He's been Russel from Up, hipster Aladdin and a hobbit but this one takes the cake - and won him a nice little prize in a costume contest last night!

The city was hosting a fall festival and I was certain I wanted wanted to take my babies. The night before the festival I realized in a panic that I had no costumes ready! I didn't even have a clue as to what they would or could be - and NOT dressing my kids up in a costume would be very unacceptable for me.  As a family we're supposed to dress up as characters from Bob's Burgers but I haven't even had a chance to start working on those costumes. I searched the kid's closet and drawers and all around the house for inspiration. I looked at my son and gave a frustrated sigh... and then I noticed his hair was very puffy and frizzy - like an afro.

Hippie came to mind and then that idea evolved into Jimi Hendrix!

After about thirty minutes I had collected everything from around the house I needed to put this wonderful costume together.  I didn't buy anything to make it and I didn't sew a thing!

All it took was a little good luck, imagination and a hot glue gun.

(Sorry if my pics are little wonky. I'm using a loaner laptop and the screen is all kinds of jacked up. Editing photos is darn near impossible.)

#1 - Fluff the fro

My son's hair is coiled into very tight curls, just perfect for making a Jimi fro. First I added a little bit of smoothing shine serum to his hair to soften it. Then I separated and stretched out the curls by hand. Next I brushed it out very slowly and carefully with a paddle brush, flat ironed it on low heat to relax the hair for more fro-height and then another brushing! Phew! That was the hardest part!

#2 - The headband

I got this sash years ago from a thrift shop for like, 50 cents and I wear it often. It was the perfect addition to this groovy costume.

#3 - The stache and sideburns

Using short strokes and stippling I drew on the facial hair with my cheapest black eyeliner (cheap doesn't smudge) and then set it with dark brown matte eye shadow.

#4 - The groovy vest

Hendrix was super flamboyant so a super colorful gold embellished vest would totally have been in his wardrobe. River just so happens to own one! This vest is from his "gypsy prince" costume he wears at renaissance faires. The full costume is an authentic Turkish outfit I scored on eBay for $5 - see pic below.

#5 - Jimi wouldn't be Jimi without a guitar...

I used some old wire ribbon I saved from a Christmas present years ago and tied it to the guitar to make a strap. Easy peasy.

#6 - The shirt

This shirt was handed down to River from his cousin. I just simply tucked it in, popped the collar over the vest and left the top the buttons undone - very 60s baby!

#7 - Far out bell bottoms

Besides his hair, the pants took the longest to make. Here's how I did it -

 1. I selected a pair of jeans that Rives has just about outgrown, that way they're nice and tight

2. I cut 5.5" slits at the bottom of the pants on both the inside and outside seams

3. I free hand cut two squares of  material from an worn out bed sheet.

4. Turned the pans inside out and glued the material to cover the gaps and trimmed away the excess material.

5. Last I painted gold stripes down the outside seams for added flare.