So my adorable nine-year-old daughter decided to be an evil, soulless killer robot for Halloween. Specifically, a Dalek, one of the most feared creatures in the Whoniverse. (That is, the Doctor Who Universe.)
Turning Dalek
How do you turn this …
… into this?
Answer: you don’t.
I mean, you could make a whole elaborate costume from cardboard so no one could even tell who was underneath. It would be authentic, for sure!
But on occasion, a costume is better suggested. Especially when headed to an outdoor Halloween party with apple bobbing. I mean, come on. Apple bobbing!
There will be NO apple bobbing for this Dalek.
So we went for “adorable” instead of “authentic.” What do you think?
How to Make a Cute Dalek Costume for a Little Girl
First go to your local secondhand store and start cruising for a proper base for the costume. In this case, we were looking for solid gold or silver in a little girl dress or possibly a woman’s skirt.
We found this woman’s costume dress in the Halloween section. I tucked the bodice inside to see what it would look like. We both thought it was too poofy and stiff, so we kept looking.
After a few other pieces that didn’t work for one reason or another, we struck gold! (Pardon the pun.) Perfect color, lightweight, nice length. This is a woman’s skirt with a decorative tie in front that we used as a tie for the neck. The waist was a bit big under her arms but I knew there were several ways to work around that.
Next I found some glittery metallic craft pom-poms at the craft store.
I suppose you could hot glue them but I wouldn’t trust them not to fall off. It’s just a couple of quick stitches to secure each one. Double your thread and halve the number of stitches you take!
Since this skirt was tiered, it gave me a nice guideline for placing the pom-poms. I put three columns in the front and three in the back.
On the lowest tier of the skirt, I put a row of silver pom-poms, one in each gold column plus one in between, just for fun. So I used 24 gold poms and 12 silver poms total.
Every Dalek costume must have little widgety things like antenna or horns. I took glittery metallic chenille stems (aka pipe cleaners) and twisted one around my finger, then popped a red pom-pom into the top (to simulate the blinking light) and squeezed it closed.
Just add a plain old hair clip and we’re in business!
Final step: addition of shiny collar and cuffs from silver pleather (play leather) that I had actually made a few weeks ago for a different costume for Kyro (I’ll post that costume soon).
I also cut a t-shirt of hers down to a skimpy tank top and safety-pinned the top of the Dalek body (the skirt) in four places around the top. That way it didn’t droop and even if the necktie came undone, all would be well. Oh, and for the final touch: gold lipstick on lips, cheeks, and eyes.
And there you have a perfect Doctor Who Dalek costume for a little girl … what all the best-dressed Daleks wish they were wearing this year!
And don’t forget the apple bobbing!
