The first time I remember making my own costume I was fifteen years old. For Halloween that year I decided since I couldn’t sew a costume I would have to try and piece one together and I didn’t have a lot of money since I wasn’t yet working. So I found a white sheet in the linen closet and, using an old bathing suit as a base, I tried to wrap it toga style around myself. I wanted to be Artemis the Moon Goddess.

Well, that’s mostly true. I wanted to be Sailor Moon, but since I lacked the funds and ability to make a Sailor Moon costume I tried the next best thing. It worked pretty well that Halloween. It also started me on the path of making my own costumes.

I’ve never been a fan of the cheesy ones you can buy in the stores. They never fit, they’re usually made of terrible crap material, and generally fall apart half way through the night. Plus I was spoiled by the fact that my mother could sew. A month or so before Halloween Mom would ask us “What do you want to be this year?” She always had a brilliant idea for a costume.

Starting when I was just a few months old my very first Halloween costume was as a pumpkin. We lived in Ohio so it was like a reverse cape that draped over my winter baby wear. When I was four Mom made me a butterfly and my new baby sister a ladybug. She used our Winter knit hats to poke pipe cleaners through and added wooden balls on the end for antenna. Brilliant! No internet back then, this was all mom.

It wasn’t limited to Halloween either. When I was in Kindergarten we had a special day where we did a Japanese Tea Ceremony (I’ll have to get details of how this came about from my mom, because this seems very advanced for five year olds.) I do remember being very excited about the whole thing. We were allowed to dress up for it. Mom made me a beautiful silky peach colored kimono complete with obi. I was so in love with this kimono. I could not wait to wear it. I remember so many people being impressed with my kimono, I was beside myself with happiness.

I have so many memories (and pictures) of costumes my mom made. So it was only a matter of time before the bug caught me. I wish I had a photo of that awful Artemis costume, no luck so far. But as this blog progresses I’m hoping to showcase the old and new stuff I’ve been able to do.