Green Fur Monster Costume

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• 1 1/3 yd - Fur fabric (60” wide)
• 1 1/2 yd - Quilt cotton for lining
• 1 1/4 yd - Fleece (45” wide)
• 1 yd 3/4” - Elastic
• 6” Velcro
• Simplicity Pattern #2788
• Felt squares - 1 white, 1 black
• Fabri-Tac glue
• Small amount of polyester stuffing for hood
• White pencil to mark on black felt
• Ballpoint pen to mark on back of fur
• Basic sewing supplies
• Iron, pressing surface and press cloth
• Sewing machine
• Walking foot
• Hair brush to brush out the fur

Note:
Trim the fur away from the fur fabric in the seam allowances of the costume.
Check these directions for the width of the seam allowances, they change for the hood and don’t follow the pattern directions.
Use the brush to pull out fur that gets caught in the seams.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Find and cut out pattern pieces 7 and size medium and large of 8 for the hood and 20, 21 and 23 for the body.
2. Lay the fur facedown on the work surface. Pin pattern 20 to the back of the fur with the grain of the fur going from the top down on the pattern. Cut out the pattern piece by cutting only the backing of the fur not the fur itself. Repeat, cutting another piece 20.
3. Pin piece 21 to the back of the fur with the grain of the fur going from the top down on the pattern. Cut out the fur piece. Repeat, cutting one more. Turn the pattern piece over and cut two more pieces as mirror images of the first two.
4. From the fleece and the lining cut out two of piece 20 and four of piece 21. Follow the pattern directions for the Ladybug C step 1 disregarding the last sentence that says remaining body sections will be used for lining. The lining fabric will be used for lining.
5. Trim the fur away from the fur fabric (don’t cut the backing) in the seam allowances as mentioned in the note and follow steps 2 and 6.


6. Turn the costume inside out and press around the shoulders, neck and armhole edges. Be sure to use the press cloth as the heat of the iron will melt the fur. Brush the fur to get any caught in the seams out which will help the seams “disappear”.
7. To make the casing for the elastic, turn the lining up out of the way and draw a line on the fleece 1 3/4” up from the bottom edge. Trim away the fur from the bottom up to the drawn line.


8. Cut the lining off 1 to 1 1/4” above the drawn line.


9. Turn the bottom up at the drawn line and pin. Sew about 1/4” from the cut edge of the fur to form the casing. Be sure to leave a 3” opening to feed the elastic in the casing.


10. Follow steps 8 through 10 of the pattern directions.
11. To make the hood, lay the fur facedown on the work surface. Pin pattern 7 to the back of the fur with the grain of the fur going from the front to the back on the pattern. Cut along the large size on the pattern piece. Cut out the pattern piece by cutting only the backing of the fur not the fur itself.
12. Pin piece 8 size large to the back of the fur with the grain of the fur going from the top down on the pattern. Cut out the fur piece. Turn the pattern piece over and cut one more piece as a mirror image of the first.
13. Repeat with the lining, but cut the medium size on all pieces.
14. Sew the lining together as in steps 2 and 3 of the Lamb A pattern directions.
15. Sew the fur sections together using a 1/4” seam allowance when connecting the sides to the center. The lining and fur pieces need to fit together at the front (face hole) and the back neckline, so go back and sew the seams so they taper from 1/4” seam allowance to 5/8” seam allowance starting about 3” from the ends of the seams.
16. Sew the fur to the lining as in step 4 of the Lamb A pattern directions.
17. Turn the hood inside out and press the edges using the press cloth. Put some stuffing between the lining and fur to fill out the hood a little. Be sure to leave space for the child’s head.
18. Sew the opening closed and attach the Velcro.
19. To make the eyes, cut three fan-shaped pieces out of the fur following the direction of grain as marked on the pattern. Cut three small circles of black felt and three large circles out of the lining and the white felt.
20. Glue the black circle to the white circle to make the eye. Repeat for all three. Allow to dry.
21. Fold the fan shape in half, right sides facing with the two straight edges together. Sew a narrow seam along the straight edge. Repeat for all three fan shapes. Turn inside out and stuff the cone shape lightly.
22. Place the lining circle at the opening of the fur cone and sew all around with a zigzag stitch to close up the cone. Repeat for all three cones.
23. Glue the eyes to the flat circle end of the cone.
24. Determine placement of the eyes on the hood and glue or hand sew in place.

JOANN Hacks:

• Trim the fur away in the seam allowances.
• Use a hair brush to brush the fur out so the seams do not show.
• Use a press cloth when ironing to void melting the fur.