Monday, November 1, 2010

Last Minute Costume

A few days ago, my husband and I were invited to a Halloween party.  I already had a costume picked out...I love Halloween, I dress up every year...party or NO party, lol.  But Matt didn't really have anything in mind.  So I went to Kmart and bought 2 cheap sweatshirts and came up with...a FLYING MONKEY!  This process has probably been done for many a school play or dress up, but here's my process. 

*Since it is a last minute thing, feel free to use tape, glue or staples to attach your components to the sweatshirt :o) 

I bought one hoodie for Matt to wear and the other to cut out my pieces.  Using a cardboard box (Matt also happens to be a Cheerios fiend, so we have plenty of boxes around the house), draw out whatever ear shape you want...make sure it's a little bigger than you want to allow for seams.
Pin right sides together and sew along edges.  Leave open space to turn inside out.
Once you turn it out, run a stitch around the outer edge, about 1/4" to make the "fold" in the top of the ear.
Pin to hood of sweatshirt where you would like to attach them.  Since it's a monkey, place on the sides.  I used my walking foot and a zig zag stitch and sewed the crap out of these so they wouldn't fall off.  The fabric is a bit thick, but I swear, you don't have to hand sew this.  Again, feel free to glue or staple in place.  Ears are done!

For the tail, I cut off the bottom band of the sweatshirt, folded it in half, long ways, right sides together and sewed it down one side.  To turn it out is a huge pain, so I stopped half way, lol.  BUT this worked to my advantage because it practically stuffed it's self!
It has a natural bend to it already!  Unfortunately, I couldn't fit this under my walking foot and had to hand stitch to the bottom middle of hoodie.

For the wings, I had some old fabric on hand, used the other side of my handy Cheerios box and made a wing pattern, cut out, pinned and sewed together, just like with the ears.  BUT, I sewed all the way around, no need to turn out, I just trimmed up the uneven edges.
Pin to back of hoodie, I just tacked them in place with a few stitches...again people, glue or staples.  OR some of that fusible iron on stuff would probably work with the wings.

And Viola!  A flying monkey is born!

Hubby is a good sport. Next year we'll try not to be so last minute, but I was pretty proud of this quickie costume!  Hope you all had a happy Halloween!!!

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