Lion Costume

Making a lion costume for your little one is pretty simple if you have a few basic sewing tools around, or you have a crafty friend. We all need a crafty friend in our pocket.
Here's what you need to make a pint-sized lion:

1 pair of brown sweats in your child's size

1/4 yard yellow/gold felt

1/4 yard light brown felt

brown fringe yarn

knit chin tie hat

Finding a plain brown sweatshirt was hard, so I ended up buying a sweatshirt with print on the front and flipping it inside out. The hat is the most time intensive part of the costume but definitely still beginning sewing, so no need to stress.
Using a ruler as a guide, mark several lines about 12 inches long on the yellow felt with black marker. Cut into strips along the line. Once you have all your yellow strips, fold them in half and cut. Make as many as you need for the outline of the hat. They
shouldn't overlap but need to touch. This is your lion's mane. Pin them carefully onto the edge of the hat.
Sew all the yellow strips {the mane} onto the perimeter of the hat. Isn't it cute already? Now we need to make some ears.
Lay your brown felt out and trace a circle onto the fabric, again with the sharpie, and cut. I used a bottle from the cabinet to trace a perfect circle but if you're good at freehand, you're all set. Once you have your circles, cut just a smidge off the edge to create an ear. Now pin the ears onto either side of the hat and sew on top of the yellow felt aka the mane.
Now that the lion's mane/hat is done it's time to move on to the last piece of the costume, the tail.

Roll up a piece of brown felt that's about 2 feet long and about 3-4" wide. Sew a running stitch along the back side, along the seam of the roll, to keep the twist together. This is the lion's tail. You can make it as long or short as you want, depending on the age of your lion. A dragging tail is not what you're aiming for this Halloween.

Once your tail is all stitched up, fold over one end and stitch down to make a base for where you'll attach the tail to the sweatpants. At the other end of the tail wrap the fun fringe yarn around several times to make a fluffy tail. Once you have the desired furriness, stitch it down onto the felt. Now that your tail is done sew it onto the sweatpants at the waistband. Make sure it will stay on for the night but will be easy to pick stitches out when you're done so you can re-use the sweatpants after Halloween is over.

That's it!

Use some brown eyeliner to make whiskers and a brown lion nose, maybe some red lipstick on the cheeks to make a jolly little lion and you're done. Adorable lion finished.
Once the kids are costumed, it's your turn! See what's hot for grownups at StyleList.