Are you like me who ruins every craft she starts? I may make a few crafts but it’s usually the 3rd or 4th time when I perfect them. If there is a wrong turn, a fold, regular glue instead of hot… those are the mistakes I will always make right off the bat. I am not logical with crafts. It takes me forever!
That’s why when I heard we had to get costumes for our 2nd grade musical for my elementary child, I started looking for what costume to BUY. Then a friend started sending me what she was making (a pig) and harassing me to make my own. It’s cheaper although it does take more time! I did a little searching on Google and found a ton of options but then found the best one for me. My girl wanted white duck with an orange bill. There were bright orange and yellow ones that we found but those looked more like chickens. We started with the easy looking Duck featured on Spoonful. I went online and to Hobby Lobby and dutifully purchased all the items before my friend started asking me why I was hunting for new shoes and thick orange socks.
What? I like to follow directions!
Out of everything I purchased, here is what I ended up needing.
– White Hat – Purchase from Amazon or Hobby Lobby ($2-$4)
– Large White Pom Poms – We used 2″ but these from Amazon would work too.
– 1 Square Black felt to cut nose & eyes on the bill – Hobby Lobby
– Orange felt – about 1/2 yard – Hobby Lobby or Joanne’s
– Orange Construction paper to make the ‘feet’ sturdy
– Double Sided tape to stick the feet to her shoes
– Polyfil batting to stuff the shirt – Hobby Lobby or Amazon
– White long sleeve shirt (Target for $2.40 on clearance, score!)
– Orange Leggings – From Amazon or we actually got them from Fleece Farm (quick shipping!)
– White feather boa – From craft store or Amazon.
I was buying for another Duck in her class so we were able to share the cost of some of this… but I also bought all the white felt that was recommended by Spoonful when the feather boa was easier and cuter. But I’m sure YOU could get away with spending much less.
Total cost? Maybe $25.
Time spent? Priceless! (Not!)
Okay, I spent about an an hour freaking out about how to make it and shopping, maybe more (my friend picked me up orange felt when there wasn’t any at Hobby Lobby) and it took almost 2 hours to make. Really not that bad.
We started with the hat. We traced out the bill on the orange felt. We made TWO versions, one on the top and one on the bottom and hot glued them to the white hat. The one on top has a little V at the top to help the nose show up. Carefully cut out two small circles of black felt for the nose and hot glued those to the orange felt on top.
Take two big fluffy pom poms and hot glue them to the white part of the hat for the eyes. Cut out two larger pieces of black felt and hot glue those to the pom poms. You may have to do this twice. The way the black felt ‘falls’ on the pom poms really makes a difference for the eyes. S’s friend was ‘Silly Duck’ while S was ‘Dazzling Duck’ in their play. So they used some silly felt for their eyes. You can also see here that I put sequins on S’s hat to ‘dazzle’.
My girl’s bill looks a little badly constructed here, haha. I made mine first and then I made her friends so I passed the nicer one over to her. She is on the left, it’s smoother. (See, 2nd try was much better than the first!)
The next part were the feet! Take a look at how Spoonful did it, you basically want to cut out an oversized ‘foot’ so trace a shoe but leave a big healthy inch left over on the side and then make webbed feet at the end. After you cut it out, fold it length-wise and make 3 cuts into the fabric to make an asterisk shape into the back of the foot. This is where they will slip their foot INTO and the foot will basically rest on their ankle and flop over their shoes.
Use the orange construction paper to cut out a smaller foot shape to hot glue to the bottom of the felt. We didn’t cut out a spot under the ‘webbed’ portion because we wanted it to be more ‘floppy’. However you want to work it though. This morning Sam slipped on the foot, put her shoes on, and the foot flopped everywhere, so I had some double sided tape handy and taped the end of the foot to the end of her shoe.
You can see above where the middle part is cut out for her feet to slip into.
Orange leggings, check!
Long sleeved white shirt, check! Get that boa and take a needle and white thread and sew up the arms. Mine ended up bunching up, which actually looked rather good. We shared a boa and we had a little left so we sewed the rest to the front.
Her tummy is pudgy because I stuck the batting in. I got bored this morning (plus I am sick) so I just did a little. We took an old tshirt and I doubled sided taped it to the shirt and stuffed it in between the regular shirt and the cut up old one. I knew if it was right next to S’s skin she would complain and it would probably fall out. Her friend did it much better!
So that’s how my girl went to school in her homemade Duck costume!
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