Arden Gnome - DIY Halloween Costume

I am a HUGE Christina Applegate fan. Anyone seen Up All Night?? HILARIOUS! Well she had a show in the late 90s called "Jesse" - it only lasted two seasons, but the first episode had a scene I will never forget!


I can't find a YouTube video but here's the transcript. Jesse is Christina Applegate. John Sr. is Jesse's dad, and Darren is Jesse's **slightly slow** brother:

DARREN: "Hey, Dad!" JOHN SR: "How’s my en-tra-pre-nor?" DARREN: "I’m on to something very big, and when it hits I’m gonna buy a big house and we’re all gonna live in it together." JOHN SR: "So what are you working on now?" DARREN: (Uncovers what he brought in, reveals a garden gnome) "Garden gnomes." (Only Darren pronounces the G) JESSE: "I think the G is silent." DARREN: "Arden gnomes?" (Again with the pronounced G) "Point is, I bought 8,000 of these little babies and I got this guy down at Home Depot whose begging to take them off my hands. Cha-ching, I’m gonna make a killing!" JESSE: "I can’t believe that you bought 8,000 gnomes." (Jesse keeps the G silent) DARREN: "Gnomes, ah, right!" (He finally gets it) "I know what you’re thinking. If I’m paying ten bucks for these guys like everybody else, I’m an idiot. But when I’m buying 8,000 gnomes at nine bucks a gnome, huh, who’s the idiot?" Ever since them, I've called Gnomes (g silent) ARDEN GNOMES (pronounce the G - it's really fun I promise!!) Well, Dani and I wanted to make our own Halloween costumes this year so we chose none other than the **spooky** ARDEN GNOME.  And here's how we did it: 1 - Buy about 2 yards of Felt for the main part of outfit.  Then you probably need about half a yard of felt for the hat. 2 - Keep the felt folded in half.  The fold is going to act the shoulder seam. Grab an old shirt that you know fits you well.  Cut the felt the width of the shirt.  (If you don't want to do side panels cut it wider than your shirt) 3 - Cut a neck whole.  We decided to go with a V-Neck but you can do a round or scoop neck as well. Don't worry if you cut the neck too small at first. You can cut it larger. 4 - Try on the sheath that you've created.  In the picture below you can see that my sheath wasn't quite large enough. (We measured to the shirt and forgot that we would have to sew the sides causing us to lose a few inches! Also, since this is a dress I forgot to take into account my "wide" hips.) 5 - Create a side panel to sew onto the side of the sheath.  We did six inch panels (remember you need space to sew so the panel probably ended up adding 4 inches to each side).  See how we pinned the panel. Then run it through the sewing machine.  6 - Alright that's it for the sheath. After you try it on you can trim it up to the length that you want it.  I ended up taking about 3 inches off (you'll see final picture at bottom). 7 - The hat is easy as cake.  Buy poster board.  Roll poster board into cone shape (glue in place).  And hot glue felt onto the poster board. 8 - Add a belt, leggings, shirt (underneath), and boots. And VOILA! you have an awesome, unique, and oh so cute (not skanky unless you want it to be) Halloween costume! We are so excited to show off these DIY costumes this weekend! Did anyone else make their own costume this year? Come back tomorrow for tips from Danielle on how to make flesh!! Perfect for a Zombie costume... and the timing couldn't be better since as I write this I'm watching the season premier of the Walking Dead!!!!