How to Make a Child’s Flapper Costume

By Jenn, Momma D and Da Boyz

I am so excited to be posting here at Dollar Store Crafts!  Heather had asked if anyone was up for making a Halloween costume out of items from the dollar store, and that was right up my alley.  I headed to my local Dollar Tree and looked for inspiration up and down the aisles.  When I found pink feather boas I knew what I wanted to do!  This is how I made a flapper costume for my niece!

Project estimate:

• T-shirt (long enough be dress length on the child you are making the costume for), $1 and up
• 2 feather boas, $2
• Bead necklace, on hand or $1 and up
• Sequined headband, $1
• Artificial flowers, on hand or $1 and up
• Hot glue, on hand
• Sewing machine, on hand

Total:  $4 and up

First I went into my niece’s closet and got an a-line dress to use as a pattern.  I folded both the t-shirt and the dress in half and outlined it.

Then I drew a parallel line about 5/8” away from the original to give me a seam allowance.

I then cut out my dress, still folded in half, giving me more of a chance of symmetrical sides.

Then I sewed the dress together.  First I sewed seams up both sides.  Then I went around the armholes, and finally around the bottom hem.

This is my finished dress, not bad for $1!

Next I went to work on the accessories and embellishments.  For the headband I took the sequined headband and popped a flower off of the bunch.

Turning the flower around I then cut down the plastic piece that sticks out and attaches to the wire stem.   A liberal amount of hot glue to hold it to the sequined headband and ta-da!  A cute flapper headband!

While I had my hot glue gun fired up, I went back and attached one of the pink feather boas to the hem of the dress with the hot glue.  (Ignore my battered old glue gun, she does some hard work in this house!)

I also added a few more flowers along the hem to add a little extra pizzazz.  Add the beaded necklace and bracelet.  Throw that second pink boa around the shoulders and you are good to go!

Here is my two-year-old niece looking oh so fabulous in her flapper costume.  Who knew just a few bucks could look so good?

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Ghost Pillowcase Dress Costume

by Mandy, Sugar Bee Crafts

• Halloween Garland (loved the shimmer of purple), $1
• a pack of black dishcloths, $1
• 2 flour sack things – they’re by the kitchen towels, and there’s essentially a big square of white fabric, $2
• Sewing machine & thread, on hand
• Hot glue & glue sticks, on hand

Total: $4

How to Make It:

1. Cut the flour sacks to the size you want, lay them on top of each other with right sides together, and sew up the side seams.

2. Cut the half-a-“u” shape for the armholes as shown. Turn the edge and sew it down.

3. Cut the garland into 2 pieces – one that will go all the way around the bottom of the dress for trim and one to use as a shoulder tie. Also cut eyes and a mouth from the black dishcloth.

4. Then iron and sew down on the top of the front and back about 1 inch.  This will make a casing that the garland can pass through to tie the dress around the shoulders.

To attach the face pieces and garland trim around the bottom, I just used hot glue.  Then feed the other garland piece through the casing – try on the dress and tie it in place over one shoulder.  Voila!

I love this costume because it can also be everyday wear during the Halloween season.  My daughter wears it with a tank top and leggings underneath.

p.s. Last year I made an updated version of this classic halloween costume, too. Check out my tutorial: a ghost, but pillowcase style.

The post Tutorial: Ghost Pillowcase Dress Costume appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

If you have a little girl, you probably have dozens of hair clips laying around.  DSC reader Marilyn of Sharing the Wealth came up with a cute way to organize her daughter’s hair clip collection.   The design keeps all of her hair clips organized and easy to find; hang it on the back of a bedroom or bathroom door for easy access when getting ready for school!  It’s especially handy for clips that come in pairs, since you can hang them together and avoid misplacing one of them.  You can also personalize this project by changing the facial features and hair color to make her look more like your child.  [how to make a hair clip holder]

Project estimate:

• Wooden oval, $1
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Yarn, on hand or $1 and up
• Ribbon, on hand or $1
• Hot glue, on hand

Total: $1 and up

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I have eleventy-hundred tote bags around my house. They’re one of my guilty craft pleasures. I like to make them, swap for them, and because I have so many, I try to avoid buying them at the dollar store, even though they have so many cute ones (this is especially true for Target’s dollar spot). Reader Lynnette at Get Your Craft On devised the most adorable use for dollar store tote bags: cute tank tops for her toddler. Once again, I wish I had girls so I could make yet another adorable toddler clothing creation! Well, what’s stopping you? You have girls so go get sewing! [click for full tank top made from tote bag tutorial]

Project Estimate:

• Dollar store tote bag, $1 (Lynnette’s was actually discounted to 25 cents!)
• Scrap fabric, on hand
• Sewing stuff

Total: $.25 and up

The post Make a Tote Bag Tank appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

How about making a pretty petal backpack to brighten up your child’s back-to-school routine? Jessica at Happy Together (DSC hearts her!!) made this adorable little backpack with two items she picked up at the dollar store. So cute! She has two different methods for making them, so be sure to check the tutorial out (found at UCreate, a great blog with lots of inspirational ideas). [click here for the tutorial]

Project Estimate:

• Small backpack, $1
• Faux rose petals, $1
• Hot glue gun, on hand

Total: $2

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Making cute barrettes for newborns, infants, and little girls is a simple and fun project. My mom and I were only too overjoyed to experiment when we were faced with several baby showers for female babies (there are no little girls in our family yet!). We made hair adornments with newborns and infants in mind, and we experimented with several different styles, sizes, and hair-clipping methods.

First off, we hit up our favorite local craft thrift store (if you like crafting and you are ever in Portland, OR, I highly suggest scheduling in a trip to Knittn’ Kitten!) and gathered supplies for making wee barrettes. You can use whatever you have in your stash, too!

Craft supplies we picked up:

• ribbon of different widths and styles, $1 each, or on hand
• buttons, on hand
• lace, $1 or on hand
• (optional) a package of 1″ yo-yos (you’ll need to make your own or find them at a thrift store or garage sale, or grandma’s sewing room!)

We also picked up some additional supplies. You can find these at your dollar store, local big-box warehouse department store, craft store, or drug store.

Additional supplies:

• mini barrettes (also called “snap pins“), $1
• Velcro-type round closures, on hand or $1
• elastic, on hand or $1
• needle & thread, on hand

Total cost: $1 and up

Unsure of what kind of barrette would work best in baby-fine hair, we experimented with several styles (well, actually, my mom did all the experimenting!) such as:

The Classic Clippie

Way, way back in the 1980s, my mom made “clippies” for my sister and I in a similar style to these pink ones.

To make:

Take a length of lace and gather it on the hemming edge, into a rosette. Tighten the thread and tie off. Add a ribbon bow and a cute button. Attach securely to clip.

These turned out really cute, but they were kind of big for a newborn or infant (about 1-1/2″ in diameter). They’d probably be better for a toddler. See the clippie “in action” above in my pre-schooler’s* hair.

So, the revised infant-sized version was made:

For the small clippie, just a 1/2″ piece of ribbon was gathered into a rosette and embellished with a cute button, then attached to the clip. Here you can see the type of clip we used, and the method of attaching the embellishment. Because these are intended for small babies, we secured the ribbon to the clip with thread instead of a hot glue gun, with the idea that it would be harder for the baby to pop the ribbon off the barrette if it was sewn on.

The Velcro Barrette

Another method we used that we think would be great for wispy baby hair is the Velcro “barrette.” We made lightweight embellishments (these Hello Kitty ones were made using a pre-made “bow” cutout and a shank button) and sewed them to small 1/2″ round Velcro pieces.

This version of the Velcro barrette looks like a kimono to me!

To put this barrette on baby, just remove the back of the Velcro round, place under small amount of hair, and attach front of barrette to back of barrette, with hair flowing through the Velcro. This is very lightweight and doesn’t pull the baby’s hair, but stays secure.

My toddler wasn’t available at photo shoot time! We did test it on his* hair, though (still baby wispy-fine), and the Velcro worked very well.

The Snap Tape Barrette

Another barrette method we tried was using snap tape. How do you use it? Snap it into baby’s hair – hair is caught between both sides of the tape and stays secure. It seemed to work well, but is harder to remove. That might be a good thing if you have a grabby girl!

For the snap tape barrettes, we used the mini yo-yos with ribbon and shank buttons, and they looked really cute! We sewed the snap tape to the yo-yo. The pre-made yo-yos we had were bold colors, but you can make yo-yos in any color you want, and they sure are sweet! These ones are about an inch in diameter.

Here’s another yo-yo barrette shot because I like the Hello Kitty buttons! :)

Magnet Barrette Fail

Not all of our experiments were successful. For instance, we tried to make a “barrette” out of sheet magnet, thinking maybe we could make the magnet stick to itself with hair between the pieces of magnet. With standard thin/weak magnet sheet, this didn’t work well.  It did actually stay in the hair, but just not to our satisfaction. It might be worth experimenting with further if slightly stronger magnets were used.

Send this barrette to CraftFail.

And on to the headbands. We made a couple styles:

Lace and Velcro Headband

One headband was made with a length of lace that fits around baby’s head, and secured with a couple pieces of velcro. The bow-style, which we think is so sweet, takes very narrow ribbon and makes a loopy bow, secured with a pretty button.

The lace and velcro headband stays put very well, and looks super cute.

The Elasticized Ribbon Headband

To make this headband, sew two pieces of ribbon together on long edges, leaving a small opening (an inch or so) to run elastic through. Put a safety pin on the end of a piece of elastic and run it through the ribbon casing to create the headband. Attach desired adornment. For this headband we used grosgrain ribbon for the headband and pretty sheer ribbon for the loopy bow.

We also tried the same method with bias tape for the headband. It worked fine as well (and you only have to sew it on one side). I like the lace and narrow ribbon loopy bow on it! And don’t you love those pretty rhinestone buttons?

This style of headband seems to work well, too, but we didn’t give it the “church service test” to see if it stays on for longer than five minutes! Please let us know how yours works for you!

*Thanks to my sons for being my guinea pigs! :)

And thanks to my mom for doing all the hard work!

Warning/Disclaimer: Please watch baby if you make these – she might put them in her mouth!

The post Make Baby Barrettes appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

This would be a super fun thing to make for a goody bag for a princess or dress up birthday party!

Project Estimate:

• Fat quarter of fabric, $1.25 or on hand
• Two plastic bracelets, $1
• Buttons (optional), on hand
• Scissors, on hand
• Needle & Thread, on hand
• DVD case (used for pattern), on hand

Total: $1 and up

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