Wild Thing Costume Tutorial

Here is the original post from my tutorial over at Hideous, Dreadful, Stinky. If you missed the Halloween Costume tutorials over there, make sure you spend some time and check them out!

I would like to give a BIG thank you to Marigold for inviting me to share my "Wild Thing" halloween costume with everyone today! Over at my BLOG, I share all of my favorite crafts and sewing projects for babies, mommies and home decorating. I would love for you to stop by and spend some time with me! Make sure you check out the Tutorials page for tons of fun projects.

My baby girl just turned 1 a couple of months ago, so for Halloween, we wanted her to be something that she LOVES...her Giraffe! I love things that have multiple uses, so when making her costume, I wanted to keep it simple so she could wear it as a sleeper too! There's nothing like a fleece onesie to keep you warm in the chilly wintertime.

This costume is made of Giraffe print fleece, but ANY animal print could be used with this pattern to make all sorts of "Wild Things"!

Let's Get Started!

Materials:

(For a size 12 month. Use more fabric for a bigger size.)

1/2 yard animal print fleece

1 coordinating 12" zipper

1/8 yard, or large scrap of coordinating fleece (for tail)

All of the wonderful things needed to sew

Start with the body of your suit. I used an existing onesie that fit my daughter to get the length and width of the suit right. You could also measure your child, but this method is less squirmy!

If your fleece has a little stretch in one direction, make sure it stretches to the width. This will be important when trying to attach your zipper!

Cut out the body and leg portions of your pattern, making sure you add 1/2" for seam allowances. You can trace an existing outfit, or eyeball it. It doesn't have to be exact. In fact, make it a little loose for comfort.

Cut two. A front and back.

Use your favorite sleeve pattern, or trim one off of an old shirt to get the shape and cut two long sleeves.

If you are adding a hood, you will need two 1/4 circle pieces. Tracing a bowl and cutting it into quarters works best for me! Make sure it's big enough to go around your baby's head. The radius of my bowl is about 10 inches. (The straight lines in the picture below are 10")

Cut out two pieces for the hood.

To make some neck room, fold ONE body piece in half, and cut on the fold.

It should look like this when unfolded.

Time to sew!

Start by sewing your arm pieces together down the long side. If your fleece has a right and wrong side, sew right sides together.

Sew your hood into one piece, by laying out your pieces, curved sides together, and sewing the curved edges together.

With right sides facing, pin and sew the shoulders of your suit together. Then sew down each side and between the legs. Make sure you leave the neck, armholes, and bottom of the legs open.

Pin your sleeves onto your armholes and stitch them on. This can get a little tricky, but just take your time.

It's starting to look like a Giraffe suit!

It's zipper time! Lay your zipper on the front side of your suit to measure how long you want it to be.

Cut a slit on the front side only down the middle, ending where you want your zipper to stop.

Sew in your zipper. Make sure you stitch it well at the bottom to keep it secure.

If you've never sewn in a zipper, check out THIS tutorial.

Line the bottom of the hood up with the neck of your suit and stitch together. Try to hide the ends of your zipper in the seam if you can! If your hood is a little wider than your neck, you can always trim off a little.

To finish the arm and leg holes, do a standard turn and turn hem, or you can zig-zag the raw edges. I chose to zig zag mine because it looks funky and fun.

To make the tail, cut 5" long strips of coordinating fleece. They can be wide or skinny. I cut 8 that are 1/2" wide.

Stack the strips on top of each other forming a star pattern.

Wrap a piece of thread around the center and pull to gather the strips. Tie off the thread to hold it in place.

Hand stitch a piece of ribbon to the puff, and sew the other end of the ribbon to the back of your suit.

Stand back and admire your fluffy and warm Giraffe suit!

Complete with a fluffy tail.

Your baby will blend in with all of their jungle friends!

I think she's taking the giraffe role a little too far with gathering the acorns!

Happy Sewing!!

*There are so many different things you can do to add to this costume, this is just a basic way of getting the suit together to get you started! Add ears or horns, line the hood, add hooves with gloves or shoes...the possibilites are endless and totally up to your imagination*

Thanks again for having me today Marigold! I hope everyone has a wonderfully SpOoKy Halloween!