Start with real clothes and with minimal crafting experience.
At this point, my 4-year-old thinks the sky is the limit for Halloween costumes. He thinks I can create anything from thin air. I don’t want to get his hopes too high but I do like to make his dreams come true.
Last year, he needed to be a rainbow Nothronychus. Yes. Really. And the final design looked nothing like this Dino but it was exactly what Cillian wanted and it wasn’t terribly difficult to make.
I also like to make costumes that use real clothes as the base. It makes them more comfortable and a little bit easier. You can see my past costumes here.
Things you need:
- Shirt and pants
- Gloves
- 1-yard tail fabric
- Felt – I used 4 different colors, one sheet of each.
- Velcro
- Plastic bags for stuffing
- Hot glue gun
- Basic sewing skills
- Sewing machine
For the back spikes:
Cut diamonds out of the felt so one-half of the diamond is the size you want the spikes to be.
Lay them on the back of the shirt and sew them down the middle.
Fold the diamonds closed and stitch around the edge. I used a zig-zag to add some stability to the spikes.
For the claws:
Cut long triangles the width of the glove finger and desired length.
Hot glue the claws on the tops of the glove fingertips.
For the feet:
I used a sheet of green felt to cut out a U shape the size of his shoes. It took some trial and error to figure out so maybe use paper to establish a pattern.
Sew or hot glue “claws” on the front of the foot and use Velcro on the back strap.
Tip – On the day of, I pinned the feet to his shoelaces because they kept moving.
Also, don’t hot glue if you plan to sew the claws or velcro into place. It will mess up your machine.
For the tail:
By far the trickiest part. I loosely followed this tutorial for How to make a dinosaur tail.
I used orange felt to cut a zigzag for the spikes keeping them connected 1/2 inch from the bottom. It should look like a row of mountains.
Fold your tail fabric in half and cut a tall triangle the length and width you want the tail to be, keeping the fold. When you unfold the fabric, you should have a large triangle.
Refold the fabric with the right sides together (inside out). Place the bottom edge of your mountain range spikes along the open side of the tail. The mountains should be inside.
Sew along the long open edge from the base to the point. Turn the fabric right side out.
Stuff the tail with plastic bags and sew along the open bottom edge.
Tip – The tutorial uses a circle to close the bottom of the tail but I ain’t got time for that 😛
The belt:
Using the leftover tail fabric, cut a length big enough to wrap around the waist with overlap and twice as wide as the desired width.
Fold with right sides together and sew three sides leaving a short side open. Turn right side out. Sew the remaining side closed.
Tip – Use a pencil or re-usable straw to push the fabric tail right-side out.
Attach velcro to either side of the belt.
Attach the tail to the back of the belt.
To complete the look, spike the hair and spray it green.
Make it a family costume by dressing like Dr. Graham and Ellie Porter from Jurassic Park.
Let me know if you use this idea the Halloween!
XO Beka
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