Handmade Mysterious Benedict Society Costumes (Disney Version)

 Hello everyone, it has been so long since I have had time to create a post. This is an overview of how I created our Mysterious Benedict Society group Halloween costumes this past October. It's not exactly a tutorial, but I will try to describe in summary how I made each. 

Cosplay inspiration:

Ours:

For Constance, I found the perfect plaid pattern on thrift store pajama pants, which I cut and sewed into a shawl (I basically just needed to hem and attach two rectangles). I used extra strips for hair bows. I also found a pink, long button-up shirt at the same store. I had to trim the sleeves, add plaid to the tips, and hem them. I hot-glued more of the extra plaid fabric to the buttons to make them match. I bought long white socks at Dollar Tree. That's all there was to it! 

For Mr. Benedict, we already had a hat and grey face paint, so I painted a beard and used Dollar Tree yarn to make hair. The shirts/jacket were thrift store finds, as was the tie. This costume was basically finding and matching up parts, it did not require much creating. 

For Reynie we bought a green sweatshirt at a thrift store, then my brother cut it into a vest and painted a gold trim. He had tan shirts, I got him long mismatched socks at Dollar Tree, and the shirt came from the thrift store, too. 

Finally, for Kate I bought a hat and jacket that were the right materials but wrong colors. I also found a striped shirt and orange-brownish pants. All of the thrift store supplies including those were bought at a big sale at our local Freedom Hill store. I mixed acrylic paints with fabric softener and painted the hat green, and all of the jacket. The jacket took many, many layers and several days since I had to wait for each layer and side to dry. 

I hope somebody who sees this costume idea knows what The Mysterious Benedict Society is unlike everybody we encountered on Halloween, and if you appreciate the series as much as I do, perhaps you'll find this idea useful for the future. 

Thanks for visiting!

-Lauryn 

Easy, Last-Minute, DIY Custom Superhero Costume

 Good evening! Here's a super quick and easy project you may find useful this holiday season, especially if you find yourself in a time crunch and know a small superhero who'd love a special, personalized superhero costume. Mine used red and yellow with lightning strikes because my friend Morgan loved the Flash and Lightning McQueen, though of course I put his initial instead. Here is a basic outline on how to create your own.

You will need:

-Fabric (my red fabric was from the Walmart $2 section and was so great, I did not even need to hem the bottom after cutting it. I used a couple sheets of felt for the other colors/parts.)

-Hot Glue and a Hot Glue Gun

-Velcro

I cut a scalloped edge on the bottom of my rectangular cape with basic scissors. I sewed the top side to a long strip of yellow felt (also a rectangle with curved sides where I planned them to buckle under the chin). I hot-glued on Velcro to the ends of the yellow felt. I cut a gray circle and yellow 'M' out for my logo and hot-glued those to the cape. I cut out my mask shape, rectangle strips and lighting strikes, hot-glued them all together, and glued Velcro to the ends of the rectangle strips for my mask. 

That's all there is to it! I hope somebody finds this useful as a fun, personal gift idea! 

-Lauryn

DIY Jack Costume (From "Mary Poppins Returns")

Hello, everyone! Today I am going to share a quick tutorial for one of the costumes I made last year for Halloween, which was Jack from "Mary Poppins Returns". This costume is super easy to make. 

My brother got the hat online, although I'm sure it could be paper-mached. I found the coat and pants at a thrift store, although I got quite a few before I found one that fit right, and I had to sew the pants smaller. I found a red vest at a thrift store with a zipper, cut the zipper out, hemmed it, cut button holes with scissors or an exacto knife, and sewed buttons on. For the scarf, I found a short red scarf or bandana type of thing at a thrift store and painted the black swirls on  with acrylic paint. The white undershirt was also from the thrift store. Because we live in Georgia and Jack wears so many layers, I think I had to modify the shirt by making it short-sleeved or something so that he wouldn't die of heat. Basically, the costume was just a lot of searching and modifying, which in this case was cheaper than making it from scratch. Fancy suits, plain white shirts with collars and vests are all very common at thrift stores, it's just a matter of knowing which ones carry them for cheap. If you live in Georgia, definitely try the Cleveland Community Thrift Store. If I remember correctly, that's where all of my costume parts for this came from. 

That's all there is to it! 

I hope you enjoyed this random post and find it a useful resource in the future. I look foward to sharing more tutorials and events soon!

-Lauryn

DIY Veruca Salt Costume Idea

Here is the other Roald Dahl Costume I promised: Veruca Salt! This costume is easy to make, and you may even have the materials on hand. The book is my favorite, but I had a red skirt and I really enjoyed the old movie although it is inaccurate, so that's what this costume is from.

You will need:

-A red dress or a red shirt and red skirt (a long-sleeved shirt is best, but I had a short-sleeved shirt, so that's what I used)

-A big, black belt/ribbon/fabric

-A white, button-down, long-sleeved shirt with a collar

-White tights or 'stockings' (I just wore white socks; close enough, right?)

-Black flat or Mary Jane shoes

Just pair everything together, and you have a great book/movie character costume! if you don't have the supplies, it doesn't seem to hard to make. I would cut out a circle skirt, hem or glue the edges, and add the shirts.

Pretty simple, right? I hope you enjoyed!

-Lauryn

Easy Matilda Costume Idea

Here is a super easy tutorial for a Matilda costume from Roald Dahl's book. You probably have the materials on hand already, but if not they are easy to find, and this costume takes only a few minutes to throw together. All that you need is a blue dress, preferably with half-sleeves or long-sleeves. I had mine from a thrift store sale. I suggest you carry a book or two, or a some other element from the story so that people know what character you are. This costume is very quick, and Matilda is a great literary character from an enjoyable classic. This costume is especially good for those who are looking for a costume at the last minute. Not to mention that it isn't too over-the-top, so you could even wear it to work or school.

Here is an illustration by Quentin Blake from quentinblake.com:

I hope you enjoyed! I have more costumes to share, including another Roald Dahl costume, so I'll post again soon!

-Lauryn

Easy DIY Belle Costume

Halloween is right around the corner, and as you may know, I love to create costumes. Preferably elaborate ones. However, I always seem to find myself sewing and gluing at the last minute and I know most people love a simple but elegant costume. If you find yourself or someone you know scrambling for a costume at the last minute, this is a great choice. I've seen lots of Pinterest ideas for Belle costumes, so here is my own version listed in more detail below:

For the costume you will need:

-A light blue shirt (I cut the sleeves off of a tee-shirt I had)

-A white, button-down, long-sleeved shirt.

-An apron. I handmade mine for my Alice costume.

-A light blue (puffy/circle-shaped) skirt, the same shade as the shirt. They could also be medium blue. Mine was from a thrift store.

Put those items together, and easy as that you have a Disney princess costume!

Best of all, it costed me about $2, which isn't too terribly expensive. I hope you enjoyed! I look forward to sharing more costume tutorials with you!

-Lauryn

Easy DIY Charity Costume (The Greatest Showman)

Hey, everyone! Here is a super easy tutorial for a Charity costume from "The Greatest Showman." 

You only need three items:

-A white, button-down, long-sleeve shirt with a collar (thrift stores always have them. Mine was $1)

-A dark (more or less) blue circle-type of skirt  (I'm very particular about skirts being 'puffy'. Mine was made from a dress that was $1 or so)

-A black vest (mine was made from a $0.50-$1 shirt from a thrift store)

Put them all together with the vest on top, and you have a simple, inexpensive, elegant Charity costume!

Have a nice day! I look forward to sharing more costume tutorials!
-Lauryn

Easy DIY Girls Toad Costume

Hello! Today I'm sharing a super easy tutorial for a Mario Toad costume for girls. My cousin loved Toad, and insisted she'd rather be Toad than Toadette, so I made her this costume for her birthday.

For this costume, you will need:
-A big plastic bowl
-Red fabric
-White fabric (although paper could work)
-Blue fabric or a blue vest
-Gold acrylic paint
-A white dress
-Red ribbon
-Stretchy string
-Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

Step 1.

Place the bowl upright on the fabric. Wrap the fabric and hot-glue it inside of the bowl. Cut the white paper or fabric into circles. Glue them on top of the hat (the bowl flipped upside-down). Her hat kept falling, so I suggest that you hot-glue string to go under your or your recipient's chin.

Step 2.

Cut a vest out of the blue fabric if you do not already have a vest. I actually painted black and white fabric blue because it was last-minute, but the acrylic paint made it stiff. Paint the edges with the gold paint.

Step 3.

Sew a white dress if you don't already have a white dress. i made mine from a skirt (I think I just added sleeves or red-ribbon straps. Once the dress is on, tie the red ribbon around it like a belt.

You're done!

This costume should be very inexpensive. I used what I had on hand mostly, so it costed me a dollar. I hope the directions were easy to follow. Thanks for visiting! I have more tutorials on the way!

-Lauryn