Welcome to day 4 of Homemade Costume week. This bumblebee Halloween costume looks great in person, and could not be simpler to make. A black shirt, yellow duct tape, some pipe cleaners, and a pair of dollar store wings. You can make this no-sew bee costume in about 15 minutes.

Project Estimate:

• Black hooded sweatshirt, on hand
• Yellow duct tape, $3
• 2 yellow chenille stems, on hand
• 2 yellow pom-poms, on hand
• 1/4″ elastic, $1
• Hot glue gun and hot glue stick
• Pair of bee wings from dollar store, $1

Total: $5

To make a no-sew bee costume:

I originally made this costume for Kaboose.com, a site that closed down several years ago, and unfortunately, there is no longer an internet archive of the instructions, and my version of the instructions are long-lost on my old defunct computer.

Basically, add yellow duct tape stripes to a hoodie, then hot glue pom-poms to a couple of chenille stems, then duct tape them to the inside of the hood. Curl the stems around a pencil.

Add a pair of yellow dollar store fairy wings to complete the look.

My Design Process:

I don’t know if you folks care about seeing my sketches or not, but it amuses me, so I’ll just keep posting them. My original sketch was slightly more complicated than the costume ended up — I originally envisioned a black hoodie with a yellow t-shirt over it, but when I started making the costume, I eliminated the yellow t-shirt and just went with yellow duct tape stripes. I also called for the costume to be stuffed with grocery bags (to make it more round) but I decided the stuffing was unnecessary when I put it on my model (my 4 year-old).

My craft planning process is this:

• sketch the project and label what each part is
• think through the actual process of making it and what supplies I will need
• write down the process as I imagine it (so I have “instructions” to follow)
• then take a step back and see if there is anything I can eliminate in terms of supplies or extra work
• collect my supplies (from my stash, or shop for them)
• do the project and change something (usually!)
• make sure to photograph most of the steps so I can remember how I made it

How do you plan for your craft projects? Do you have a sketchbook?

The post Make a No-Sew Bumblebee Costume appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

The Princess Costume is a classic for a reason! Who doesn’t want to dress like a princess? It’s simple to create your own no-sew princess costume for use as a Halloween costume, or just for everyday pretend play. 

Even if you don’t sew, this princess costume idea is perfectly simple to construct. You can make this princess dress in under an hour using a few no-sew tricks. The main requirements for a great-looking princess dress are proper length and the right color, so let your child help you pick out the perfect color of fabric and ribbon for a dress she’ll just love.

Don’t let these instructions stress you out! You’re basically making a tube of fabric with elastic. You can do it!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which may provide a small percentage of any purchase you make when clicking on the links, at no additional cost to you.

DIY Princess Costume Materials:

• 1 yard of fabric (color of your—or your child’s—choice)
• 1 spool of coordinating ribbon
• fusible fabric webbing tape (I used Stitch Witchery)
• ¼-inch wide elastic (length depends on your child’s measurements)
• safety pin
• hot glue gun
• hot glue sticks
• scissors
• iron
• measuring tape
• ribbon (at least 36-inches long)

Princess Costume Instructions:

Adjusting the Size: This dress fits a 5T nicely, but if you want to make a different size, measure from your princess’s armpits down to the tops of her feet and get your fabric cut to that length. Once you add the casing and the bottom hem, the dress should be about 3-inches above her feet, to keep her from tripping.

1. Iron the fabric to remove excess wrinkles and creases. Open up the fabric and lay with right side down. You should have a rectangular piece of fabric with two raw edges and two finished edges. Fold over one raw edge about 1-inch and iron to crease. After fabric is creased, iron a piece of fusible fabric webbing tape under the crease and fuse fabric according to package instructions. This is the hem of the dress.

2. With fabric still right side down, fold the other raw edge over about 2-inches and iron to crease (this will be the edge opposite the hem). Use your hot glue gun to glue just the very edge of the 2-inch fold, leaving a casing. You will run the elastic through this casing later, so be sure to leave an unglued area wide enough to eventually feed through a safety pin and the elastic.

3. Lay fabric out flat with right side up. Fold in half so that the plain edges meet. Hot glue the two plain edges together to form the back seam. You should now have a tube of fabric with the hem at the bottom, the casing at the top, and a seam at the back. The dress will be inside-out.

4. Leave dress inside out for now. Flatten the dress so the seam is in the middle back. Cut a 24-inch piece from your ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half to find the middle. Hot glue the very middle of the 24-inch piece of ribbon to the front-center of the dress (over the casing) so it forms a V. This will be a halter strap to keep the dress from falling down.

5. Turn dress right side-out. Flatten dress so seam is in the middle back. Take your remaining piece of ribbon (about 12-inches depending on your child’s size) and fold it in half to find the middle of the ribbon. About 6-inches down from the top of the dress, squirt a 4-inch line of hot glue horizontally on front of dress, and attach the center of the ribbon to the line of hot glue. This will fix the ribbon waist ties to the dress.

6. Use the measuring tape to measure around your child’s chest right at the armpits. Add 2-inches and cut a length of ¼-inch elastic using that measurement. Attach a safety pin to the end of the elastic, and thread through the casing at the top of the tube. When the elastic is threaded completely through the casing, tie ends of elastic together.
 

7. To wear the dress, the elasticized top will be pulled up to the armpits. Tie the neck ribbon around the back of the neck halter-style. Take the long waistband ribbons and criss-cross them around the body as many times as you can and tie at the back or the front.

No Sew Princess Costume Tips

What to Wear With This Costume: Pair this dress with a long-sleeved top or t-shirt underneath, and add tights for warmth while trick-or-treating.

Accessorize: Be sure to glam this dress up with the right accessories. Every princess needs a crown, jewelry, a wrap or feather boa. You can find most of these things at the dollar store or your local department store, or craft them up yourself.

Fabric choices: Plain cotton is the cheapest option, and the easiest to work with in terms of ironing. Polyester can come in many different finishes, and can look very shiny and princess-y, and will have a good drape and fluidity. You can find inexpensive costume fabrics at your local fabric store that will work nicely. You can add additional ribbons and trim to fancy it up as much as you like.

Washability: You can actually wash this garment, even though it’s constructed with hot glue! Hang to dry.

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The problem with seasonal decor, especially if you live somewhere with limited storage space, is finding a place to put it once its season has passed for the year.  If you are familiar with this conundrum, then you need to see these adorable fabric pumpkins by Ananda at A Piece of Rainbow.  Believe it or not, these cute little decorative pumpkins are constructed using rolls of toilet paper and various fabric items from around the house: kitchen linens, clothing, scarves, or whatever else you happen to have on hand.  When it comes time to change your seasonal decor, just disassemble them and return all of the items to where they belong – no special holiday storage required!  [how to make no sew fabric pumpkins with toilet paper]

Project estimate:

• Toilet paper, on hand
• Fabric items, on hand
• Twig, on hand

Total:  FREE!

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It’s getting to e spring cleaning time – are you clearing out your closets this year?  Heather has a great idea for you to recycle an old vest into a fashionable new shirt, no sewing required.  This is a great idea for those dress clothes that your kids have worn once and then promptly outgrown!  Get the details how to make this fun shirt over a iLoveToCreate.  [how to make a no-sew vest t-shirt]

Project estimate:

• T-shirt, on hand or $1 and up
• Vest, on hand or $1 and up
• Fabric glue, about $6 and up

Total:  about $6 and up

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What do you do with your scrap fabric?  I have a whole box of little leftover bits that I’ve hoarded away for future use, but for the most part all I do with them is just that: hoarding.  Want to put some of your scrap hoard to good use?  Check out this tutorial by Cintia from My Poppet, who used her scraps to twist up some gorgeous fabric twine!  The finished twine can be incorporated into all kinds of other crafty projects.  Use it to string up a bunting, tie some around a gift wrapped in kraft paper, use it as a funky replacement for shoelaces…  What would you do with fabric twine?  [how to make twine from scrap fabric]

Project estimate:

• Fabric scraps, on hand
• Spool or something to wrap twine around, on hand

Total:  Free!

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This week we are bringing you a fun no-sew stenciled pillow tutorial, courtesy of Tulip and their fine stencils and fabric paints, part of the Tulip For Your Home line. Do you have an old t-shirt that you no longer wear? Or maybe you found a stash of colorful t-shirts at the dollar store (I love it when that happens) and you want to create a cute home decor accent. Well, look no further! We’ll teach you how to make a cute stenciled t-shirt pillow – no sewing required!

But first, check out the gorgeous pillow cover we made using Tulip’s NEW Tulip For Your Home goodies — a line of home décor stencils and paints (including large scale stencils and contemporary home decor color paints)!

Leopard & Lips Stenciled Pillow

I love the unexpected color combination that makes this leopard print très chic! Check out the paint color palette we used, as well as the cool stencils we received:

I’m loving the copper paint on the blue-grey pillow cover! By the way, the pillow covers are part of the Tulip For Your Home program, so you’ll be able to find them right with the stencils & paint at your local craft store. The stencils are designed to coordinate, and come in different sizes so you can layer them over each other.

Once we made this pillow cover, we couldn’t wait to get busy and do a second project! This is where we show you how to make the no-sew stenciled t-shirt pillow!

No-Sew Stenciled Owl T-shirt Pillow Tutorial

Are you afraid of sewing? Look no further than this cute and easy no-sew pillow project. This is a great tween craft!

Project Materials:

• 1 T-shirt (the larger, the better)
• 8″ Owl Stencil from Tulip For Your Home
• Blue Tulip Soft Fabric Paint
• Tulip Paint Roller
• An old pillow
• Freezer Paper
• Iron

How To Make It:

1. Stencil Your T-shirt:

Prepare your t-shirt by ironing freezer paper to the inside of the t-shirt. (Put the freezer paper plastic side down, and iron on the paper side until freezer paper is stuck to the t-shirt). Turn shirt right-side out (freezer paper will be on the inside).

Spray Tulip Stencil Spray Adhesive lightly on the back of the owl stencil. Place stencil on t-shirt and press in place .

Apply Tulip Soft Fabric Paint to stencil with the Tulip Paint Roller. Remove the stencil to reveal the owl design. Let paint dry up to 1 hour. Clean stencil immediately.

2. Trim and Tie T-shirt

Cut t-shirt just below armpits, and cut off waistband hem. Cut sides of t-shirt off.

Cut 2″ notches in the sides of the t-shirt squares, about 1″ apart. Cut a notch in at the corner of the square.

Tie top and bottom t-shirts together to create the pillow without sewing!

Leave a few ties untied and stuff pillow with stuffing (we used the stuffing from an old misshapen pillow we had on hand).

When the pillow is stuffed, tie the last ties until it’s all closed up.

Visit Tulip Here:

• Facebook: facebook.com/lovetocreate
• Twitter: twitter.com/ilovetocreate
• Pinterest: pinterest.com/ilovetocreate
• Blog: http://ilovetocreateblog.blogspot.com

This post was brought to you by Tulip and Blueprint Social. All opinions are my own.

Check out what other bloggers are making with Tulip For Your Home:

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Love the idea of a DIY stuffed animal but aren’t so sure about your sewing skills?  Here is one that anybody can handle making!  Jen at Kids’ CBC created this cute little slithery fella out of a sock, and it doesn’t require a single stitch. It’s a great way to use an odd sock whose mate has gone missing; or if you go out and buy a pair of socks for this project, you’ll be able to make a pair of matching snakes!  [how to make a no-sew sock snake]

Project estimate:

• Knee sock, on hand or $1
• Polyfill, on hand or about $3 and up
• Googly eyes, on hand or $1
• Felt, on hand
• Hot glue gun, on hand

Total:  Free and up!

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Have you ever thought about making your own Easter basket? It’s easier than you might think! Brittany at The House That Lars Built whipped this one up using a method that requires no special basket making skills, and despite the use of fabric, it also requires no sewing skills! This would be a great project for using up fabric scraps or remnants, or you could even recycle old sheets or clothing into baskets. Or make one without a handle to use as a decorative bowl for year-round use! [how to make a no-sew fabric Easter basket]

Project estimate:

• Rope or cord, on hand or $1 and up
• Fabric, on hand or $1
• Hot glue, on hand

Total:  Free and up

The post Make a No-Sew Fabric Easter Basket appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

How adorable is this elephant made from a sock? And how awesome is it that this is a no-sew project? Gather up the kiddos and whip some of these guys up with a tutorial courtesy of Kirsten at One Tough Mother, who recently featured a who week of zoo-inspired kids crafts on her blog. Ho fun would it be to make these at a slumber party? Use dollar store socks, or be even more thrifty and make dolls out of odd socks whose partners have been lost or have gotten holey! [how to make a no-sew sock elephant]

Project estimate:

• Socks, on hand or $1 and up
• Polyfill, on hand or about $3 and up
• Felt, on hand
• Rice or beans, on hand
• Rubber bands, on hand
• Googly eyes, on hand or $1
• Hot glue, on hand

Total: free and up

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Some things just have an autumn-y feel to them.  Things like leaves, gourds, and one of our favorite fabrics, burlap.  It has a rustic look that is perfect for harvest time!  Colleen at Just Paint It came up with an easy way to incorporate burlap into her fall decor by using a dollar store felt leaf as a stencil and turning the resulting design into a pillow.  Her version isn’t even sewn; if you aren’t comfortable with your sewing skills, a little hot glue or some tape is sufficient to hold everything in place through the season.  If you’re not a burlap fan any fabric will work – Colleen even suggests using a painter’s drop cloth as a fabric source.  You can also use the leaf to stencil all kinds of coordinating items!  What else would you stencil with spray painted leaves?  [how to make a spray painted burlap pillow]

Project estimate:

• Burlap (or other fabric), on hand or $1 and up
• Felt leaf, $1
• Spray paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Pillow form or stuffing, on hand or $1 and up
• Sewing machine or needle and thread, on hand

Total:  $1 and up

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