Child's Playing Card Costume
Here is a tutorial I did a couple of years ago that I posted on my old sew-historical.blogspot.com costuming blog. Though some of you may have seen it (if you have been to that site, BLESS YOU), I hate to waste a good DIY so I have re-posted it here. It is an older DIY and might be a bit vague. I have learned a bit more about writing tutorials since this one, so I welcome any feedback or questions you might have. One thing to note is that this version posted here has been heavily edited to exclude a whole (unnecessary, one might argue) part on how to create a template in Publisher 2010 which can pose a problem on multiple levels. Some people may not have Publisher since it's sold separately from MS Office now, and some people may not care about getting on a computer, etc, to draw a simple template. I'm going to add here that you can print out a playing card template if you want to (or visit the old blog link above to see the omitted steps), or draw it freehand and you don't have to stick to my 2 of Hearts choice, obvs. :) The tutorial picks up after you have printed/drawn and cut out your numbers and suit of choice.
For the Texas Renaissance Festival that year, our little family dressed up in an "Alice in Wonderland" theme. Mostly because I wanted to make myself a fabulous Renaissance-style Queen of Hearts dress. The hubs was the Mad Hatter, and my 20-month-old was the 2 of Hearts. It requires some scissors, a little glue, and very little sewing! Here is how I did it: Supplies for a Toddler-sized costume: -1 yard of very heavyweight Pellon/interfacing--mine was a little less than a yard (31") because it was a remnant. It needs to be really, really sturdy, like, "can stand up by itself" sturdy. -1 square of craft felt in red -felt glue -velcro (I prefer sew-on, but I guess you could also use iron-on) -white thread -scissors -sewing machine -printer -toddler-sized t-shirt (for measuring purposes) -scrap cardboard Press any wrinkles out of your interfacing and cut it in half, creating two rectangles and stack them. Measure the length and width of your rectangle and write down your measurements. To create the "print" on the card face, I found an illustration of the 2 of hearts online and put it in Microsoft Publisher to make it the correct size for the costume.
Fold your felt square in half, pin your shapes to it and cut.
Take your toddler's t-shirt and place it on top of one of the interfacing rectangles, marking where the sleeve meets the edge of the rectangle. Below the lower mark is where your Velcro will start (where the tape measure is pinned). Above this mark is where you will stitch the shoulder seam.
Cut your Velcro to length, beginning at the "below-sleeve" mark and ending about 1" - 2" from the bottom (see photo above). Using the zigzag setting on your machine (3rd from left in pic), stitch the Velcro in place along the sides.
Velcro the front and back sections together and, using a straight stitch, stitch two shoulder seams around the top curve or corners (depending on your style choice) of the rectangle.
Take some
cardboard (I used two box flaps) and place between your front and back pieces, underneath where you want to place your felt design (to keep you from gluing front and back together). Using your template from earlier, place on the corner of front piece:
Apply felt glue to the back of each piece on your design and glue in place (The paper template in the photo is from the aforementioned deleted part of this tutorial. There is no reason you can't easily freehand this part). Repeat this step on the opposite (diagonal) corner. Allow to dry for a few hours.
Voila! Super easy, super quick, super adorable toddler costume!
It's a minor miracle that he stood still for that photo! After the first wearing, I cut a shallow neckline into the front piece for more comfort. My son, who was 20 months, did manage to get it dirty in a few places. If you need to wash it, I recommend spot cleaning. Otherwise, if you need to get a bit more thorough, you may wash it in the washing machine on "delicate" and hang it to dry. HOWEVER, the felt glue is a little water-soluble. I did face the issue of losing a couple of felt pieces off the thing, but I was easily able to re-glue them before the next wearing with no problems. The interfacing holds up well in the wash cycle. You can avoid losing the felt shapes by topstitching them on with red thread, but that betrays the "quick and easy" nature of this costume. :)"
Sew on, sew until your dreams come true!
Abby
