By Sally Bae
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Meredith Branks, fashion student and sophomore, sits in front of a sewing machine, carefully stitching wings for her sister’s Halloween costume. Branks created the costume in part for her sister and also to be used as a piece for her fashion class.           

 “It was kind of hard to get at first because I had to get all the pieces together. But it got easier after a while”, Branks said.           

 Branks created a fairy costume based on the Disney water fairy for her six-year-old sister using a sewing template from a book and fabric. According to Branks, she picked out five different kinds of material for the costume from a fabric store. The costume took about a month to complete, including time from nine periods of her fashion class.           

 “The costume was actually kind of expensive because I had to get all the different fabrics. I think it came out around 45 dollars”, Branks said.           

While making an original Halloween costume can be difficult, Nancy Hatch, a family and consumer science teacher, believes making costumes are worth the effort. Hatch also said that she believes some people may prefer creating their own costumes because there is a wider variety of colors and ideas that are not available in stores.           

 “In my opinion, I think it is definitely worth the time and effort to make your own costume”, Hatch said.           

Making Halloween costumes from scratch also have other benefits. Fashion students like Branks get to learn from making their own costumes.           

 “It was more of a learning experience for me”, Branks said. “And you feel better when you wear it or see your siblings wearing something that you made”.            

Senior Stephan Skolnick also put together a costume of his own. His costume is Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter, which is made up of a black robe, a turban, and a wand. Unlike Branks, however, Skolnick mainly assembled most of his costume instead of making one entirely from scratch.           

 “It’s definitely cheaper. And I feel like it’s a lot more original because you’re going to see a lot of the same costumes out there. But you won’t see a lot of Professor Quirrells”, said Skolnick.           

According to Skolnick, he bought about 20 dollars worth of fabric that he cut and sewed to make his robe and turban. The rest of his cost

ume, a dress shirt and dress pants, came from his closet.           

 “I know my sons always liked the ones I made for them and never wanted a store bought costume”, Hatch said. “Having a costume made by someone makes the Halloween experience that much more special and exciting”.