Handmade Halloween: Turtle Costume from Castoffs

My 2-year-old little boy is going to wear the turtle costume I made last year, which still fits because of the way it’s put together (and because the pants are very stretchy). I started out by going to Goodwill and finding a sweater and sweatshirt in two contrasting colors of green. It was important to get things that were very finely knit so that I could cut them without having to worry about finishing them off to keep them from unraveling.

I cut the arms off the light green sweater (a very soft, stretchy chenille) and sewed them into the pants, using the waistband of the sweatshirt as the pants waistband (cut down to size). It was still a little too large, so I cut a slit in the waistband and threaded a cord through them so I could pull it tight and tie the cord.

I re-sized the body of the light green sweater by taking it in, then used it for the body of the costume, sewing on dark green shapes cut from the sweatshirt. I’m not sure why I did this by hand—it could certainly be done by machine. Again, the pieces didn’t need finishing because of the fine knit.

For the turtle shell, I took a really large platter and traced it onto the dark sweatshirt, then applied light green shapes to one side of it in the same manner I had done to the turtle body. I sewed the two ovals right sides together, then cut a slit in the plain side, flipped it right side out, and stuffed it with fiber fill. Then I sewed the shell to the back of the body.

For the hat, I took two U-shaped dark scraps and sewed them together at the top—no finishing.

The little man is still a bit young to object to having mom pick out his costume. If I can just get my daughter to agree to wear the one I made for her last spring, I’ll be all set.