DIY Gumball Machine Costume

I have a special Friday treat for you guys today! Another food-inspired costume! But I can’t take credit for this one. My friend Juli, better known as The Garter Girl and the founder of United With Love, is quite the seamstress. A good weapon to have around Halloween. She always crafts up the cutest costumes for her kiddos and this year her little lady Amory is going to be a gumball machine!! Ah! Perfection. For those of you have sewing skills, Juli wrote up the full tutorial for making this ADORABLE costume, and she said it really only took her a few hours! Perfect weekend project if you still need a costume! p.s. If sewing machines scare the heck out of you, you can hot glue this too. Win, win, folks! Take it away, Juli!

Red (1 yard), black (small amount) and gray felt (1 yard)
Shower curtain liner (Get the thinest one you can find, or they do sell clear vinyl at any fabric store)
Child’s dress (to use as a pattern)
Puff balls (various colors and sizes)
4 pieces of ribbon (for ties in the back)
Hot glue
Sewing machine*
Thread
Pins
Scissors

*These directions require sewing either with a machine or by hand, however, because this is made with felt, the entire thing can be hot glued together. Where it says to sew the seams, use glue. Allow enough time for the glue to dry before moving on to the next step.

Fold both the red felt and gray in half so that when you cut it out, you’ll have two pieces of each. The top part of the dress is gray and the bottom is red. Put the folded sides of the red felt and the gray felt next to each other so the gray is at the top (top of dress) and the red is at the bottom (skirt of dress). Pin the child’s dress on top of the felt so that the top part of the dress is gray and the bottom (skirt) is red. Cut at least 2 inches around the entire dress to give yourself room to sew. Cut the felt pieces each in half along the fold so that you have 4 total pieces (Two red for the skirt, and 2 gray for the top). Fold the vinyl in half and pin it on top of one piece of the gray top you just cut out. Cut out the vinyl and cut it in half at the fold so that you have two pieces. Now, you have two pieces of vinyl for the top.

Pin one of the vinyl pieces to a gray top. Sew around the edges of the sides, arm holes and neckline, leaving the bottom waist line open. To make it look nice, you can sew thin stripes of felt around the edges. I sewed red around the neck and gray around the arm holes. Repeat this for the back of the dress. Now that both of the tops are sewn together, open the waistline of just one of the tops and stuff it with as many puff balls as you want. Sew the vinyl to the felt at the waistline to secure the top.

For the bottom front of the skirt, cut out a gray square and sew it to the top center of the skirt. Cut out a black piece of felt to look like the crank and sew it in the middle of the gray square. I hot glued a black puff in the middle here. Next, make a flap. Cut out a small gray felt rectangle and sew just the of top the rectangle to the bottom of the skirt. This will be the flap where the gumballs come out. I hot glued a gumball underneath the flap! Pin the right sides together of the gumball stuffed top and the front piece of the red skirt that has the crank and flap. Sew along the waistline sewing the two pieces together. This is your front.

For the back, attach the top to the skirt, right sides together, and sew across the waistline to attach the top to the bottom. Again, you can sew thin strips around the arm holes and neckline to finish it off.

To put the dress together, put right sides of the dress together and sew the front of the dress to the back of the dress. Sew down the side seams from the arm hole down to the bottom of the skirt. Repeat on the other side. Turn the dress right side out. Now that the dress is put together, only the front is stuffed with gumballs. To stuff the back and complete it, turn the dress around to the back. In the very center of the back, cut straight up from the bottom of the skirt to the top of the neck. This will open up the entire back. Open the sides of the top of the back, separating the vinyl from the gray felt and stuff both sides with as many gumballs as you want. Sew down the seam to close the back. You can put thin strips of gray felt here as well to finish it off.

To finish and make the dress easier to get on and off, sew a 10 inch piece of ribbon on either side of the dress at the top of the neckline and both sides of the waistline in the back. You will tie each of the sets of ribbons together to secure.

Cutie!!! You may remember Amory from WAY back when I posted her cupcake party! I like the way this girl (or her mom?) thinks!

All Photos by Julianne Smith

Don’t you just LOVE it!? Amory has a little brother that may or may not be the gumball to her machine! Ah! I can’t take it! Thanks SO much Juli for sharing this cute costume… now can you whip one up in my size!?

For more DIY costumes click here!