Bumble Bee Costume Tutorial {Inexpensive & No-Sew}

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
• Yellow T-shirt
• Tulip Soft Fabric Paint in Black
• Sponge brush
• Packing tape
• Scrap cardboard
• Ultra stiff, double sided, iron-on interfacing (buy this in the fabric store, I got 9 inches)
• White t-shirt or white scrap fabric
• Printer paper
• Permanent marker
• Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive (be sure to get Ultra hold)
• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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!).

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.

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.

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!

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