Government Shutdown: Statue of Liberty Costume (Closed for Business)

I wanted a costume that was a different take on a current topic but that didn’t cost a lot.

Since I needed a large quantity of fabric that would drape around my body and was close in color to the real Statue of Liberty, I purchased a white bed sheet and dyed it myself. This also eliminated the need to finish edges or create a hem. The twin-size flat sheet was $4.97 at Walmart and the RIT powder dye – in Teal – was $1 (using a 50% off coupon at Joannes). Halloween evening was chilly and I knew I would need a little more than a sheet, so I took an old, plain white man’s t-shirt and cut the collar off so it would hang loose and drape. I threw the white sheet and t-shirt in the washing machine with a pair of white gloves and tights and the dye to create a universal teal color.

To create the crown, I used a foam sun visor (99 cents at Joanne’s) and a square piece of white foam (25 cents). I turned the visor upside down, cut the piece of foam into 7 equal triangles and used a hot glue gun to secure the points to the crown. The torch is made from a papertowel roll wrapped in a piece of copy paper and a styrofoam cup with a hole cut into the bottom. The flame is an orange felt square (25 cents). I wrapped the orange felt around a small pocket flashlight and stuck it into the papertowel roll to create a glow.

I painted the crown, the torch and an old pair of white ballet slippers with a teal acrylic paint. To get just the right color, I had to take a standard teal color and add small drops of black paint until it matched the costume. I painted a plain sheet of white paper with the same paint and wrapped it around a small book. With a black Sharpie, I drew the windows on the crown and the lettering on the book.

The finishing touch was the Sorry We’re Closed sign that I purchased from a local hardware store for $1. I used a paper punch and put a hole in each of the top corners and laced a shoelace through to hang the sign from my neck.

I put on the t-shirt and wrapped the sheet around my body toga style then secured it underneath with safety pins.

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