Friends, we hope you enjoy this Halloween-y craft tutorial! Snug in their forest home, the animals of Hazel Village aren't too familiar with the Halloween celebrations of the human world. However, if there is one thing that they know ALL about, it is dressing up! The making and wearing of elaborate costumes is a favorite Village pastime throughout the year. Naturally, the animals sometimes like to craft tiny costumes for their dollies as well ♥️
Emma Rabbit was feeling inspired by the misty and mystical October weather, so she decided to make a little witch hat for her mini gray cat Lodge. Gwendolyn Raccoon wanted to match with her raccoon dolly (who she calls Gwendolyn Junior), so she made her a tiny crown and fairy wings. Augustus Wild Boar has been enjoying the autumn's bountiful harvest, so he chose to make a pumpkin hat for his mini puppy Charlie. (Augustus tells us he is experimenting with a spiced pumpkin sandwich recipe – delicious!)
Here are the supplies you will need to craft these mini costumes:
- Our printable pattern template
- Scissors
- Felt
- A needle
- Embroidery floss
- Ribbon
- Paper
- Something to color with
Witch Hat
First, trace your pattern pieces onto felt and cut them out. Then thread your needle – we used 3 strands of brown embroidery floss to sew this hat, but you could also just use any thread you have.
Fold the cone piece in half so that its 2 flat edges line up. Sew the flat edges together, starting from the tip of the cone. We recommend using a ladder stitch (sometimes called the invisible stitch), which you can learn in
this video.
Once you have sewed to the bottom and pulled your stitches tight, tie a knot to secure this cone shape.
Next, sew the cone to the brim all the way around using small stitches. We used a
whip stitch for this.
Optionally, you can add an accent band around the crown of the hat. We used green embroidery floss. You could use thin ribbon or string, or perhaps add some tiny leaves or other fanciful accents. Make it your own!
Fairy Princess Crown & Wings
To make the crown, find a piece of ribbon or fabric that won't unravel or fray very much when it is cut. We used velvet – satin or leather would be good choices too.
We folded our velvet ribbon in half and snipped diagonal cuts along it to create the crown shape.
Wrap the crown around your mini animal's head so you know how big it needs to be. We made sure that 2 of the points overlapped in the back, and trimmed off the extra ribbon. Then we sewed the ends together.
To make the wings, trace your pattern piece onto your preferred material (we used watercolor paper). You could use card stock, thin cardboard (such as from a cereal box), construction paper, or regular printer paper. You could also use felt or another fabric if you'd like.
Cut out your wings and decorate them however you wish. We were inspired by the animals'
shimmery play wings, so we decided to copy their design. First we sketched in pencil:
Then we painted over the lines with gold:
To make the armbands, cut a piece of narrow ribbon to about 6 inches long. Sew the ends together to make a circle.
You will want to make sure that these armbands are oriented so that they can be wiggled onto your mini animal's arms. Hold the ribbon so that it makes loops on either side, like this:
Then overlap the middles and pinch, like this:
Sew the two sides of the ribbon together in the middle. Test to make sure that these loops fits over your mini animal's arms – if it's too snug or too loose, you may want to try again with a slightly longer or shorter piece of ribbon.
When you have a good fit, sew the armbands onto the center panel of the wings.
This method should fit any Hazel Village mini animal that has this particular shape, like the mini raccoon. If you are making wings to fit a differently shaped mini, such as
Tulip the elephant, we would recommend just sewing a longer piece of ribbon to the wings instead, and tying it in a bow around your mini's middle.
Tiny Pumpkin Hat
First, trace your pattern pieces onto felt and cut them out. We used green felt for the stem but yours could also be brown – or perhaps you are going for an entirely different and more avante-garde pumpkin color scheme, which would also be nice.
We used a pencil to very lightly sketch some curved lines onto both pumpkin pieces. (A water-soluble embroidery pen would be a better tool for this, but we didn't have ours handy.)
Then we embroidered along all those lines with a running stitch, which you can learn
here.
Next, we used a
blanket stitch to sew around the opening on the front pumpkin piece. This stitch creates a nicely finished edge, even if you are not sewing multiple pieces of fabric together.
We also added some decorative stitching to the stem, using a
backstitch to create vertical stripes and a blanket stitch around the sides and top:
Then we sewed the front and back pieces together along the sides, again using a blanket stitch. Start sewing from the bottom corner and work your way up and around. Make sure to leave a good 2 inches open on the bottom for your mini animal's head!
When you reach the divot on top, tuck your stem between the pieces and sew a few stitches across the middle to secure it.
Finish sewing around the other side to the opposite corner. Then use the same blanket stitch along the bottom of the front panel then the bottom of the back panel, leaving the bottom of the hat open. This makes a comfortable neck opening for your animal.
It should be noted that all the fancy stitching on this craft is optional. If you want to keep it very simple, you could just use a backstitch around the border to sew the pieces together and you would still have a delightful pumpkin hat.
Now your mini animals are all ready to accompany you trick-or-treating or attend a Halloween party at your side. Huzzah!! 🎃🍂
Thank you for reading, friend! Did you make this craft at home? Send us a photo or tag us on social media @hazelvillage! For any questions, please email us at hello@hazelvillage.com.
You might also like:
How to Make a Pumpkin Hat
