Sunday 27 October 2013

A DIY Dinosaur/ Dragon Costume

This is the first of two costumes I have been commissioned to make for Halloween this year! I asked Jake (my commisioner) to find me a onesie to save time and then I got cracking. I think it would work equally well with an old T-Shirt and jeans if you can't find a onesie. The onesie wasn't cut into once during this process so if you get bored of being a Dinosaur you can just unpick the slipstitching. Carry on for the full "how-to"!

What you will need:

  • Fabric. I used two contrasting colours of velvet because I didn't have enough of the green for the tail as well. I did have to be extra careful when cutting out because of the nap. Fleece would work just as well.
  • Interfacing. I think I used around 1 metre for an adult sized costume. This stabilized the velvet and made it stiffer so the spikes stood on their own.
  • Stuffing, enough to fill the tail.
  • Onesie (I bought one to save time but feel free to make one if you have a pattern lying around)
  • Paper scissors for cutting out the interfacing because I didn't want the glue on it to mess up my fabric scissors
  • Fabric scissors for cutting out the velvet.
  • Triangle templates for the tail and the spikes. Don't forget to add seam allowances.



1. Cut out triangles

You will need 4 triangles for each spike
- 2 velvet
- 2 interfacing
6 triangles are needed for the tail
- 3 velvet
- 3 interfacing
 (I tried four triangles for the tail, but ended up unpicking one of them because 3 looked a lot better)
I cut out 54 triangles in total!
On your left are the interfacing triangles that I cut out for the spikes and on the right is my template for the tail triangles.

2) Sew the Triangles Together

You should have from the top facing you, interfacing, wrong side velvet, right side velvet, interfacing for the green triangles. Another way to look at is putting the velvet triangles right sides together and then putting an interfacing triangle on either side. Making sense?
When all of the little bundles are all pinned and ready sew 2 sides of them (leaving the other so you can turn them the right side out) and clip near the point, so you do get a point when you turn them right side out.

























For the tail triangles you want to sew both sides of the middle triangle right sides together to the other 2 triangles so you end up with a very wide triangle (see pic above).

3. The Tail

Pin and stitch the spikes facing inwards down the raw edge of the 3 triangles so they stay put. When that's done put right sides together and stitch down the side. Turn out the right way.

























Stuff the tail until full. Do a running stitch around the edge of the opening and pull to gather. This gets rid of the raw edges. Pin the tail to the onesie (I placed mine just above the beginning of the trouser seam).

























4. Attach the Spikes

Measure and chalk a line down the middle of the back of the onesie. Fold the raw edges of the green triangle inwards so you have a clean edge. Pin to secure. Place on line drawn and pin down like you did with the tail. Repeat with all of the other triangles/spikes. Stitch on when happy that they are all where you want them to be.

























AND YOU'RE FINISHED!!!!!


























I think the only thing I would change about this costume is the colour of the tail as it stands out a bit too much. It would have looked better if it was green, like the spikes.

Thanks so much to Jake for the idea, the commision and the modeling!

Thanks so much to you dear reader, for reading!
Lauren x