Paper Costume: Tutorial

Maben's school does a vocabulary parade.  It's really fun as each grade level is given different parameters of how they need to choose their word and dress up as it.  For Kindergarten it's pretty easy, their word needed to start with a consonant.  Maben's first idea was to dress as the word, "was."  Yeah, not happening, so he chose, "is."  I explained that he should pick a noun, like paper.  "Okay mom, I want to be paper."  (face palm) 

Since it was my awesome idea, I needed to deliver.  I decided to transform a plain white t-shirt into a piece of notebook paper with a doodle on it.  It's fairly simple and I had all things on hand.

You will need a t-shirt, a ruler and a red, blue and black fabric marker.

I used the ruler to draw a straight line and use as a spacer for the lines on the paper.

Seriously a very easy project.  The most difficult part was to freehand the paper airplane doodle.  I actually made a paper airplane as a reference for my doodle.

Tip that I learned, it's easier to use a soft touch when drawing with the markers to prevent the marker from catching and dragging since the shirt is stretchy.  So, I drew lightly and just went over it a few times.

I heat set the fabric markers in the dryer for 30 minutes on high.  You could do that or run an iron over each spot for 4 minutes.  The dryer was easier.

Maben loves his paper shirt.  He was so incredibly excited to see it for the first time and was probably the most originally dressed up kindergartener.

Most of the kids recycled their Halloween costumes, which I can't blame the parents since our district does not allow dressing up for Halloween.  So, lots of princesses, firefighters, fairies and super heroes, but only one kid dressed as paper.  I couldn't be prouder!

Linking this up at:
Tatertots and Jello: Weekend Wrap Up Party
Sew Many Ways: Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party 
So I Married A Craft Blogger: Man Up Link Up

Last Minute Kid Costume: Robot

Maben has issues with texture.  He doesn't do tags, he isn't a fan of anything scratchy.  He hates the polyester that most costumes are made of and yet he asked to be a robot this year.  I think of a homemade robot and it includes a boxed body, spray painted funnel hat and dryer vent arms and legs.  NOT HAPPENING!  

So, I was stuck and bought a sweat suit and ended up butchering it to the point of putting it to the trash.  I had to rethink and attack.  I pulled this robot off the night before the Fall party last weekend and the best part...it was easy and Maben LOVED it!

I cut out felt pieces and sewed them onto a jersey shirt.  I gave the robot essentials.  A pressure guage, on/off buttons and some cog wheels.  The pressure gauge was done using a simple short zig zag stitch. 

 

Maben proudly proclaimed all day that he was a robot.  He also kept the shirt on for almost the entire party!  Success!

Last Minute Kid Costume: Charlie Brown

This past weekend we had a Fall party to go to where it was encouraged for everyone to dress up.  While, we have a stack of pajama costumes that I could have put on Colton...but, since I was making my costume and Maben's, I really needed to make him one too. 

Inspiration struck and I decided to make Colton into Charlie Brown!  The hardest part...scouring the mall for a yellow polo shirt.  After dragging the kids through about 10 stores, bribing them with carousel rides and letting them play some games in a kids store, I finally found a yellow polo shirt at Burlington Coat Factory.

I paid $4.31 for this shirt.  The biggest problem with it...all that embroidery!  It took a few hours in front of the TV to rip all those stitches out, but I eventually did it.  (and I only created one hole in the shirt)

After that, I pulled the shirt over piece of cardboard and measured out and marked my chevron stripe.

I then mixed up my black acrylic paint and fabric medium to make fabric paint.  I then painted the stripe with lots of brush strokes.  I didn't want a solid stripe because I remembered in the comics that it was typically done with more of an artistic brush stroke flair.

Once I let that dry, the next day I put Colton in it and I had myself the cutest Charlie Brown ever!  I also think this Charlie Brown will get more than a rock when it comes time for some trick-or-treating.

This costume cost me $4.31.  All I had to buy was the shirt.  I had the paint and fabric medium on hand already and Colton had a pair of black shorts too.  Even if you did have to buy fabric paint and shorts/pants...I am sure the whole thing would still cost less than $10.  If you can't find a yellow polo shirt, check out Hobby Lobby or Michaels for a plain yellow shirt.

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