Octopus costume

A side effect of working on a lot of projects is having six Christmas parties. One of them had the theme 'Under the Sea'. My original vision was to make an octopus costume that had legs attached to a hood with stand-up eyes. I was going to find an old hoody top, cut off the hood, sew on some eyes, and attach the legs. My final solution, mostly because I ran out of time, was to attach the legs to a neckband fastened with a press stud. I wrapped some felt strips around a headband and stuck on adhesive googly eyes. I sewed felt circles on to the legs as the suckers, and filled the legs with beanbag balls. The most satisfying thing was recycling material from a half-made skirt. I started making a dress for my year ten formal (a few years ago). The silver material was for the skirt and it looked so awful I went to my mother in tears and convinced her that she had to let me buy material for another dress. It was a big ask because we didn't have a lot of money, but my adorable mother agreed. I ended up making a stunning royal blue silk dress that I've worn several times since. The silver material has sat discarded for years, never finding a purpose until it became an octopus. I love using up existing supplies and scraps - part of my vendetta against waste :)