Costumes on the Cheap

First, the FM went to Ren Fest with the family, and I have to tell you, as the FM, I am really pleased with myself. My darling husband got himself all costumed out in some of my pirate gear (see earlier post) and let his hair down - literally, and was very piratical. The kids were also mini-Capt. Blighs, and wore their garb all day without complaint. I DO have pics, but I have been seperated from my camera cord, and have been looking in vain for it.





The thing I am really happy about is MY costume. We went to Ren Fest on a Sunday, so I happened to be out yard sale-ing on a Saturday. I found an awesome Goth Witch Costume for 2 bucks and it had an extra feathered and veiled hat to play with, which was even more awesome.





This is the costume - I like the muted lime green. For a ready made costume - and I know the pooh pooh-ers are out there - I was impressed. I liked it. It is not see through, and all I had to wear under it was bike shorts, vs slip, petticoat, etc. The goal was a simple costume that would allow me to enjoy being dressed but still chase after kids.

I have some peridot jewelry, so I paired it with that. Even black, crystal, or rhinestones would have looked good, but I love my peridot and pineapple quartz set. The dress had to be sewn a little, as the green panels were loose, but it gave me a chance to try out my new sewing machine, and I was really pleased with it. I have no issues with my old one, other than I am still skeevy since the dog got pissed at me and peed on the bobbin box part, but I can tell the difference between my simple one and this new fancy schmancy one - which, btw, was another yard sale find.

So, I have the 2 dollar dress, and my own jewelry. I remember that last year at the Carolina Ren Fest, SAP, my lovely sister, bought me a headdress made of raven and peacock feathers. I did that out, and have a cross between a fairy type and a wishful maiden of Ren times.

Upon further investigation, I have a set of dark fairy wings that are made of raven feathers. The feathers need to be re-glued, as do the elastic straps, and my trusty glue gun takes care of that. I was worried that glue alone would not hold up, but I was wrong. It held like it was super glue. So I repaired my sad wings and then added a couple of peacock feather eyes, and some glass accent rocks, and Voila! - much more interesting Dark Forest Fairy wings.

The wings, bought last yard sale season with the idea that I was sure I could do something with them at some point, cost me 50 cents. The glass rocks, which I have an entire jar of, also 50 cents.

Total expenditure - 3 bucks and about an hour of repair and fiddling. As soon as I am reuinited with camera cord, I will post the actual pics. But this is to illustrate that if you like costuming, and are not sure how to start, just start hitting yard sales, or thrift stores, and stockpiling, for cheap, the things that speak to you. You will use it eventually.

I will say, if I had to purchase the Awesome Headdress on my own, my outlay would have been about 40 bucks higher, but these feather head bands are amazing, and every woman should have one. I personally love raven and peacock feathers, I could not have found a better band.

Even so, I have found that you can indeed do costuming on the cheap, but there is usually one item that ends up costing a bit, but in the overall scheme of costume costs, it is not a bank breaker.

Pics as soon as I can.

Cheers!

BAH