A few days ago I gave you a sneak peek of the costume I made for Kiddo. Remember this pic:

Ten yards of tulle (I used the 102″ wide tulle) in many colors, ribbon, crown ornaments, crocheted stretch band thing, and plastic candy garlands from a few christmas’ ago. And after a few hours it turned into this

The Candy Queen! We found inspiration all over pinterest for this costume, although they where all candy princesses. Kiddo wanted to be a Queen. I’m not sure how the costume would be different to be a princess, but to her it’s a Queen.

All in all this was the easiest costume I have made for Kiddo so far. It’s one of those big bang for your buck kind of things. Yes it took a few hours, but really it was simple… oh and for all of you who don’t know how to sew (we need to fix that) this is a no sew costume.

Taking measurements: I had Kiddo put on the band thing (which becomes the top of the dress) I folded over two inches at the top to create a little extra support for the straps, then measured from her belly button to the floor. Kiddo measured 24″, so this is my final length for the tulle strips.

First thing to do is to cut all your tulle into 4″ strips. Very Important! – DO NOT UNFOLD THE TULLE! Keep it folded how is was on the bolt when you bought it, then fold it in half again along the length, and in half again. After folding you will have a piece of tulle that is the length of bought (1 or 2 yards) by roughly 6 to 10 inches. (In other words, when you are folding, you are folding the width to become 6 to 10 inches). This way when you cut your strips they will 1. be so much easier to cut and 2. will end up being 4″ by 102″ (or the width of the tulle you purchased). As for the length, I used 48″. (Why? because then folded in half the will be 24″ and that is the length of the skirt I needed for Kiddo.) Carefully stack each color of tulle, now unfolded, and cut through all of it to create the length (bottom left photo above).

Next, and for the next few hours, fold one tulle strip in half (lengthwise) put fold through one hole in the bottom row of the band and pull through a few inches, this creates a loop. pull the ends of the tulle through that loop and pull tight. Repeat, to create the first row. On my first three rows, skipped every other hole in the band. The last row, I added tulle in each hole in the band. Tips for this portion: 1. put the band around something solid (I used a game box) to keep it slightly stretched and 2. make sure you stay in the same row of holes on the band.

After awhile you will have a super full tulle skirt attached to the band top. Then we added ribbon as straps and tied a bow at the shoulder. (Add the ribbon the same way as the tulle but at the top, on front and back). I also added a ribbon around the band to “stitch” the folded portion down. Simply weave the ribbon through the holes and tie a bow in the front.

Next we took candy garland apart and used the pieces as beads and made three new necklaces…easy peasy.

Lastly we made a fascinator, of course. By gathering some scraps of tulle, beading some left over “beads” from the garland and attaching the crown ornament all to a head band, we had the perfect candy queen fascinator.

Right before the halloween parade at school today we had a crown change. The fascinator “is not big enough.” Luckily I had an extra crown ornament and headband to make a big crown. All in all this is one of my favorite costumes for Kiddo- it is so her. Happy Halloween friends! 

Sprinklings of my reality is a 31 day challenge…one day left!