by Victoria Stevenson

Although these are not my original characters I really do love making costumes for my stuffies.

The process is simple: take a character name off the master list of costumes I want to make, get references from the source material, watch source material till blue in the face to examine how the costume fits and flows in space. Make patterns and get measurements for the specific plush…sew up the fabrics with hand sewing or sewing machine, make sure they actually fit the stuffed animal, rinse, repeat when the outfit seems to fit right on the stuffie. Might take a few tries.

Okay so it might not be so cut and dry, but the wig making is even more interesting. It took a lot of tries to get a process that is easy to do, but I found a way to make the homemade wigs on a budget and you can have wigs when it’s not Halloween!

For my stuffies I use a sock that kind of matches the wig colour so it blends in. For full sized wigs I use pantihose fit on my head, tie up the legs and cut them at the knots. You can use old pantihose, but I use stockings from the dollar store close to my size. Then making yarn wefts with pet combs one plastic and one metal to make it more like doll hair. This process I use for both stuffy and full size, I have a board that has a slit cut into it that is similar to the boards for friendship bracelets. I make a knot at the top of the yarn cluster and then cut it to the desired length of the weft as it hangs from the slit in the board. Then I brush it out and straighten it if need be, finally taking a glue stick and taking the weft from the knot off the board and on the table to dry. Once dry, dab Elmer’s glue on the wig cap and start gluing the wefts down onto the cap and let it dry overnight. It takes a few days to make. Stuffy can be around 2 min. For full size unsure of min, haven’t gotten the hang of it yet.

I get so happy, as well as frustrated when I am working on a project. It’s so satisfying to recreate outfits from cartoons. Makes me want to try and do more costuming of my own creations. I even want to make ball gowns for my stuffies. And Coachella outfits. That’d be cool.