Homemade Charlie Brown

One thing I really enjoyed about Halloween this year was making Rory's costume.  I've always been a fan of the homemade costumes, especially as the kids get older and can make things themselves. 

The first year Rory was a cow.  He had pajamas with cow print and a cow hat.  It was all given to us as a gift and worked perfectly for a costume.  Last year Rory was a farmer.  I used a plaid shirt and overalls from his closet and topped it off with a John Deere hat that was also a gift.  This year got a little trickier because I was out of things already in his closet to use as an entire costume. 

The idea for Charlie Brown started last year at Christmas because we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas over and over and over....I have it memorized.  This year he has loved watching Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin so I knew he just had to be Charlie Brown. 

I started with a plain yellow shirt that my friend found at the craft shop.  This was the hardest part of the process.  It was so hard to find a plain yellow shirt that didn't have writing, a truck or football plastered across the front.  I also used 2 felt squares to make the stripes.

I wanted the stripes to match up on the sides so it looked like one continuous stripe around and for that I had to whip up some math skills.  I started by measuring across the shirt to determine how long the strip needed to be.  I knew I wanted 3 "peaks" so I divided the length by 3 and marked on the felt with a white sewing pencil.  I also made the stripe 2 inches in width...made the marks and then draw the lines together.  It was kind of like putting a puzzle together that had no pieces to begin with.

After that I cut out the felt strip and pinned it to the shirt.  It was easier to hand stitch this than use the sewing machine...at least for me.  I had a hard time getting the two different types of fabric to not wiggle around on the machine.  It only took about 30 minutes of hand sewing...which I completed while we watch Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.  How appropriate!



I completed the look with black pants and brown shoes that came right from Rory's wardrobe.  In the end it turned out just as I had envisioned and was an awesome costume.  It did take some time but cost less than $5 to make.  I look forward to more homemade costume making in the future.