Bananas for Ephraim: Dobby Costume

Yes, this is a no-sew, super cute, DIY costume for boys. This costume cost me about $3 to put together and took me maybe an hour. If you don't have a glue gun or fiberfill on hand it might add a little bit to the cost, but it is still super inexpensive. It was so easy, and I think it's super cute. Bonus, you get to show off your nerdiness and pass it on to a younger generation. Yeah! We are going to use it as a part of a family costume theme. My husband will be Harry Potter and I will be Ginny, but I think it is a cute stand-alone costume as well.

Materials

2 Pieces Flesh Colored Craft Felt
Brown Marker
Wig Cap
White T-shirt (Size Child Medium)
Strip of fabric/rope for a belt
Polyester Fiberfill
Glue Gun
Scissors

Headpiece

To make the ears I folded each piece of Craft Felt in half and drew the ear shape on it using the following pattern.

Line up the pattern on the seam of the folded felt where it says to on the pattern.

Next, I used the hot glue gun to go around all the edges except the flat edge where it says 4.5 inches. I actually would put glue on around three inches of the edge and press the sides together, and keep going, because I found if I tried to do too much more the glue would start to dry before I could push the edges together. I started gluing about 1/4 inch in from the flat edge (see picture below)

After that, I used a brown marker to draw the markings for the folds of the ears.

Then, I pulled out a piece of fiberfill a little larger than a golf ball and fluffed it and spread it out in the ear. This just adds a little bit of structure and dimension.

Next, I put the wig cap on my little man and made a mark using a marker where I wanted to put the ears. Then I was trying to figure out how I could attach the ears to the wig using a glue gun. I needed something to structure the cap while I was working. I found a bucket of my son's that was from the dollar store and it worked perfectly. I put a little bit of glue on the top of the ear on each side of the little flap and attached it to the wig cap where I made the mark.

In this picture you an see where I left a little space before I glued the edges together, and then put glue on each edge before I glued it to the wig cap.

Then I straightened out the ears and tried the cap on my little man to make sure I liked the placement before I glued the rest of the edge to the cap.

Shirt

This was the simplest part. I cut off the sleeves of the shirt on the seam and then I cut the ribbing off the neck on the seam. I actually left a little two little strips of one sleeve on and used it to tie around the shoulder of one side of the shirt. I cut off the bottom hem and made it jagged. Then I cut a few small holes throughout the shirt for good measure.

The costume so far.

I liked it, but the shirt seemed a little too clean. So I dirtied it up, literally. I took the shirt outside and found some mud (it had rained the day before), and put the shirt down in the mud and stomped and pushed the shirt into the mud. I tried to get at least a little bit of mud everywhere. Then I washed it with a light wash on a cold wash with a little bit of detergent, and dried it in the drier.

I still felt like it was missing a little something so I found a strip of brown felt that I had laying around and I made a belt.