Costume: The Other Mother (Coraline)

As much as I enjoy making complete costumes from scratch, sometimes it’s nice to put something together from ready-made pieces and let the tiny details go. That’s what I told myself when putting together my costume for an event recently, when I decided to go as the Other Mother from Coraline.

How hard could it be, right? White sweater, red sneakers, and an asymmetrical bob wig (I was not going to cut my hair for one event!). The truly recognizable element would be the black button eyes, which are incredibly creepy. I read some neat tutorials about converting pairs of round glasses into button-eye facsimiles, and originally figured I’d go that route for simplicity’s sake, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that the costume was so simple that the eyes had to be perfect to really make it recognizable. And glasses were just not going to cut it.

It was easy enough to find large black buttons– 1 1/2″ is just about the right size, I got mine at Joann’s– and I was even lucky enough to get some with large holes that I could actually see through. The problem was getting them to stick to my face in the correct position. I thought about eyeglass frames, or small wires coming from the sides of my head (as opposed to a wire bridge across the nose), but ultimately decided on eyelash glue as the simplest and most effective solution. (I’ve also heard of people using toupee tape, but the glue is much easier to work with in my opinion, and you can easily reapply if anything happens).

The problem then was that the buttons were too flat– or my face was too flat, one of the two. In any event, if I tried to stick the buttons to my eye sockets, they were too close to my eyes and I couldn’t blink properly. I had to make the edges thicker, so I got some black Crayola Model Magic– an air-dry clay– and just made a little snake of it to fit into the inside of each molded rim. It worked like a charm, and the slightly rubbery feel of the dried clay made them comfortable to wear.

The results were satisfyingly disturbing.

As a finishing touch, I decided to convert my purse into a replica of the striped box the Other Mother presents to Coraline, containing her very own pair of button eyes.

I couldn’t find a hexagonal purse, but I bought a blue acrylic box purse and painted black stripes on it, adding a red ribbon bow on top with hot glue.

To make it even more interesting, I decided to replicate the button/needle/spool arrangement on the inside so I could offer the button eyes to people. The tricky part was figuring out how to put the button arrangement inside while still leaving room for my phone, keys, cards, etc.– after all, I wasn’t going to empty the purse every time I posed for a picture. After some brainstorming, first I I cut out the original fabric gussets keeping the purse from fully opening (great for keeping your possessions inside, not so great for showing off button eyes), and replaced them with wider gussets allowing for a 90-degree opening. I just hot-glued them in along the inside edges of the purse.

Next I cut a small cardboard gift box into pieces, creating a raised divider that fit inside the purse and could be flipped to one side or the other. I covered the top side in a scrap of peach moiré fabric and attached two buttons, a needle, and a tiny spool of thread (made out of a painted Lego piece, since none of my bobbins were flat enough to fit). The bottom side was covered in black fabric, and when flipped to the other side left just enough room for my phone and some cards/cash.

The finished costume looked great, prompting many double-takes from other event-goers. Entertainingly, there were also some little kids who were fascinated by the button eyes, and weren’t scared at all. Go figure!

I’ll totally wear this to other events– the outfit is comfortable, easy to pack, and instantly recognizable. Next year I’m thinking of getting my husband to dress up as the Other Father to accompany me!