We had a beautiful night for trick or treating, with a full moon and temperatures in the upper 60s. (A big shout out to the Halloween gods who have been most gracious to us Bostonians over the past 6 years, favoring us with unseasonably warm and dry weather every Halloween. You rock!) Before it got dark though, we had a trial run with the costumes.

The boys got to slip into their Mario and Wario outfits early for a trip to some shops in the neighborhood who were handing out treats to kids who showed up in costume. The overalls fit great, B's pillow belly was perfect and the shoe covers were just right to finish off their costumes. They were Mario and Wario from head to toe! And as we visited the shops, all the adults recognized them right away: "Hey, it's Mario and Wario! Cool! You never see Wario!" We hit about seven or eight stores, just enough to get an early sugar rush. Wee was with us too, of course, and even I wore "a costume".

look, I'm a Muggle, but only on Halloween, you know

We came home, ate some dinner (we always try to make the kids' favorite meal for Halloween night so we can get as much real food into them as possible), and then got ready to go out for what the boys called "real Halloween." Real Halloween included the last accessories for the boys' costumes: the white gloves and the moustaches!

We were all cracking up when they first put their moustaches on. Then they had so much fun getting into character that wee one couldn't help but join in. She's flapping while they act all Mario-y ("yeah!") and Wario-y ("heee-heee-heee"). The last laugh was on Wario though, as he got called Luigi all night long: "No! I'm Wario!" Thank goodness he got all those kudos in the afternoon. The game store and book store folks really showed themselves to be way more in the know than the moms and dads of non-Wii obsessed kids in our neighborhood. In their defense though, they did say that the Luigi costume was great!

And wee one - we can't forget wee one!- was a very pretty butterfly (even though some of the same neighborhood moms and dads thought she was an angel), thanks in part to hubby who played wing-man most of the night, flipping her wings back up when they flapped over.

Everyone was very generous with the candy this year. People were giving wee handfuls of the stuff! (Wario was helping himself to handfuls all on his own. No surprise he won the family candy count!) Thank goodness we had that extra hour last night from the time change for them to spend brushing their teeth! And then, it was over. The kids went to sleep and I didn't sew anything. Another successful Halloween - costumes, candy, craziness, and a dark, spooky and very good night.

One Wario jumpsuit: check! B's jumpsuit is finished and approved by B himself. Thank goodness!

Let's take a moment to note a few things about Wario.

1. Wario wears purple? fuscia? What color is that exactly? I dunno, but damn if Jo-Ann's didn't have exactly the right color fabric for me! The important thing for B is that he wears a yellow shirt and a yellow hat. Given a choice of, well, anything really, B will choose the yellow one.

2. Wario is much plumper than Mario. B admonished me early on: "don't call him fat - that's not nice." To make the Wario costume, um, "wider" than S's Mario costume, I added about 2 inches to each of the front pieces of the jumpsuit pattern. There should be enough room for B to tuck a pillow under his shirt and, er, "bulk up".

3. Although I can make a Wario jumpsuit, I really have no idea who Wario is! A check at Wikipedia informs me that he is a sort of foil to Mario, sometimes even described as his evil twin. He's kind of an amped up, agressive, muscle-y man version of Mario with a creepier mustache. The "W" on his cap is even the reverse of Mario's "M". How cool is this? The boys seem to have picked out characters that let them act out extreme versions of their own twin identities! S will look wholesome and clean cut (while aiming a Bob-omb at you, of course) and B has an excuse to cackle wickedly at everyone (he's got a wicked good cackle, let me tell you).

4. Oh, and, we must not forget to note the little green leprechaun booties. I'm making some for the costume but even B is balking a bit at wearing them. Oh, Wario, how can you be so menacing in such silly little shoewear?

S's Mario jumpsuit is ready!

I am so relieved that this turned out as I had imagined. I made a full jumpsuit (following the pattern I'd used for B's bat-boy costume last year (minus the wings, of course). Once it was done, I cut away sections at the top to make straps and turn the jumpsuit into overalls. I stitched on the big buttons and it's Mario come to life!

S loves it. He tried it on with his special Mario hat and couldn't stop grinning. He says that all he needs to make the outfit perfect is a Bob-omb.

Wee one was so excited on Sunday when it was finally time for her to put on her now-finished butterfly costume. I took a bazillion or so pictures to capture her first thrill at wearing her costume (and just in case there was some sort of wing or diaper catastrophe that might ruin the outfit before Saturday).

She was a bit of a shy butterfly at first but then she really got into it.

Yeah, she knows she's that cute! And look at all that sparkling! Sparkly wings, sparkly sleeves, and sparkly tummy all on a sparkly girl. This is so the perfect costume for her. The wings were a technical nightmare though (requiring 4 hours to get them into this state, which is very pretty but very unstable). It is also clear to me that I do not know how to work with wire. I've always said it: I can knit and I can even sew a little, but I am not crafty. Miraculously, the wings survived the kiddie Halloween party. When they would fall over, wee would say they were flapping. Sweet kid.

Wee's best buddy was a tree and they looked so cute together at the party among a sea of dragons and dinosaurs and furry creatures. She was the bluest, the prettiest, the sparkliest, and the onliest butterfly. She's one of a kind.

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween around here! Wee one's butterfly jumpsuit is about halfway done and it's already totally cute and sparkly and butterfly-y. Can't you just see a couple of tiny legs coming out of those ruffly, lacy leg holes? I've still got the sleeves to add (also with ruffles and lace, of course) and then the wings to make. I'm a little intimidated by the wings since they involve stitching down sequin trim and using something called "armature wire," which I hope is just a fancy way of saying craft wire 'cause that's what I bought.

Wee one has a kiddie Halloween party this weekend, so I've only got two more days to finish up. And then one week to make the boys' Mario and Wario suits. It's Halloween crunch time!

It's October! Let the Halloween costume fittings and try-ons begin!

First up are the hats: one official Mario hat, one satiny blue butterfly hood (still have to put the antennae in that) and one official Wario hat. I found the hats for the boys online. They fell in love with them so I treated them to real hats instead of mommy handmade. I'm still making the overalls though. The boys can't get out of things that easy!

Mario overalls underway!

Wee's butterfly hood was a humongous pain in the butt to sew with massive curved seams that didn't fit. Grrrr. And then after all that, the thing's too small! There's no way I get the little tabs at the bottom to overlap so I can secure them. I think I'll add a little ribbon to tie them together instead. Still, the hood is too small in the back. You'd think that a 4 year size would be big enough for my 2 1/2 year-old, but apparently her head is huge. Fingers crossed the jumpsuit has been sized better.

stitching on the sparkly tummy

We'll see in the next try-on!

Wee's request to be a blue butterfly has got me on a bit of a blue kick. When I first asked her what color butterfly she wanted to be, I waited a beat then suggested, expectantly, "pink?" She thought for another few seconds and answered, "no, blue!"

So I picked out some sparkly blue satin for the butterfly jumpsuit, some fabulous sequined sheers for the wings, and sequins and lace for trim. Having only really sewn boy costumes so far, I've never worked with fabrics and embellishments like these before. It's a whole new world for me. It'll be a little "tricksy," as wee one says, but it'll be beautiful and blue in the end.

Continuing the trend, the fabric for wee's soon-to-be-sewn jump rope dress (pattern from Oliver & S) is also blue. I've loved this fabric line from Project Runway winner, Jay McCarroll, for a long time and am so excited to have found a good project for it. The colors in the line are a little psychedelic for a whole quilt, but I think this one print in this simple dress could be classy and fun at the same time. Those funky shrooms are a riot but, overall, the dress will of course be beautiful and blue.

After close examination of the pictures the boys gave me of Mario and Wario, I see that their Halloween costumes will have to include regular shirts (conveniently in their favorite colors), white gloves, funny bright-colored overalls, cool hats (again in their favorite colors - I'm beginning to suspect this lies behind their choice) and mustaches. I've decided to make at least the overalls.

And at Joann's this weekend I found fabric in the exact right colors! I even found the silly big buttons. There are no overall patterns to speak of (wonder why? doesn't your kid want homemade overalls?) so I'll be converting the pants pattern for B's batman costume from last year to a serviceable overall pattern for this year. I'm even gonna try to make B's a little wider so we can stuff some newspaper or something in there to give him that real round Wario look. But, oh man, I just know he's gonna ask for freaky green slippers too!

1. stop staying up late reading and start knitting again

I have got some kind of wicked vacation hangover. All I want to do is put my feet up and read really crappy novels.

saw this at the used bookstore yesterday and was so tempted - the true sign that you haven't given up summer yet!

In the meantime, my candy stripe jacket (in the deliciously yummy red cashmere!) is waiting, as is wee's orange buttercup baby jacket. Come on, Alison, snap out of it!

2. remove piles of crap from sewing corner and sew, sew, sew

I can just barely glimpse my sewing machine under abandoned quilts, half sewn summer things and souvenirs from Germany. I've got to clean up and get working on fall things.

Oliver & S Jump Rope Dress

Like this brand spanking new Oliver & S pattern that is winging its way to me right now.

3. rev up the Halloween machine

With only six weeks to go, it's time to get going on the kiddos' Halloween costumes! This year wee said she wanted to be a blue butterfly.

Simplicity pattern 3594

And the still wii-obsessed boys have demanded to be Mario and Wario. They don't ask much, do they?