homemade winkie costume (let's get ready for fall!)

  i had to put on a jacket this morning when i left the house for work. i love the cool crisp mornings that remind me fall is coming!! and i am definitely ready to get into the spirit of fall.  it is easy for me because my birthday is at the end of this month, so the end of summer means the beginning of birthday season!! anyways, thinking fall means thinking halloween. and when a mom thinks halloween, she always wonders what genius (and marvelously time-consuming) idea our child will have for a costume. 

this past fall season,when i asked my son what he wanted to be for halloween, he said an O-E-O. what he calls an O-E-O is, in fact, called a Winkie. to be honest i didn't know it was called a Winkie either (until a google image search enlightened me). It is one of the soldiers from the Wicked Witch of the West's castle in the Wizard of Oz. so i thought to myself... ok...an O-E-O. i can do this. can't i?? so i started by doing some research online. this is the pic i found to use as a reference. looks do-able, right??? anything is do-able. 

so i started... bought a sweatshirt, furry stuff and some felt,tassels and buttons... and piece by piece began figuring it out as i went, hand-sewing each stitch.

first, i cut strips of gray felt and sewed them onto the sweatshirt...

then came the shoulders.....

then some furry fabric and fancy buttons....

then the sleeves.....

then i added the bottom flap part of the 'jacket'...

then some applique work with white and red felt...

add a fancy necklace and furry hat and taaa-daaa!

and there he is as happy as can be, my little O-E-O!! 

this year he wants to be a peacock......

what have you made for your little ones???