Looking for a brilliant, no-sew Halloween costume trick this year? This Peashooter tutorial from the popular video game Plants vs Zombies is so easy and requires no sewing. This technique can actually be used for any costume. Fleece is inexpensive, warm and so easy to work with. All you need to do is measure, cut, tie and you’re done! Keep reading to see how we created a quick no-sew Plant vs Zombies Halloween costume that anyone can make.
We live in Ohio, near Cleveland and when Halloween night rolls around, it’s freezing cold! There’s nothing that ruins a great costume like a big ‘ol winter coat. (Read this picture book from Jerry Seinfield for a good laugh with the kids and you’ll understand exactly what we’re talking about.) We had the perfect solution to fix this problem; and better yet, it’s cheap, fast and can be tailored to match any (well most) costume and any size. Fleece fabric!! You’re basically wearing a blanket and you can wear sweats underneath to add extra warmth. If you’re in warmer weather, just make it short-sleeved and shorter in length.
Now onto the costume tutorial. Here are the materials you’ll need:
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Make the eyes by taking the black foam sheet and cutting out two circles about 1 ½ to 2 inches in diameter. Then take the white foam sheet and cut out super tiny circles; these will give the eyes a little dimension. Glue the white circle onto the black circle.
For the helmet/head, take the craft foam hollow ½ ball and paint it green. We placed it on top of a cup to dry.
For the shooter part of the face, take the craft foam cone. Cut off about 2 ½ inches of the narrow part and discard. On the end that is the widest, cut out a circle about 3/4 inch deep. Paint everything green except for the circle area you cut out, paint that black. Let it all dry before assembling.
To assemble, glue the shooter part on first. Hot glue works the best. Then you can place the eyes above the shooter, making sure the white spots of the eyes are at the top left corner. Glue a faux leaf at the crown of the head. Finish the helmet/head off with an elastic to prevent it from slipping off your head.
To make the body of the costume all you need is fleece fabric, a Sharpie and some scissors. SERIOUSLY SO EASY!! We used a 40% off coupon at JoAnn’s and only used one yard of fabric. The total came to less than $5!!
The amount of material will depend on the size of the child (or adult) you’re making the costume for. Little Indie is only two and still fits in 18 month old clothes so one yard ended up being more than enough. For Tenley, Indies 10 year old sister, we used a yard and a half so she could have long enough sleeves.
Fold the fabric in half and lay it on the floor. Have the child (or adult) lay on the fabric with their arms outstretched. Their head should be off the fabric and their arms at the top of the fabric where it’s folded. You don’t have to do it this way but it makes it easier and requires less tying. Trace their body, leaving a 5-7 inch gap from the marker and their body. This will allow wiggle room and room to cut+tie the sides up.
Once they get up, quickly draw a half circle for the head. The smaller the better because you can always go back and recut it bigger. Cut out all the places you outlined and discard the extras. You should have a front and back now. Keep it folded together and cut slits along the edges of the arms and bodice. The slits should be about 3 inches deep. Once you’ve got all the cuts, start tying the slits from the front and back together. If you’ve ever made a no-sew fleece blanket then you’ll realize we’re using the same technique but tying two slits together instead of one. Isn’t that super easy!?!
Finish off the costume by gluing on faux leaves. You could glue them anywhere but we chose to keep them just by the neckline. This way they don’t get in the way when sitting down.
Using this no-sew fleece costume can work for so many other costumes: ghost, pumpkin, witch, princess (pink fleece, lots of rhinestones and voila) and so many more. We’d love to see what you all create so if you make your own no-sew fleece costume this Halloween, tag us on Instagram!
To make the Frozen Peashooter, we just used blue paint and added the spikes using styrofoam sticks. If these styrofoam unicorn horns were available at the time, we would have used those instead because we had to cut and carve out the sticks so it got a little messy.
Happy Halloween friends,
Stacey + Niki
Aloha Friends! We hope to inspire you to create magical memories with your ohana through play, learning, and celebrating. We offer ideas that make celebrating and playing fun and easy, so that you want to do it more often! We love sharing our creativity and talents with you, and hope you find some content on our page that inspires you to create a beautiful life with your ohana.
