Costume bits and pieces

I haven't done a lot with children's Halloween costumes this year, partly because years ago my mother-in-law bought my children well-made dinosaur costumes, which have only needed minor repairs since then, so we keep on re-using them.

I did sew one costume piece for a child. It was partly fun, and partly challenging.  Fun, because it didn't need as much finishing work as a regular garment would, and challenging because it's shape and structure required some rather fiddly sewing. But it came out well.

One child wanted an astronaut helmet. I kept forgetting to check the bakery section of the grocery store for products sold under clear plastic domes, but eventually I thought of cutting the top and bottom off a clear plastic 2-liter pop bottle, and then making a slit up one side and uncurling it a bit. They put a lot less plastic into packaging than they used to, and it opens up far enough for a face shield fairly easily. I am thinking of wiring the top and bottom edges so that it stays open by itself, though. The rest of the helmet we are going to fake up from fabric or something.

Another child wanted to be a bird. I figured that I could use different colors of chalk to draw feathers on his clothing, and then use hair spray as a fixative, so it would last the evening, but still wash out afterward. But then he changed his mind.