A Wooly Costume

Simple Sheep Costume

So I dressed up as a sheep one Halloween. The homemade costume went down a treat. I purchased some cushion stuffing from my local fabric shop for a small price. I then stuck it in layers to a nightdress using pva glue. This took a long time and was incredibly messy. I was lucky that my friends helped out. I also stuffed some of the left over stuffing under the nightdress to give me a more rounded shape. A friend of mine lent me her hood from her wet suit and that coupled with a lot of black facepaint transformed me into a sheep. My ears suck and should of been made of fabric or black card not corrugated cardboard painted with the face paint! I also put face paint on my arms but I'd advise wearing a long sleeve black top.  

Considering the Irish weather this would of a great costume for a kid going trick or treating as they will stay warm. However, I was indoors and burning up! There wasn't a chance I was going to nightclub in it. Also the stuffing was surprisingly heavy and gave me a sore back. But overall it was a pretty practical costume. I was happy :) Also the shaply figure I had was not intentional it was simply caused by resting my arms or holding a drink.

I'd also like to mention another fine costume from the party I attended that year. One of my friends dressed up as Duff Man from the Simpsons. Why was it such a good costume? Well if I remember it correctly her purchased it all in Pennies and took the cans from the bin so it probably didn't cost more than 20 euro to make which is what I like to hear!

Sheep and Duffman Costume

Chocolate Rose!

Bouquet of Chocolate Roses Wrappers

I had a great idea to dress up as a sweet like the purple one for a box of Quality Street for Halloween 2009. But despite finding coloured cellophane in a local florist and wrapping myself in it, the costume was a complete fail! I started to panic at this point because it lunchtime and I was having a Halloween party that night but no awesome costume. However I had a plan! 

Close-up of Costume

I rushed off to the local shop and bought 4 tins of Cadbury's Chocolate Roses! I knew I'd never get it done on my own so I roped a few of my male friends in with the promise of dinner. So while I cooked a load of spagetti bolognese the guys started unwrapping the chocolates and organising the wrappers. By the time I had served the dinner you'd think they'd be stuffed with all the chocolates they'd been sneaking but no they gobbled it up. Fortunately my housemates turned up to help with the finer details of making an outfit aka sellotaping me into it.

What was left of the 4 Tins of Roses..

We began sellotaping the wrappers together and then made them into a top and a skirt. I combined my outfit with a few silver accessories including a tiara and a sash that said 'Chocolate Rose' and off I went with my bouquet of Rose wrappers as the Chocolate Rose of Tralee. The Rose of Tralee is a beauty pageant held in Ireland each year where the contestants are known as say the Dublin Rose or the Sydney Rose. I was the Chocolate Rose in my shiny dress. I was happy! Not my best costume but my far my most colourful well maybe my Pokemon costume was more colourful but it is debatable. Least I didn't make my boyfriend wear a matching vest: Starburst Wrapper Prom Dress!

Chocolate Rose of Tralee Costume

Poker Face or Poker Fail?

My Lady Gaga Costume and my Friend's

So for my birthday I decided to have a Lady Gaga/Military fancy dress party. So that both the girls and guys would be happy. Most of the guys just came in army outfits. Some were a little be more adventurist but I have a few photos of some of the costumes from the night. Nothing crazy just a bit of fun. I thought I'd combine the theme but made a bags of it really. I wanted an angular military jacket with pointy shoulders combined with a jump suit and lace tights. I made the 'jacket' out of a green bin bag with a lace pattern spray painted on in gold.

Lady Gaga and her Granny Costumes

I made the lace stencil by printing out a lace pattern and cutting the 'holes' in the lace using a knife. Very tedious and to be honest not very successful. I also made a headpiece by bunching some lace together and pinning it to my wig. The jumpsuit, the lace tights and the wig were great though! The most successful element of the costume was by my the false eyelashes. It was my first time wearing false eyelashes so it took a bit of effort to get them on but they stayed on all night and didn't annoy me. It is worth buying a good pair instead of the cheap ones. Overall the costume didn't really capture Lady Gaga but I had fun anyway.

Lady Gaga Costume complete with Poker Face Mask and Coke Can Rollers

One of my friends decided to combine a couple of ideas Lady Gaga is known for using. Firstly, she got some corrugated card and formed a angular piece to attached to the front of her dress. She spray painted it gold and attached it with double sided tape. Then she rolled her hair up using coke cans and lots of hair spray like Gaga had while in prison at the opening of the Telephone video! They looked great and would make a simple Gaga costume on their own. Then lastly she stuck playing cards to a mask as a homage to the song Poker Face.

Lady Gaga Costumes early on it the night.

Another simple costume was the red one above which was a more classy version of Gaga's original crazy outfit: the red hooded leotard. Instead, my friend made a simple hood out of fabric and combined it with a red dress and a lightning bolt on her face. The lightning bolt could simply be drawn on with eyeliner and eye shadow. Also note the daring leopard print leotard in the background. Finally, some of the guys thought they'd give the combined costume a go too.

A Male Lady Gaga Costume

Overall no one really looked like Lady Gaga but we all had a good time dressing up and coming up with ideas before tossing aside are costumes so as to enjoy the party in comfort. Our costumes vastly improved for our Pokemon Party

A Camouflage Gilly Suit combined with Shades and a Blonde Wig Lady Gaga Military Costume 

It's Stretcher Race Time!

The Alice and Wonderland Stretcher complete with Real Buns

The stretcher race is a annual fancy dress race around the streets of Dublin by the students of UCD Engineering. The concept is that each team must have a theme and carry one member on a stretcher which fits in with the theme. Since it is for charity and everyone just wants to have fun the rules aren't really enforced. Some teams don't carry people on their stretcher, some teams have wheels on theirs or in some cases the team doesn't have any stretcher at all! Since I was not involved in the creation of the costumes I am merely posting some of the best I've seen from over the years. Unfortunately I don't have photos to hand of two of the best teams which were the Tetris Blocks which formed a wall and the Jamaican Bobsleigh Team complete with bobsleigh. Also check out the video I made about the 2011 race.

EngDay Stretcher Race Video 2011

   

Thomas the Tank Engine Group Costume with a Piece of Track as their Stretcher

Four Poofs and a Piano from the Jonathan Ross Show

Not a great photo of the Poofs since one of them isn't even there. However 'Jonathan Ross' is on the extreme right and yours truly looking silly on the extreme left. These guys are known for going the extra mile when it comes to detail. The piano was made out of plywood (I think) and mounted on a shopping trolley. Another team who put alot of effort into their stretcher was the Thunderbirds team. Their stretcher was extremely well finished and even had lights. The photo does not do it justice. 

Thunderbirds Group Costume

Animaniacs Group Costume 

The Spice Girls Group Costume

Baby Group Costume

Alice in Wonderland Group Costume

Another Alice in Wonderland Group Costume

Deadmau5 Group Costume

Pacman Group Costume

Monty Python Knights of the Round Table Group Costume

Lil Bo Peep Group Costume

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Group Costume

Roman Soldiers Group Costume 

'LADS' Group Costume

Matadors Group Costume including Two Caged Bulls

Why so Gloom Oddish?

This was a last minute costume which shows it is never too late to put a costume together. Oddish's head piece is made from one A1 sheet of green slightly stiff card. Firstly a loop of card that acted as a head band was constructed and then the leaves were attached. The back of the leaves were stiffened with strips of corrugated cardboard but as you can see some of them fell over anyway. As there was no time to wait for glue to dry the whole head piece was assembled using a standard office stapler. A black line was drawn down the middle of each leaf to make it look more 'realistic'.

Oddish Pokemon Costume

Gloom worked out suprisinly well. The red leaves were again made from one A1 sheet of slightly stiff card. They were stapled together The flower was made from 4 red balloons half inflated and with white paper circles stuck on with glue and one barely inflated yellow balloon. The balloons were tied together with string that was then sellotaped to the red paper. Due to the presence of the balloons no attachment was required as the static between the hair and the balloons did the trick. The mouth was simply lipstick adn white facepaint. It was important to have the right facial expression for Gloom!

Gloom Pokemon Costume

Finally, along came Vileplume. This was a tricky costume. Originally, a large flower made of corrugated cardboard (old IKEA box) covered in red fabric was constructed but despite adding extra stiffeners the flower was too heavy and collapsed under its own self weight. The fabric also looked pretty rubbish since there was no time to do a neat sewing job. So the fabric was removed and the petals reduced in size considerably and covered in pink wrapping paper with white paper circles stuck on. The centre of the flower was simple a white paper circle. The flower was attached to a plastic hair band but this didnt last too long as the flower was still very heavy. The flower was finally attached using sellotape wrapped around the head which is not advisable! There was also another far more sensible Vileplume present wearing a small neat sown flower and purple gloves. Not a patch on Blubasaur!

The battle of the Vileplumes: Pokemon Costumes!

Blubasaur! Vine Whip!

This was by far the most impressive Pokemon costume as she evolved so well. The bulb was made from chicken wire covered in a cheap blanket. The flower for Ivysaur was simply a pillow in a pinky purple case and the flower for Venasaur was an umbrella. All the time the bulb opened up more and more. It was held closed with ties at the top and half way down to allow the bulb to open in two stages.

Bulbasaur with Oddish, Pokemon Costumes

Ivysaur Pokemon Costume with the bulb half open

Venasaur  Pokemon Costume with the bulb fully open and
the open umbrella in place

Squirtle! I Choose You!

Wartortle in action: Pokemon Costume

My friend started off with high expectations of how he was going to evolve seamlessly from Squirtle to Wartortle and then to Blastoise. He made the shell out of newspaper and kitchen towel in a sort of a paper mache fashion. However, end result was more of a combination of traits from all three Pokemon. It  was still recognisable and homemade so what more can you want. A simple but effective costume just like Oddish, Bulbasaur and More!

Creating the shell from newspaper

Simply a t-shirt and a hoodie making a Bulbasaur Pokemon Costume

Pokemon Party!

Close up of Tokapi Pokemon

Some photos of costumes from my recent Pokemon Party! In addition to the other posts showing Pokemon costumes (Oddish, Blubasaur, Squirtle)  here are a few of the other highlights. Slowbro simply wore a pink rain jacket with the hood up which a cardboard snout and paper eyes. The tail was also made of corrugated cardboard slotted together in a cross shape and then wrapped in tinfoil. it is held on with a belt.

Slowbro, Pokemon Costume

Misty, Metapod, Oddish and Slowbro Pokemon Costumes

Metapod (above centre) was an excellent costume due to its simplicity. A green morph suit with paper eyes stuck on. Below is an example of an extremely last minute and more relaxed costume in the form of Likitung. Its interpretation requires a bit of imagination. Beside Likitung is Ash. Once again a simple but effect costume. A piece of white paper stuck onto a Super Mario hat.

Likitung and Ash Pokemon Costumes

Misty vs. Misty and Tokapi Pokemon Costumes

There were two Mistys on the night both in similar attire. One with ribbon as braces and the other with knitted braces. However, one of the Mistys went to the added trouble of KNITTING a Tokapie and then putting him in a paper mache shell. Sheer dedication. Below you will find James from Team Rocket. Simply printed and cut out the letter R. The wig wasn't very good but it was quick and cheap. Two A4 pages printed blue and cut into strips to form the wig. 

James from Team Rocket, Pokemon Costume

Alakazam Pokecard, Pokemon Costume

A nice swing on the concept of a Pokemon party was the arrival of a Pokecard also made at very short notice. Below is Charizard. Originally starting off as Charmader, this Pokemon evolved by adding wings made from coat hangers and crepe paper, toilet roll horns and balloons to its tail to represent fire. An excellent touch. Below that again you will see Prof. Oak and an 2D costume of Koffing which also had a back. The straps on Koffing were simply Duct tape.

Charizard, Pokemon Costume

Prof. Oak, his Pokedex and Koffing, Pokemon Costumes