Sewing Business Blog

Tutorial: How To Make A Robot Costume

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My Grandson looks AWESOME in the robot costume he actually made (with a little help from Mamaw, of course!)  This project is a “no-sew” creation and simple and quick to make!

Items needed: 1 large clear gift bag (for the body), 1 medium size silver gift bag (for the head) and lots of cool stickers!  First thing to do is remove the handles from the bags, since you’ll be making a robot “body” and “head”.  This costume would fit a child between the ages of 4-6 easily, of course depending on the size of the child.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my boy – the clear gift bag on the table and his HUGE sheet of assorted stickers.  He stuck nearly all of the stickers on the front and back of the clear bag.  We then cut a hole in the “bottom” section of the bag so it would go over his head and of course cut armholes in both sides so it would fit over his body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we took the mediuim size silver gift bag and held it up to his face to see where the eyes/nose/mouth would be, then cut out a cute little area for his face.  We then made a sign, “I Am A ROBOT”, just in case people couldn’t tell!   He also had been coloring the nice eagle picture, so wanted to put it on his robot “chest”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my handsome robot – all ready for the big day!!!

 

I Am A Robot – Costume

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For over two months my grandson (5 year old brother of the 4 year old quadruplets) has been telling his mother (my daughter) that he wanted to be a robot for Halloween.

I never heard a word about any of this until last Saturday when he was at our house and saw something about Halloween on TV and informed me that he was going to be a robot for Halloween.  My heart sank – I knew that October 31 was a festival that my daughter and I would be attending (no time to make a costume that day) and that I’d be getting home around 6:30 – and Jacob would already be at my house for the weekend.

Fortunately I remembered seeing a blog post about making a robot costume from silver gift bags from Kitten Muffin at FilthWizdaryBlogspot that I’d saved months ago.  I hurriedly checked it out again and told Jacob we needed to go do a little shopping for robot costume stuff (this was last Saturday morning).  He willing said ok (he normally says NO! to any kind of shopping – he just likes to stay here with Papaw)

Well, we found a couple of great bags at Walgreens (one on sale for $1.00 and the other for $4.95) and I got him a pkg of stickers so he could decorate it.  He spent most of the day decorating with the stickers, then found an “American Eagle” picture he insisted on coloring to put on the robot costume.

Here’s a picture of Jacob with his “work in progress” and then the “finished” costume.

JacobRobotA

JacobRobotB

And now — TA DA — Jacob in the costume ready to head out for trick or treating!

JacobRobotC 

The whole point of this post is to let you know how to get your kids started in the creating and crafting mode — and later on perhaps into the sewing mode as well!

Legally Blind Woman Turns Love of Halloween Into a Part Time Costume Business

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Jeannine Conway at her Weymouth garage, with a mannequin dressed as the Joker in the movie ''The Dark Knight.''Jeannine Conway has a garage full of tables covered with props like rubber weapons, wigs, carved pumpkins and party gags, in addition to a life sized mannequin portraying the Joker from “The Dark Knight” movie.


Conway has meticulously recreated the late Heath Ledger’s character from the recent hit movie and says she “realized back in August that the Joker would be the hot costume this year. The movie was such a big hit, and everybody just loves Heath.”

She has already shipped more than 25 of them for between $60 and $250 each, depending on whether customers prefer to have a mask (as opposed to makeup) or other additional items included with each costume.

Conway sells her Joker costumes and others that she creates on eBay, along with vintage and other finds she acquires online and at flea markets. Her garage houses racks of costumes that Conway is preparing to ship to customers who have bid on them at eBay, where she has sold her costumes and props under the username joeycboston06 for almost two years.


After expenses, Conway estimates that her costume sales will bring in around $3,000 this year. “It’s not much, but I love doing it,” she says. “And it helps me pay the bills.”


Several of Conway’s costumes have won prizes and awards in previous years, and she is planning on entering her Joker costume in competition this year. Past awards include a trip for two to London along with tickets to a Led Zeppelin concert she and her boyfriend won for dressing up as a carnival booth last year.


She credits her love of Halloween to her 20 year old son Joe, who she says has kept her hobby alive over the years.

Conway has been considered legally blind since she was a child and has been saving up for an operation to correct her vision problems that is not covered by insurance. In addition to her day job as a web site designer, Conway takes on other side jobs for extra income.  Read more of her story in the Boston Globe.