Make: Crazy Octopus Costume

*Note from Cat:
I made a "Gahhh!" sound when I saw the Halloween costume Shinmin made for her baby Mila. Soooo brilliant! And hey, I told her she could now go as "Octomom."

What are all of your little ones are going to be Halloween? Share your pics with us!

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by Designing Mom Shinmin

With Halloween fast approaching and one of the busiest seasons at work, I had originally decided to skip Halloween this year. But yesterday morning, I woke up and looked at Mila and thought, “I can’t deny Mila her very first Halloween. “ Of course, my husband Kiril added more guilt by saying to me, “You’re creative, why don’t you just make her something? ”

So I immediately sprang into a DIY baby costume frenzy. What could I make with materials that I already have at home and complete the project in one afternoon? I only have one day off, so a quick project is key.

I decided to make Mila an octopus costume (an idea I borrowed heavily from the October issue of "Parents Magazine").

MATERIALS:

Four pairs of tights or socks. I used two baby tights and two pairs of adult knee and thigh highs. I decided to use the light blue pair for Mila to actually wear and the others will be her 6 additional legs.



I found this belt laying around that my friend Marie brought back from Paris. I thought that the colourful rivets were perfect for the tentacle suction cups.



If you want to make this costume at home and you don’t happen to have a French belt with rivets, here is your chance to use up all those extra buttons that come with sweaters and jackets. I think using buttons will achieve a very fun DIY look. Of course, pieces of cut out round felt will work too.



I also used a black ribbon, a long sleeve onesie, hot glue gun, lots of cotton balls, and a needle and thread.

STEPS:
First I cut the longer tights and socks to match the length of the actual tights Mila will be wearing.


I kept the waist top from the tights for a future project.



Then I cut the ends to a point and sewed the seams from the inside. Of course don’t alter the tights that your baby will wear.



Then I stuffed the 6 legs with cotton balls. I couldn’t find batting in the art supply store nearby (which would have been preferable) so I hand shredded a ton of cotton balls. After stuffing the tights and socks, I sewed up the tops to close the openings.

Next I cut all the rivets off the belt and kept the buckle for a future project.



I then hot glued all the rivets to the legs to create the suction cups. After cutting off the blue bows, I sewed the pieces onto the light blue tights because I didn’t want the hot glue to itch her les.

I used 8 rivets per leg and had two rivets left over.


Then I measured Mila’s waist to determine the length of ribbon needed. Her waist is 17”. Imagine having a 17” waist?

I used masking tape and mapped out the 17” on the ribbon and added about 10“ to each side of the 17” for a total length of 37”.

Next I sewed all the legs onto the ribbon making sure that the legs stayed within the 17” outlined by the masking tape.


Remember the waist top from the tights? I decided to turn it into a hat for this costume. I sew on a couple pieces of white felt and added the remaining two rivets for eyes. I pulled at the leg openings to curl it back slightly.



I dressed her in a black long sleeve onesie. This one is from Imps and Elfs. The buttons spell out "LOVE". Tie the ribbon around her waist, add the hat and voila! Crazy octopus!