good night, gorilla

Maybe it's a little late to be writing about Halloween, but since Alex is still wanting to wear this costume every waking moment, even out of the house, I hope you'll indulge me.

If you have small people at your house, you've probably read this book about sixty-five thousand times.  And you know what I mean when I say that I'm a little disappointed that the final costume didn't include a banana or a balloon, but a zookeeper only has two hands--so we went with the essentials.

The jumpsuit was adapted from the Raggedy Andy version of this pattern.  I shrunk the collar (a little too much, it turned out), lengthened the legs, and added a placket for velcro instead of using a zipper.  I made a tie with a velcro neck strap, and the belt was black cotton webbing with a black clicky buckle (that's a techincal term).  He wore brown topsiders because even though the perfectionist in me said they should be black like the book, the cheapskate in me won out and it turned out to be just fine.

The fun parts: the hat (a post all by itself, but basically I just crossed my fingers while I made it up as I went along--turns out to be my favorite part!), the patches, a flashlight, a stuffed gorilla ($2.50 on clearance!) and a mouse from this pattern...he turned out to be a little bit wonky due to some gauge issues, but nobody seemed to mind.  And the keys.  I love them.  Just felt sandwiched together, stitched, and cut.













Grandma helped me with the finishing touches at the very last minute, and I'd say it was a hit--both because people recognized him as being from GNG and because he still wants to wear it all. the. time.  As Grace mentions here, this is what makes late-night costume crafting worth it: the fun they have with their costumes after Halloween.