ALL the costumes I've ever made!!

I just tracked down as many of the photos from past Halloweens as I possibly could (thank you Facebook for keeping my photos, when I don’t!) I thought it would be super fun to round them all up here in one place, with pattern numbers and everything, in case you get inspired by one of them!

I’m going to start from last year and work backwards. You’ll notice my photography skills have grown right alongside my kiddos, haha.

First off though, if you’re just getting started with costume sewing, I have a couple resources for you. First, you can gather some good tips on my post about getting started with Cosplay sewing. And second, you might find my series on how to read a sewing pattern quite helpful. That said, costumes don’t have to be complicated and some don’t even require a patterns or even a ton of sewing! You’ll see several of those here too.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that while I am not paid to promote certain items, I will earn a small commission should you purchase items through these links. For more info, see my disclosure policy.

Last year I made a costume for my daughter that I am still super duper proud of! She dressed up as Audrey Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle. I detailed this costume at length in last year’s costume reveal post, along with the DIY 80’s exercise costume for Layla (a no-sew costume, mostly thrifted!) and the Spiderman costume I made my son.



The year before that, Natalie was a Starbucks barista, Layla was Hermione Grainger and Kelby was Dire from Fortnite. Click those links for the details!

In 2017, our first Fall here in Utah, Natalie was a girlie Storm Trooper. This was a total DIY, we made a cute skater skirt out of white satin and I used felt for the various pieces, gluing them onto a black shirt. I made the mask out of felt also.

Layla (and every other girl her age) was super into unicorns that year and Simplicity 8483 came out just at the right time. This was a super fun project to make! The rainbow fur trim really makes it fun, along with the sparkly purple hood lining.

Kelby was Doctor Strange that year and I LOVED this costume. It was fun to make; I used McCall’s 7676 and it was great. If I remember correctly, I sewed him the smallest size and just altered it down as I needed to.

Moving backyards to 2016, we were living in Hawaii and I had a Pokemon character, a peacock in a tutu and an angel. I made a simple costume for myself that year also — I was an ice cream cone! I glued some felt sprinkles to a t-shirt and made a brown cone-shaped hat, sewing lines in a cross-cross pattern. Cute and easy.

I can’t find a better picture of Natalie’s peacock costume, which is a bummer because I created a mass of beatufiul felt tail feathers on the back of the tutu! They were allowed to wear costumes to ballet that day, so we created a dance-worthy costume for that reason.

For Kelby’s I used a pattern I’d used for his dinosaur costume a previous year, Simplicity 1765.

The year before that, still in Hawaii, Kelby was Thor and that costume turned out super cool! I used Simplicity 1038. He loved this costume and wore it constantly after Hallowee until it got too small and I subtly phased it out of the house, ha!

I was a minion that year! I used McCall’s 7214 and it was pretty simple to sew up. One of the many perks of living in Hawaii is that you don’t have to worry about warmth on Halloween! I plan to revive this costume this year, but I’ll have to figure out a way to layer up for trick-or-treating with the kids.

I can’t find any other good pictures of my girls from that year! Bummer! Natalie was a 50’s girl, I made her a poodle skirt using McCall’s 6101. Layla was Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt. I draped her costume using a white sheet and made her cape with my trusty Simplicity 1557. I know that’s a Merida pattern, but I’ve used the cape portion to make sooo many capes, for dress-up, for gifts, a Jedi cape, a Kylo Ren cloak, etc …

Before that, my son was the Flash, which was a total DIY, I made a red shirt and pants using a pajama pattern (I think?) and made the accessories from felt.

My girls chose to match that year! We used McCall’s 6816 and this pattern was soooo much fun to make. Although, fleece isn’t that cheap in Hawaii and I remember being frustrated at my lack of fabric shopping options. It was still super fun, though.

The year before that, we were living in Virginia and Natalie was still in her very long-lived princess phase. So she was a princess, made with a pattern that I cannot remember and that’s probably out of print anyway. Layla was Merida that year and her costume was really fun to sew. I remember that one being very popular with friends who came over for dress-up for more than a few years after the fact. The pattern was McCall’s 6817. Kelby was Mario! So cute, he was seriously adorable. I used this pattern for the hat and the rest was store-bought. The trick-or-treating on the Army post we lived on then was probably the most fun we’ve experienced.

This is a clown costume I wore that year, although I’d made it a few years prior. Again, I don’t know which pattern this was, but I’m sure it’s out of print by now anyway. I do still have the costume, though.

Moving on, our last year in Colorado was one of my favorite sets of costumes. I made myself a Supermom costume! I DIYed it out of felt. Super funny and easy.

Natalie was Belle that year, which I made with this pattern (I remember it running large, that’s why I added a pleat in the front and added the rose.) Layla was an Egyptian princess, made with this pattern.

Kelby was a dinosaur and he LOVED this costume. (Here’s the pattern, it’s one of my favorites ever). He pretty much wore nothing else at home for the following year, haha.

Moving right along! I had a Buzz Lightyear the following year, which is one of the costumes I’m most proud of, even though there was no sewing! I used a reference photo and cut and glued the felt pieces to a pair of white sweats and it was epic. Especially the foam board jet pack wings.

I also had a water fairy, from the Tinkerbell movies, which were just starting to come out back then. I used this pattern for her. And Layla was an angel, using this pattern, which has been out forever; I’m pretty sure it’s the exact same pattern my mom used to make my sister and I angel costumes when we were little!

Before that, my photo documentation was sketchy! I do have some stragglers, though.

There’s the year I made my girls cupcake costumes copied straight out of a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. I literally had people offering to buy these from me.

And one year I made Casey an Obi-Wan costume and baby Kelby a Yoda costume. If you’re wondering why Casey doesn’t appear in any of these pics, it’s because he usually goes as something like a lemon, wearing a yellow shirt. But he did look awesome as Obi-Wan!

And, here’s baby Natalie as a clown. I still have this costume in my keepsake box, it’s such a precious memory.

And finally, one of my favorite photos of Layla ever, here is baby Layla’s cow costume I made her by cutting up a white sweatshirt, adding felt spots and crafting a hat with the scraps.

WHEW!!! Oh my goodness. Do you find it hard to go back through old photos of your babies??? I have to be in the right frame of mind, or else I’ll just cry, LOL!! Time sure does go by fast.

That was fun for me and I hope it was fun for you!

I’ll be sharing this year’s costumes in a couple of weeks, I’m so close to being done!

Cheers :)

PIN ME FOR LATER!