Create a Strawberry Halloween Costume from a Sweatsuit, Pajamas or Leotard

This costume is not only easy to create, it's bound to encourage healthy eating habits. The berry part of the strawberry is going to be favorite pajamas after Halloween or the school play. Inexpensive, everyday pajamas or sweat suit are the basis of the costume. How you dress up the costume is the key to converting those every clothing into a fantastic costume.

Materials

• Red Sweat suit, pajamas or dance leotard
• A Hat made using Wild Ginger's Free Wild Things Software -- directions follow
• Green Felt (enough to make hat)
• Tan Paint Pen, or tan felt with fusible applied to the back, and cut into tiny seed size shapes which can be fused to the sweat suit.

Directions

• Pre-wash the sweat suit or pajamas to remove any finish that may be in the fabric.
• Use the paint pen to create tiny seeds on the red suit or fuse tiny pieces of tan felt on the sweatsuit to represent the small seeds that cover a strawberry.
• Using the sun hat pattern in the Wild Ginger's Free Wild Things Software, create a sun hat pattern with an extended band height and extended brim. For this costume, the brim will be the cap of the strawberry and the band will be the stem. Set the width around the head to make a hat that will slip down to the shoulders so the brim will be laying on the shoulders or red strawberry. Cut a circle in the hat band for an opening for the face, being sure that there is optimal visibility for the person wearing the costume. Experiment with a double ended dart in the side of the had band to create a "bent stem". (Sewing Darts) Create the brim of the hat with just one layer of felt. Cut points into the brim to make it look like the cap of a strawberry. Pull the hat down so the "brim/cap" is laying on the wearers shoulders.
• Apply green costume makeup to the face if desired.