Halloween 2010 - Chess Pieces

As part of our annual Halloween tradition, we come up with a family theme for our costumes. This year we went as Chess Pieces.

The idea for our theme started when Michael suggested he wanted to be a knight. After tossing around ideas like "royalty" or "knights of the round table," Felicia noted that the knight is one of 6 different chess pieces. It was a perfect match!

Blaine (Dad) was the King, Felicia (Mom) was a Bishop, Michael was a Knight, Rosemary was the Queen, Jason was a Rook (castle) and Amara was a Pawn.

We had lots of fun walking around taking steps like our pieces. Felicia was going diagonally (like the bishop), I was taking one step at a time (the King) and Michael was taking two steps forward and one to the side. The only disappointment was that it was pretty rainy during the two local parades we entered. Nonetheless, in both costume contests we won first place in the families and groups categories. Alas we did not come upon another family dressed as white chess pieces.

Felicia did all the sewing while Blaine did construction.

The King's costume had a lined robe made of panne and a faux-fur shoulder piece. I strung the livery chain and medalion and constructed the crown.

For Rosemary's Queen costume, both the dress and the robe were sewn by Felicia and I made and decorated the crown.

For Michael's Knight costume, Felicia made the faux-chainmail hood and sleeves. The tunic and the pants were made out of a soft-faux-leather material. The helmet, shield and sword were painted to match, and then I embellished the shield with the chessboard pattern and the chess piece emblem.

Felicia sewed all her Bishop's vestments which included the velvet robe, the white cotton alb, the rope cincture, the stole and the decorated black chausable. I made and decorated the bishop's mitre.

For Jason's Rook piece, the structure was made using embroidery hoops, poster and illustration board, a "pleather" material for the brick, and glitter paint for the grout.

Finally, Felicia did all the sewing for Amara's Pawn dress and a Juliet cap. The bottom of the dress had a hoop made out of plastic tubing sewn into the hem to give the fullness.

Oh, and did you notice the chessboard trick or treat bags? Felicia sewed those too. Each of us had a bag with our corresponding chess piece. I think that helped people figure out the theme.