Happy Halloween! Today is my baby's first holiday, and what a fun one Halloween is! As far back as I can remember I have enjoyed making costumes- for play, for renaissance fairs and for the church harvest festival. I mean, combining crafting and make believe play? It doesnt get better than that!
This year I wanted to make the baby a costume. I wanted to dress her up as Roo from Winnie the Pooh but I knew I wouldnt have time to sew an outfit from scratch. So I went to the children's consignment show looking for a brown sleeper suit and found one that looked like a monkey. I knew it would do perfectly. Heres the baby modeling the before shot of the costume, unaltered.
And another shot of the monkey sleeper jammies. The Jammies are a size 6 months and my little miss is just barely out of the newborn size clothes. So this is pretty big on her but since she cant walk and trip in it i figured it was fine. ;) These jammies cost $4.99.
Next, I had to find a blue shirt since Roo wears a blue, long sleeved turtle neck. I was lucky to find EXACTLY that although I would have been content with a plain blue t-shirt. The shirt was $.99 at the thrift store.Surprisingly finding a blain blue shirt of any kinda was tricky. I looked for a few weeks before I found this one. Its a size 24 months.
Finally, I needed some felt to make the ears ,tail and to make letters to put Roo's name on the shirt. I used 4 sheets and each one cost just .33 cents. I got two browns, a pink and a white.
So first I put the t-shirt over the jammies. I considered cutting the shirt down the middle from bottom to top adn stitching it to the jammies to make it easier to put on and take off, but since Im a tight-wad, I didn't want to ruin the shirt. Also because the shirt and jammies were so large, I felt confident I could get the baby in and out easily enough.
I folded the bottom of the shirt up and basted the hem in place. Again, I didnt want to cut it or put real hems in it that would ruin the shirt. I also rolled up the sleeves.
Next, I drew the letters on to the back of the felt material. You have to make the R backwards if you want to be sure not to have pen marks on the front of the letters that would show up on the shirt. I just free-handed these letters but you could use a stencil too. I cut those out and basted them in place.
For the ears I made a stencil out of an old cereal box and traced it on the pink. Then I cut them out and used them as a guide to make the same shape on the brown. I wanted the brown just a little larger than the pink so it would show in the front. At first, I tried to glue the front and back together. That didnt work so I ended up sewing it really quickly on my sewing machine. I only went around the edge ot the side of the eats, leaving the bottom open. I then was able to stuff the monkey ears into these Roo ears and safety pin them in place. Sewing them in place would have been a nicer option but I was doing "quick crafting" as my baby doesnt like to let me do much besides nurse her.
Finally, I free-handed a tail to cover the monkey tail on the costume. I made it out of the brown felt and then sewed around the edge except for the base which I left open in order to stuff the monkey tail inside. I safety pinned it in place. Then I gathered a couple inches of fabric on the monkey PJs and safety pinned them. This gathered bit makes the jammies fit my baby better and also gives the illusion of a Roo's legs which are shorter in the back than in the front.
And Tada! We are done!
This year I wanted to make the baby a costume. I wanted to dress her up as Roo from Winnie the Pooh but I knew I wouldnt have time to sew an outfit from scratch. So I went to the children's consignment show looking for a brown sleeper suit and found one that looked like a monkey. I knew it would do perfectly. Heres the baby modeling the before shot of the costume, unaltered.
And another shot of the monkey sleeper jammies. The Jammies are a size 6 months and my little miss is just barely out of the newborn size clothes. So this is pretty big on her but since she cant walk and trip in it i figured it was fine. ;) These jammies cost $4.99.
Next, I had to find a blue shirt since Roo wears a blue, long sleeved turtle neck. I was lucky to find EXACTLY that although I would have been content with a plain blue t-shirt. The shirt was $.99 at the thrift store.Surprisingly finding a blain blue shirt of any kinda was tricky. I looked for a few weeks before I found this one. Its a size 24 months.
Finally, I needed some felt to make the ears ,tail and to make letters to put Roo's name on the shirt. I used 4 sheets and each one cost just .33 cents. I got two browns, a pink and a white.
So first I put the t-shirt over the jammies. I considered cutting the shirt down the middle from bottom to top adn stitching it to the jammies to make it easier to put on and take off, but since Im a tight-wad, I didn't want to ruin the shirt. Also because the shirt and jammies were so large, I felt confident I could get the baby in and out easily enough.
I folded the bottom of the shirt up and basted the hem in place. Again, I didnt want to cut it or put real hems in it that would ruin the shirt. I also rolled up the sleeves.
Next, I drew the letters on to the back of the felt material. You have to make the R backwards if you want to be sure not to have pen marks on the front of the letters that would show up on the shirt. I just free-handed these letters but you could use a stencil too. I cut those out and basted them in place.
Finally, I free-handed a tail to cover the monkey tail on the costume. I made it out of the brown felt and then sewed around the edge except for the base which I left open in order to stuff the monkey tail inside. I safety pinned it in place. Then I gathered a couple inches of fabric on the monkey PJs and safety pinned them. This gathered bit makes the jammies fit my baby better and also gives the illusion of a Roo's legs which are shorter in the back than in the front.
And Tada! We are done!
