A is for Alligator

One of the girls I work with has a daughter who wants to be an alligator for Halloween. First of all, that's a pretty cool costume for a 5 year old girl. Second of all, it got me thinking about how to make a cute, girly alligator costume. We already decided to go the tutu route so I got two shades of green tulle and started making a tutu (I need more tulle to finish it). Then we were figuring green long sleeved tshirt, red and white striped tights or leggings (the alligator doll she is basing the costume on wears red and white checked overalls) and some sort of alligator hat. Of course, alligator hats aren't really readily available.

So I have been thinking of options. I thought of buying an alligator stuffed animal, taking the head off and making it a hat (gruesome, right?) or making something with a baseball hat and cardboard or some foam. None of it seemed easy enough or cute enough.

And then I thought about finding a hooded towel that was an alligator and THEN I thought about just making a hood out of some green fleece I already had. And so I spent a lot of my day working out this:

That's before I fixed the eyes so they weren't so floppy and added ribbon to keep it on. Here's the finished look (please excuse my scariness, it was late and I spent the whole day sewing):




The teeth and the eyelashes are my favorite part.


And in other projects, here's a picture of my niece wearing the skirt I made her. I LOVE that fabric and I have some to make my own skirt, once all the costumes are done.