OH Repost: Itsy-bitsy repurposed black widow costume how-to
Being gung-ho about making at least one costume for one of my kids yet limited on time and skill I set out in search of a costume that would be homemade without being overly complicated or underwhelming. I wanted to make the costume out of materials I have since we've already spent a pretty penny on kiddie costumes and also consumption bad..recycling good.
What I found was this Black Widow Costume tutorial on Burda Style. The tutorial is easy, fast and uses very accessible materials. With a few minor adjustments and basic sewing skills I was able to piece together the outfit in two hours. My daughter already had a black long sleeved shirt and two pairs of tights she'd outgrown. She also had a pair of black tights and leotard to wear under the spider costume. Her sparkly red shoes just added a little extra pizzazz and color kick. Alas, the red fabric paint doesn't completely match the shoes but it's not too off. I used two pairs of tights instead of three for the spider legs because I thought the costume looked a bit overwhelming with that many legs. She still has eight spider legs if you count her arms and legs as two of the four pairs. Also, I didn't have any red material for the hourglass shape but I did have some red fabric paint and freezer paper so I made an hourglass stencil using a freezer paper stenciling technique. One word of warning, expect to apply several coats of red fabric paint to the black shirt to get the color you desire. I think used at least five coats. I decided to use Poly-fil to stuff the legs instead of black tissue paper because with my messy kid I know I'm going to have to wash this costume a few times. I tied the legs together with fishing line like the how-to suggested which tickles my daughter when she moves her arms. She likes making the legs "hug her." I love the way the legs are sewn into the seam of the shirt making her look like the cutest baby black widow EVER!
Something I think would've been fun to do with this spider costume would be to use a black hoodie instead of a shirt and sew eight fabric eyes to the hood.
