Smiffys Tabby Cat Costume, Grey with Hooded Jumpsuit, Children's Animal Fancy Dress, Animal Dress Up Costumes

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For this DIY cat costume, Julia wanted to keep her tail simple and not too noticeable. But you can make a long bendable cat tail using a bendable wire or a wire clothes hanger. Spotted: The Ocicat and the American bobtail are good examples of spotted tabby patterns, although some moggies will also demonstrate this color pattern. Simply cut out a piece of fabric the length you want the tail and twice as wide as you want your tail, plus an inch of seam allowance. An easy way to hold up fabric ears is to use some bendable wire such as aluminum crafting or beading wire. You can also use pipe cleaners, floral wire, or even the wire from a clothes hanger. You will now have a long fabric tube. Turn it right side out using your favorite tube turning method.

While I used my sewing machine when I created this cat costume for my thirteen-year-old niece, Julia, you can sew it by hand if you don’t have a sewing machine. You don’t even need a glue gun! Sew your tail, flip it so the seam is on the inside, NOW insert the wire into your fold until it hits the stopper at the tip, and cut your wire. For these cat ears, I actually moved the side seams into the middle of the ears so that the fabric pulled into the center, similarly to how cat fur faces inward at the ear. Honestly, I just want to wear these fingerless gloves and leg warmers/boot cuffs every day. They are super cozy. (I think I might steal the gloves and add them to my camera bag to keep my hands warm while I photograph in the winter.)A super effective way to turn a fabric tube inside out is to make a small snip in the fabric at one of the open ends, then slip a hairpin/bobby pin over that little piece of fabric and insert into tube. Because you want your cat gloves to be “fingerless”, you need to leave an inch or so open in your side seam for the thumb to go through. With hand stitches, begin to sew your ears onto the headband, taking care to put your stitches through the fabric on the top and bottom of the headband cover and also catching the bottom of the wire ear frame. As you did with the gloves, you need to make sure you have enough width in your design to accommodate getting your piece on and off.

Fold the headband fabric in half, lengthwise. So you will have a folded over piece of fabric that is an inch or two longer than your headband. Measure and cut out a piece of fabric that is an inch or two longer than your headband and double the width, plus 1″ seam allowance. Step 5. Sew headband coverFor this new cat costume for teens, I made an even prettier style of cat ears. The method I used for these plush cat ears is more refined and simplified. (After making all those ears, I have discovered what works and looks best.)