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Pea Pod Costume

This veggie is so adorable, you'll want to plop your child in the garden for a few photos before you go trick-or-treating! The costume can be a little time-consuming, but it's well worth the effort. The cost for materials is minimal and you can re-use the costume or sell it to a costume or re-sale shop when you're done!

The costume is worn in front of the body and on the head. To ensure that the costume won't fall off or be uncomfortable for your child, you need to spend some time trying it on him or her before finalizing the center hole. This is probably the most time-consuming part. You don't need a sewing machine, but it does help when you have to sew the main seam. Hand stitching works well, too.

• 1 1/2 yards of green material
• 1/2 yard of light green nylon or spandex material (has to stretch)
• Needle and green thread
• 1 square of dark green felt
• 2 green pipe cleaners (chenille stems)
• Poly-fil stuffing

The Pod:
First, measure your child's height from her chin to her feet. Then measure your child's head from the top of her forehead to the bottom of her chin. You want the lower section of the pea pod to be about down to your child's ankles or feet. Once you have those measurements, lay the 1 1/2 yards of fabric on the floor or large table and fold it in half length-wise. 1 1/2 yards is about 54 inches, so you need to determine where your child's head will poke out from the hole in the costume. Draw a half circle on the fold of the fabric, indicating where your child's head will be.

Next, draw what will look like a banana or crescent moon shape on the fabric, making the widest part of the curve placed in the center of the folded fabric. Do not cut this line just yet. You need to make ties for the headpiece. Because the head piece will be tall on your child's head, and the costume will hang from the front of his body, you need to leave two long pieces of fabric attached by the head-hole (see diagram).