Harry Potter House Elf Costumes

                              HARRY POTTER
                               House Elf Costumes, Completed
                                             

Harry Potters'  Costume

                     
The clothing for the costumes were created from 2 queen size bed sheet that I had  purchased second hand. After cutting the dresses out I stained the garments in a black tea bath before stitching them together at the shoulders and sides. I also cut the belts from the sheets. The long johns and the shirts that were worn underneath were purchased second hand. The slippers they both had on hand.

I found the glasses at the dollar store and initially thought to use them for the eyes. Too dark to be worn in the evening the kids decided to use body paint on their faces and other exposed skin. I think they did a wonderful job of completing their costumes.

Dobby and Winky Costume

  The bulk of the work for these costumes was most definitely in the creation of the head gear.
I used an old white t shirt for the head gear which was also stained with tea to create the aged effect. 
 I cut and stitched together two caps from each of two shirts, to create the two head pieces.
The stretch in the T-material allows for more maneuverability with the fabric when it is wet with the fabric stiffener.
(see pic below)

 The first cap was put onto the head and secured with a small knot at back. The second cap was then put over the first and brushed with fabric stiffener as as I worked my way around from front to back, tucking, stretching and folded as needed.
The excess material on the outer cap was folded up and manipulated into wrinkles on the forehead and the upper face area.
 Two ties for each headpiece were cut from the T-shirts, stained and stitched at back to the outside cap, allowing the finished head piece to be pulled to the back and tightened with a knot.

  The ears were also cut from the t shirt pieces, stained, stuffed,stitched and attached to the head gear.

Harry Potter Costume

 I formed two Elf  Nose forms out of Polymer clay (different on each elf) and then baked them to a hardened finish. Strips of tea stained T- shirt fabric were then brushed with fabric stiffener and wrapped around the Polymer nose forms. After leaving them dry and harden overnight I then removing the polymer nose from the basic hardened shell of a nose. Several more layers of stained, stiffened cloth were applied to the nose to add bulk and durability before stitching it to the cap, between the two layers.
 The cap should be put on before securing the nose to the head piece, to ensure that it will hang down and sit properly on the wearers nose bridge. Because the nose is hollow it will lay down onto the real nose BUT they complained that the hardened fabric ends rubbed their noses the wrong way so I rectified the problem by gluing a brown piece of felt onto the inside end of the nose, leaving enough slack that the nose rested up inside the soft fabric while sitting comfortably over the bridge of their noses. Finally I used an  awl to poke nostrils holes into the noses.

Dobby and Winky Costume

Harry Potter Elf Costume
The knot at the back of the outer cap is seen at bottom here.

              Inside the caps









See More Home Made Costumes on my For the Love of Crafting Page
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