Halloween 2011: Indiana Jones Costume Ideas

**Update:  Indiana Jones satchel making here**

I love Halloween!  But does my sewing machine?

It may seem a bit early to be thinking about this, but, trust me, it is not.  One of my first thoughts when I opened my sewing machine was Halloween costumes!  I'd rather start early in case I screw something up or really can't pull it together.  October is just around the corner. 

Lookin' mighty fine, Dr. Jones.  Mighty fine.

My son made his decision quickly.  This year Henry wants to be Indiana Jones which is a great choice in part because it is so easy. Henry likes to specify that he wants to be Lego Indiana Jones, but doesn't want his face painted yellow, so... you'll just have to take the Lego part at his word.

I poked around on the Internet and found that there are commercially available Indiana Jones costumes, they just suck.  Trying to find a handmade costume for sale is not much easier, although I did find these awesome, related items:

I love this quote, even on a tacky t-shirt.  Purchase here.

I'm sure these taste terrible, but wow do they look good! 

Anytime you can condense a film into an inequality statement you have a blockbuster. Nerd city here.

We already found the perfect hat at Mill Street Antiques. 

Isn't Indiana's real name Henry?  Funny, since Henry's real name is not Henry.

How cute is that?  Excuse the terrible photo quality, he squirms.  It is an actual 1940s fur felt hat so it's super soft and holds its shape really well.  On the downside, it is not readily replaced so I've got to keep an eye on it for the next two months and make sure it doesn't go on any premature "adventures".  The woman at the antique shop impressed upon Henry that it was not a toy, (she may have been insulted that I was giving a 75 year old hat to a kid), so he's been careful with it so far.  He did get into a water fight with his sister wearing it, but it dried.  Technically, the band is supposed to be black or at least a darker shade of brown, but I'll make sure not to go trick or treating at Skywalker Ranch. I'm going to buy the jacket, pants and shirt since they are all easily purchased and can be used in real life.  That leaves me Indy's whip, satchel, and a map or purloined idol to make for him. 

Ideas for the whip:
-Obviously, I have to make it so it can't be used to really injure anyone.  Yarn?  Felt?  Ribbon?  It'll need a handle of some sort... maybe from a jump rope?  Maybe I could just spray paint a chopped up jump rope...a really soft jump rope.
-pants will need belt loops to hang the whip from.  How does Harrison Ford keep it on him in the movies?  Is it wrapped into his belt?  He won't have the revolver or the machete, that is for sure.
-maybe I could braid some black t-shirt scraps like this:

Ashley over at Make It and Love It has a whole awesome step by step tutorial on 5 strand weaving.  I imagine if I'd been a Girl Scout I'd already know how to do this.

Ideas for the satchel:
-The Internet tells me Indiana Jones satchel is actually a British gas mask bag from WWII, so I won't be picking that up on clearance at Claire's.  However, it looks like I could sew up an easy replica sized for Henry with simple rectangles.   

I could do top-stitching that shoddily, with ease!  And no ironing!

-will have to learn to do snaps and the strap will not be real leather
-can double as his candy tote! I imagine I could stamp the inside of it like the real one too.

Ideas for map/idol:
-these bits I'm not as concerned about coming up with before October.  Some gold spray paint and a tacky figurine and you have an antiquity! A folded up road map I have from Costa Rica that I leave in the sun for a couple of days and voila! Adventure map!  If anything, this will be the fun part.

Updates as they are made. 

P.S.  Someone needs to send me this for Valentine's Day: