The Dream Team's Best Halloween Costumes: Lovely Ladybug
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Disney Family.com's Dream Team parents always have great tricks up their sleeves. So for Halloween, they've shared the secrets and stories behind their favorite homemade costumes.
Why I loved this costume:
For Ally's first birthday, we were celebrating with a Halloween-themed party. Since she still preferred the speed of crawling over walking, I wanted her to wear something that would be shown off best as she traveled across the floor, mostly on her hands and knees. And she really looked like a little bug as she steadily crawled and tried to lift herself up onto every piece of furniture that came within her reach. I also loved that this costume gave her the freedom to move about safely (a dress or satin costume would have made crawling slippery), and gave easy access to her diaper.
What you need:
Steps:
- 1. For body: Measure the body from neck to leg. With two-thirds of the red felt material, use a vest pattern to cut three pieces for the bug's body. (The front portion requires one piece of felt, and the back is two pieces.) Sew the two pieces together for the back, stopping about three-quarters of the way up the middle to allow room to fit it over the head. Hot-glue a Velcro square at the top of the opening to close the costume at the back of neck.
2. Sew the front and back pieces' sides together at the shoulders and up the sides until reaching the armholes and then turn material right-side out. Use a Velcro strip to close the bottom up, allowing easy access for diaper changes. Cut a black "tummy" and circles out of the black suede material. Hot glue the tummy to the front portion of the costume and arrange and glue smaller circles to the back.
3. For hood: Measure the head circumference and use a bonnet pattern to cut two pieces of red felt (from the remaining one-third of your felt). Sew the two pieces' right sides together, creating a seam along the back, to create the hood. Turn the hood right-side up and hot glue a Velcro closure at the base of neck. The Velcro hood can now be affixed to the costume body or removed if your child doesn't want to wear it.
4. Hot-glue the two pom-poms to the end of the pipe cleaners and cut two slits into the hood to stick the antennas in, hot gluing them in place for added security.
5. Ankle and wrist cuffs: Measure the circumference of wrists and ankles and cut four 2-inch wide cuffs from the furry material. Hot-glue Velcro strips to the ends to make it easy to get them on and off.
6. A pair of black knit pants and a black long-sleeved T-shirt worn beneath the bug "shell" complete the costume.
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