Dia de los Muertos Halloween Costumes

Halloween is not a traditional holiday in my country, however, I love it for various reasons. The roots are Celtic, and the Celts lived in my native country before the Romans came. Also, I am fascinated how a pagan holiday blended in Christian religion, resulting in folkloristic traditions that probably most people around the world don't know anymore, because today's Halloween has become quite a commercialized event with not much left in common with the ancient believes. Plus, my kids love to dress up, and I love to make costumes, and it's a good opportunity for all of us to shorten the time until Christmas and put some colour and excitement in the dark evenings of autumn.

Source

 When my husband came up with the idea for new costumes I was hooked. He knows my love for Mexican culture, and the Day of the Dead is certainly something that fascinates people all over the world. This holiday developed from the catholic holiday that is celebrated on the day after All Saints' Day (or Allhallows in older English, therefore Halloween, for Allhallows' evening), on November 2nd. Because of the beautifully spooky costumes and the painted skull decorations that are distinctive for those celebrations and because of the proximity of this holiday to Halloween, the Mexican costumes and specific facial paintings have become popular even in Europe. No wonder I was excited to make some costumes for my kids inspired by the Dia de los Muertos.

As a sewer and a huge admirer of authentic folkloristic crafts, one of the most beautiful things I have ever come across are the various and extraordinarily beautiful traditional costumes of the regions of Mexico. The rich and colourful embroidery is thrilling, and I could spend hours rolling over pictures of those garments that have their origins in Azetc traditions that were mixed with Spanish motives. Of course it would be convenient to have an embroidery machine, but still, trying to produce garments that would look authentic would still be a huge challenge and very time-consuming.

To keep it simple, I made a Charro style jacket for my son from a pattern for a short collarless jacket I found in my 1950s Lutterloh book. It was by the way the first time I made a two-piece sleeve. It didn't turn out too well because the fabric was a rather cheap synthetic material, but it was certainly a good experience. I also made a red scarf and sash. Luckily I found a cheap felt sombrero from an online shop, and some black trousers completed the outfit. (He first refused to wear it as he wanted to be a ghost or a spider or a transformer. I insisted, as he should match his big sister and it's probably the last time mommy can put him into a costume like that...)

My daughter's costume was far more time-consuming. The skirt should recreate the look of embroideries on a bottom ruffle. I spent much time studying pictures of amazing traditional Mexican garments. I sketched some flowers and leaves and made my own stencils, and in some of my many sleepless nights I printed them on the fabric. The material is a rather slinky viscose (rayon) javanaise, similar to a challis, but with a hint of a shine. Maybe not the best choice, but I had it in my stash, and plenty of it, and the skirt would certainly be very flowing a good for twirling. Hand printing viscose was a new experience for me, and I was happy I made some tests before starting with the pieces I planned to use for the ruffle. It's quite different from cotton! There are various flowers, and I used as many colours as possible.

I certainly don't claim this IS a Mexican skirt, but I tried to be as close to the embroidered costumes as possible. And even though my printed version doesn't justice to the beauty of the originals, it's certainly a garment that shows my deep admiration for the traditional outfits.

When it came to making the floral crown, I took to it like a duck to water. I love Frida Kahlo's look and especially her hairstyles, and my daughter does too. There was no doubt it would be the template to follow by for the updo. Felt is a wonderful material for making flowers.

As an avid gardener I absolutely wanted to make flowers that had something to do with Mexico, so I made some researches. To my utter surprise, many of our annual garden flowers originally are native to Mexico, as marigold, cosmea, zinnia and dahlia. I added lilies, calla lilies and some roses, as these are popular in Mexican culture like Mexican folk songs, embroideries etc. Finding a way how to fix and arrange all the flowers on a headband was rather tricky. I couldn't find a tutorial that would meet my needs, as my flowers are a bit heavier than ready-made synthetic faux ones. So I had to find my own solution. But I think it was totally worth all the hours I spent on it, and also stitching almost all the flowers to the headband by hand instead of using the glue gun.

My daughter's costume is completed by a true Mexcian embroidered blouse I found incredibly cheap for a couple of bucks on Ebay, plus a pashmina shawl from my wardrobe. I must admit I am no very skilled at painting my kids' faces on such occasions, but I was quite pleased with the result, keeping it rather simple.

Even if I didn't have as much time as I would have liked, and despite working mainly in the night (oh black fabric really IS a pain in the back in poor light!), everything looked much better than I had hoped. I am well aware that most people are happy with off-the-rack costumes that are available for little money and that can be thrown away after some wear. Yes, I am a bit crazy for all the effort I put in the kids' costumes.

At least a carved ghost for my son's pumpkin...

...and a Mexican skull on my daughter's. I might need some practice.

This gap-toothed little señor completely stole my heart...

Charro costume:
Jacket: self-made after Lutterloh "Der Goldene Schnitt" (The Golden Rule), book edition 6-1949, mod. 139, p. 80
Felt Sombrero: costume online shop on Ebay
Sash: handwoven from Mexico

Frida costume:
Skirt: hand-printed and self-made dirndl skirt with hand-printed ruffle (no pattern required)
Blouse: true Mexican embroidered blouse, Ebay
Flower crown: self-made felt flowers on head band

Vintage Inspired Child's Pierrot Costume

Yesterday in the late morning I realized with panic that the next day my son will have a carnival party at his kindergarten. More than a year ago I have made a bat or vampire costume for Halloween that still fit him, but would be far too warm to be worn indoors. I love my kids, I love costumes, I love sewing, no question I had to make urgently something new for him to wear.

Gestern morgen stellte ich mit Schrecken fest, dass schon am kommenden Tag die Fasnacht-Party im Kindergarten meines Sohnes ansteht. Vor über einem Jahr hatte ich für ihn eine Fledermaus-Kostüm genäht, das ihm zwar noch passte, aber für drinnen viel zu warm war. Ich liebe meine Kinder, ich liebe Nähen, ich liebe Kostümnähen, deshalb stand es ausser Zweifel dass ich noch rasch etwas Neues anfertigen würde.

I had a quick look at some pictures on internet. Having a harlequin print in my stash that was not the best quality, I decided to combine it with a black left-over from another project. As I didn't have a pattern, I was happy to find this early 1950s pattern (could also be late 40s) that also came along with a picture of the back envelope. (I love old patterns as they show the actual pattern pieces.) So it was a "pierrot" costume and vintage - double win!

Ich schaute rasch ins Internet. Zu Hause hatte ich einen Harlekin-Stoff, der nicht die beste Qualität war, und ich beschloss, diesen mit einem Rest eines andern Projekts zu kombinieren. (Es war dies übrigens das schlimmstes Kauferlebnis je - die Schweizer Ladenkette créasphère kann mich definitiv von der Kundenliste streichen! Der Stoff wurde uns zu teuer verrechnet an der Kasse, und als mein Mann tags darauf nochmals in den Laden ging, gab das Personal zwar den Fehler zu, teilte aber freundlich lächelnd mit, dass der zu viel kassierte Betrag nicht zurück erstatte werden könne. Und dies, obwohl mein Mann gerade im Begriff war, noch weiteres Material zu kaufen. Mittlerweile habe ich erfahren, dass der miserable Kundenservice bei créaspère offenbar geradezu an der Tagesordnung ist. Zu kurz oder schief abgeschnittene Meterware, komplett ahnungsloses Personal, unfreundlich... Ich werde innkünftig mein Material ganz sicher nicht mehr dort kaufen.) Ich hatte keinen Schnitt, deshalb war ich froh, dass ich diesen Schnitt aus den frühen 1950ern fand (vielleicht auch Ende 40er), zu dem es sogar ein Bild von der Rückseite des Musters gab. (Ich liebe die alten Schnitte, da konnte man immer auch die eigentlichen Schnittteile sehen.) Ein Pierrot-Kostüm UND Vintage - doppelter Gewinn!

The patterned fabric was very soft and wrinkles sadly a bit too easily, I guess it's rayon. It would be OK for the sleeves and the pants. The black solid cotton was a tiny bit stiffer, so I couldn't combine the two fabrics and make the blouse half black, half patterned. For this part of the costume I drafted the pattern after the little pattern sketch on the envelop. Sewing pants regularly for my kids, I didn't need a pattern, I just had to make sure the legs would turn out a bit puffier.

Der gemusterte Stoff war sehr weich und knitterte leider sehr leicht, ich denke es ist Viskose. Das würde sicher noch gehen für die Ärmel und die Hose. Der schwarze Stoff hatte etwas mehr Stand, deshalb konnte ich nicht eine Hälfte des Oberteils schwarz und die andere gemustert machen, dazu waren die Materialien zu unterschiedlich. Für dieses Teil entwarf ich meinen eigenen Schnitt nach der Skizze auf dem Schnittmuster-Umschlag gemäss den Massen meines Sohnes. Die Hose war einfach, da ich für die Kinder viele Hosen nähe, sie musste bloss etwas weitere Beine haben.

I started cutting the fabric at 2 p.m. and finished both garments at 8 p.m. (in the meantime I had to make homework with my daughter, cook dinner, wash some laundry...), so it was a real quick project, and for desert I made the little hat. I ironed some of the patterned fabric on some thick felt (the kind of iron-on material you would use for applications) and made a red pompom. I was very proud as I didn't have to work the whole night through as usual when I do this kind of last-minute projects, and I used all materials from my stash, I didn't have any issues, not even with my certainly not perfect self-drafted pattern, and -last but not least at all - my wee man looked so happy and cute when he put on his costume today. I would say this project counts totally for my “sewwhatyougot challenge, this is no. 2, and yes, I still owe you no. 1.

Gegen 14h begann ich mit dem Zuschnitt, beide Teile waren um 20h fertig (wobei ich in der Zwischenzeit noch die Hausaufgaben mit meiner Tochter gemacht habe, Abendessen gekocht, Wäsche gewaschen...). Ein wirklich schnelles Projekt, und zum Dessert machte ich noch das Hütchen. Ich fixierte den gemusterten Stoff mit Vliesofix auf dicken Bastelfilz und machte noch einen Pompom aus rotem Garn. Ich bin ziemlich stolz weil ich ausnahmsweise mal keine Nachtschicht machen musste (wie sonst jeweils bei solchen kurzfristigen Projekten), weil ich alle Materialien bereits hier hatte, weil es keine Probleme mit dem sicherlich nicht perfekten selbst entworfenen Schnitt gab, und am meisten weil mein kleiner Mann heute Morgen so glücklich und süss ausgesehen hat, als ich ihm das Kostüm anzog. Ich würde mal sagen, dass das ganz eindeutig für meine #sewwhatyougot Challenge zählt, dies ist schon das zweite Projekt. Und ja, ich schulde Euch noch das erste. 

My little man and his proud big sister

Pattern: self-drafted after Advanced 701

Fabrics: from my stash

Mask: purchased

Edit: For those who, like me, love to dig a bit into the history of patterns...

I looked up the pattern (now that the sewing frenzy for the costume is over) to see if I could find out more about this pattern, and it seems to be very interesting. There was also a children's version, Advanced 707, and both patterns were reissued in the 50s. The first issue was from 1949.

The late 40s children's version

The 50s reissued versions

About Vintage Halloween Costumes

As some of you may know I'm getting prepared for Halloween. No, no costume for me, but for my kids.

When I was looking for some inspiration on internet, I found lots of vintage pictures of costumes. I'm not sure if they were used for Halloween actually, or just for other events and occasions, but I thought it was fun to show those to all who might be interested.

I liked the Victorian bat costumes. Thinking of Victorian women dressed up like bats is somehow funny. And, very interesting, I found only women in bat costumes.

Victorian bat dress

Some costumes maybe were intended to be spooky, and some funny, but today a few of the funny ones look somewhat scary. I guess we are just not used anymore to certain types of disguises, costumes, masked, and they honestly make me feel uncomfortable.

Children also dressed up. Somehow they looked so cute as if it was today, but some pictures really look  odd.

Women as witches are a standard throughout all decades.

How about some less decent costumes?

Then there are those dupe-nice pin-up witches, cats and bats.

Ah, and I LOVE the catalogues and patterns for costumes! How much vintage inspiration!

So, do you dress up for Halloween? If so, where do you get your inspiration from? What's your favorite costume?

Mine? I guess this one… I love black, I love the dress, the hat, the plume broom - gorgeous!