The DIY Elf Costume is a quick holiday sew. Normally, I’m a good Elf and work far ahead on sewing projects for events or other people. I never know what barriers I’ll run into and I like to build in extra time for an emergency trip to the fabric store in case things go wrong! But, for this DIY Elf costume project, I had only 2 hours notice before a community event, so I worked quickly and took precautions to do it right the first time!
This low-sew DIY Elf costume would be fun for any Christmas party, caroling, festive outing, or even for Halloween! I spent $20 on supplies, here is what I used:
DIY Elf Costume Materials
1/3 yard white felt
1/3 yard green felt
1/3 yard red felt
3 squares flesh colored felt rectangles
2 packages puff balls from Dollar Tree
Hot glue gun
Fabric scissors
DIY Elf Costume Hat Construction
I used a Santa hat that I knew fit my model for sizing and cut the DIY Elf costume hat shape a little wider just to be safe! Cut 2 layers (front and back) of hat shapes from each 1/3 yard of felt. Before decorating, think through which direction you want your Elf hat to point; you can’t change it once you’ve embellished the front!
Next, I used my hot glue gun and extra scraps of felt to glue on stripes and a cuff onto the hat fronts. Tip: Don’t hot glue very near the edges since you’ll sew around the perimeter and don’t want to cause issues with your needle!
Once your Elf hats are decorated how you like, turn your 2 hat pieces RST (right sides together) and sew around the perimeter. When you flip it back around, you may need a pin to help pick out the bend in the tip of the hat. Now, you can use more glue to secure pieces how you’d like.
Using 2 packages of festive puffs at Dollar Tree, my 9yo helped me glue dots onto the hats and collars. I found a few jingle bells in my craft drawer that helped spiffy up the costume!
DIY Elf Costume Collar
Freezer paper or a roll of craft paper work great for drafting a collar shape to check for sizing. I folded my felt both directions, and cut out a neck hole as you can see here.
Next, cut a design as the fringe. You could do these all the same or all different, depending on the look you’re going for! I used my finished collar as a pattern to cut out the other two.
Embellish the collars as you wish, or use mine for an example!
As the last step, I cut out ears and just hot glued the two sides together and slipped it over the ear. No sewing and done in a flash! Good luck to you in your festive sewing projects and “Have YourELF a Merry Little Christmas!”
If you enjoyed this tutorial, you might also enjoy our Free Christmas Stocking tutorial.
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