"Too Cute Kangaroo Costume"

Costume Instructions

Costume Materials
1/2 yard of pink felt material
2 yards of brown of velvet material
Brown thread
2 feet of thin elastic
Diaper pin and brown fabric (not leather) belt
Bag of stuffing from craft store
Any brown long sleeve shirt with a hood
Brown pair of sweatpants to match shirt
Small stuffed animal baby kangaroo
brown shoes
black eyeliner pencil for nose and whiskers

Costume Instructions
1. Cut an oval piece of the pink felt material for the back side of the kangaroos belly. Make large enough to cover your childs belly. Sew onto the front of the brown shirt.

2. Cut a 3/4 oval piece of brown velvet at least one inch bigger than 3/4 of the pink oval. Sew the edges of the brown 3/4 oval over to make clean edges. When sewing the top edge of the brown 3/4 pocket, sew elastic in to give the pocket some pull...it looks better this way. Then sew the brown 3/4 oval to the brown shirt making a "pocket" by covering 3/4 of the pink oval. The bottom of the brown oval should line up with the bottom of the pink oval on the shirt.

3. Make a tail by cutting 2 pices of brown velvet approximately 2 - 2/12 feet long (depending on you child's size) making the tail curve at the end. It should be long enough to either touch or almost touch the floor when the child is wearing the costume. Turn inside out and sew together leaving the larger end (top) of the tail open. Turn right side out and stuff tail. Sew the end across to close and keep stuffing in. Pin the tail to the back of the belt.

4. Make two ears by cutting an elongated oval/circle shape out of the remaining pink and brown material. You should have 2 pink and 2 brown shapes when done cutting. Take one pink and one brown shape and line up together with the insides of the fabric facing out. Sew around the ears leaving a small space unsewn at the bottom. Turn rightside out. Do the same with the other two pieces of material. Sew the ears to hood by sewing the unsewn sides to the top of the hood. Make sure to put the sweatshirt on the child and measure where the ears should go before sewing them on.

5. Make the "hands" by tracing your child's hand onto a piece of paper with their thumbs out and fingers close together to trace a "mitten" shape. Make sure to do this with both hands. Now cut out the pattern and trace 2 pink and 2 brown mitten shapes (one of each hand - left and right). Take the left brown mitten shape and left pink mitten shape and line up with the inside of the fabric facing out. Sew around the "mitten" leaving the part where their hand goes in open. Turn rightside out. Repeat with the right 2 mitten shapes. Once both mittens shapes are sewn, sew elastic into the end of the mittens to keep them on the child's hands.

6. Have the child put the costume on by putting the pants on, taking the belt w/ tail and putting around the child's waist. Next, put on the sweatshirt, pulling it down to cover the belt so that it is not seen. Put the hood up, add the mittens and brown shoes, and place the joey in the pocket.