The Very Hungry Caterpillar Costume

I always said that when I had a baby someday, I would want to the be the kind of mom that makes his Halloween costumes!

This was my very first attempt at a Halloween costume for my little guy!  I am so happy with how it turned out!  This is not really a tutorial but I am including some pictures that I took of my process along the way.

What I used

I am not a fabulous seamstress, but I do know how to run a machine and I know some of the basics of construction.  This was however my very first experience with pattern making.  I used an outfit that was in Aiden's size and had a similar shape to what I was aiming for. I used the newspaper because that was all I had that was large enough to make a pattern out of.

I added some length to the bottom because I wanted the costume to go passed his feet.  Once I had my pattern, I laid out strips of fabric in a variation of green patterns and shades to mimic the collage look created by Eric Carle.

I sewed each of the strips together.  My initial idea was to make it a typical seam but my husband suggested I sew them one over the next so the frayed edge would show and it would appear "hairy". This made the sewing super easy.  I did two panels with one seam in the back.  In the seam I places ribbon to match the picture in the book.

For the front, I again did two panels and one seam but I also put in a zipper so Aiden could fit into it easier since the fabric was not stretch.

I put elastic between each of the colors to give it a segmented worm look and put elastic in the bottom to cinch it closed.

For the hat. I couldn't find a red hat so I bought a white one and dyed it.  I sewed on felt circles for the eyes and used pipe cleaners for the antennae.

Aiden loved it.  He crawled all around the living room like a little caterpillar.  It was the cutest thing ever!