Having had a look around on the internet for a wolf outfit for F, it became apparent that I would have to make one myself. There wasn't a great deal of choice out there and what there was proved to be quite expensive. Unwilling to spend over £60 (plus postage from America) for an outfit that would only be worn for a few hours I decided to set myself the challenge of making one myself.
I have to be honest, I am no seamstress. Suffering from a childhood fear of needles following a ghastly realistic reading of sleeping beauty when I was a child, I am pretty good at delegating tasks that require a needle and thread to my poor Mum. Unfortunately for me she was away traveling in the run up to Halloween so it was completely down to me.
I took a trip down to the local fabric shop where I think the ladies working felt a bit sorry for me. After I cluelessly explained what I was trying to achieve, I left with a meter and a half of dark grey fur fabric and a scrap of light grey all for £10.
Back at home I drew around the body and legs of one of F's sleepsuits on a piece of greaseproof paper, making sure it was a bit bigger to allow for growth (as it was still only the end of August) and the fact that the fur would not stretch like the sleepsuit did. I cut out two of these templates and started to stitch them together.
I was just hoping for the best at this stage, after I had blindly stitched half of it together I decided that I would need a zip, and as I needed to clear out some clothes anyway, I took the opportunity to have an wardrobe clear out (much to Daddys delight) I removed the zip from a pair of jeans that I hadn't worn since before having H and I cut a slit the same length down the front of the costume and sewed it on place. It wasn't the cleanest job but I knew I would be covering it with some of the lighter fur so I didn't worry about it too much.
The costume was still only half stitched but it was apparent at this stage that unless I planned to starve F until the 31st of October I would need to also have access between the legs and down one side of the suit.
I have a massive button collection as I always keep the spare ones that come with clothing. I intended to use these but quickly realised that popper fasteners would be much easier, so I went back to town and was very suprised to find that I could buy a packed of mixed size popper fasteners for just £1.
After I had sewn these between the legs and along one side I cut out some arms and added these on. It was beginning to take shape but I still wasn't sure what to do about the head piece. F doesn't like tight restrictive hats and always pulls them straight off. Remembering a Scarf-Hat that H had last winter I decided to make something along the same lines. Unfortunately F wouldn't stay still for any sittings whilst I was making it, so it fits me better than it does her.
To make the hood I cut out a shape like this
And folded and sewed it, like this. Half way through sewing it I realised that I would need to add the ears before I finished.
After 3 failed attempts at ears I cut out two shapes like these -
And the finished hood looked like this.
The only thing then left to do was to cut out a ragged triangle in lighter fur, turn the edges over, sew them and then attach it across the chest covering the zip by sewing it at one side and attaching a popper on the other.
Job done... One wolf costume
Ok, I am the first to admit that she looks more like bear, but I love it anyway and it only cost me £11 :) To see some other amazing Homemade Halloween costumes check out Money Supermarkets #Homemadehalloween Competition.
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