Easy Tin Man Costume Tutorial | DIY Halloween Costume

It’s almost October, and that means Halloween is on the horizon!! One of my favorite parts of Halloween is coming up with cute costumes for my kids. This year we are doing a Wizard of Oz theme, and I’m sharing a super cute and Easy Tin Man Costume!

Easy Tin Man Costume

My little Jack-Jack is going as the Tin Man last for Halloween, and I searched for quite awhile for a Tin Man costume for him. I just wasn’t in love with any of the ones that I saw, and didn’t want to pay the price they were asking for them. So…I decided to make one.

Problem? I’m not a seamstress. Not a real one, anyway. I can sew straight lines–give me basic curtains and pillow covers and I’m fine. That means needed something that would be simple, not take too much time, and still be super cute. I came up with this totally adorable and EASY Tin Man costume, and it just might be my favorite.

This took less than 30 minutes to make, and it’s all straight lines. You could even do it all by hand if you had to (if you don’t have a sewing machine), but it would take you longer. It’s also inexpensive–the total cost was around $9. This fits the bill for all of my criteria…easy, fast, inexpensive, and darling!!!

I think it would be SO cute for a little girl too–add a cute gray tutu and leggings–love it!!!

Seriously…isn’t he the CUTEST????

SUPPLIES:

-long sleeved gray tee shirt
– 1/4 yard shiny metallic fabric (or more–read directions)
-red felt
-white thread
-silver thread
-funnel (gray if you can find it)
-elastic

DIRECTIONS:

1. I bought my fabric a Joann Fabrics–it’s stretchy, with a white back. It was originally $16.99 a yard, but I only needed 1/4 of a yard, plus I had a 50% off coupon, making it only $2 total. I needed 1/4 yard so that the square would be wide enough (9 inches across).

This is for a 4 year old, and his tee shirt is a 4T, so if you’re making this for a bigger child, you may need more yardage to get a wider square. I didn’t need to hem this particular fabric first, which is another major reason I purchased it. If you choose a material that does have to be hemmed first, make sure you take that into consideration when deciding how much you need.

2. Cut out a square of fabric to fit the front of the tee shirt. (I bought this one at Walmart for $4).

3. Cut out a red heart from the felt (I used a felt square–cost 25 cents), and pin it to the corner of the square you just cut out. Make sure you leave enough room to sew around the edges.

4. Thread a needle with white thread, and hand stitch the heart to the fabric. You can use the sewing machine if you want to, but I love the look of the handstitching.

5. Pin your fabric square to the front of the tee shirt, and sew around the edges.

6. That’s it!

Now for the hat…

The hat is a dark gray funnel that we bought at Walmart for $2. If you can’t find a gray one, then just use gray spray paint on whatever color you can find. There are also shiny tin ones–just check the edges for sharpness first. There’s a back piece that protrudes from the edge of the funnel (sorry–didn’t get a picture of it), but you can cut it off.

Drill two holes on either side of the funnel–thread a piece of elastic (measure your child’s head first) through the holes and tie a knot on each side to secure it.

I was going to use a pieces of felt around the inside edges of the funnel so it would be softer on his head, but my husband was the one who bought the funnel for me, and he decided to buy weather stripping for the same purpose. So…we used the weather stripping, but you could most definitely use felt.