10.23.2012

also, proud.

when halloween costumes starting coming to a target near us two things became certain (i know they were certain because my kids told me so) - ge man was going to be spiderman for halloween and chunk was going to be "bat guy". ge man chose to be muscled up spiderman, but i couldn't find a single reasonable batman costume for the chunk. why is it that little girls have to be princesses, cupcakes, bees, and kitty cats when little boys get to be super heroes, fire fighters, and monsters? why is it that when we dress females up like fire fighters, cops, and super heroes they suddenly have to show their bellies or wear a mini skirt? and, on somewhat of the same note, why can't little girls underwear have toy story or trains on them? why do we have to tell our little girls that they are only good enough for frilly dresses and sensitivity, but our little boys get to run around and save people with their brains and their brawn? i want my little girl to dream of being anything she can dream of, and i am tired of society and the idiot toy / clothing industry trying to tell her anything different.

but i digress. on my hunt to find chunk an acceptable bat guy costume i was completely let down. the ones for little boys were very disappointing, and the ones for little girls contained copious amounts of cheesy looking fake leather. plus, the symbol was often in pink, which i am pretty sure isn't very bat guy. my little chunk knows what bat guy looks like - she often makes him breakfast just before the snake kills him - so there would be no pink substitutes. i gave up entirely because i wasn't about to spend 30 + dollars on some ugly costume that neither chunk or i would be happy with. and that's when i had my ah-ha moment.

i would make it myself.

i am a little less than a year in my quest to become a more craftier version of myself. i have learned a lot about my sewing machine this year, but not enough to sew an entire costume. surely there could be an easier way. there was. first i needed to secure myself a plain black long sleeved tshirt size 3t. did you know that this is hard to do? you can find many a plain short sleeved black tshirt, but not long. also, they do not have them in the girl's section. i found mine in the little boy section in target after a lovely lady from jo-anne's sent me in that direction echoing my same irritation.

bingo. business time. after that the rest was easy - 4$ tshirt from target, 3$ pair of black tights, 3 yards of black tulle and 1 yard of yellow tulle from jo-anne's 6$, black and yellow satin ribbon from jo-anne's 2$, bedazzling heat tool and yellow bedazzle beads from micheal's for 15$. we already owned the batman ring i used for the bow from ge's bday party last year - so win on that.

side note - if you frequent jo-anne's or michels and have a smart phone - there's an app for that! i save wonderful amounts of money each trip with their coupons. craft win.

i used this tutorial to help me make chunk's tutu. i printed out the bat symbol and traced it onto chunk's shirt with a white fabric pen, laid out my beads, and heat glued them on (wow those things get hot!) i glued satin ribbon bows onto and alligator clip and added the ring to the top to finish off the outfit. it was all so easy. and totally not cheesy. and super adorable. plus, chunk is happy.



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