For Kids Halloween Costumes How-To

Gizmo the Mogwai Gremlins Toddler Halloween Costume

September 12, 2020 by Steph No Comments

Hi! So it’s been a while! My oldest is 5 and my youngest is 2 now!!!! Now I have twice the challenge for making super awesome DIY kids Halloween costumes! YAY! Before I move on to double trouble, I have to share one of my of oldest son’s amazing Halloween costumes! For those of you that have seen the movie Gremlins, I decided to make a Gizmo costume that was to die for! I always go into each project not knowing how the heck I’m going to pull it off and it always seems to come together.

As always I headed to my favorite store JoAnn Fabric to look for what I needed. I feel like they have a great selection of various types of fabric and I know I’d seen some furry looking fabric before. I chose a few that had the longest looking faux fur I could find. Be aware you need to know your child’s measurements before you go and grab your fabric.

For this post, I do not have a lot of step by step pictures as I am a doer and have a super hard time documenting when I’m in the swing of things, but I can demonstrate by adding drawings a descriptions that will help.

It’s looking like little bro is big enough to be Gizmo this year!!! My oldest was 3 when I made this for him… my youngest is 2 and it fits!

What you will need for your Gizmo Halloween costume:

Brown Faux Fur Fabric
White Faux Fur Fabric
Brown Zipper (appropriate length for your costume)
White Linen or Scrap Fabric
Poly fil Stuffing
3 Large Pink or Tan foam sheets (For ears)
Acrylic Paint (For ear details)
Glue (Fabric Glue or Any Glue will do)
Sewing Machine
One kid who doesn’t squirm ; )

Step 1: Measure your child!

Before you ever run to the store make sure you’ve got every measurement of your child that you can think of. This is a whole body costume so I suggest grabbing:

Height
Distance from feet to bottom of neck
Single arm length
Inseam (crotch to floor)
Hip to floor
Hip Width
Length of head and neck

Step 2: Draw Your Pattern & Cut:

FRONT/BACK Head :

For the head you’ll be working on the front and back simultaneously starting with the the brown faux fur by folding and doubling your fabric. Fold your brown faux fur fabric inside out. Then you will draw the general entire taco like shape of the head out of your brown faux fur in the pattern. Do not worry about any holes or white pieces yet! We will get to that. Before you draw this shape you want to mark your child’s head length and width on the fabric. You can also take a measurement from your child’s chin to their forehead so you know how big the face hole needs to be. I suggest making the marks for the dimensions and then lightly sketching the size of their head as a guide. Then you can draw the taco shape according to those dimensions. Do not forget to cut 1/4 inch outside of your pattern lines for seam allowance.

Once you’ve got the large brown piece cut it’s time to figure out where the white parts go. The diagram below is an accurate representation of how to draw and cut those pieces. Remember to save the pieces you cut from the brown piece so they can be traced on your white faux fur to replace the holes.

FRONT White Belly & Legs:

You’re going to want to take a measurement from your child’s chin to their crotch #1, then another measurement from the hip to the heel #2, crotch to heel #3, and lastly hip width #4. Make sure they are standing up straight with their heels against the wall. You can add an inch for fluff room. It’s ok for it to be a little big rather than small.

Draw the shape on the back of your faux fur fabric making sure it lines up with each of the 4 measurements. Try to draw it close to the edges so you can reserve fabric for the other parts.

When you are satisfied with the over all shape be sure to cut about 1/4″ on the outside of your lines to allow for seam allowance.

FRONT Brown Flank & Arm Pieces

Next you be cutting out the two brown flank belly pieces for the front and the front and back brown pieces for the arms as well as the white cuff wrist pieces. Place your newly cut white belly piece on the back of your brown faux fabric and draw the flank pieces to match up. Make sure they are the same height as the white piece at the top and end them right at the top of the legs. You can measure your child’s width from shoulder to shoulder and make sure that the width of top of the flank pieces in addition to the white belly piece are wide enough for that measurement. I used a black sharpie so I could see my lines well on the brown fabric. Don’t forget to cut 1/4 inch outside your lines for seam allowance.

Next measure out the length of your child’s arm and draw the arm pieces. You can fold your fabric in half so you get the back cut as well. You’ll need to cut about a 2″ inch wrist piece for each arm always keeping in mind to add for the 1/4 seam allowance.

Assemble all of the front pieces with pins before moving on to the back piece. Make sure you pin the pieces together so that the seam will be hidden once sewn.

BACK Body, Arms, and Legs:

Take your assembled front and lay it out on your brown faux fur to get the partnering shape of the back. Trace the shape of the brown body so it lines up with the front. You’ve already got your arm pieces from the previous cut so you can start to assemble so it looks like this. Sew all of your back pieces together.

When it’s time to put the whole thing together it will look like this laid out. You’ll need to pin it all together inside out for the final sew.. Do NOT sew the sides of the head yet. You’ll need those open to place the ears inside.

Ears:

Take your pink foam sheets and draw then general shape of what I’ve come up with. If you want them to be the same trace the one onto the other or don’t for some variety. Cut a top strip to give the ear some dimension and glue it on. The ears will be inserted into the side of the head and then sewn with one final stitch across. You will not see the thread with all the hair.