ELMO for Halloween

                My granddaughter loves Elmo.  So I needed to make her an Elmo costume for Halloween.  I went out and found a bright red onesie with a 4th of July theme stitched on the front. Would you believe I found it for $1.20 on the clearance rack!  It was impossible to find a plain red onesie at any local store. Everything has some sort of cute decoration.
 So I improvised.....

         I sewed a piece of red felt with a zig zag stitch onto the onesie. Then the white eyes with black pupils were stitched on. Next, the big orange nose and the smiling black mouth.

         I purchased 3 yards of red tulle to complete the costume.

       A two layered, four inch strip was cut off of the the entire 3 yard length. Now I had two pieces, 4 inches by 3 yards. This was folded in half, lengthwise, to make a 2 inch piece with four layers. I ran a basting stitch the length of the material  1/2 inch from the edge.  The thread was pulled to make the ruffle around Elmo's face. * The ruffle was then sewed in place by hand.  I had to made sure that it was not sewed too tightly or the onesie would pucker. 

     The remaining piece of material was folded in half fold to edge. This piece was about 12 inches by 3 yards. Again, a basting stitch was sewn about a half an inch from the folded edge. The thread was pulled to gather and make a large ruffle for the skirt.

    * Actually, the skirt was sewn onto the onesie first and then the face ruffle was added after so the face ruffle would overlap the skirt ruffle. 

        A child could wear this with red tights, leggings, or pants if they needed to cover their legs in case of cold weather.  You could leave off the skirt if it is intended for a boy's costume.

     This was so much fun to make. I looked a a lot of Elmo pictures on line to get inspired.

      Happy Halloween to All!

Please leave a comment if you have the time.  I'd love to hear from you.

Beti