Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Rey and BB-8 Family Halloween Costumes

As we started talking about what the kids want to be for Halloween this year, I decided it was time I shared the fairly elaborate family Star Wars costume theme we pulled off last year.

Louisa (8) was Princess Leia, Leo (6) was Luke Skywalker, and Lottie (2) was BB-8. I was Rey, and AJ was Kylo Ren.

Hedwig Baby Owl No-Sew DIY Costume

Lottie dressed as little Hedwig to go with her big sister, Hermione.

After looking at many, many baby owl and Hedwig costumes on Pinterest, I found this one and knew it was the one. Her tutorial is here.

The main fabric is some cheap white polar fleece that was left over from the Max costume I made Leo a few years ago.

Hermione Granger Costume

Louisa loves Harry Potter and so do we. She is reading the Sorcerer's Stone for the 4th time right now. Hermione is so smart and brave and I was very happy that she chose her for Halloween this year.

I made the robe, the blouse and the skirt.

Purl Bee Baby Lamb Bonnet

Introducing my littlest... Lottie Bea!

She has been keeping us smiling, tired, and a-new-kind-of busy for the last two months, after her much-anticipated 41-week arrival.

For her first Halloween, I made her a cozy little lamb hat from the Purl Bee tutorial.

Semi-Homemade Halloween: Word Girl Costume

Word up, it's Word Girl!

Louisa decided many months ago that she wanted to be Word Girl for Halloween, and I was actually impressed that it stuck! Never changed her mind at all.

Word Girl is a PBS show that they watch on Netflix... sort of a vocabulary-powered super hero.

Trick or Treat!

Max's Wolf Suit (Where the Wild Things Are)

And for my sweet little (not-so-wild) wild thing... Max's wolf suit!

Updated to add the above fab 5 pictures taken by the fab Cat Thrasher on Halloween Day when his buttons and whiskers were finished. :) 


Leo loves Where the Wild Things Are (and I love Maurice Sendak). We've never seen the movie but Leo has been practicing his "I'll eat you up!" and "Be still!" for weeks.

If you have never read more by him, I highly recommend the Nutshell Library (Pierre!) and Outside Over There.

I used the pattern by Jessica from Running with Scissors, available here. I made size 2, and enlarged the head for Leo's noggin, but it is a bit too short in the trunk. The pattern was easy and thorough (with links to videos for the tricky parts) and includes fox and bear (Ewok) variations.

Rose Fairy Princess Costume (Simplicity 1792)

Louisa decided long ago she was going to be a fairy for Halloween, so I got Simplicity 1792 (Disney Fairies) during a $3.99 sale. We decided on View C, but in pink and purple rather than yellow. She is calling herself a Rose Fairy Princess.

The main fabric is a pink crepe-backed satin, used for the bodice and skirt. The bodice is lined in white cotton. The sleeves and top petals are iridescent organza, and the bodice overlay and bottom petals are purple organza. The overskirt is baby pink sparkle tulle (six yards).

We picked out all the fabric together at Jo-Ann.

Princess Halloween Costume (Simplicity 2463)

Louisa picked her own pattern and her own fabric for her specially-requested princess costume.

Who can resist a pink and purple ombre organza with star sequins?!

I made view A of Simplicity 2463.

We got all the fabric from Jo-Ann, except the lining, which is a pink acetate from fabric.com that I had purchased for my Lonsdale dress lining, before I realized I wanted to stick with cotton. Acetate is kind of sickly smooth and slippery in its 100% synthetic-ness, but perfect for a princess costume.

The pattern was easy to follow. I'd say it ran a little big, even though I cut it according to her measurements. I made the size 3 and it will definitely still fit her next year.

I cut it a little longer than the 3 because she is tall (and her number-one request was that it go "all the way to my toes!") but it ended up being way too long even after I tacked up the hem and she was tripping on it some while we trick-or-treated.

My other change was to line the yoke (not just the bodice pieces) and skip the neck binding, as someone else had done on patternreview.com.

I think it would have looked nice with a contrast binding, however, because the pale pink disappeared a bit against her skin. But I am happy with it fully lined (I even under stitched the neck edge!) and I don't do a great job stitching in the ditch like the binding had called for.

I also left out the net ruffles. I had bought a bunch of purple netting and tulle, but it was a mess to work with, and since the skirt fabric was sheer, it wasn't going to look right. It's not as poofy as it could be, but she still loves it.

Some of these photos are from her Halloween Parade at school and some are from Halloween night. I hadn't finished sewing the jewels on the bodice for her preschool celebration.

I finished all the exposed seam with bias binding because acetate and organza just frays like crazy. Plus the binding looks nice around the sleeves since they are sheer. The skirt and skirt lining seams I did as french seams for the same reasons.

And just in case you were wondering, Leo was a doctor. His scrubs were a gift, and we had the requisite black clogs and fleece jacket already.

Halloween sure is a exhausting! Up late on a school night, candy for dinner, all her friends over here... phew! But the memories are fantastic.

Halloween