One of my favorite DIY costumes- Mario and Luigi

This Mario and Luigi costume is one of my favourite DIY pieces of all time! I made it for the Halloween of 2010 for me and my boyfriend, Jackey, and customized it so that the one for me (Mario) was more feminine.  When I made this outfits, I had also added a little tweak- the upper part of the overalls come off so that after halloween, we could wear it as regular pants- perk for making your own costumes.

These costumes were not hard to make at all but it did take a lot of time, especially because I wasn't all too great with the sewing machine.  It took me about 2-3hours/day for about 5 days to make the overalls and sew the logos on the caps.  I found that it was definitely worth it because the overall cost of the uniforms only came up to $50 for both costumes together which is much cheaper than getting it in store!

However, if you do find this one to be difficult because you prefer not to use a sewing machine then be sure to check out the simpler costumes that I will be posting up!

HOW TO MAKE IT: 

Materials: roughly about $50
- blue corduroy fabric from fabricland- about $ 25 for both pieces (about 3 meters of fabric)
- t-shirts- $6.95 each from H and M
- caps from random store- for $2/each and also another $2 for the felt to make the logos
- white gloves from Wal-Mart- $0.97 each
- pattern for the pants from fabricland- $4

Tips:
- you will definitely need a sewing machine because it would take probably 4 times longer to sew it by hand and it would also tear much easier, but it doesn't take much skill, you just need to know how to sew straight
- it's much easier to sew the pants if you have a pattern (patterns are basically outlines of a generic style or piece of clothing that you can pin to the fabric to guideline the cut-out of the piece you want to make)
- t-shirts from places like H and M are pretty cheap so it's definitely worthwhile to buy it than to make it
- before you buy the fabric and begin to sew, make sure you have thoroughly thought about the design of the piece- especially the little customizations and tweaks you want to add

PROCESS: make sure you have bought all the materials
Making the overalls: I couldn't find any patterns to make overalls so I just bought patterns to make the pants and free-handedly cut out the upper part of the overalls
1) open the pattern, cut along the lines of the size you need then follow the instructions and pin it along the fabric (with pinning needles)
2) after you've cut out the pieces, sew the loose pieces together with a sewing machine
3) if you wish to insert a waistband then simply fold the fabric inwards (fold must be wide enough to fit the piece of elastic you bought) and sew it
4) cut out the upper shape of the overalls and also straps; now sew the all three pieces together accordingly to how you want it to fit (tip: pin everything together first before you actually sew anything to get a preview)
5) cut some small circles out of yellow felt and sew it at the upper corners of the overalls ( sew the buttons with yellow thread in the shape of an X across the button for a cartoon effect)

Making the hats:
1) after you have bought the caps (try to buy it for as cheap as possible), simply take a starbucks hot drink lid or a can or anything that is round and about that size, trace it along white felt and cut
2) On red felt, cut out the letter M and on green felt, cut out the letter L
3) sew everything together (but first, sew the letter onto the circle before sewing it on the hat)