 Honey Bear
 Materials
1 organic-cotton adult sweatshirt, dark brown
1/2 yard wool-blend felt, gingerbread
1/2 yard recycled eco-felt, cocoa brown
1 yard cotton batting
1 skein natural yarn, brown
4" square of cardboard
scissors
embroidery thread, brown
sewing needle
1 can, washed out
1/2 yard natural rope
1/2 yard recycled eco-felt, gold
Directions
Body
1. Cut off the sweatshirt's sleeves 3" from the neck (save them for later). Turn the sweatshirt inside out, so the costume has the fuzzy side facing out. Turn raw edges under and hem. If you need to adjust the fit, sew a seam
under each armhole.
2. [Optional] In the band around the neck, cut a slit and pull some yarn through with a safety pin. Gather and tie behind neck.
3. Cut two ovals out of the gingerbread felt, each large enough to span your child's stomach. Add a few layers of batting between the felt pieces, then baste along the edges to keep the layers in place. Sew the tummy onto the front of the shirt.
Tail
1. Create a pom-pom by wrapping yarn around a 4" square of cardboard. The more times you wrap the yarn, the larger the pom-pom will be.
2. At one end of the cardboard, tie the pieces of yarn together with another piece of yarn, then cut the opposite edge with scissors. Remove the cardboard, fluff, and trim to a pom-pom shape. Sew or glue to the back of the sweatshirt.
Head and Ears
1. Take one of the sleeves you cut off earlier and place it flat on a table with the seam centered in the back. Cut an oval for your child's face in the sleeve.
2. Cut two circles out of the gingerbread and dark brown felt to create the ears. Trim the gingerbread circles slightly smaller and glue onto the cocoa brown circles.
3. Before attaching the ears, try the hood on your child to tweak the fit. If needed, trim the top edge to make it smaller.
4. Turn the hood inside out and sew ears into the top seam, making sure the correct sides are facing front. Sew a seam along the hole to close the top of the hood.
Honey Pot
1. Glue natural rope around the sides of a reused can, and glue gold felt to the inside. Cut the felt so the honey appears to be spilling over the side of the can, and glue those pieces to the outside.
2. Add a rope handle to the sides of the can and anchor with felt pieces.
Happy Tree
Gathering the materials for this costume (great for a girl or boy) can be as fun as wearing it on the big day. Go on a nature walk to pick up fallen branches and get inspiration for your leaf colors.
Materials
2 yards natural burlap
small pieces of eco-felt or reused fabric in dark brown, light brown, rust, and orange
tree branches and twigs
small roll of hemp twine
4 buttons (two small orange and two larger black)
scrap fabric pieces in autumn colors or prints
fusible interfacing
iron
nontoxic fabric glue
scissors
Directions
1. Measure the height of your child from neck to ankles. Cut a piece of burlap the length of your child plus a few inches at the top (for the branches). The selvage edge should create the hem, so the burlap won't unravel.
2. Wrap the burlap loosely around your child, creating a tube, then start sewing a seam up the back, leaving the top 10" open so you can attach the branches. Cut an armhole on each side.
3. Fuse the scraps of fabric onto interfacing with an iron. Cut leaf shapes from the pieces and glue them onto branches.
4. Wrap burlap around the branches and twigs at the top four corners, then wrap each with twine. Secure with a knot. With another piece of twine, wrap front and back branches on both sides to create shoulder straps.
5. Create the hole on the front of the tree by cutting an oval shape (about 18" around) out of a separate piece of burlap. Place a piece of light brown felt in the center of the oval. Roll the edges of the burlap inward and secure by whipstitching the rolled edge with hemp twine. Glue or sew a twig at base of hole.
6. Make the owl from a piece of dark brown felt cut in an oval with pointed ears. Add a smaller oval of rust felt to the brown felt. Cut a diamond shape from the orange felt for a beak and place under the button eyes. Eyes are made from a large black and a smaller orange button. Glue the owl to the chest of the costume.
7. Make the wand and crown by stringing branches together and wrapping them with hemp twine. Attach additional fused fabric leaves to the branches with glue. |
