It’s Oogie Boogie Baby!
Dressing a Baby Up As Oogie Boogie Made My Week
I don’t know why I think dressing up a baby as something so evil as the boogie man made of bugs who tries to murder Santa Clause is cute. A friend explained that it’s the oxymoron of the evil vs innocent. What ever it is, over the weekend, I made Oogie Boogie Baby. All of the materials were things I had around the house including Fynn, some yarn, and some burlap (well a few other things too).
Inspiration for this project
The other day I was watching one of my favorite YouTubers, the glorious and uber talented Rachel Maksy. In her video she made a vintage inspired dress out of burlap fabric inspired by the character.
In her video, she mentioned scrolling through Pinterest and seeing adorable Oogie Boogie Babies. I thought to myself: I have a baby. I have burlap. Why not?
You can watch her video (which I highly recommend) here.
Making Oogie Boogie Baby
Like everything else I do in life, I totally winged this one. Well, I did draft a plan, but quickly had to start adjusting that. I gathered my roll of burlap, some black yarn, scissors, tapestry needle, and some sewing supplies (including scrap fabric for a liner).
The roll of burlap I have is left over from my wedding. If you want to see the wedding, click here.
Since it was for a table runner, the roll was pretty thin and I had to sew two pieces together to get the width for the body of the costume. Rather than use my machine and risk it (since the burlap had a selvedge edge on both sides) I took some of my KnitPicks black yarn and stitched it together. This was a great nod to the character from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
This costume could have been a one day make if I wasn’t by myself with Fynn. He is becoming mobile now. So I would have to stop sewing to you know, stop him from trying to grab the fire poker. Or, to extricate him from under the coffee table.
The Ghost of Patterns Past
Using a sleep sack pattern, I cut the front out as one piece (after seaming it), and two pieces for the back so I could put in a zipper. I sketched sleeves separately because of the thin roll of burlap and had to stitch those to the body. Then I repeated the process with some scrap fabric to create a liner because I’m not so terrible that I would put my son directly into a cheap burlap sack.
I sewed the liner together on my machine. It was my first foray attaching sleeves so it was interesting and I’m sure I did it wrong but hey – it worked! I also noticed that I cut out one of the pattern pieces backwards so the wrong side was showing. But since it was a liner and I was out of fabric, I went with it.
Rather than try to sew an invisible seam around the outside of the pattern, I went back to my yarn and tapestry needle. If you’re not a knitter, this is a needle designed for use with yarn. Knitters use them to “weave” or sew the tails of yarn left over from starting or ending a skein into your project and to avoid any unraveling.
Literally the Sleep Sack Pattern Came Back to Haunt Me
So, I forgot that I had made the neckline of the sleep sack too wide. As such, the neck of the Oogie Boogie baby Costume was a bit wide. I might go back an alter it, or I might just let the costume sit around until he’s bigger and might fit it next year.
The hardest parts were obviously the fit. I’m not happy it was so big but at the same time, its big enough that he can probably wear it next year too. And then the hood. I didn’t think about having a rear zipper and a hood. So I attached the hood at just two points so you and move it around. But the hood next time, I’ll probably tack in a few places to make it scrunchier and so it stands up. And maybe add some interfacing too make it stand up better as well.
To finish the costume, I created an “edge” of yarn to avoid anything scratching his face. And then, using the same yarn, I embroidered some Oogie Boogie eyes onto the hood.
And It’s Boogie Time!
photographing Fynn in the costume was a bit of a challenge. He was swimming in it, so his face kept disappearing into the burlap (and lining). And then the hood wouldn’t stand up. We took turns holding him and trying to sit him in a chair for photos, but he was getting fussy. Maybe in a day or two I’ll try again when he’s in a better mood.
Also, I thought about taking some extra craft paper and stuffing the costume to use it as a decoration for Halloween. So it’s dual purpose really!
Are you DIY-ing any Halloween costumes this year? Have any ideas on how too improve this Oogie Boogie Baby costume? Leave them in the comments of this post so we can chat!
