A Pregnant Pandemic Halloween
I LOVE Halloween! Mostly I love dressing up (and making pieces for my costumes). This year was different in two ways. Firstly, we’re in a pandemic, so there was nowhere to go. Second, I’m visibly pregnant. And I may or may not ever be pregnant on Halloween again, so I decided I still had to do something.
When Googling pregnant Halloween costumes, lots of fun stuff comes up. Had we been going somewhere in a normal world, I probably would have done something more elaborate, but (with my husband’s OK (he has to be on board because I like to incorporate the whole fam) we decided on Captain Hook, Smee and the crocodile from Peter Pan.
Modified Givre Dress - I did this on both front and back pieces
I’ll readily admit that my husband’s outfit was the least thought out - I ordered a pirate hat and hook online, and made him wear an ill-fitting red blazer (from a previous costume) over a shirt and pants he only ever wears to RenFest. I made my dress by using the Deer and Doe Givre dress as the neckline and arms, then drafted out the sides to make something a little roomier to easily accommodate the baby bump. I figured that this dress will fit me when I’m not pregnant, too, and will look cute belted up. On Halloween morning I realized I forgot about Smee’s red hat, but luckily I had some plain stretchy red fabric scraps on hand, and I found a quick and easy tutorial on YouTube.
I also wore the perfect “Second Star” necklace from Make It Minnie!
I probably spent the most time thinking about Miles’ crocodile costume. He’s only 6 months old, and wouldn’t tolerate anything too crazy. It’s also fall, meaning the weather is getting colder, so I was hoping to find a way to make something more useful than a one-time costume.
I decided to make a green jacket that can be worn when it gets chilly (at least until he grows out of it), and a little “hat” with eyes and teeth. I’ve made other dog jackets for Riker, so I used the same method - a sort of U-shape for the body, the tops of which connect around the neck and a strap that goes under the belly (I use velcro). I sewed two of these pieces right-sides together, leaving a hole to turn it right-side out. Before turning right-side out, I made notches in the U-shape and clipped the 90 degree corners at the neck. I strategically placed the hole so I could use it to attach the belly strap, too. I top-stitched the whole piece to not only close up the hole, but to give it a bit more of a professional look.
For the hat, I first cut two ovals, and made a seam to create a very shallow, lopsided dome, which should fit the head slightly better than just a plain oval. I cut 8 felt triangles to be teeth, and four pieces of elastic. Two elastic pieces go on each side, around the front and back of the ear. The teeth and elastic get sandwiched between the two ovals (note in my picture that I pinned the elastic the wrong way! You want it facing inwards, so that when it gets turned right-side out, the elastic dangles by the ears). Again I sewed this all up right-sides together, leaving a small hole to turn right-side out, and topstitched around the edge. I then attached two felt eyes just by edge-stitching them into place. I drew the pupils on with black sharpie. I tied the elastic together on each side so it would fit over his ears, and then the two sides got tied together under his chin to keep it in place. It stayed way better than I had hoped (considering he’s a crazy pup)!
All in all, for costumes we wore nowhere, I think these turned out pretty good! And here’s hoping Miles doesn’t grow out of his little green jacket too quick!
