Home made Ladybird costume

EVERYONE LOVES A LADYBUG!

The Missy went to her first fancy dress party on Saturday and as a CM I found this totally thrilling.  OK well not thrilling exactly but it was a good excuse to go fabric shoppping as there was no way I was having my little girl turn up in a highly flamable Disney store dress which everyone else would be wearing!   As she is only 2 and I only had a weeks notice a ladybird seemed a quick and comfortable solution. I did ask The Missy what she would like to go as and she replied a Coco Pop!   Mmm not sure she fully understood the question.

Make Time:        3 hours

Difficulty level:   Medium (easier with a glass of wine nearby!)

Cost:                    £15 maximum

Great for:            Fancy dress parties.

What you need:

3 meters of red net or tulle - 2 - 5 years size

4 meters of red net or tulle - 5 - 10 years size

1.5 meters of black satin ribbon - 4cm wide

1/2 meter of black craft felt

Red t-shirt (long or short sleeve)

Red Cardigan (optional)

Black leggins or tights

Black sox

Black shoes

fabric glue

2 x black craft pom poms

2 x black hair elastics

Scissors

Ruler

Pencil

How to:

1. Measure the childs waist.  Now add 100cm to the waist measurement and cut the ribbon.   
2. Tie a knot in the ribbon at 50cm from each end. 
3. Cut your red tulle or net into meter lengths.   
4. Flaten out each meter of tulle and roll up into a long tube. 
5. Once rolled cut the ends to make a straight edge.
6. Then measure along 7 cm and cut.  Repeat until you come to the end of the roll.
7. Repeat this with every meter of tulle so you end up with lots of strips.
8. Now depending on the length you want the skirt you may want to cut the strips in half at this point.  
9. To attach the tulle/net to the ribbon you need to fold each strip in half and loop it onto the ribbon between the knots.   I have drawn a terrible diagram as this is impossible to describe!
10. start at one knot and work across until you reach the other knot.  If you want a seriously flouncy skirt then loop the tulle/net tightly and so you can attach the maximum amount.
11. Next cut out 70 circles 3cm in diamter from the black craft felt.  I used a napkin ring as a template and maked the circles with a pencil.   I then poured a glass of wine and paitently cut out all the circles!
12. When you have all you circles cut out glue them onto the skirt, t-shirt and cardigan.    
13. Finally glue or sew the pom poms onto the hair elastics for little antennae.

Cheap Tricks:

I bought the t-shirt & cardigan from Asda for £6 and the black shoes from Sainsburys for £1.50!   I already had a pair of black leggins and sox so including the tulle and ribbon the whole outfit only cost £12.50!

Note:

This costume can easily be made for a bumble bee by making the skirt with black and yellow tulle/net and gluing black strips of felt onto a yellow t-shirt.


Bye for now.


CM X