Making a Colossal Squid Costume

Patrick loves Animals and always has. Recently he has taken interest in marine life and especially Colossal Squids. When we went to the beach this summer he was hoping to find either a shark or a squid. He had his goggles on face down in the ocean in hopes of a run in with one most of the time we were there. I didn't want to burst his bubble that he probably wasn't going to find one in 3 feet of water. But hey, a boy can hope! As you can imagine, Discovery Channel's annual Shark Week last week, made him excited all over again about dangerous marine life. While I think mid August is a little early to start thinking about Halloween costumes, I was not entirely sure I could make this costume. And if it was a fail, then I needed a back up. Costco starts carrying their Halloween costumes the first week of August and they are gone and picked over by September. And when you have to buy 4 kids costumes that $15 price tag is about as cheep as it comes. Now I make the kids costumes about every other year. And I have found in general it is WAY more expensive to make one than to buy one. So this time I made no promises that I could make this. When I priced this out I was shocked that Felt was SO cheep! It was $6 for one yard but that 1 yard is also 2 yards wide. Then I spent .75c on the black and white pieces that I used for the eyes. The pompoms that I used for the suckers on the bottom of the tentacles were $2. And the bag of Poly-Fil I used to stuff the fin, head, tentacles, and eyes with was $3. So the whole costume was $11.75+ tax!  Not to shabby. Now on to making this thing. In the past making a costume took me a few weeks. But that was using cotton fabrics and a pattern. I started sewing when I was a kid with my mom. And in high school I took apparel.  So I have had lots of practice following patterns and sewing "speak." But sewing a costume with out a pattern was new to me. I found a blog of a woman who made a Colossal Squid for her equally obsessed little girl, but she made it in pink.http://thechroniclesofthefeaseys.blogspot.com/2011/11/giant-squid-halloween-costume.html?m=1She said she used felt, bubble wrap and ginormous amounts of hot glue. As soon as she mentioned that she burned her finger prints off for good from the hot glue gun, I knew I would be sewing this thing. Since I had never worked with felt I was not sure how it would react when I tried to sew with it. It was remarkably easy! I was able to sew 4 layers at some points no problem. And best if all you do not have to finish any of the edges because it does not fray. 

Now on to what you are waiting for sewing instructions:

Materials: 

1 yard of 72 inch felt

1 bag of Poly-Fil

1 bag of white pompoms

2 pieces of white felt 

1 piece of black felt

Yard stick

Sewing tape measure

Pencil

Sewing scissors

Set of nested mixing bowls

Hot glue gun

Sewing machine

Red, black and white thread

Nested Mixing Bowls

First measure your child. Measure the circumference of their shoulders and waist. Measure from the top of their head to their waist where you want the costume body to stop. Then measure from costume stop at their waist to their feet for the tentacle length. Write down their measurements. Now to determine the height of the costume I had Patrick hold up his hands to the sky and I measured from his head to his wrists and that is how I decided how tall to make the costume (kinda unscientific) so I added the head to hand height to the head to waist height to determine the full body size of the costume. To decide how wide to make the costume I took that shoulder width to make sure that was the widest part and then went straight down from there. Every thing above made a gradual point. Make sure you leave sewing allowances, meaning take into account that you will loose width to where you have to sew the pieces together. 

I traced out by hand the shape I wanted and folded the fabric in half so I was cutting out two identical front and back pieces. Then I cut out the fins, 4 total pieces. 

Next I cut out the eyes. I used my nested mixing bowls for this. Any time I need a circle I use them to find the right size. I picked out 2 sized bowls, traced them on to the felt using a pencil. 2 big white circles and 2 black smaller circles. 

Finally I took what felt I had left to make the tentacles. I had a piece that was basically 1 yard by 1 yard (37 inches x 38 inches) so I divided 38 by 8.  Because a Colossal Squid has 8 tentacles. That gave me 4.75 inches per tentacle. I was hoping for 6 or 7 inches but I worked with what I had. Patricks waist to floor height was 26 inches so I trimmed off 11 inches. So if your child is taller you would still have plenty! (Patrick is 50 inches tall and wears 7/8 boys clothing) use your yard stick to mark out 4.75 inches on one side and then do the same on the opposite parallel  side. The use your yard stick and pencil make a line from the dot on one side to the dot on the other for perfectly straight lines. Then cut them out. 

Now that everything is cut out start sewing. I started with the two top fins. I sewed the two pieces together but left a 2 inch gap so that I could stuff them with Poly-Fil. After I stuffed it I machine sewed up that 2 inch gap. Then I did the same to the other. I did not bother turning it right sides out because it looked cute with the sharper edges. But when it came to the body I did not want the seems to be that way. This next part gets a little more technical. Take you 2 fins you have already stuffed and lay them on one of the 2 body pieces. You are going to sew them on that one piece. Then put the other body piece on top. This sandwiches the fins on the inside of the costume. Sew all sides except the bottom. Now turn the costume inside out and now you seams are on the inside and your fins are on the outside. Patrick said it was like magic! 

Next I put the costume on him to determine where to put the face and arm holes. I used a pencil to mark where his face was and where his arms should go. Then took it off of him. I used a nested mixing bowl to draw a circle for the face and cut it out. Then I used my seam ripper to rip the seams where his arms go. Then I turned the costume inside out to reinforces the seams so that they do not rip further. 

Now on to the eyes. 

I sewed the black circle on the white circle. I left a 2 inch opening so I could stuff the black circle. Then I sewed up the 2 inches. And did the same on the other eye. Next I sewed the eyes on to the head. I pinned the eyes on and put the sewing machine through the face hole so I could reach the eye. This got tricky at points but I went slowly. I left a 2 inch opening again to stuff the eye. The did the same on the other side. 

Next the tentacles. I folded all the strips in half and rounded the bottom using the smallest nested mixing bowl and cut. When I sewed the rounded bottom and side leaving the top open so I could stuff it. Now since this fabric was only 4.75 inches wide it is too narrow to turn inside out to hide seams. So like the fins I left the seams out. After all 8 were sewn I stuffed them. I used the handle of my Swiffer map to push down the stuffing to the bottom. Then sewed up the open top. 

Next I sewed the tentacles to the body. I pinned 1 tentacle every 2 inches all the way around. And then sewed them on. Finally I hot glued 6 pompoms per tentacle. And there it is a Colossal Squid!

 

10 years ago...

Adam and I fist met and started dating September 2000.  I met him when I was a Junior at Coppell Highschool.  And he was the new transfrer Senior.  The first time I saw him was out side the school playing his guitar for "see you at the pole" which was a time to pray once a week before the school day began.  I thought that he had a great voice and guitar skills.  The first time I actually met him was at a bible study either that same week or the next week.  It was a quick introduction and we didnt have a conversation or anything. The very next week after the bible study the girls realized I did not have a date to home comming and neither did Adam.  The briskly had me go outside and shortly after that pushed Adam out the door.  It made for a very awkard moment.  He sweetly asked me if I would go to home comming with him.  Of course I said yes! At that moment I realized that  I could not for the life of me remember what his name was.  I asked one of the other girls who knew so that I could put his name on the garder I had made earlier with a friend.  If you are not from around the south you might say what is a garder?  Well I have pictures below of the one I gave Adam.  It is a tradition that the female gives the male an arm band with lots of noisy bells and ribons with the school colors.  And the male give the female a mum.  Which is pinned just below the shoulder and reaches almost all the way to the ground. 
Later that week was home comming week.  Adam filled my red Jeep Wrangler with baloons and confetti.  It was really sweet. 
We had a lot of fun at the game!  I was a cheerleader and he was a Silver Spur, which is a yell leader.  So we both were on the field cheering on our Coppell Cowboys.  I can not remember who won the game, Adam might, but I loved being down on the field cheering on our team.  After the game we went over to his family's house so that we could change for the homecomming dance.  The dance location was at Sneaky Pete's in Lewisville, which ended up being a horrible location because it was way too small.  We dacnced for a little while, and then left. 
The time line is fuzzy on this one but I think the next week Adam invited me to breakfast at Local Diner in Coppell.  I remember having a horrible cold and being a little embarrassed to go out to eat.  I ordered French toast which was a bad choice because of the powder sugar.  So on top of not being able to breathe I was inhaling powder sugar.  It is funny now to look back on.  At the end of breakfast Adam asked me to be his girl friend.  I said yes.  We dated for that Fall semester, and then broke up. 
We stayed friends.  And when he went away to college we stayed in touch.  Then the spring of my Freshman college year, January 7, 2003, we started dating again.  Then that November, after the A&M/ UT game he asked me to marry him!  We spent a year engaged and got married December 30, 2004.  The last five and a half years of marriage have been wonderful and full of lots of love. 
I am looking forward to what the next 10 years of knowing and loving one another has to hold for us!

Our mum and guarders.  They have survived a lot of moves through the years.

August 2010 photos

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Game night

The other night we had a game night after dinner.  The kids have been begging us to play Candy Land together for a few days, so since we had a hour before bed we decided to play.  Nolan joined in on all the action, and brought his gun along.  He would not put the gun down the entire game.  Funny, it looks as though he was going to shoot anyone who would dare cheat!  We have been working really hard to get the kids to be good sports while they play games, and they are definitely getting better.  We only had one crying incident, when Delaney landed on a Lord Licorice space and had to skip a turn.  Patrick handled very gracefully drawing a Gingerbread tree, and had to go back to the beginning, when he was only 8 spaces from winning the game!
Nolan loved drawing the cards.  Each time he drew a card he would yell out "blue" or "purple" because those were his favorites.
We had a fun night, and I was so happy to see every one involved in the game. 

Planning out strategy

Thinking

Nolan and his gun

July 2010 photos

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Summer Soccer

Soccer days: The Dinosaurs

We signed the kids up for YMCA soccer for the summer.  It is for kids aged 3 and 4, so I could sign both Delaney and Patrick up together.  These are pictures from the first practice.   The kids were giddy with excitement overing being able to start a new sport.  Delaney thought that she knew every thing there is to know about soccer, because she watched to world cup.  Patrick had no idea of what to be excited about, but was still ready to play the game. 
So the kids get there and it was not what Delaney was expecting even though I told her they would not be playing a game like the world cup.  But she played with all her might.  Patrick did not like that he did not know what to do.  He played the first half and the rest he was a little overwhelmed by it all and came and sat with me to watch.  Delaney kicked the ball like a champ with all her might every time, which usually sent the ball rolling on to another field where other kids were playing.  So after finishing up the practice the team huddled with their new coach Carrie, and came up with a team name.  A boy suggested the name The Dinosaurs.  All the kids cheered in acceptance of the name, and they left the field happy with all the new things they had learned. 

The next practice went better for Patrick.  He was getting more excited about the game, and found a favorite ball he likes to practice with.  It is nothing fancy like most kids would want, it is the plain black and white ball.  There are only 2 or so on the field and the rest are red striped with white.  Maybe because the ball is in the minority he sees it as rare and that is the draw?  Or maybe this is the kind of ball he sees when he watches the world cup?   Any ways he will only kick a ball if it is black and white.  I love his little personality.

The coveted black and white ball Patrick loves :)

June 2010 photos

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