Scooter loves Halloween.
He begins planning his costume on Nov. 1.
Of course, his plans change a gazillion times over the year,
but you can bet that by the time Halloween rolls around,
the costume he has picked reflects a lot of thought,
an immense amount of creativity as well as
100% of his personality.
This year was no different.
He settled on a final design in September.
I told him there
“ain’t no way…
ain’t no how…
I was going to get out my sewing machine and sew him an outfit.”
I told him that it had to be put together easily,
it had to fit over warm clothes,
that it had to be put together easily…
(Do you get the idea? I wanted it easy!)
velcro, glue, etc. etc.
(remember, we’re the family that doesn’t buy Halloween costumes!)
So, what costume did he choose this year?
Ender Wiggin.
From the old science fiction novel
and newly released movie,
Ender’s Game.
We listened to the book via Audible on one of our trips to visit Flynn
and as soon as we got home, Scooter took his own money and bought
the paperback book, so he could read it again.
He’s hooked.
He’s a fan.
(And he reminded me exactly what a great book it is!)
We got online and started research.
We Googled the search words
Ender’s Game Costume
Ender Wiggin Costume
Ender Costume
Ender’s Game Halloween Costume
Halloween Costume Ender
Okay, you get the idea. We searched and searched and searched for an idea.
We found exactly
0
results.
Could it be? Is it possible? No one has dressed up as Ender before?
Well, at least, dressed up as Ender and posted pics on the internet?
Oh – for this original child – that sealed the deal!
There was no talking him out of it!
He was going to be
Ender Wiggin for Halloween!
Oh, and there’s that little problem of sewing!
Remember how I said I wasn’t going to sew the darn thing?
“It’s okay mom! I promise, I’ll sew it! All you have to do is show me how!”
Like a fool, I bought the line.
Okay.
Great.
Now how to do this?
The first thing we did was go to JoAnn Fabric.
We knew we wanted a silver fabric.
I didn’t want a silky, slippery dress fabric.
Too hard to run through the machine and not exactly warm enough for
Trick-or-Treating in Zion.
I was skeptical that we’d find anything suitable,
but Scooter had faith… so we started searching.
Can you believe, that after approximately 4.2 seconds, we found the
PERFECT fabric for a space suit?
We walked right up to it.
There it was.
I was floored!
So we headed to the pattern section.
We decided on a McCall’s jumpsuit pattern.
That looks perfect for a space suit, doesn’t it?
(We bought the pattern on Amazon! Saved a lot of money!)
Later, we happened to be at Zirker’s Party Store and he came running up to me with
the perfect space helmet.
(Which we got for 1/2 off because it was TRASHED!)
Seriously, this kid get what he wants and he doesn’t even know it!
We worked together on cutting the pattern out, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to put the zipper in.
My mom was gracious enough to help.
I’m so grateful!
It went in perfectly!
After the zipper was in,
Scooter sewed the front seams together.
His first time using a sewing machine.
And under my mom’s calm, cool, patient direction,
he did a
SUPER JOB!!
After that we sewed when/where we could.
We hauled that big old clunky sewing machine to Flatlandia when we went to visit Flynn.
Flynn and Scooter carved pumpkins while I sewed.
And I remembered how to read a pattern and I remembered how to sew.
It was a happy moment went I realized that I had actually gotten the
front sewn together with the back,
(no unstitching)
ATTACHED SLEEVES
and…
(sit down for this)
I HEMMED IT ALL!
I know… I know…
Praise and adoration is in order.
Well, our short story is getting much too long.
Suffice it to say, we (ahem… I) were able to get the collar in and a belt made.
Scooter insisted on having a gun (of the water variety)
so I had to come up with some kind of a holster.
That was a challenge, but I figured something out.
It’s soooo not perfect.
But when you’re 11, good enough is GREAT!
The final touch was the strip of orange Duck Tape down the sides and across the shoulders.
In the movie photos, Ender’s costume has a splash or orange on it, and we wanted to make sure we had that.
The Duck Tape was the easiest solution for that.
And now, for the final reveal….
I give you
Scooter and his
ENDER WIGGIN/ENDER’S GAME
HALLOWEEN COSTUME!!
(Isn’t that fabric PERFECT!?!?!)
(Scooter isn’t smiling because he’s in character.
Ender isn’t a happy-go-lucky kid that smiles.)
