Rainbow Unicorn & Rainbow Butterfly Costumes

I finally finished the girls Halloween costumes! Hooray! It’s been a tad stressful getting ready to exhibit at International Quilt Market this next week in Houston, TX and trying to make sure I have all my family stuff in order before I leave. And one of those items was making sure the Halloween costumes were ready to go since I get back only two days before the big day.

I know I’ve mentioned this before in previous Halloween posts, but I have the best memories of my mom making our Halloween costumes. They were so special. So even though the kids only wear them for one night, I try my best to make sure I keep of my mom’s tradition of a handmade costumes for Halloween. Plus, I love making my kids dream costume come true. It’s such a joy!

One thing I have learned during this years ‘Halloween consultation’ with my girls is that they are very opinionated and had big ideas for their special Halloween costumes. I was definitely schooled in the ways of Rainbow Unicorns and Butterflies. These costumes are entirely my girls’ vision……..I was simply their seamstress. They are the designers here.

When Savannah said she wanted to be a rainbow unicorn, I thought she meant her whole body, but that was not the case. She said that her whole body was supposed to be white with a swirly rainbow horn and rainbow mane and tail. The only thing I added to this costume was the three stars on the backside because I can’t leave well-enough alone.

For the body, I used a pair of footy pajamas that still fit Savannah and created a pattern with those as the base. I just left off the foot part. The front of the main body has a big, long 36″ zipper for easy on and off. Then I added a hood with wrap around that would velcro under her chin. For that I just drafted it and crossed my fingers that it would work and added it to the back of the main body.

I chose to use fleece for several reasons. One reason was that it is usually pretty cold in Chicago during Halloween and it’s always so disappointing to have the kids wear a coat over their costumes, so I wanted something warm and cozy. Plus it’s perfect for layering. And secondly, fleece doesn’t fray so I knew I wouldn’t have to finish all the edges of the mane and tail…….a definite bonus!

For the horn, I sewed strips of fleece together and then cut the horn shape out. I stuffed it with fiberfill and hand sewed it on top of the mane. For the mane, I fringed different colors of fleece and inserted them into the seam in the hood in rainbow order. The main goes down to the neckline; however, it looks longer because of the way it falls in the back.

For the tail, I simply cut different colors of fleece and inserted them into the back seam of the one-piece outfit. I had some leftover striped fabric from the horn so I cut some stars out of it and sewed them to the back of the one-piece main body. Someone over on Facebook said it kind of looks like rainbow bright and it totally does!!

Matilda wanted to be a rainbow butterfly. For this one I had visions of a very girly, almost princess butterfly costume. Nope, that’s not what this little lady had in mind. She wanted her whole body to be black (because butterflies bodies are black) with rainbow wings and straight antennas. And since I wanted to make her vision come to life, this is what I came up with…..

Since I already had purchased all the rainbow fleece,  I decided to use that for the wings. I used two layers of white fleece with a layer of Peltex Ultra-Firm stabilizer in between. I free-hand drew the butterfly wing shape trying to make it the right size for Miss Matilda.

For the shapes on the back of the wings, again, I just free-hand cut those making sure the two sides were symmetrical. I just kept cutting until the shapes fit together nicely.

I sewed the fleece shapes onto the wings and then added some blue circles in the middle of the wings. Then I sewed all the way around the wings to bring all three layers together. Again, the great thing about fleece is that it doesn’t fray! So easy!

The antennas are just a couple pipe cleaners twisted together and attached to a black headband. The black headband is on top of the hoodie and kind of holds the hood up. This hoodie was one I made for Savannah’s cat costume last year, but it worked perfectly for the butterfly costume. I sewed the wings to the back of the hoodie to make sure they stayed put.

The girls loved their costumes and had so much fun trying them on. They also loved Savannah’s tail and mane. Sometimes you just have to shake it when you have rainbow colored fleece all over your body, you know?

I love these sweet girls. Sometimes they have to put up with wearing what mommy designs for them when it might not be their first choice, but when it comes to Halloween, it’s all about them. I’m so happy that I can create exactly what is in their little minds. These girls dream big. I hope they stay that way forever.

So I’m not 100% sure about Caspian’s costume since he doesn’t really care what he is yet, but we’ll see what I come up with for the little man. I better get on that. I leave on Wednesday! Who knows…….maybe I’ll leave Daddy in charge of that costume.

What about you……..have you finished your kids’ costumes?