Whenever I tell anyone that my 9-year-old son is going as Pennywise the Dancing Clown from It, this year to celebrate Halloween, and specifically The Alexander Skarsgard version the clown I always trail with an emphatic disclosure -
"No, I have never let Jack see It or read It, the mini series with Tim Curry, or the more recent two film series starring Alexander Skarsgard, but yes that is what he's dressing up as this year."
He is aware of It because of the schoolyard, a fascination with pop culture and comics, and because it amuses him greatly that one of his aunts is afraid of clowns and he loves to tease her. He's been begging for this costume for two years and we finally made it happen. This is how I did it
Skarsgard Pennywise dresses like what I'd describe as an "old timey" sad French clown Perroit. Fun fact about me as a child, I used to collect these clowns even though I was mildly afraid of them. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. To make the Perroit clown costume I thrifted a flower girl dress for $7.99, a pair of white jeans for $3.99 (these will become Molly's after Halloween), and a black and white ballerina tutu for $2.99.
I am an adequate sewist at best, so much of my creation had to do with cutting and attaching the tutu to Jack's dress and pants. I cut two of the ruffles off the bottom of the dress and then cut, pinned, and sewed the deconstructed tutu to his collar and sleeves. I rolled up and pinned the sleeves of the dress to ensure that his laced cuffs weren't too long for his arms. I also sewed cuffs for his pants to pull on over the white jeans.
I purchased two blank half masks from Spirit Halloween for $3.99 each. Since my eldest niece is far more talented than I am with a paintbrush she graciously agreed to paint on two different Pennywise faces for Jack, one with teeth and one without. The painting supplies we already had on hand from our craft supplies.
Here is the sewn costume mostly done. I couldn't find pompoms big and bold enough for the front of the costume, so instead I went to Dollarama and purchased two red puff "Canadian" key rings for $1.25 a piece that I took apart and pinned to the front of his frock. We bought spray can red hair to make for $2.50 from Dollarama, however apparently the next time he dresses up (for our Halloween Scavenger Hunt) I need to do a better job of spiking his hair into two sections so he can look "just like Skarsgard". His white stretchy pull on gloves were borrowed from nana.
This photo is with the standard Pennywise face, and boat he's posing with for this photo is Molly's.
This photo is with the sharp "I'm going to eat you" teeth mask.
What Pennywise photoshoot would be complete without someone posing as a terrified Georgie? This is Jack's raincoat that he affectionately calls his "Georgie" coat.
I had so much fun planning this costume. Total cost of the costume $27.95 plus taxes. While, Trick or Treating is cancelled in Toronto, we're still going to enjoy some social distanced activities where many people can see and be terrified of Pennywise, from at least 2 metres apart.
As for when we're going to let Jack watch It, I honestly don't know. I told him that he needed to read the book Coraline, not get too scared of that and then he could talk to me about reading It which he knows is 1,138 pages long. I think this bought us a couple more years.
Happy crafting! Happy Halloween.
To find out about our social distancing friendly Halloween Decor Scavenger Hunt click here.
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