I'm a Mavrick with a Needle and Thread!

I made Baby Christien a Bam-Bam costume this year after witnessing his brute strength at his first B-Day party this past August. He’s my muse…I was inspired. Anywho, here’s how I did it.

1. The bodysuit.
I couldn’t find a bodysuit pattern so I bought a onesie that was his size from the dollar store, dismantled it with a seam ripper and used that as a pattern. I switched the zipper from the front to the back and kept the soles of the footie part so that he’d have something relatively comfy to walk on.

(Sir Christien came over for a fitting...and some Pringles naturally.)

2. The Sash and Skirt.
Inspired by Bam-Bam pics and less than a yard of felt I cut out the skirt, hand sewed black wedges onto the outer layer. Sewed the two layers together by the bottom., sewed a seam at the top leaving enough room for an elastic band. Then once I fitted “Bam-Bam” I sewed the ends together. For the shoulder sash I gut two pieces of felt diagonally on the fold and hand sewed them together. Then I cut out four bones out of white felt and sewed them together in twos.

3. The Candy Bag
His name, the bat, and the moon were all paper patterns that I drew and cut out. The bag is simply four geometric pieces sewn together (2 decorated panels, 1 panel that’s attached to both of the decorated panels from top corner to bottom corner across bottom and up the other side, and one handle.

4. The Hat
Since there’s no way in hell “Bam-Bam” would keep a white wig on his head and the tiny orange hat that’s part of the costume won’t stay on its own I decided to add stretch ties to the hat so it could be strapped on. This was probably the hardest piece to do by hand without any type of pattern. I sewed six triangles together, rounded them out by sewing a band around their bases, then added a brim. I sewed on black wedges and tacked the brim so that it stuck up slightly. Then on came the black ties.
5. The Club
I originally was going to get a waffle bat and spray paint it to look like a club. But 1. I couldn’t find one and 2. my better judgment felt Bam-Bam might hurt himself or someone else with it so I opted for a cloth club. I made a black line with felt on both sides of the club. Then I sewed both pieces together leaving just enough room to stuff it. Once it was stuffed I closed up the end and viola!

The end result? Baby Christien AKA Bam-Bam!
I think I did a pretty good job. In fact, I’m accepting orders for next year. I girl like me is broke and needs a side hustle.

Want more Manifesto? Check me out at TheFlowLive.com and Wordpress.com.