Sunday, November 2, 2008

Those 70's Themed Halloweens

How cute was Clover in her very first Halloween costume?!?!

The idea to dress her up as Holly Hobbie this year had been in my mind for several months. Ever since we came across the blue bonnet in an old box of toys at her grandmother’s house. For months, since I’m not much of a sewer, I had been keeping my eye out at the thrift stores for a suitable dress/apron/bloomers combo to go with the hat… to no avail.

A couple of weeks ago, just as I was beginning to think I may have to break down and settle for one of those *insert cute fuzzy animal here* suits, I came across this adorable hand made calico apron dress at the Goodwill. Luckily, it was a perfect fit :)

I stopped by the Salvation Army Friday afternoon (totally last minute) to look for some finishing touches and found this pale pink and white leafy patterned vintage onesie that looks like a little clown suit when she wears it on its own, but under the apron dress it was absolutely perfect. The white collar with embroidered flowers came out over the dress, the pant legs peeked out from underneath like little bloomers, and the prints on the sleeves and the dress were so sweet together.

I also found a fake bunch daisies and a little woven basket just her size. I have a stash of vintage ribbon bows with wire attachments that I picked up long ago at a garage sale, so I attached one of those to her tiny basket as the final touch.



We took her across the street to my sister-in-law’s house for a mellow evening of drinking lemon drops, eating cookies, handing out candy to cute little trick-or-treaters, and watching toddler hi-jinks ensue as Clover played with her twin two-year-old cousins on the living room floor… always entertaining!

They have this great linoleum in their kitchen and I loved how all the patterns in Clover’s costume looked against it as she crawled around on the floor.



I thrifted this vintage minidress from the Goodwill years ago. I’ve always thought it was a cool dress but it’s a bit much with that big crazy collar for everyday wear. It was perfect though for my costume, which was supposed to be me as a little girl back the 70’s, with my Holly Hobbie doll of course :)

Apparently big crazy collars did NOT bother me when I actually WAS a little girl back in the 70’s. This was me at nursery school on my birthday back in 1977, hence the paper crown and tray of cupcakes. If you look closely you can just make out the five candles. Isn’t it funny how similar the dresses are? I must have liked this one because there’s another picture of me wearing it on Santa’s lap.


I actually even HAD a Holly Hobbie doll back then, but I think the one I have now is much cuter ;)

While we’re on the topic of the 70’s, I thought I’d throw in these from Halloween 2006 when I was one third of Charlie’s Angels (though I didn’t know it the time, this was to be my final pre-Clover night of Halloween partying):

It was funny when all three of us, having each gone out on our own to find something suitably 70’s and Angelesque to wear, showed up in these awesome jumpsuits as if we had planned it that way! Between Lucie’s vintage neck scarf collection and Jody’s extensive collection of Bakelite bangles, we were accessorized and good to go.

It actually turned out to be quite an interesting night too as, due to a work obligation of Lucie’s, we spent the first half of our evening tearing up the dance floor as the only three straight girls at a wild New Age lesbian Halloween party where we were um,… a BIG HIT.

The best part was when a surly looking women (in a particularly convincing man costume) asked us if we had been hired as “entertainment.” Such. Good. Times. It was also pretty cool that my friend Luis provided us with a handheld tape recorder allowing us to, upon entering a room, invoke the soundtrack to this:



Thanks Luis, for the sound effects then, and for digging up the Angels pics! Hope you all had a fun Halloween this year!

24 comments:

Violet Folklore said...

I love how you tied your costume into Clover's! You both look adorable.
I too have avoided buying the cutesy weird animal costumes, even making the questionable choice to leave a unicorn costume on the rack at Salvo. We've either thrown something together that day with the clothes Mycelia already has or my husband has sewn something for her.
Ah, the pre-baby party days...

Amanda said...

oh my god! i totally had a whole holly hobbie room when i was little. perfection!

Rosie the Cat said...

That is just too cool. There's nothing sweeter than little bloomers peeking out from under a dress!

Milla said...

best post ever! I hope you kept that jump suit!

Anonymous said...

What a sweet costume! And your yellow jumpsuit is simply amazing.

ashley said...

oh i adore hollie hobbie~ and clover makes such a beautiful little doll;)
that was such a brilliant post~ made me smile after a very loonnnnggg day at work~ thank-you!
x ashley

loveology said...

Wooow Missa, this is such a fun post!

How sweet and pretty Clover looks, she's an amazing girl!
You also look great, as ever.

<3
Mila.

amy merrick said...

You both look so beautiful!

Alexa said...

What a fantastic nod to your 70s self! And my God! Clover is such a doll, it must be so much fun to dress her up like one!

Plus, you need to break out that yellow jumpsuit again ;)

Heidi Ann said...

You both looked absolutely adorable in your costumes!

Caroline said...

Ah, brilliant holly hobby costume. All the pieces are excellent finds! Also, I could not be more pleased that you told a story about getting mistaken for "hired entertainment" in a lesbian club. AMAZING.

Mona-pily said...

Hi! Found your blog though aclockwithouthands. I LOVE all your awesome thrift store finds!

Your costume was absolutely precious sweet!! What a great idea to be your childhood self!

meg said...

you both look so very perfect! what awesome thrifting luck to find such suitable things for her costume!

Diane said...

Best. Post. Ever. Seriously great costumes... for you and for Clover. I LOVE that you were a little girl with a Holly Hobbie doll! She is so precious!! Perfect outfit. (I dressed up as Holly when I was 3, wish I still had THAT costume!) And the Charlie's Angels... what a riot. Can't get much better than karate chopping with friends in 70's clothes.

Eyeliah said...

how adorable, love the similarities in our costumes too! How cool. :-)

Anonymous said...

You both look ridiculously adorable--all those floral prints! And the bonnet!

& I can't believe for the Charlie's Angel outfits you all ended up independently finding perfect jumpsuits. That's just uncanny.

grace said...

Clover's costume is ADORABLE. I've never seen a little girl dressed as Hollie Hobby (well, not since I was one, anyway). It's so sweet.

And those Angels outfits were killer!

nitovuori said...

Adorable costumes on both of you :)
Me, I'm still OK with big crazy collars!

Martha Joy said...

You and Clover's Halloween costumes are so cute!!! Great idea!

the fabled needle (jen) said...

holly hobbie - adorable!!!

MOUSEVOX VINTAGE said...

this is so cute!

on a side note, did you notice this year how many "sexy" costumes there are out there for the little ones in retail stores? it seems so inappropriate.

Trish Hunter said...

Ok wow.
To pretty much every photo in this post.
The idea of Holly Hobbie is so original! I love it..
And ok, those charlies angels jumpsuits..... I am absolutely aching of jealousy of.
I've been looking for a 70's jumpsuit for so so so long and seeing three all at once that look so good.... sigh.
You guys looked great!

Skye said...

Clover and you both look so perfect (and ridiculously cute as usual) - we don't have halloween here, so I have major costume envy!

home girl said...

i am going to burst with all the clover cuteness! i am green with envy at the sweet girlyness with the little basket and flowers and bloomers etc - well done mummy looks like you had so much fun on your HH dress-up mission. too many trucks and dirt and boyzy explosions going on here!! also deeply appreciating the jumpsuit action xx