Bumble Bee Costume Tutorial {Inexpensive & No-Sew}

No-sew costume #creativegreenliving
My son is obsessed with bees. When he turned three, we had a bee birthday party, which was the inspiration for this fun costume. Best of all? It's no-sew, baby! If you are scared of your sewing machine (or just don't have one), you can still have a pretty sweet costume.


Supplies

  • Body & Wings
  • Antenna
    • Black headband
    • Thick and Thin chenille stems
    • Wire cutters
    • Hot glue
  • Black pants
  • Black long sleeve shirt


Directions

Step 1: Make the body
Insert scrap cardboard into the t-shirt to prevent paint bleed through. Use the packing tape to mask off areas of the shirt where you do not want stripes. Use the soft fabric paint and a sponge brush to lightly apply the paint in a bouncing motion to the t-shirt until all stripes are painted.
No-sew costume #creativegreenliving

Allow the paint to dry (or mostly dry if you are impatient like I am) before peeling away the packing tape. Keep the cardboard inside the shirt until it is completely dry.
Homemade bumble bee costume for kids #creativegreenliving


Step 2: Wings
Insert the iron on interfacing into the white t-shirt (or sandwich it between 2 pieces of white fabric). Follow the instructions to fuse it to the fabric with your iron.
Wings for a costume #creativegreenliving

Tape two pieces of printer paper together and lay them on top of the back of your yellow t-shirt (that's dry!) to get an idea of scale for the wings. Use a marker to free-hand the wings you would like. I drew a larger upper wing, a skinnier lower wing and a funny trapezoid to be the place they would join together.
No-sew costume #creativegreenliving

Cut out the wing pattern pieces. Lay them on the t-shirt-interfacing sandwich and trace them onto the fabric with a marker (draw the pieces onto the fabric slightly larger so you can cut inside the lines to avoid black marks on your wings)
No-sew bumble bee costume #creativegreenliving

Cut out your wings and adhere them to the back of the shirt using Heat N Bond ultra strength adhesive tape (disregard the "regular" kind pictured - it doesn't hold up!).
No-sew costume #creativegreenliving

The most effective way to do this is to create an area in the trapezoid where you overlap the tape to create a larger bondable area. Of course, if you DO sew, you could just stitch them to the body of the shirt as well. In a pinch? Use hot glue. Although, hot glue won't be a long term or washable solution.
No-sew costume #creativegreenliving


Step 3: Antenna
To make the antenna, cut the thick and thin stem in half (so each half has two bumps). Wrap the bottom half inch or so around the headband and secure with hot glue. Bend the antenna in the middle.
No-sew costume #creativegreenliving

Step 4: Get dressed
Be sure to wear the long sleeve black shirt under the bee shirt to keep little arms warm. We just had my son wear black track pants he already had to go with the costume. I love how this turned out and that it is sturdy enough to stand up to more imaginative play after Halloween!
No-sew costume #creativegreenliving

No-sew costume #creativegreenliving


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4 comments

  1. Beautiful concept...though you say no sew... but only if we sew the front part of the yellow Tee with Black fabric, will it look bad? Because i think coloring the front part may cause some itching inside (or may not)

    You are the expert here and you probably know which will be better... loved your idea and want to feature you on ours ( http://www.isewingmachine.com/ ) as well ....

    Let us know your thoughts.. we always love to have an insight from the best

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think sewing black stripes would look bad but it does sound like a lot of extra work. The paint I used it very soft - no itching!

      One place you could sew instead is the wings. If you used a sewing machine to secure them to the shirt, they would last longer than the iron on tape I used.

      I'd love to have you feature my post. Please link back to this post and don't publish the directions or more than 2 photos on your site.

      Cheers!
      Carissa

      Delete
    2. Thanks Carissa for the update....

      yap you are totally right that we could sew the wings ... didn't hit me earlier... nice thinking... :)

      we are planning to feature you as Creative & Beautiful post... and will link you back and will follow your instructions...

      Will update you after doing... till then cheers... :)

      Delete

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