For Halloween this year, one of my little guys decided he wanted to be a “scary dragon!” So I searched through the pattern catalogues for an appropriate pattern at my local Joann Fabrics, and I found Simplicity 1765.
I picked View B, and purchased red fleece for the body, with yellow fleece for the spikes and yellow felt for the stripes. I also purchased yellow glow-in-the-dark fabric paint for the spots on the arms and legs.
I thought the hood looked a little strange without ears (shouldn’t dragons have ears?), so I added some to the hood. (I just guessed what shape a dragon’s ears would have!)
This boy was thrilled with the finished product! He asked if he could sleep in it (then he realized it was a bit hard to sit down in it because of the tail…).
The fleece fabric keeps him sufficiently warm so no coat will be needed on Halloween – assuming it doesn’t rain.
For the wings, I changed up the construction, but kept the same shape from the pattern. Instead of making the wings in net or tulle and attaching pipe cleaners (as called for by the pattern), I made the wings out of felt and thick stabilizer (like that used for making bags). I also put wire in the top and bottom of each wing to help them hold their shape.
The wings still aren’t as stiff as I’d hoped, but the boy loves them.
And so far, they’ve held up to a 100k dash (a kids “Monster Dash!”) and a 3 mile walk, so I think they’ll make it through Halloween.
The pattern itself was pretty easy. It didn’t actually include directions on how to make the spikes, so I just assumed that they were supposed to be stitched right sides together with an opening at the base, turned inside out, then stuffed with filling before attaching them to their respective places called for in the pattern. That’s how I constructed them and it worked well.
It was a pretty quick make (even with unsuccessfully looking for the directions for the spikes multiple times!) and this little scary dragon loves it so much. Definitely worth the time and effort (and the cost that was surely much more than if I had just purchased a dragon costume at the store!).
Stay tuned tomorrow to see his brother’s rainbow unicorn costume!
I love watching these little guys experience the magic of all the holidays, including Halloween. As we wandered around our neighborhood fall festival today, it was so much fun to hear how excited they got seeing the costumes of the other kids.
Their enthusiasm is infectious – I’m more excited about Halloween this year than I have been since I was a kid!