Tigger and Piglet Halloween Costumes

Life has been crazy! It has been a long time since my last post. Hopefully I will get on the ball and post more. One of the projects I did manage to get done was sewing costumes for the grandsons. I didn't have a pattern for the piglet costume for the 3-month-old so I had to figure one out. Here's what I did. I picked up a sleeper in a 6-month size and drafted a pattern off of it.

Lay the sleeper folded in half with the back portion up then draw an outline around the clothing onto freezer paper.

That gave me a pattern to work off of. Do the same thing turning the sleeper over to the front to make that pattern piece. To make the sleeves I picked out the stitches on the sleeper at the armhole and at the sleeve seam. With the sleeve open I drew around it to draft the sleeve pattern. For the back closure I used a long strip of velcro which worked very well. You could also put in a zipper.

Even though I compared measurements from the 3-month-old to the pattern, the outfit still came out tight on him. I did learn something about sewing on fleece. It is important to place your pattern pieces so they are crosswise with the stretch of the fleece...otherwise if you place them lengthwise you will not have any give to the fleece for body movements like bending! This is the mistake I made. Fleece doesn't have a grain like cotton, but if you pull on the fabric in a width direction and then in a length direction, one side will have more stretch. You want the stretch to be crosswise to your fabric pieces. So don't be a dodo like me. And they say you can't teach an old dog.....ha!

The other mistake I made was that I switched the dark and light pinks. Piglet's body is light pink and his belly is dark pink! Oh well probably no one noticed this except for me. For the belly draw it out on a folded piece of freezer paper so both the left and right sides match. The stripes are black trim cut to match the different widths and sewn on. Then sew the belly onto the body costume using a small zigzag around the edge.

Since it would have been too difficult to pin the trim on and sew it, I found this stuff which worked fantastically. It's called Mettler Web Bond TA 101. It is a temporary adhesive. You spray it onto the item/fabric/applique you want to adhere. The spray is virtually odorless and it leaves a tacky residue which will then stick to whatever fabric you place it on. It doesn't gum up your sewing needle. No pins, no mess, no fuss...my kind of product. (I have no affiliation of any kind with this product.)

To make Piglet's hood I found this tutorial. I did slightly adapt it as I didn't like the pointed part in the front so I made it more rounded. I used fabric glue to attach the eyes, eyebrows and nose. Also instead of making the braided ties, I extended the front pieces for the chin to make extensions that could then be closed with a piece of velcro on each side.

For Tigger's costume I found a fluffy, fur-like orange material, but I needed to add stripes. Following the suggestions in this blog use freezer paper to cut out tiger stripes. All I can say about this is don't stress trying to be perfect. The more random they are, the more realistic they are. Press the freezer paper to your material so it sticks.

I initially used this fabric spray paint to paint the stripes, but I did not like it. It over-saturated the material and was difficult to control. I was afraid I was going to end up with black paint everywhere on the material. Plus it took forever to dry.

This is the tail after being spray painted. I was afraid to pull off the freezer paper for fear that the whole piece was now black!

Luckily it worked, but I wasn't willing to temp fate for the rest of the costume. Another negative of this paint was that it changed the hand (feel) of the fabric. The painted sections were stiff.

I went back to the craft store and found this fabric paint. Using a stencil brush I applied it to my stripe templates. This was more labor intensive, but I had more control of the paint application. It dried quickly and didn't leave the fabric stiff. It did take quite a long time to paint the entire costume so if you can find tiger striped fabric, go for it and save yourself some time!

The costume turned out really cute.

I used this pattern and made a size 3-4T which just fit the 2-year-old...he is a tall, little boy.

I made a tigger face for the hood. Just cut the pieces out of felt and then glue them onto the yellow circle with fabric glue. I didn't attach the face to the hood and in the end it was a good thing because my daughter decided she would rather paint a face on the 2-year-old. I thought the face on the hood turned out cute though.

To add a little oomph to the tail I inserted a piece of floral wire and then stuffed the tail. The tail could then be twisted or curled into position.

The costumes turned out so dang adorable...but it is the cute grands that make them that way! (This photo is courtesy of lipstickandlollies.)