DIY Fairy Costume {Part 2: Shimmery Top}

Kids Fairy Costume Tutorial

Shiny Rainbow Top with Halter Neckline
 

No Fairy skirt would be complete without a shimmery top to go with it! This is a quick, three-step project to make a top that coordinates with Part 1 of this project, DIY Fairy Costume Skirt and Part 3, DIY Fairy Wings.

DIY Fairy Costume {Part 1: Whimsical Skirt}

Fairy Costume Tutorial

Part 1: Flowy Lace & Chiffon Skirt
 

For that last several years, it's been "ask and ye shall receive," with Halloween costumes around here. I'm trying to take advantage of the years that they are still interested in their mom making their costumes, so I'm pretty amenable to their ideas! This Halloween, my 5-year old decided she wanted to be a fairy.

Halloween Witch Costume Part 2: Fleece Cape

DIY Witch Costume Featuring Fleece Cape

This bewitching accessory serves a dual purpose: it's cute and it'll keep 'em warm!

These capes were not part of my original plan for the girls' witch costumes (I really considered the Wicked Witch Tutus to be the pièce de résistance), but I'm so glad I decided to make them, because I like how they pull all the pieces of the costumes together. The only reason I even thought of the capes was because I was really just concerned about them being warm enough during trick-or-treating. Because it always goes like this in the Northeast: when you're planning your Halloween outfits, you're still basking in the last few weeks of Indian Summer, so your Halloween decisions tend to be made with those temperatures in mind. And then all of a sudden the last week of October rolls around and it's FREEZING. So layers are a necessity, especially for the little ones. In fact, I'm probably going to make them wear at least another two layers under their long-sleeved tee shirts. But, I know that this cozy cape will help a bit with the insulating factor, so in reality, Mother Nature was the "practical inspiration" for this piece.

In an effort to come up with a design, I did what I always do when I'm starting a new project: I Google. I think I googled "DIY Fleece Cape," or something like that. And my trusty friend Google never lets me down; as I expected, I was provided with a long list of cute blogs in which kids capes were showcased. But in this case, one blog stood out in terms of what I was looking for. I found my "creative inspiration" for the witch capes from these awesome Super Hero Capes at a pretty cool life... which, incidentally, is a very cool blog :) 

I followed her basic design to make the witch capes, but I made a few tweaks here and there (because super heroes and witches would never wear identical capes!).

Here's how they came together:

DIY Fleece Witch Cape Materials

• 1/2 yard of fleece fabric (I used black fleece-$5.99/yd at Joann's; with my 50% coupon that brought it down to $1.50 in material for one cape)
• 1 roll of 9' ribbon (I used the extra ribbon to adorn the hat and broom)
• Hot glue
• Flower pin (ours were $2.50/each in those discount bins at Joann's)   

DIY Fleece Witch Cape Instructions (pics are below for the visual learners)

(I made these for a 4 and 5-year old, you may need to adjust lengths accordingly. I just lined the material up against their backs and decided how long I wanted it).

• Cut fleece to 35" wide x 20.5" so you have a rectangle shape.
• Fold fabric in half from the side so now you should have a double rectangle that is 17.7" wide x 20.5" long.
• From the TOP OPEN SIDE, measure 10" and make a mark (I used tape).
• Cut a straight, diagonal line from the 10" mark to the BOTTOM OPEN SIDE.
  
• Make a jagged edge by cutting triangles out of the bottom. How big/how many is up to you.
• Hot glue a strip of ribbon down the front sides of the cape. You could sew this down and it would probably look nicer and last longer, but I didn't want to bother with seeing the stitches.
• Create a double-sided ribbon band by hot gluing the front and back sides together.
• Sew or hot glue the band to the top corner of one side of the cape. You can see in the pics I sewed it on then covered my stitches with a cute button. I didn't do that on the purple one. I just hot glued it. This step may be completely unnecessary, because really you could just use the pin to keep it closed. I was just worried about it being too tight around their neck and hearing them complain the whole night trick-or-treating, so I wanted to build in a little padding :)
• Use your pretty pin to hold the sides together. And try not to stab your child in the process :)

 

Wondering how to make the tutus? Check out Halloween Witch Costume Part 1: Tulle Tutu Tutorial. 

To find out more about the other accessories we used, check out Halloween Witch Costume Part 3: Bewitching Accessories. 

Long & Lovely DIY Tutus

DIY Tulle Tutu Tutorial

Get a catalog look for a bargain price

While this tutorial is originally meant to accompany a witch costume, the materials and process can be used to make a tutu for any occasion: princess, ballerina, or fairy parties... or just regular ol' dress-up! Just choose your favorite colors and follow the directions below!

My girls decided they wanted to be witches (specifically, scary witches) this year for Halloween, and I had a lot of fun putting together these costumes. This tutorial shows how I made their tutus, which ended up costing less than $10/each. I wanted them to be long and full, so if you shorten the length and spread out the strips, you could easily make one for even less! I let the girls pick out their colors for the skirts, and they were thrilled with how they all came together. Their vision came to fruition... because really, what's scarier than a witch in a tutu? ;)

And here's how I did them (p.s. everything is NO-SEW except for the elastic. If you don't want to sew that either, I would get a thin elastic and tie a double knot to close it):

Materials for DIY Witch Tutu Skirt 

• Rolls of tulle (anywhere from 50-75 yards total; probably 3-4 rolls depending on how many colors you want. I got some at Hobby Lobby and some at Joanns. The sparkly tulle is more expensive and you get less yardage, FYI. So of course, that's what the girls wanted. I told them they could pick one sparkly each, but I compromised with B2 so she got two sparklies.)
•  Black 1" Elastic (I needed about 18" for my 4 year old and 19" for my 5 year old so I got one package and had plenty leftover.)
  
  
  

 

Instructions for DIY Witch Tutu Skirt

• Cut your elastic according to size. To get the right size, measure your little one's waist and then subtract roughly 2 inches. This allows for some stretch and ensures the tutu won't fall down when she's wearing it.
• Sew your elastic closed. The best method I have found to do this is to basically sew a rectangle over the part where the two ends overlap. That give you a really strong closure.
• Cut your tulle to length. The easiest way to do this it to wrap your roll around a scrap of cardboard that is cut to your desired length (pics are below). Wrap-wrap-wrap until you're done, and then it's easy to cut across so that all your pieces are the same length. Make sure you only cut one side!!! I made the mistake of cutting from both sides the first time, and I wasted a bunch of material :( Repeat this wrapping and cutting step for each of your colors. Then lay each pile of tulle so it is accessible. 
  
  FYI: {Sizes I Used: I wanted an 18" skirt for my 4 year old and a 22" skirt for my 5 year old. In total, I cut 54 36" strips for my 4 year old-pink/orange skirt; I cut a total of 62 44" strips for my 5 year old-purple/black skirt}
• Place your elastic band on a steady, round object. I used vases for mine because it was the only thing I could find that was roughly the right circumference. This helps hold it in place for the next steps.
• Determine your color pattern, and start adding the strips! The pics below show the method I used. Continue until you reach the desired fullness of your tutu.
  
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  And that's it! It's amazing how truly simple this project is.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  As you can see from the pics, I also spruced the costumes up with some inexpensive accessories that you can read about here. Also, here's my tutorial on the black fleece DIY Witch Capes.
  
  
  

  Happy Halloween season!
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