I have the priviledge of being Nan’Allie to my friend Pamela’s twin boys, Gabriel and Tristan, and love making their Hallowe’en costumes.  This past summer, we took them to a Medieval Festival where they became obsessed with the idea of knights and princesses.  I knew then what sort of costumes to make for Hallowe’en.  Because they are francophone, I thought they might like to be Musketeers, but decided to give them a choice between that costume and that of the traditional Anglo-Saxon warrior.

Gabriel chose the Anglo-Saxon garb.  I was inspired by Burda Magazine Pattern 129 from the January 2007 edition, and used that for the basic chain mail helmet (made from a garter stitch gold glitter knit), to which I added a bib to protect the neck.  I drafted a basic t-shirt pattern for the chain mail, and enlarged and adapted it for the sleeveless tabard, made of brown velour and fully lined with scarlet bemberg rayon.  I re-engineered the lion applique pattern from the magazine (where only one applique was applied to the garment) to allow for the two mirror images to be cut from gold tissue taffeta and machine appliqued in place.  Finally, I purchased a sheet of glitter covered foam and some adhesive “jewels” to make the coronet.

I think the pictures taken by Pamela on Hallowe’en eve show how regal Gabriel felt in his outfit.

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