I think it’s a given that anyone who sews will eventually make a Halloween costume. It was only a matter of time after I bought my sewing machine in July that I started racking my brain for Halloween costume ideas.

Since I planned to attend Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party with a friend at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park, we really wanted to come up with a fun Disney pair that was slightly outside-the-box. A prince-and-princess just seemed too cliche for our creative personalities. After coming up with a lot of ideas, we finally decided that Mike Wazowski and Boo from the Disney-Pixar film Monsters, Inc. was the winning duo.

I started with Simplicity 7415,  a vintage pumpkin / tennis ball / baseball / ice cream scoop / pincushion / Humpty Dumpty pattern from the early 90’s. (Side note: I’m happy to report that this is the first official pattern I’ve mastered thus far. Woohoo!)

I followed the instructions for the tennis ball costume, primarily using lime green broadcloth for the body, and lined the inside with felt to add a little shape. I used white, black and kelly green broadcloth to create the eye, which is glued on and lightly handstitched around the edges. We stuffed the costume with crumpled newspapers contained in trash bags, and elastic at the neckline and the bottom of the costume kept the innerds from falling out during our trek around the Magic Kingdom.

In a dream world, I would have sewn a shirt and pants for Mike Wazowski using the same lime green broadcloth as the body – but in the end, it was just more practical to wear a pair of mint green scrubs that he already owned. My entire Boo ensemble consisted of lucky finds at Walmart – no sewing involved.

Can you believe I was lucky enough to attend the Halloween party with Nick Lachey?

Although only die-hard Disney fans recognized me as Boo, the Mike Wazowski costume was a HUGE HIT. I couldn’t believe how many “Mike Wazowski!!!” shouts we heard from afar. Little Monsters Inc. fans in strollers gazed up at Mike Wazowski with wide eyes. My friend was quick to brag about my skills to strangers, telling them that I had sewed the costume, but I was secretly glad it was dark outside so that nobody could see my imperfect stitches up close!

What I learned from this project:

• To fulfill a creative vision, it’s sometimes necessary to shop for out-of-print patterns on the internet.
• I used bias tape for the first time. I still can’t say I completely understand the purpose of fabric “cut on the bias,” but for the purpose of this project, it was incredibly useful to have long strips of pre-cut, folded fabric.
• This costume was the biggest and most cumbersome project I have made to date. It was also the most time consuming, and let’s face it, a lot of the steps were repetitive and not very exciting (sew lots of solid colored panels together… zzzzzzzz). Feeling burnt out from a specific, monotonous project is probably normal. But it sure helped my sewing soul to take some days off to work on other projects, like cutting fabric for new Friendship Bags, before returning to the Halloween costume.

All in all, I love how the Mike Wazowski costume turned out, although it is a little strange to have a monster hanging in my closet!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween this year?