Gandalf and Bilbo

Despite a rough week, I managed to make Gandalf and Bilbo costumes for Gunnar and Jack! G is a huge LOTR fan and is currently reading through all of the histories, so when I offered to make him a Gandalf costume, he was ecstatic.

 For Bilbo, since the outfit was so small, I used scraps from previous costumes to make an undershirt, vest, and cape. I drafted my own patterns based on some of Jack's T2 sized church clothes. The ears are earmuff-style stuffed ears made from felt and attached to a headband and the feet are costume hair just stuck onto Jack's feet with spirit gum. (He thought that they were bugs at first and was wigged out, but we managed to convince him that they were "like fuzzy socks.")

For Gandalf I dyed my stash of estate-sale $1 sheets gray and then threw together a robe (gathered at the front and back for volume) and mantle, then used the scraps to cover a cheapo black witch hat in a patchworky style. A costume beard, age make-up, and some gray hair-dye completed the look! My only regret is not making it longer. I failed to account for belting it and lost several inches in length. I won't make that mistake again!

For pictures we went to San Antonio's Phil Hardeberger Park to get that shire/forest look, and to find a "wizard staff" among the broken branches. Overall I'm really happy with how it came out! If I weren't pregnant I probably would have tried to make an Arwen or Eowyn costume for myself too!