A Big Green Caterpillar you'll want to HUG!! Oct 05 '00    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet ****This is going to be one of several articles on costumes for children, so....they will have the same introduction....but after the introduction will be different instructions for each costume. Thanks for your understanding and have fun creating!!***** As a child growing up in Northwest Montana....we NEVER missed “trick or treat day”. Halloween was as much a blast for our mother as it was for us and we did our door to door thing until I was 14 years old. We always dressed up too....but NEVER in all those years did we buy a costume. We always came up with costumes from scratch.......and so now, a mother of three, I do the same thing. I have complete understanding of why my mom opted to “pull it together”...instead of buying. Good Golly! I mean....$21.96 for a polyester Barbie, tie-back, pajama-like monstrosity with a plastic mask and rubber-band doo-dad that is sure to break within the first half hour? Not on your life! In the past many years, my children have come to understand that we do not buy our costumes but that, as a family, we will decide what choices they have and mom will do her level best to make it. We have created everything from a green, 12 legged caterpillar to M& M’s. So, it is with that confidence I try to share my favorite costumes. So....over the next few days, I’m going to give as precise instructions as I can without having the benefit of pictures. If you need a little help on any of them....feel free to email me and I will try to clear up what I mean. :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Big Green Caterpillar. This costume is by far the most time consuming. It is not difficult...it will just take a day or two preparation....It is also a tad more costly but not out of this world by any means. You will need: Green sweatshirt (I choose Hunter green) green sweatpants 1 package of 6 pr. (12 individual socks total) men’s tube socks (you will need to think about the size of the person you are making this for. If a toddler...you’ll need a package of boys socks and may only use three or four socks per side...but if child is a pre-teen...you’ll need the larger package) green RIT dye poly-fil black ribbon black electrical tape needle, thread plastic headband wire hanger or the like craft needle two Styrofoam balls (1 1/2 inch) (green face paint...but this is entirely optional...some kids don’t like it) It’s a longer list, I know....but you’ll see that it looks harder than it actually is. Here we go. 1. Using black tape, from the underarm of the shirt and every four to five inches down, make “stripes” across the front around to the back. Make sure the tape pieces overlap....so they don’t pull off the fabric. When you get to the pants, do one across the hips then do them around each leg making sure the lines are even. That’s it for the sweats for now...so set them aside....we’ll need them later. 2.Sparate the socks and wash them in the green dye, following the instructions on the package. Dry them then stuff them with poly-fil. Leave the ends open. I am not sure how many you will need because the height of each child is so different....but you will not need more than six pair of tube socks. 3. Lay your sweatshirt on the table facing you, arms out straight to the sides. Take one of the tube socks, fold it away from the front and lay it against the shirt above the waste of the shirt. Using a whip stitch, tack the sock to the shirt in at least three spots. Do this exact same thing on the opposite side of the shirt. Lay the shirt aside. **If your child is small, this will enough.....if they are taller, you’ll want to tack another sock in the same way, halfway between the armpit and the sock you just finished. 4. Take the pants and lay them on the table front facing out. Now....using the exact same spacing as on your shirt...meaning if you had a small child you’ll probably only need three more socks down each leg...or if your child is tall you’ll use four.....anyway, space them evenly down the legs on each side. 5. Lay the shirt and pants on a flat surface facing you...overlapping them in a manner that looks most like how it will fit your child. Obviously its best to have it on your child, but this works well too. Lay the arms out on the shirt but pointing a tad bit down....and follow the same angle with each of the added socks. Thread your craft needle with the black ribbon (VERY long piece). Starting from the lower most sock, run the needle through the sock about an inch in from the edge....keeping the angles as you had them. Before piercing it through the next sock...lay the ribbon against the next sock up and see where the ribbon will enter in from the bottom. Tie three or four knots at that point, then run the needle through the next sock. Do this step again....lay the ribbon against the space of the top of the sock you just came through to the lowermost point of the next one up....tie three or four knots. So this through all the socks then run it through the “INSIDE” lower portion of the cuff....then tie three knots. Once you have “threaded” all the socks and the sleeve cuff....then tie the ribbon off at the bottom...again using three or four knots. 6. Do this exact same thing on the other side. What should result is that when your child raises and lowers his/her arms....all the “caterpillar legs” will move with them. From there...you can choose to paint your child’s face with green paint or not. I would say it depends on age. Little children tend to touch their face more and it just gets all over the place.....so I would reserve this for older children. Take your headband and wrap two pieces of wire around it as “feelers”....Take the Styrofoam balls and either color them with black marker, paint, tissue...or whatever you have then push them onto the wire. Antennae! That’s it. Cost Break Down is as follows: Sweatshirt $5.96 (as low as $3.96) Sweatpants $5.96 (as low as $3.96) Pgk of socks $3.94 black tape .97 cents RIT dye (unknown, I had some) Black ribbon 3 yard spool .99 cents poly fil 1.99 bag headband (had one) wire Free, used an old hanger needle and thread (had some) Total (for me) $19.81 -reusable sweats $11.92 Total "waste" $7.99 If you do your socks the day before, then the assembly of this one only takes about 2 hours. Like I said, it sounds harder than it really is. Anyway...that’s it for costumes from me (until I can dream up another one!!) If you missed them, I also have costume reviews and directions for M&M’s, A Bat and an Angel. I hope you enjoy them and Happy Halloween!!

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