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i i ft saturday oct 192002 25 economist sun stouffville tribune diversions sewins costumes not too scary by simone joseph staffwriter with halloween quickly approach ing it would be easy for most par ents to dash to the nearest department store and grab the most popular outfit off the rack but newmarket resident darlene sheehan a mother of two sons and a passionate cos tume maker believes that by doing this we are cheating not only ourselves but our little ones too fifteen years ago mrs sheehan made her first cos tume a biblical shepherd out fit for herfourmonthold son andrew she cut a simple robe out of cloth and sewed up the sleeves and made a velcro fastener for the back of the neck it was a small project it only took about an hour to make but it spawned a pas sion a hobby mrs sheehan still enjoys today having made more than 30 costumes from the three musketeers to the cartoon dragonball zs animat ed character goku i love seeing the results at the end and seeing what im capable of she says matthew also loves seeing the results brand new one-of- akind homemade costumes i like them better than the other ones because my mom made them and because i just like it better because they last longer matthew 11 says the costumes mrs sheehan makes are cheaper than the storebought variety she says for example the harry potter costume she made cost less than 15 she made a robe for less than 10 using inexpensive materials and bought a drum stick for 1 the family turned into a wand by cutting off the end and sanding it in comparison a harry potter robe from hollywood costumes in thornhill costs 3499 while a magic wand costs 749 doityourself costumes dont have to be difficult to make mrs sheehan says emphasizing she is not a seamstress when she started making costumes 15 years ago she had limited sewing skills she uses a basic sewing machine and sim ple patterns to make her creations there are a lot of great patterns where you cart make a costume in a day easily she says adding there are plenty of twohour patterns around of course if you are averse to sewing there are lots of simple costume ideas that require few materials and minimal time as thornhill resident karen kofman discovered this year her daughter hanna 1 1 and a friend plan to go as joined twins all this requires is walk ing around in a shared shirt another idea is taking a queensized pillowcase that can be worn over a childs clothes and using fabric paint to illustrate a canadian flag if your child is trickortreating widi a friend or sibling one can go as an american flag and the other a canadian flag this idea comes from kathy phillips owner of the crafters nook in newmarket see sewing page 26 matthew sheehan 11 above is goku of dragonball z fame then becomes a pirate and then a skeleton creature andrew sheehan 15 right goes for the medieval look all costumes were handmade by the boys mother mm j staff photosmike barrett fflsmk vehicle leasing barrycox 9052er47r bcoxiandmarkleasingcom buy what apprecisfdbose ivkat depreciates mmwm ope stop shopping new or used vehicles any make or model entry level to prestigejmpbrts prompt personalffcrvice leases tailored tc specific heeds tradeins accepts for ouote or information call barry at 9053054783 8920 woodbine ave markham 3 lights north of hwy 7 at hooper st