and yet look how freakin’ dark it still is at that hour through the blinds in our window?!)

Have a safe Halloween! I look forward to eating Hayley and Breanna’s candy!