adventures in costuming, part I

Halloween season is upon us and my son has requested that I make him a costume.  For his first couple of years, he was content with the Children's Place/ Old Navy/ Fill-in-the-Blank Chain Store costumes that we inherited from our benevolent hand-me-downers, but this year I could tell he had something special in mind from the moment the first Halloween-themed catalog crossed our threshold.  For quite a while, it seemed inevitable that he was going to go with Octopus, since he has been obsessed with that particular creature all summer.  I was stumped by the arm/leg situation--would I incorporate his existing arms and legs into the eight required legs or kind of start from scratch?

Luckily he has changed his tune and decided that he wants to be a jellyfish.  I have some preliminary ideas involving polar fleece and various shiny/iridescent materials, and, actually, he had a lot of good ideas, too, mostly regarding the stingers (which seem to be the crux of the entire costume for him).  We have also determined that his baby brother will wear a complementary Sea Turtle outfit.  (Again, in a stroke of good fortune, we moved off of the idea of the baby going as Lobster--it would be adorable if executed well, but in my hands I am afraid he would look like he was dressed as a Chewed Twizzler.)  Because nothing looks worse than things I sew from a pattern, I knew that finding some delightful McCall's costume was just not going to fly.  So, I will chronicle this odyssey in crafting, beginning with my preliminary sketches herewith:

Wish me luck!  I heartily welcome any words of wisdom.