This Little Piggy Went Trick or Treating

If you follow While Wearing Heels on facebook, you already know panic had started to set in last week, as I rushed to complete Grace's Halloween costume.

I had a game plan, thanks to Real Simple, for the pig ears and nose.

I took some liberties with the ears.  Real Simple suggested using a single piece of pink felt {and you all know I am a fan of felt crafts} BUT I wanted more structure to Grace's piggy ears.

*Instead of using felt, I used a double layer of pink flannel.  I sewed around the ears, leaving the bottom open.  I ironed some Heat n Bond onto the inside of the ear, turned the ear right side out and ironed the ear together.  The Heat n Bond helped give the ear more structure.

For the body of the pig, I found a monkey costume at Goodwill for $3.99.  Originally, I thought I would use it to trace out a pattern for the body of my pig.  Instead, I decided to tack the pig fabric onto the monkey costume.

Let me tell you, that was easier said than done.

I kept hearing Tim Gunn's voice encouraging me to "make it work" as I struggled transforming a monkey into a pig.

 Somehow, I was able to 'make it work'...right down to the curly piggy tail...

I'd hope, if my monkey turned pig design walked the runway, Heidi Klum would be distracted enough with my model that I wouldn't hear her say, 'Amy, you are out'.

 

And, now this little piggy is ready to go trick or treating.

Until tomorrow...auf wiedersehen :)

Halloween Costumes - A Walk Down Memory Lane

My mom made all of my Halloween costumes growing up.  Looking back, the memories I cherish from Halloween, are those of my mom lovingly creating and transforming me into whatever I requested.

Two years ago, I attempted to start creating these same memories for Grace and I made her a Martha Stewart inspired chicken costume. 

And, I set the bar HIGH with this chicken costume. 

Last year, the pressure was on.  Again, I turned to Martha Stewart for inspiration and transformed Grace into a sheep.   

This year, I'm not relying on Martha for inspiration.  This year, I am hoping this beautiful material will be inspiration enough.  

Any guesses what Grace will be transformed into this year?

October 31st

Happy Halloween.

I don't know about the rest of you but I feel as if I've been celebrating Halloween all week.

The sheepie costume has already made a few appearances.

Pumpkins were carved or cookie cut...

The inside of pumpkins were eaten...

Carved pumpkins are illuminating our front porch...

Tinkerbell was carved by yours truly.

We also did a trick or treating dry run with one set of grandparents.

It's hard to believe, with all the celebrating {and candy eating} we have already done, that we still have one more day to go. I guess the only thing left to do is...

Witch you all a Happy Halloween!

That's me!

Reformed Halloween Grinch

I may have the tendency to lean towards being a Halloween Grinch. Of course, when you have a child of your own, for their sake, the excitement about Halloween becomes necessary.

Last year, in an attempt to get in the spirit of Halloween, I decided to make a costume for Grace. Thanks to Martha Stewart and her spring chicken costume, my Halloween Grinchy heart grew 3 sizes last year.

When I saw that the body of this adorable chicken costume was made out of white feather boas, I was won over completely. Martha used 2 onesies, stuffing the inside one with some fluff and the pinning down the boas to the outside one to make her chicken plump. I only used 1 onesies, she seemed plump enough.

Martha used yellow rubber gloves for the feet of her spring chicken, so clever...BUT I didn't want Grace to stumble over them SO I made her feet out of orange fleece. I traced the shape I wanted over a pair of white sneakers, to get the size right. Then used the tracing as a pattern, also adding ankle straps. I sewed each chicken foot and attached Velcro to the straps to adjust and secure them.

Martha used a pilot's cap for the top of the chicken. I couldn't find one and didn't want to go to the trouble of making one SO I decided to make mine in headband form. Being able to put Grace's hair in pig tails was still a novelty so I liked the idea of being able to show those off as well.

Nearly everyone we passed stopped and admired her costume. I strutted behind her like a proud mama chicken.

With the bar now set high, I am struggling for inspiration for this year's costume. Grace's vote an owl, sheep or a puppy dog. Now, to figure out how to make any of those!

P.S. Riley also wore a costume. There aren't many costumes geared towards the portly dog, so {even though she is a girl doggie} she went trick or treating in formal attire.