When I became a mom, I KNEW I was going to make their Halloween costumes.  Making my own costumes has always been my thing.

And then I realized how little time one has to sew in the early years.

The first 2 years were covered as I found an AMAZING sea otter costume for $20 that I couldn’t have made myself.  Fully lined with satin and everything!

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The third year, my sister who also loves to make costumes, came to the rescue with Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon.  (His baby sister wore the sea otter)october-2013-033

In year four, and with much mom guilt, I bought traditional flimsy cheap costumes because life was busy and costume making wasn’t on the priority list.

Long story short,  last fall my son and daughter begged for Marshall and Skye costumes, and it was FINALLY my time to fulfill the lifetime dream!

On the first trip to the fabric store, I found the perfect dalmatian fleece (honest, its dalmatian, not cow print) and decided to go with polar fleece for warmth and ease of sewing. (And I’ve had a long love of sewing with polar fleece as the many years of various gifts my family can attest to including blankets, vests, hats, mitts, scarves, etc.)

Boy kneeling in a black and white polar fleece Dalmatian dog costume

I made shirts and pants for both children from Simplicity 3935, which I modified to omit the shirt’s yoke and add a  rounded neckline.  The 4/5 size was too large for my 2 year old daughter, so further modified to shorten and narrow the pants and shirt.

The gloves and hats were from a Butterick Teletubbies pattern that has been in my collection for almost 20 years!  I modified the ears to dog ears, which kinda stuck out, but well,  he looks like a dalmatian, right???

Next was the vests.  I used the same pattern as the shirts, but added 1″ for further wearing ease and cut the front to add a zipper.  I should have bought longer zippers, but hey, it’s a costume!  These types of issues don’t matter!  Reflective tape was added across the front and on the back for road safety and for getting the look right for Marshall.

I found the biggest challenge to be the Pup Packs.  I started with a backpack pattern and modified for fixed straps.  For the water cannon I made tubes from polar fleece and stuffed with polyester fill.  I attached together with a band of fleece (although the cannon tubes do escape) and attached the polar fleece rope with velcro to the side pocket of the backpack.

The flashlight is a tapered tube made in a similar fashion.  For the wings I drew on 1″ open cell foam and used the cut foam as a template for the fleece cover.  The wing tips were stuffed with polyester fill. The arm straps were dual purpose to keep the wings closed during transport.

The googles had me stumped.  I found many online patterns for felt, but I was adamant that they were going to be stuffed and durable.  I ended up hand sewing around foam, and although she was happy with the finished product, I couldn’t make them match the picture I had in my head.
One child dressed as Marshall and the other is dressed as Skye

Using a pattern from my collection (previous Christmas gifts), I made a color blocked vest as Ryder for my husband.  I borrowed from my work wardrobe for Mayor Goodway, but I had to have my purse chicken!   So I made Chickaletta from a Pinterest pin.

Two adults posing as Ryder and Mayor Goodway with a polar fleece Chickaletta

Paw Patrol is on a roll!

Chickaletta has had the most play out of all the pieces this past year, followed by the backpacks.   Time well spent and my dream fulfilled!