"Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play." - Heraclitus, Greek philosopher (500 B.C.)
I have finished my costume for Halloween. I decided that I wanted to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are which is also a wolf costume. I really liked the book when I was in the 1st grade and am looking forward to seeing the move. I went to the costume shop to rent a costume and they sold out of Max hours before I got there and this was two weeks before Halloween. I decided that I would make my own costume even though I have no experience whatsoever with sewing or arts and crafts in general.
I don't dress up for Halloween often and for some reason this year I felt up to it. I was also influenced by an experience I remembered from back in the 2nd grade. We had this play in front of the school and my character was a bear. I was excited because in my mind I would be wearing a full out bear mascot costume like I had seen at football games. Since our parents were in charge of helping us make our costumes, mine ended up being nothing like I imagined. (Maybe I didn't ask for help.) I wore my stripped polo shirt, shorts and a head band with a 8in construction paper cut out of a bear like shape (that I cut) pasted the front. I looked nothing like a bear and my representation of a bear was weak and clearly could not be seen past the stage. Small stuff affects you I guess. This wolf costume was my chance to finally make up for that bear costume so I devoted a lot of mental energy to this. So this was my goal: (and by goal I mean ballpark.)
I had many ideas at first like just buying a white hoodie sweatshirt, turning it inside out and putting buttons on it. I even went as far as buying one I later returned. Then I decided to buy a painter's suit with hood, and use it as a pattern and maybe just sew the costume to it since it is the right shape. I then went to a craft store and found a pattern of a similar costume and decided to go that route. I purchased a huge piece of fuzzy material and some buttons. I later went to a costume store and purchased a crown and a scepter, which was really the top of a pimp cane. I also purchased a sewing machine since I did not think I'd be able to do it by hand. Learning to sew was hard for me, maybe cause I couldn't get the thread in right. I jammed the machine many times at first and even broke a needle. I was finally able to get it to do the most basic work after a few hours and I took it one piece at a time. It started coming together and I felt genuinely proud of my work. It was a fun experience. After all my work, below you have my max costume:
Here are the photos from my costume project start to finish: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyadus/sets/72157622694813238/
I am now ready for Halloween 2009. I plan to go to Six Flags and 6th Street, but we will see. It is going to be cold, so I'm glad my costume is somewhat insulated.
let the wild rumpus start
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