Geek by day...Frugal superhero by night

So Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. I get to dress up in something completely outlandish that also allows me to put my skills, talents, and love of a bargain to good use. This was my costume I made last year:

                                                         I was Woman Woman Nubia.

Bet you didn't know there was a Black Wonder Woman did you? Well I only found out last year myself in my never ending pursuit of a novel costume idea. Wonder Woman cost me less than $20 from head to toe. I also made my version of a Poison Ivy costume a couple of years prior that cost me a grand total of $7.98:

I'm currently working on this version of a Storm costume...

as well as making a hood for a Red Riding Hood costume. I'm having some trouble finding a well-priced base piece for Storm so if you have any hints, shout em out.

I've been watching Heroes of Cosplay lately and that has me thinking I might want to show up at a convention in one of my creations. What I will NOT be doing is spending hundreds of dollars to make said creations. My parents taught me to sew from a young age and while I never enjoyed it then, it's a skill that has proven quite useful and cost effective in pursuing this hobby of mine.
    A costume can be both fantastic and cheap if you start early enough. Because it's a hobby of mine, I'm constantly on the lookout for good deals on pieces that can be incorporated. Good places to find these deals:

1. Thrift stores. The base piece for Wonder Woman was a bathing suit I got for $6 at a place by where I live. Poison Ivy was a $7 dress and an $.88 plastic vine from another thrift store. If you have an idea of what you want to be and take your time, the thrift store can be your best friend.
2. Your closet. There's nothing I love better than a $free.99 special. I rarely throw away clothes because I always feel like they can be repurposed for a costume. I've got bags of scraps in my closet that I'm constantly re-evaluating for usage. The gold patches for Wonder Woman were from some old jeans that I cut, spray painted and sewed on. The head piece was an old belt and I already owned the boots.
3. Freecycle/craigslist. To reiterate: I love free. They may not have it in every city but freecycle is a way people give away things they don't use anymore or ask their neighborhood for things they are looking for that someone may have and not be using. Wonder Woman's gloves were a freecycle find (sidenote: I've also gotten a fantastic dresser and a television off of freecycle). You can also check CL's free section to see what people are giving away.

Now comes the hard/fun part depending on how you look at it. Aside from my parents showing me how to sew on buttons and repair minor tears, I'm not a trained seamstress but I've become pretty resourceful and make generous use of Google and Youtube. Sewing can seem like a daunting task but once you learn the basics it's not that bad. There are plenty of online tutorials on how to sew and at least in the DC area, I've seen free workshops to teach basic stitching. Investing a little bit of time to learn up front is a big payoff in the end. Needle and thread are more cost effective than a hot glue gun and if you make a mistake, it's easier to repair without visible evidence of it.

The last part you need is creativity. Sometimes I have to make alterations based on my body type and the tools that I have on hand. I want my costume to look as close to the prototype as possible, but I also want it to look good on me.

So, do any of you have any tricks/tips? Need some? Let me know. I would love to learn from you or help you work out a costume plan of your own. I'll keep you updated on the ones I'm working on now.