Each parent on the eve of the New Year is wondering where to get the child a carnival costume. Girls and boys at holiday concerts in kindergartens often play the role of bunnies, squirrels. Isn't that cute? But what if you don’t buy or rent a standard banal outfit, but sew a squirrel costume with your own hands? You can try and create your own original model by investing in it all the parental love.
Moms only need to try hard and think through everything. Dads can also take part in creating a unique outfit.
Material needed
Everything needs to be done quickly if there is very little time left before the holiday. So, in order to sew the Squirrel carnival costume, we need:
- meter of steel wire;
- 1.5 meters of aluminum wire;
- faux fur red or brown (with a width of 1.5 meters, we need no more than 20 cm);
- the cheapest belt of medium thickness of any color.
Tail frame
If you have an extra belt for adults, it must be shortened at the waist of the child. Then cut it in the middle, bend about 3 cm on both sides and sew. In the resulting two loops, put the frame of the future tail. It must be made of steel wire, which is bent in the form of a squirrel tail.
The next step is to try to strengthen the resulting design. To do this, wrap the frame with a thinner aluminum wire. This procedure will add some volume to the future tail.
Sew tail
It's time to move on to the most crucial step. We sew a tail from that fur which was bought in advance. The frame should be 45 cm high. The fur should be folded in half and sewn so that the length of the fur cover is slightly more than 45 cm.
Starting to sew a squirrel costume with your own hands, the main thing is not to worry that the seams will be inaccurate and visible. Pile faux fur will hide all the minor flaws of the seam on the tail. From the side it will even seem that the canvas is simply solid.
All you need to sew with your hands, folding the details with the fur inside. When all the seams are done, just turn the fur, it turns out a beautiful squirrel tail. It remains only to put it on the previously constructed frame.
Way out
If you did not sew anything before, you may run into a problem. The tail will not hold on to the weight of the structure and will constantly fall. But there is a way. From the back you can sew on two thin harnesses made of fur. They will dress on their backs according to the knapsack principle and thus keep the tail upright, like a real squirrel.
Fur skirt
When the creation of the tail is completed, we can proceed to sewing the remaining elements of the costume. Next in line is our fur skirt. And then no one should have problems. It is enough just to measure the desired length and make one connecting seam. Fur fabric, bought in advance, stretches a little, so the skirt sits right on the figure. You can dilute a fur suit with an embroidered shirt. In general, the image will be more than successful. So the squirrel suit is sewn with his own hands.
Makeshift hair ears
If the girl’s hair is quite long, you can improvise: do not cling to the ears on the rim or the brushes on the elastic band, but use the more interesting option. We divide the hair parted into two parts and tie high ponytails. We form small cones from them and fix them with red rubber bands to suit the color of the costume. You can also attach a small piece of fur to the makeshift ears, and the squirrel costume, made with your own hands, is ready to go.
Squirrel Ears
If your child’s haircut or hair is very short, then the ponytails will not work. It is worth thinking about artificial ears. They can be cut out of pieces of red felt according to the pattern and framed around the edges with fur or made fur brushes. Attach the ears to the hoop with liquid nails. You can even sew them on an elastic band, but it will not be so spectacular.
We sew ears in the second way
And here is another interesting way to make beautiful squirrel ears. It is suitable for small children. In addition to the headband for hair, you can use elastic bands to which the ears will be attached. In order for them to stand upright and be voluminous, it is necessary to use foam rubber for filling.
We make a pattern
So, for work you need small pieces of satin white, red flowers, foam rubber, black threads for brushes and an elastic band or rim. Patterns must be made in the form of a leaflet, the size is chosen at your discretion. According to the pattern, cut 4 parts from satin (2 white and 2 red) and 2 parts from foam. Do not forget that the details of the satin will be stitched, so you need to leave a small allowance for the seam.
Tassels
In order to make brushes on the ears, you need to take a small piece of cardboard and make about 15 turns of thread on it. The last revolution secures the bundle of threads on one side. With the other scissors you need to cut the threads and free from cardboard. You can say the bundle is ready. It should be wound with black thread from the bottom for reliability.
The main stages of work
Now back to the question of how to make a squirrel costume, namely ears. The white and orange details of future ears must be folded with the front side and fastened with pins. Insert the brush inside so that only its tail sticks out on top of the eyelet. Gently stitch the part, leaving about 2 cm unstitched below, in order to fill the ears with foam rubber through this hole.
Duplicate another ear. After that, turn out the stitched parts. It can already be said that it is very beautiful. But you need to do the work further and fill them with foam to create volume. Foam rubber must be inserted carefully so that it does not shrink inside, but lies flat. After that, squeeze and flash the ears from below, now they look just like real ones. It remains only to sew them to the rubber bands or to the rim. Everything, you can try on. And if you still make a nut out of foam rubber and beautifully decorate it, you will get a squirrel costume from the Ice Age.
Conclusion
You can work on creating a costume with the whole family, such a close-knit work will bring everyone a large number of positive emotions. And even if you did not know how to sew a suit of squirrel, then by trial and error you will definitely get an unusual result.