Kid's Costumes: Historical or Fantasy

Community theater, school plays, and history class projects offer children (and adults) a chance to become something or someone else. You can make a fun costume that can have a life beyond a single production or Halloween party--just look at the groovy seventies jeans I made right here!

Many costumes can also become outfits for special school spirit days, dress-up playtime, or historical re-enactments. I will suggest ways to make some basic costumes that can be accessorized in a variety of ways and used more than once for different historical periods or dramatic purposes.

Hogwarts, Middle Earth, or Star Trek

The students at Hogwarts dress like most other English schoolchildren, with a few disinct differences. Over the sweaters and neckties they often wear their wizard robes and hats, for instance. In winter, they are bundled up with scarves in their house colors: Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin, or Ravenclaw. Knit a special Harry Potter item to turn regular clothes into a magical costume. Don't forget a wand!

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies brought Tolkein's characters to the big screen with some of the best costumes I have ever seen. Turn your own child into a hobbit, dwarf, elf, or wizard with a little help from a colonial or medieval pattern. Add a sword, battle ax, bow, or staff to complete your character.

Does your child prefer thinking about the future? Use a colorful T-shirt and black pants as the base for a Star Trek uniform. For girls, a short knit dress will do the trick. These items can come from the child's regular wardrobe and be worn proudly even when it's not Halloween.

Choose a Century or Decade

The pattern counter at your local fabric store has some standard patterns for historical costumes available year round. Most patterns include a basic long dress with several variations, as well as accessories to make that dress look like a certain period:

• apron, pointed collar, and Dutch cap for a pilgrim;
• apron and sunbonnet for a pioneer; or
• mob cap for a colonial lady.

For the twentieth century, several of the major pattern companies are now offering some patterns marked "vintage" in their collections. A full-skirted dress with a fitted bodice can make a great retro homemaker costume when worn with heels and fake pearls. Check with older relatives or friends to see if they have patterns from decades past. Create a flower child, a disco queen, or a flapper with a vintage pattern. The groovy jeans shown above were my own creation without a pattern--just an old pair of jeans and a couple of rectangles of bright fabric.

(Photo shows a colonial dress made for my daughter portraying Abigail Adams for a school project.)

Which way do you go for kids' costumes?