DIY Cheshire Cat Costume

If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you may have noticed that Aurelia’s 5th Birthday Party is going to have an Alice in Wonderland theme, so I figured – If I’ve got to make an Alice dress for her anyway, she may as well wear the same outfit for Halloween a few weeks later. Now what can I make for Corbin to match? Ant thought he should be the Mad Hatter, but there was no doubt about it for me…This little bugger has Cheshire Cat written all over him and his cheeky little dimples! 

(Haha, see what I did there? cheeky…dimples… Alright, moving on.) 

The most awesome part about this costume is that I based the design completely on the pattern I created last year for the My Little Pony Sew-Along. I swear, that outfit is so darn versatile, with only a few tweaks, you could turn it into almost any animal you can imagine! The hardest part for this Cheshire Cat version was definitely making the fabric. After that it was a breeze. Of course I could have made it easier on myself by buying the pink and purple striped fake fur for $24 a yard, but you know me – I’m cheap, and I like to make things harder for myself. So instead I cut about 18 or so 3.5 inch wide fleece strips and serged them together to make my own fabric.

After that I used my hoodie and pants patterns to cut out the body for the cat. Keeping everything even with all those stripes can be a little tricky, but I find that if you draw the lines on your pattern first it helps keep them straighter.

Then once you have one piece cut out, you can pin the first directly to the fabric to cut out the second. Luckily hoodie and sweatpants patterns are very forgiving if you accidently stretch too much one way or the other.

The hood I made from solid purple, and instead of adding a mane as I would for a pony, I used the same method with only a tiny tuft of short strips at the front of the hood to mimic the Cheshire Cat’s fluffy hair. Ears were also made with the same pattern, just with one piece of pink and one of purple.

Lastly, I fashioned a tail – sorta shaped like this…

…from my scraps of leftover stripes. This one ended up being a bit too long for Corbin, but it gives you the idea for the general shape. I just attached the triangle to the end, folded it in half, stitched from top down to point, turned the tube right side out, filled it with fluff, and then sandwiched the open end inside the back seam of the pants when I stitched the legs together. That’s it!

Corbin seemed to enjoy being a Cheshire Cat very much, aside from the fact that he was absolutely terrified to find himself sitting up in a tree. He made absolutely sure to keep a death grip on Daddy the entire time, and was none too happy when I refused to let him down until I could just take “one” picture. (I’m such a mean Mommy.)

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And now it’s time for tons more DIY Halloween costume inspiration! Join in on the BLOG HOP! Click on the links below each collage to get the detailed instructions about how to make the costume pictured, just like mine above. Don’t forget to follow the Handamde Halloween Costumes Pinterest Board for even more DIY costume greatness!