It’s costume time in my house and since I love a good DIY I thought I would share a preview of this years costume. Here’s Camden as Toothless from How to Train your Dragon.
Toothless Costume
When it comes to a DIY costume I’m all about using a sweatshirt for the base and just adding some key pieces. For Toothless this was easy because I just needed a black hooded sweatshirt, some felt, and a few hours at my sewing machine.
Check out the Captain Hook Costume
Toothless DIY Costume Supplies:
- Black hooded sweatshirt (I got mine at the toddler section of Walmart for $7)
- Black felt with a scaly pattern (you can get this in sheets at Michaels)
- Plain black felt I would say 1/2 yard (this is for the tail and wings)
- Green felt (the eyes)
- White felt (viking sign)
- Red felt (tail wing)
How to make a Toothless Costume
- Cut your fins. I did 2 per fin and used the scaly felt. The number of fins depends on the size of the child. For Camden I had a total of 5 on the back and 4 on the tail so that’s 18 fins I cut.
- Sew your fins together, this way it opens up
- Pin your fins on the back of the sweatshirt center so the bottom is on both sides and sew the fins on
- Cut your wings (I used black felt and laid the sweatshirt next to it so I knew how big they needed to be
- Sew the wing on the inside of the sweatshirt, then hand stitch the top of the wing to the arm.
- Cut the eyes with green in an oval shape
- Cut the eyes with black felt
- Sew the eyes to the top of the hoodie. Note: Make sure you put the hoodie on so you know where the eyes should be.
- Make the ears. I used the scaly felt and cut them in a long triangle shape then sewed them together and turned it inside out. You’ll need 4 of these – 2 long and 2 shorter ones
- Hand sew the ears on. Note: Make sure you put the hoodie on so you know where the ears should be.
- Cut a large piece of black felt in a big triangle for the tail (I just used a scrap so mine isn’t even)
- Sew the fins together, same as in step 2 and repeat step 3.
- Sew the tail together and turn it inside out (make sure to measure length, you don’t want it dragging on the ground)
- Cut 1 red tail and 1 black tail and hand sew them to the end of the tail. Note: The red side is on the left the black is on the right.
- Use white felt to cut a little viking head and sew onto the red felt
- I snapped the tail to the sweatshirt, but you can sew it on if you don’t have KAM snap tool
That’s it. I know it seems like a lot, but I was surprised with how simple this was. It wasn’t too time consuming. I did it over the weekend, and if I really wanted to I could have done it in a day.
How to Train Your Dragon Costume
This also doesn’t have to be Toothless you can use this for any dragon costume. Just remember it’s not important for it to be perfect, all that matters is when your child puts it on and looks at themselves in the mirror and you get a smile that reminds you of Toothless than you’ve done the job!
It’s also fun to watch them run around trying to chase their tail!
I’ve also got a fun How to Train your Dragon Birthday Party!
originally published oct. 20, 2014
OMG you are so talented! That is adorable!
can you wash the costume in the machine with all the felt stiched on it?:) I’m contemplating whether to use velcro so every detail is removable for wash..
Honestly I haven’t tried, but I think it would be fine if I did (as long as I removed the tail). Either way I think will work, but I’ll give it a wash and report back to you.
I’m unable to download the file… do you have the pattern available elsewhere?
Wouldn’t it mess up the felt if you washed it?
Hi Sara, We’ve washed our a few times, but it’s still going strong, and since the pattern in is the felt it’s still there. Hope this helps.
Hi Sara, We’ve washed ours a few times, but it’s still going strong, and since the pattern in is the felt it’s still there. Hope this helps.
Where can I download the pattern for this costume?
Where can I download the pattern?
What size/measurements are the fins? That would help as I am making this for an 11 yr old. Thank you for your time!