Help with pumpkin costume

Bubblewrap (the clear plastic packing stuff) works well for stuffing.

I stuffed my costume with crumpled up newspaper. I used the commercial pumpkin pattern, but made it out of a really gaudy silver sequined fabric. I wore a black turtleneck shirt, black leggings, black boots and sunglasses, and carried a flashlight and a little cassette player with some cheesy disco music on it. I sent my friend into the party with the flashlight and the radio and had her light me up when I walked into the room. I won the costume contest that year with my Disco Ball costume. And won an award for "The Most Creative Use of Sequins." Lots of fun. *grins*

~Lady Aurora Selene

Excellent idea. Can it be washed??

Kirsten Sollie

I did one like this for a 9yo many years ago. Might have been 8 segments. No boning; I used heavy interfacing on the wedges and top-stitched the seam allowances to the fabric. The kid suggested stuffing it with clothes, but it worked fine as a heavy somewhat stiff sack-like affair (she could sit down, let alone walk). Everyone knew what it was supposed to be. The hat came out real cute: orange beanie with a green stem. How can a pumpkin be too round? Are you wanting it to be an ovalized sphere instead of a round one? You could add lateral boning (like a hoopskirt) to the "equator" and "tropics." HTH

--Karen M. finally using that geography class

The 8 segments with interfacing sounds like a better idea but it's too late. The boning did go around the equator and both tropics but it didn't make the thing round. I think the wedges were too wide at the middle. I was planning on a green hat with leaf and stem, if I can fix the pumpkin.

Kirsten Sollie

When I made DD pumpkin suit - she was preggers at the time :>) , what additional stuffing we needed was done with plastic grocery bags. I suppose wadded up newspaper would also work. Sharon

DD wore green tights and a green beret. her jack-o-lantern was a wide cylinder with drawstrings top and bottom, and arm slits. Orange muslin with black eyes, nose and grinning mouth. Stuffing was crumpled newspaper (we are talking early '70s). Turns out she was so wide we had to crush the sides to get her through the door and outside! What fun!

Hi Kirsten,

How about adding some vertical boning to your pumpkin costume as well as the equatorial and tropical boning? It might just help to hold it all out in a proper ball shape - especially if you join the verticals to the horizontal circular ones - kind of -)-(-( IYSWIM!

Sarah

That's about what I did with the bone-less pumpkin kit (and it's what I thought Kristin had already done when I mentioned the hoopskirt). Stiffening the verticals will hold it out a bit, but not too much, and you could adjust bone length for more sphericality. Keep in mind that stuffing will add warmth. I always go to a Halloween contra dance, so airflow is a prime consideration.

--Karen M.

Had I had more time, I would have tried this. I had now reduced the girth of the pumpkin and bought a roll of bubble plastic. I haven't had the time to stuff it yet. It is for an indoor party so it shouldn't be too hot.

Kirsten Sollie

Instead of boning, I used those heavy duty plastic ties they sell in Home Depot type stores. Also, I had fun with those tiny light kits, lighting the mouth, nose and eyes. The, too, I painted around those areas with glow int he dark paint so it really "popped out" in the dark. The kids had the switch on the inside to turn the lights on and off - fun! Joy