This year our family decided to do a group costume from our beloved movie The Greatest Showman for Halloween. We had so much fun last year dressing up as The Incredibles that we wanted to keep the good times rolling.
I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to actually find these costumes or an easy way for me to recreate them. And that is how I found myself at Hobby Lobby in the sewing department looking up patterns. I hit the jackpot because the day I went the McCall patterns were on sale for $1.99. I purchased M6143 a patriotic pattern that looked like it would work perfectly for a P.T. Barnum inspired coat with tails and fabric, thread, and buttons. In total I spent $8. Everything was on sale and super cheap.
The last time I sewed anything was in middle school, thankfully my grandma is an expert seamstress extraordinaire who lives 5 minutes away. She was thrilled to help offer her knowledge and surplus of items that helped me finish this project. Here is my grandma sitting in her sewing/craft room.
My grandma made all the Halloween costumes for me and my cousins so it was really fun to be able to spend time with her while I worked on a costume for my own baby. The older I get the more I realize how important it is to soak in these moments with my grandparents and I am so glad that they live close by and that they are able to be as involved as they are in my children lives. Surprisingly once grandma showed me how to decipher the instructions for the collar I was able to finish up the coat quickly.
It was a huge confidence boost to finish this project successfully and add the detailing to the coat. I purchased a second hand vest and added the ribbon. Josh made the cane using a 1/2 inch dowel that we painted and topped it with a decorative drawer knob we found in the discount section of the craft store.
Once this costume was done I went to work on making a Tom Thumb costume for one of our littles. This basic t-shirt quickly turned into the military styled coat using the leftover fabric from the PT Barnum costume.
From there I used this free online pattern from Martha Stewart as a rough guideline to finish off the costume. Building upon this shirt really made this project go quickly.
Total cost spent for both of these costumes was $25. The rest of our family outfits that were super easy to put together for this ensemble that includes the bearded lady, a little lion, and Jenny Lind.
Several years ago my mom asked me if I wanted her old sewing machine. I really didn’t think I should take it because I knew it would just sit in the closet collecting dust. Today I am so glad that I took her old Viking machine because I now have a precious memory of making my kids Halloween costumes and getting to spend extra time with my grandma.
