It's Day 8 and time for another great costume tutorial! Yesterday we showed you how to make a big ol' pumpkin costume. Today we're going to stick with the traditional Halloween theme again. Are you ready for it?
You can't have Halloween without at least one mummy at the party, right? My kiddo wanted to be a mummy this year, and while part of me thought, "Hey great, I'll just show up at the school with a big roll of gauze when it's time for the parade", I also realized how much better it would be for my son and his teacher (any myself, to be honest), if his costume was all self-contained and easy to put on and off all by himself! Really, there's no comparison when you think about it that way. So today you're going to learn how to make a mummy costume that is just as easy to wear as any other costume. It can be taken on and off and on and off, without any stressing over potty breaks and such.
We also love that the strips are all sewn right into the seams so they stay in place. Plus they can be all hang-y and creepy without falling off. Super cool! Let's get started.
Materials needed:
Stretch fabric for hoodie and pants
1.5 times that amount for fabric strips
Sewing machine
Pattern for hoodie and pants
First, print out the pattern pieces. If you're using the patterns I did, add 2" to the sleeves and pants to account for leaving off the cuffs. Cut out the main pieces from your fabric.
When you're done, you should have the front and back, sleeves, hood, hood band, and pants cut out, as shown above.
Then cut the remaining fabric into strips the full width of the fabric. Each strip should be 3-5" wide, and very unevenly cut. I used two different fabric colors for the strips to accent the textures. See photos below for examples. You should have a big pile of strips like this when you're done.
Take the shirt front piece and lay it out on a flat surface to get an idea of how long and wide it is. Measure if you want, or just eyeball it.
Take the shirt piece off and then keeping its size in mind, lay out some of the strips *face down* on the flat surface. Begin with one strip at the top, face down, and then overlap a second strip below it, again facedown. Continue layering until you have them covering the space that the shirt piece was taking up. If you are using more than one fabric like I did, alternate the colors randomly. Notice that I did 2 then 2 then 1 then 1 then 2 then 1. It wasn't any set pattern -- I made it look random on purpose.
When you have enough strips set out, place your front shirt piece on them with its right side facing down, toward the strips. Pin the layers together all around the shirt piece, as shown above. Be sure to use at least one pin at each overlap, and even more is better. When you pick it up, you're going to wish you had even more pins! The strips are going to move a lot.
Before picking it up, trim the strips closer to the edge of the pattern piece. Don't throw away the extra strips you trimmed off; you're going to use the leftovers later!
Carefully lift the piece and take it to your sewing machine. With the shirt piece on top as shown above, sew around the piece 1/4" from the edge, securing the strips to the shirt piece. Do not sew the bottom strip in place; it can be left dangling. So you only need to sew the sides, armholes, shoulders, and neckholes. See photo above.
Now trim the excess strips right close to the edge of the shirt piece so they are flush. See photo above. You can leave some hanging below the shirt.
Flip the shirt piece over and admire your work! The shirt front is now ready and you can set it aside. Repeat with the back shirt.
Repeat the previous steps to sew strips onto the pants pieces. You will want to do the pants pieces before the sleeves etc, because they require longer strips. Their leftovers can be used on the narrower pieces. When you're done with the pants pieces, they should look like the photo above.
(This can be time consuming but so worth it! Don't be too picky as you go -- it's good for them to look ragged and uneven.)
Repeat all of the previous steps to add strips to the sleeves and hood pieces. You can leave them dangling off the ends of the sleeves, but for the hood you will want them trimmed all around.
Now all of your pattern pieces (except the hood trim band) should have strips on them!
You are ready to construct the hoodie and pants as instructed in the patterns. On the hoodie, you will put right sides together (the strips are the right side) and sew at the shoulder seams. Then continue on following the steps all the way through.
Note: When you're pinning and sewing, be careful to keep the strips in the right places! You don't want any strips doubling back on themselves and getting caught in a seam where they shouldn't be. Only the edges of the strips should be caught in the seams. It isn't difficult to keep them in the right places as long as you're paying attention as you pin/sew.
When it comes time to turn the sleeves right side out, you may find that some of the loops are on the wrong side of the sleeve, as shown above on the left side. This isn't a problem at all! Simply grab the loops that are on the wrong side and flip the sleeve through them so they're on the correct side. Start with the highest ones first. It's super easy to do; I'm just telling you so you don't panic when you find them like that.
When you're done, your completed hoodie should look something like this!
And the completed pants should look something like this!
At the very bottom of the pants, you may want to hold the lowest strip in place and sew a few stitches to secure it there, as shown in red above. This will keep the lowest loops from hanging down too far and tripping your kiddo.
Now you're all ready to try it on your official mummy! He wanted some dangling strips too so we just tucked a few through the existing loops and they're just hanging there. I will probably tack them in place with a few stitches. You can put one over the head too; I thought it looked cool but he said no way. And I'm not one to argue with a mummy.
So what do you think?! Now you're all set to create a self-contained mummy costume!
I'm really excited that we can stow it in his backpack on Halloween, and when it comes time for the school costume parade he can throw it on and be all ready to go. No pins or mommy panic required!
Now I can't wait to see the little mummies you make with our tutorial.
Let's Create! ~ Kristen
