DIY Pascal Halloween Costume

Last year I was incredibly excited to send my girls off on Halloween for their very first trick-or-treating experience as sisters. It was about this time a year ago when 3-year-old Whitney absolutely adored Disney's Tangled. I vividly remember her request to watch that movie 2-3 times on some days. She asked for Rapunzel dolls for gifts, and always pretended that her daddy was Flynn Rider and I was Mother. She would stand on her bed with me sitting on the floor below and I would call up, “Rapunzel! Let down your hair!” Then I’d break out into a chorus of Mother Knows Best (listen to your mother…) Therefore, it was no surprise to me when upon asking her what she wanted to be for Halloween, she quickly responded, “Rapunzel!”

All the role playing we did in the spirit of the movie fed into Kennedy (then one-year-old) dressing up as Rapunzel’s cute little side-kick and over-protective chameleon, Pascal. While Rapunzel was fairly easy for me to pull together, Pascal was a tad more challenging to scheme up. I scoured the web for a Pascal costume only to find one that was the closest to a chameleon, let alone Pascal. I found that costume at an adorable little Etsy shop called DreamDesign. However, at over $100 including shipping, I couldn’t swing it. So I had to go DIY.



Let me first note two important things. Thing One: I have never sewn anything in my life before this project. In fact, I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas seven years ago because I was about to get married and wanted to play good little house wife (which apparently meant sewing stuff), and the very first time I opened up the box to sew was for this very project. Therefore, anyone with even a novice DIY sewing background can create this costume. Thing Two: I had no pattern, I just winged the whole thing. Thing Three: (Yeah, I guess there’s another disclaimer.) Some of the photos you see during the DIY process were taken quickly on my iPhone. So, I hope it’s not too challenging to follow. Now, come along. Let’s make a Pascal costume.

Materials

• Footed hoodie one piece pajamas in green. I found mine at FootedPajamas.com
• One yard of matching green felt. (Pascal is tinted with several shades of green, so you can get away with the felt being slightly different than than the pjs.)
• Poly-Fill Craft/Pillow Stuffing
• One wire hanger
• Scissors
• Black marker or fabric pen
• Two large white pom poms
• Two larger brown buttons
• Two smaller black buttons
• One large safety pin
• Needle, thread, sewing machine
• (Optional) Varying shades of green felt leaves.
• One long roll of sticky Velcro (You need both the hard, prickly side and the soft, adhering side.)
  
  

Step One: Creating the Tail

Fold your yard of felt in half. With your marker or fabric pen, trace out the shape of your tail and cut it out. Save the remaining felt for later. I trimmed mine down to about 25" – 30" for 12-month size footed pajamas.



Fold the fabric in half down the length of the tail with the dull-side out and sew along the edge leaving the bottom/widest part open to be able to fill with stuffing; like you’re sewing a seam for a pillow.


Turn it inside out and fill with stuffing. Take your wire hanger and straighten it out. Slide it down through the stuffing. You may want to use the hanger to push the stuffing down into the tip of the tail. Once you have the stuffing and wire pushed in all the way to the tip, curve the tail to your liking. I decided to curve the tail with the seam up because the scales will cover some of the seam at the top/base of the tail; the seam won't be as visible toward the curled end of the tail.


Lastly, I sewed the opening at the base straight across to keep the stuffing in and to complete the tail.

Step Two: Creating the Eyes

Place the smaller-sized black buttons inside the larger brown buttons. Hand sew these onto each large white pom pom as if you’re sewing buttons onto a shirt. Then, hand-sew your eyes onto the hood of the footed pajamas. I had Kennedy try on the pajamas prior to sewing them on for proper placement.

Step Three: Creating the Scales

With your leftover felt, fold your fabric in half, then trace and cut out the shape of scales. Next, open up the fold of the piece you just made, and cut along the fold so that there are two identical pieces to make one scale.

Optional: I found a package felt leaves at my local craft store that included pairs of varying shades of green. Therefore, what I did instead of the above step was to simply match up my leaf pair with no folding, tracing or cutting. For a 12-month size costume, I had 7 total scales (or 14 individual pieces.)

Next, grab a felt pair and match it up evenly. Thread right through the middle to attach them together. I made my stich about 0.5in above the bottom of the scale. Do this for all of your scales.

Once they’re stitched together, grab your Velcro. Cut small strips of Velcro. It is easiest to adhere both sides of your Velcro together prior to cutting so that the sides match in length.

Open the base of the stitched scale and stick a piece of Velcro there. Place the other side of your Velcro onto the Pajamas where you want the scale to go. I simply eye-balled where I wanted the scales placed. I started at the base of the back of the hood and finished down the tail.

Step Four: Attaching the Tail to the Pajamas

I wasn’t sure how Kennedy was going to like that tail, and I wanted a quick and easy solution to remove it in case it got in the way of a my tiny toddler. Therefore, I attached the tail with a large safety pin from the outside of the pajamas, but underneath the tail for safety. If you have an older child, I recommend pinning from the inside to hold it in place more securely, or perhaps just sew the darn thing on for better security and aesthetic appeal. Mine hung a little lower than I would have liked. Do what works and looks best to you.

She actually loved wearing this.

We went to a Halloween birthday party and later trick-or-treated as a group that night, and Rapunzel and her trusty side-kick Pascal were a hit. No one could believe that I DIYed my way through this costume. And for a non-sewer like me, I couldn’t believe it either. This was a fun project that took about a weekend to complete, but gave us memories for a lifetime.

October, 2012.

Adorbs.

If you have additional tips or sewing tricks, please feel free to share them in the comments below. If you created your own Pascal costume using this design, I’d love to see photos of your hard work.

Erin Bettis