Happy Halloween!

There were going to be others, but this year I managed only one Halloween costume for the 18 inch dolls like American Girl, Springfield, Our Generation, etc. A year or so ago I stumbled upon the cutest toddler’s costume and pinned it immediately. I didn’t know at the time how – just knew someday it would happen. And, it did! Now, somewhere in Texas, the chicken is on an AG doll, ready to trick or treat!

What a fun fun challenge!

During the interim, I happened across the tutorial: MakingAmerican Girl Doll Tights from a knee sock and, of course, pinned the link under Clever Ideas for safe keeping until needed.

Sofia (Springfield) was a good sport throughout the process!

I followed the directions to make the tights from a sock I had, and cut out the “feet” from felt. I then put the sock/tights on Sofia and hand stitched the feet on top of the sock.

The “base” is from the smallest onesie I could find/buy

then adjusted to fit Sofia.

I used a second onesie to form the hood.

Once the 2nd was pinned down to the first,
I hand stitched, then trimmed away excess.

I then attached the beak and red comb (or crest) on top of the hood.

With needle and thread, I quickly realized the boa used for the toddler was MUCH too big for Sofia. To make this work, I had to come up with Plan B.

I took plastic wrap and totally covered Sofia, securing well, then put her onesie back on.

Yep, pulling out individual feathers from the boa, and using good ole fashion Elmer’s Glue worked great. Tedious, but great. As a result of this plucking, the boa also became thinner. Then it was perfect size to wrap around here and there and across the shoulders and over the chest and back up to the snaps between her legs – hand stitching along the way to secure.

I let the costume (glue) dry thoroughly for several days before removing, to remove the plastic wrap and put the tights back on, then the feathered onesie.

She’s ready!

At the last arts/craft show, I had her standing at the table facing the aisle … so wish I had a candid camera going to share now! The expression on people’s faces (especially the little ones that were at eye-to-eye level) when they realized what they were looking at was absolutely priceless!

I’m thrilled the woman who bought the Chicken Costume was as excited to get it as I was to create it!