When I was a little girl, my mom made my Halloween costume every year. She was a perfectionist AND a fashion designer…. so yeah – my costumes were always awesome! Every year, I looked forward to choosing that year’s costume. One year I loved my costume so much I wore it a second year in a row! This year will mark a new tradition as I begin making my daughter’s Halloween Costumes…. She is Trick or treating for the first time this year….. my little baby is growing up!! Sob!!! Let’s hope she loves her costumes as much as I did!!
We decided she would be a Bumble Bee. She is not walking yet, so I wanted to find something that would be cute while she’s sitting. I absolutely love the idea of little girls wearing those big tulle skirts… something tells me you’ll be seeing plenty of those in years to come!!…. so I made a black and yellow tulle skirt. See below for instructions on how to make this skirt. I paired the skirt with a black bodysuit, a yellow flower clip, and a pair of yellow and black leg warmers. I made a set of bumble bee antenna and purchased a pair of bumble bee wings. See below for instructions on how to make the antenna. To complete the look, I made her a beehive. Beehive instructions are also below. This costume would be great for an adult too! The instructions are the same for any size!
BUMBLE BEE SKIRT – this skirt is crazy easy to make. I used a sewing machine to sew the elastic waistband, but if you need a no sew option, you can tie the elastic, and the skirt will still look great!
What you need:
- Roll of 6″ wide tulle in black
- Roll of 6″ wide tulle in yellow
- Headband Elastic
- Scissors
1. Determine the size of the waist, and the cut the elastic. You’ll want to leave a bit of tolerance for sewing the elastic together. If you plan to try the no sew option and tie it instead, make sure to leave enough length on each end to tie.
2. Stitch the ends of the elastic together to make the waistband. I recommend doing this first because once you start adding all of the tulle, it becomes cumbersome to stitch those ends together. Another bonus of stitching the ends together first, is you can then stretch the waistband around something (a dress form, a book, a pillow, etc) to give easier access to finding the holes to thread the tulle through.
3. The length of your elastic will dictate how many strips of tulle you will need. You will need one strip of black tulle for each hole along the second row of elastic holes, and one strip of yellow tulle for each hole in the third row. For my one year old, I had 32 strips of yellow, and 32 strips of black. Since she can’t walk yet.. I don’t run the risk of the skirt falling down, so I made it a bit looser than her waist, so she could wear it again when she gets bigger.
4. Determine how long you want your skirt. For mine, I have a finished length of 13-14″.
5. Double that measurement, and cut strips of tulle according to the doubled length. You will be folding each strip in half to make the skirt, so I cut strips 26-28″ long.
6. Now that you have everything cut, let’s start assembling! Start with your black tulle. To secure the tulle strips to your elastic, fold the tulle strip in half and place the folded loop behind and through the second row of holes.
7. Fold the loose ends up and thru the folded loop.
8. Pull the loose ends completely thru the folded loop.
9. Pull the loose ends toward you and down to tighten and secure. It helps to hold the knot in place as you pull and tighten.
10. Repeat until you have the entire second role of holes filled with black tulle.
11. Next, using your yellow tulle, repeat the same process along the third row of elastic holes.
12. Once both rows are full, I ran my fingers through the strips in order to bring some of the black strips to the front.
BUMBLE BEE HEADBAND
What you need:
- Headband Elastic
- 2 Yellow Pom Poms
- 2 black Pipe cleaners
- Black Felt
- Scissors
- Hot Glue Gun & Glue
I used the same black headband elastic as the skirt waistband to make the headband, but I’ve also seen these headbands already made that you can just buy to save some time. I inserted 2 black pipe cleaners into the holes to create the antenna. I cut circles out of the black felt, and hot glued those circles to the underside of the headband to secure the pipe cleaners. Then I tightly wrapped the other end of the pipe cleaners around yellow pom poms until they were the right length.
BEEHIVE
What you need:
- Yellow Paper Lantern
- Bees
- Black felt
- Scissors
- Hot Glue Gun & Glue
- Wooden Dowel
- Drill
- Craft Wire
- Black Paint
1. Paint dowel black
2. Drill a hole towards the top of the dowel. I used a 1/16 drill bit, which was just large enough for the craft wire to thread thru. If you have a smaller gauge (or thicker wire) adjust the drill bit accordingly
3. Assemble the paper lantern. The lantern should come with a wire insert that allows the lantern to keep its shape.
4. Slide the lantern over the dowel until the top of the dowel meets the top of the lantern wire.
5. Thread the craft wire through the hole in the dowel and use it to secure the lantern wire.
6. Cut a circle out of the black felt
7. Hot glue the felt circle to the lantern.
8. Hot glue the bees to the lantern.
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