Homemade children's Fred Flintstone Costume

I knew there would be a fancy dress party at Blue Dolphin for our holiday this year and as I much prefer homemade costumes (plus they’re often cheaper) I put my mind to what to make.  I wanted something that would let the Monster & the Minx be a pair so that if one won the other got to go on stage too.  In the end, I decided to go with the Flintstones.  The costumes worked out much better than I could have hoped and (of course ;-p) they won!

In the end both costumes were incredibly simple and cheap to make.  It was a nuisance that my sewing machine is broken so I had to hand stitch everything but it was all done in a weekend – and as I couldn’t get time to just sit and make it it would probably have been even faster.

For those who are looking for something fun to make for their children, here’s how I made the Fred Flintstone costume.  This fitted my son, who is 5 next month.  The Wilma Flintstone costume will follow.

Fred Flintstone

You will need:

• 1 orange towel (I used a £4.99 bath towel from Ikea – not a bath sheet.)
• A small amount of black material (I used an old top of mum’s that she doesn’t need now she’s lost 6 stone)
• Enough blue material to make a fat, ragged tie (You can use any material you want but I was keeping costs down recycling so I took a blue top and removed the top part (from the armpits up) which left me with a circle of material.  I then cut one of the sides so I had one long blue stretch of material.)
• 1 small cushion (mine was a cheap one from Ikea – less than £1 I think).
• Velcro (optional – if using, get the sew on version!)
• Fabric glue
• Interfacing/card
• thread & needles
• Iron on hemming stuff

Method

• Fold the towel in half and cut a neck hole along the fold.  Make it round at the back and v neck at the front.
• Pin it to your child (carefully – they don’t like it when you scratch them with the pins…) making it loose at the front because you’re going to put a cushion there later.  Then remove it and stick up the sides where you pinned it.  Leave plenty of space at the arms – this costumes works well baggy and that makes it easier to put on and remove.  Trim off the extra material.
• Trim any extra material at the shoulders – the costume doesn’t really have sleeves though I left them a bit longer for extra coverage.  Hem them because the towel will fray like mad.
• Cut big triangles out of the bottom to make it all zig zagged and hem them – I was sick of hand stitching towel by this time so I used the iron on hemming which was great and much faster.
• Cut rough right angled triangles out of the black material – make them quite big and with slightly rounded corners.  Stick these randomly to the costume with fabric glue.
• Make a blue neck tie.   Roll the blue material up and tie it like a regular tie, making sure you leave plenty at the front.  Keep the knot quite large and position it at the bottom of the v neck with the neck of the tie fitting right round the rest of the neck hole.
• Stitch the tie round the neck hole – this not only keeps it in place so your child won’t fidget and remove it, it stops the towel from fraying.
• Make sure your material is doubled over for the tie because you’re going to put card/interfacing inside for strength and then seal it up.
• Copying an image of Fred Flintstone’s tie, cut it into a wide tie with a couple of notches removed.   I added some interfacing I had at the bottom of my box to make it a bit stiffer but you could just as easily cut up a cereal packed and put the card inside your tie shape for strength.  Either use the iron on hemming to seal it all together or stitch your tie up.
• Add a cushion to the inside to make a big tummy.  I velcroed mine in so I could remove it if it got too awkward for him after the parade but in the end I wish I’d just stitched it in place because I didn’t need to take it out.  If you DO use velcro, use sew in stuff, not stick on velcro because it doesn’t stay in place well enough and is a nightmare to then stitch in place because the glue messes up the needle.
• Use face paints/bronzer to make stubble, and spike their hair up – I used hairspray.

If you make it, I hope you win – and do let me know!

 

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