Halloween costume sewing seems to divide our kind into three camps: “i love sewing costumes!,” “i hate it, but do it anyway FOR THE KIDS,” and “nope, i’m going to Target.”

i fall in the first camp…within reason.  costume sewing is a fun creative challenge for me, and my kids play dress up pretty much constantly, so these are not one-time use AT ALL.  only the big kids got handmade costumes this year though; our little guy is suddenly a huge Curious George fan and borrowed a monkey costume from his cousins that he was thrilled about.  so anyway, here’s handmade costume #1 – Kid Catwoman.

E settled pretty quickly on Catwoman once it was time to lock in the costume requests.  O’s superhero love has rubbed off on her a bit, and i made a slapdash Wonderwoman costume one afternoon for dress up purposes, but for Halloween she wanted to be a villain.  she’s currently obsessed with cats, so Catwoman was a natural fit there.  plus she got to drop into rad poses at a moment’s notice.

i modeled her costume after 1960s Julie Newmar/Lee Meriwether/Eartha Kitt Catwomen – just thought those costumes were cooler and more age-appropriate for a 7 year old than the modern versions…know what i mean?  google “vintage catwoman” if you want to see what i was working from.

i made everything she’s wearing except the shoes!

the unitard was the stumper in my pre-costume planning process – i tried to talk her into leggings and a shirt where i could hide the seams with her belt, but she would have none of it.  it had to be a unitard, and she even suggested a zipper to get in and out of it because she knows what’s up.

the unitard ended up being a lot easier than i expected it’d be to sew – i made a size 6 flashback skinny tee and playtime leggings in black spandex, shaving extra width off the arms and side seams of the tee as i serged so it was a closer match to the width of the leggings, and cutting it up the center back so i could add an invisible zipper.  i first basted the top and bottom together to check fit on her, and in the end, i trimmed a couple inches off the top and an inch off the top of the leggings to get the proportions right before i serged them together.

i did a neckband but didn’t bother finishing the hems; just zigzagged the serged seam allowances to hold them.

piece o’ cake.  😉

i finished the sewing off with a quick belt made of gold metallic spandex which hides the seam (both spandex fabrics were already in my stash for possible swimsuit making).  the only things i bought specifically for this costume were the necklace components and white plastic headbands (from Michael’s).  i got lucky to find the perfect $4 metal medallion set and used pliers to open up the gold chain and add them in.  i spray painted the headband black and added felt cat ears.  her mask is felt with a black picot elastic band.

what’s she got there…?

oh no, Catwoman stole 100 grand!!

the “money bag” (totally her idea) for treats is a scrap of flannel with a freezer paper stenciled dollar sign, using Dana’s classic hobo sack tutorial.

as you can probably tell from the photos, E was ecstatic with her Catwoman costume.  it’s so rewarding when that happens!

i love how she gets sooooo into character with her costumes every year, she just kills me.

Happy Halloween!  back with O’s costume in a bit!