[McBernes]

My family will be The Joker, Batman, and Harley Quinn this coming Halloween. I'll be The Joker, My wife Harley Quinn, and my daughter Batman. We are going to make as much of the costumes as possible, it's more fun that way and sometimes much cheaper! I feel I have a good handle on my costume...Buy a coat at Goodwill, alter it so it has tails, dye it, etc. I'm aiming for a Cesar Romero kind of thing. Heath Ledger's Joker was the best but EVERYONE is going to be "that" Joker. Our daughter's should not be a problem. My wife is struggling though. She has a great idea for making the mallet ( spray foam insulation sprayed into a tube made from poster board for the mallet head and a cardboard poster tube for the handle). The rest of the costume is the sticker though. So far the idea is ponytails, one red- she has long dark hair- instead of jester's hat. She was thinking of buying light colored pants and dyeing them red and black but we thought the process would be messy the dyes would all bleed together. Buying a plus sized outfit is out, we just don't have that kind of cash. So, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Itzpopolotl]

If any of you are handy with a sewing machine you could try making it. I know jo Ann's sells tons of patterns and you should be able to alter one that you like easily enough (that's what I did to make our sanderson sisters costumes and I had never sewn clothes before). Simplicity patterns seem to be the easiest to work with. You could also try buying a pair of red pants and a pair of black pants that fit (and similar styles) and take a seam ripper and take them apart then sew those two halves together. If you try dying pants I would think dying the red half then the black would work best since the black should cover up any red that needs to be covered. Just a few ideas off the top of my head hope they help!

 

[deadhouseplant]

I was Harley Quinn a few years ago for a superhero/villain party, so I can tell you what I did and see if that helps at all.

For the dress I cut apart a basic dress pattern into four parts and then sewed it using red and black stretch fabric. The bib part I made using white felt, pom pom balls, and Velcro, I sewed part of it but you could make something similar without sewing. The tights I bought off eBay, I bought shoes at the thrift store and painted one red and the other black, make up is just basic cheap black and white from a party store.

These are similar tights

If you don't want to sew I saw this dress on Ebay and it's not outrageously expensive.

I think if you have any sewing abilities you could definitely hack something together using thrift store clothes or even cheap Walmart clothes that you might be able to buy two (one red and one black). Good luck!

 

[McBernes]

Thanks! I've been learning to sew hats so I'm comfortable with a sewing machine. We might try your idea of buying two pairs of pants and frankensteining them together. If that does'nt fly I'll try to talk her into letting me sew her one.

 

[McBernes]

Thanks! I think I'll borrow your idea for the bib. I can sew pretty well, and with your suggestions and the ones from Itzpopolotl I feel confident we can pull something off.

 

[McBernes]

An update on our batman themed family costumes: A trip to Goodwill found a skirt that can be used to make a pattern for my wife's Harley Quinn costume, a coat that will serve the same purpose for a Joker coat with tails ( think Cesar Romero's Joker). We found 6$ white canvas shoes to dye black and red, and more Great Stuff spray foam for her hammer. We bought adhesive backed synthetic felt at Michaels to use as a foundation for a Harley Quinn mask.

 

[McBernes]

An update on our costumes: I took measurements of my wife for the skirt for her Harley costume. I'll be making a mock up of it from an old sheet from Goodwill to make a pattern from. I started seam ripping the coat for my Joker costume to make a pattern from it. THe hammer is coming along. I'll post pics further along in the process.

 

[LoveAndEyeballs]

I can't wait to see photos of your costumes! It sounds like they're turning out well!

 

[McBernes]

Costumes are done finally. My wife is more on the ball than I am and had her's done a long while ago. Our daughter's batman costume was bought online some time ago also. It is the original Batman tv show type deal. Mine on the other hand was way too ambitious. I had bought a pattern for a really awesome victorian kind of deal. I struggled with it for a long time. i got to the point where i had all the pieces ( mostly) cut out and ready to sew but time was getting really short. Frankly it was becoming a chore and wasn't fun anymore. So a quick and lucky trip to a Good will scored a coat and pants that could be easily dyed and altered. A online purchase for a wig and some green hair spray stuff completed that part. My wife bought a gold plastic Joker cane that i spruced up. Long and short is that it is finally done. Here are the results:

 

[McBernes]

I think I'll use the pattern I bought for next years costume. I really should get started now 'cause I'll never get it done in time if I don't lol.