A couple of weeks ago I read those words that strike fear into a parents heart. My 4 year old was taking part in a Minibeast concert at nursery and needed to dress up as a minibeast. I pride myself on being an organised parent but I only found out about the dress up a week before the event!
When I asked my son what he wanted to wear he said a worm, a snail and also a butterfly. We had a chat and compromised on a ladybird cape that could be worn with black trousers and a black long-sleeved tshirt.
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Equipment you will need:
1.5 m of red and black cotton fabric
sewing machine
sewing supplies (thread, scissors)
black long-sleeved tshirt
How to make a minibeast costume
1. Measure your child’s wingspan from their wrist, across the nape of the neck and to the other wrist. Divide this measurement in two to get the width of each wing.
2. Place the right sides of the red and black cotton together, measure, pin and cut out each wing. My 4 year olds wingspan was 115cm so each wing ended up as 60cm, which included a small seam allowance. Pin a curve and cut away the excess fabric.
3. Machine the two pieces of fabric, don’t forget to leave a small gap to turn the fabric the right way. Hand stitch the gap and iron both wings.
4. From the remaining black fabric cut a number of circles for the ladybirds spots. Pin them where you want them and machine in place. This has the added bonus of securing the layers of fabric.
5. Sew the two wings to a long-sleeved black tshirt. I put a couple of long stitches through the wings and the tshirt to secure it but you could use velcro or snap fasteners.
As you can see my 4 year old was very happy with his ladybird cape. The fabric was light so he was able to flap his arms around and pretend to fly around with all his minibeast friends.
This looks amazing, I’m impressed. I have no idea how to make costumes for my kids so always end up buying something and feeling ripped-off!
What a great costume at such short notice! Our school always leaves these things to the last minute too and most people end up buying something. I love to see children in homemade costumes!
That looks great! And pretty easy to do too. My 2yo loves ladybirds, I think she’d be so excited to have one!
What a brilliant costume – I love it! I am so rubbish at making costumes but this looks great and hand made is definitely so much lovelier! Great post.
Wow…How clever are you. I have a friend who used to make all my kids costumes for them. Saying that I have just invested in a sewing machine so hopefully I might brush up on my skills, thanks for sharing xx
Very effective and even I could make it!
wow this is fab your very clever!! My little boy would probably demand to be the most complicated mini beast around and I would be dashing to the nearest fancy dress shop lol!! This looks so well made and something he could use again as a dress up! x
Jess
http://owlcrazymummy.blogspot.co.uk
I made it on the larger size so hopefully it can be used for World Book Day too!
Oh wow that looks fab, I bet he was pleased! Much simpler than something like a butterfly 🙂
Gorgeous little minibeast! How fantastic to have the skills to turn out something like this in one week. I might steal your design – or adapt it into a superhero cape, which I think would also go down well in our household!
I think this kind of cape is versatile as you could put any design on it and it really did only take a couple of hours!
Love this! Such a great idea. Very simple but extremely effective.
This is fab! So easy and so effective! I’m always a bit scared to try and make costumes, but I should try as I can actually sew well!
I find sewing quite relaxing and a good break from my ‘screen time’!
That is brilliant, well done. I don’t think my attempt would look like that x
It wasn’t too hard and it felt good to make something rather than order it online!
Wow this is such a fab idea! It looks great x
I usually find out about these a week before but then forget and end up rushing round the night before the costume is needed!
That costume looks brilliant 🙂
Wow, you are so clever. I used to dread my twin daughters coming home from school & telling me that they needed to dress up. Fortunately, they’re all grown up now & happily create their own weird & wonderful fancy dress outfits at uni.
this looks so great!!! Good job 🙂
You are so clever, I wouldn’t have a clue how to make one. Looks good 🙂
You are so clever, I wouldn’t even know where to start. Great job 🙂
being mum to 7 i always have plenty dress ups but they seem to be growing old and tatty now so i think i need to invest in some fabrics to start making them x
This is one stunning looking cape!
I totally love it.
How sweet – we love mini beasts. Thank for joining in the #ParentingPinItParty