Joey's Halloween Costume

Unlike the past two years, this year I really took Joey's interests into consideration when deciding what to dress her as for Halloween.  She is getting to the age where she's enjoying dressing up, and I knew that her costume would be reused for playtime regardless of what it was.  She loves princesses but she's getting a princess dress for Christmas (shh!), so I didn't want to buy another one.  I turned to Etsy for some inspiration and found the idea of Candy Corn Princess. 

For Joey's Candy Corn Princess costume, she'll have a tutu, a magic wand, and either a tiara or a hat.

I found several tutu-making tutorials online, and the consensus said:

Cut the tulle into 4 inch wide strips
Cut the strips to double the desired length
Layer three strips together and fold in half length-wise.
Sew or knot around elastic (cut to desired length with the ends sewn or tied together)

I was able to find 25-yard spools of 3 inch wide tulle pretty cheaply, so I bought one spool each of white, yellow, and orange.  They were $1 each, but after shipping and handling (gag) they worked out to about $3 per spool.  I had 75 yards of tulle to work with, and would you believe that I actually used all of it for Joey's tutu?  I cut the strips roughly 24 inches long and layered three of the same color, folded, and sewed, allowing room to thread elastic through.  Although it seems to be the trend to make "no-sew" tutus with knots, sewing seemed easier to me.  I threaded the strips onto a wire hanger before the elastic to make sure that the tutu would have the fullness that I wanted.  After all of the strips had been threaded onto the elastic I sewed the two ends together, fluffed, and Voila!  A tutu!

The magic wand was purchased at Hobby Lobby.  It is a wooden star-shaped wand that cost $1.47.  I first painted the entire thing yellow using acrylic craft paint, and then added a candy corn design using white and orange paint.

A candy corn hat was lent to us by Paul's coworker, but if I'm able to find a tiara I may use that instead.

Joey will wear her costume over a long-sleeved black shirt, black leggings, black socks, and black Mary Janes.

This project was so much easier than anticipated that now I want to make tutus for Joey for every occasion!