I don't know how to sew, and I'm particularly crafty (in either sense). Sure, I've knitted a scarf or two in the past. But the closest I come to "crafting" anything on a regular basis is when I make a kick-ass dinner out of incongruous leftovers and pantry-staple odds and ends. I had given up the dream of ever home-making a child's Halloween costume long before I had a child.
And then my child decided he wanted to be a completely obscure Muppet for Halloween.
"I wanna be Othmar! Mommy, can you make me an Othmar costume?"
Westley's favorite thing about Sesame Street is Oscar the Grouch. I'm really not surprised that Westley wants to be something Oscar-inspired. And when I try to imagine how I would put this costume together, my mind is a complete blank.
Image source: Muppet Wiki
But I tell him, "Sure I can, buddy. Absolutely."
After spending the past few days gathering supplies, I'm surprised - and delighted - to realize that I probably can pull this off. A little "Silver Coin"-colored Duck Tape, a lot of patience, and a 69-cent colander go a long way towards crafting your own tiny Grouch spaceman.
I just finished stitching four layers of batting together to pad the inside of Westley's Othmar helmet. I suppose I could've glued the layers together, but I figured dried glue might make the pad hard and itchy. Besides, now that I've actually sewn part of the costume, I can hold up my wonky stitches as a little badge of homemade-Halloween-costume honor.
