Care Bear Hoodie Costume

After making the dinosaur hoodie costume for my oldest son, I knew at the time that was only the beginning of many hoodie costume projects. There are just so many possibilities and the hoodie gives you a great base to start from if you aren't a super talented sewer (cause I'm quite at a beginning level for sure).

This year, my daughter wants to be a care bear -- more specifically, "rainbow bear" (who I think is really name cheer bear). I found an old, pink hooded pull-over sweatshirt in her closet that would work. I figured a zip up hoodie would get complicated with the chest badge.

Here are the supplies you need:

*pull-over sweatshirt in the care bear color of your choice

*liquid stitch

*matching thread

*sewing machine

*scissors

*colored felt to make your ears, badge, tail, and face

*stuffing

1. Cut out your pieces from felt. Cut two pink ears (front and back), 2 sets of white and black circles for eyes, a pink mouth, a pink heart-shaped nose, a white snout, a large white oval for the chest (I pieced together two parts so it was large enough and hid the seam under the rainbow), and the strips for the rainbow.

2. Sew the ears together around the rounded edges. Leave the bottom, flat part open so you can flip the ear right-side out and fill with stuffing. I used liquid stitch to secure the white part, but you could also sew that on before you sew the two pink pieces together if you prefer.

3. Stuff the ears and stitch to the hood.

4. Sew the white felt together. To make the oval large enough to cover the tummy I had to sew two pieces together.

4. Add the rainbow pieces and sew on the tummy badge. I used liquid stitch and then sewed the ends of the rainbow to the white felt. Then I stitched around the outside of the white oval, securing it to the hoodie. It took a little finagling to get the sweatshirt under the sewing machine in the right position, but it worked!

5. Sew the snout. I used the liquid stitch on the nose and the black parts of the eye and then did a small stitch on each to secure it a little better. Then I sewed the eyes to the snout and stitched around the top half of the snout securing it to the front of the hood. I left a little overhang off the front of the hood.

6. Add some hair! I was getting a little cone head effect in between the ears so I added a piece of pink felt that looks like some hair in between which finished off the head nicely. You could also stuff and add a little tail to the back, which I still need to do.

Add some pink sweat pants and you've got a care bear costume! You could get creative and make some fun slippers or socks with the cute care bear feet too...I might still do that, but we'll see if I get to it :).

The sweatshirt was starting to get small on her, so I need to go back and see if I can adjust the hood part a bit so it doesn't look like it's going to fall off of her, but you get the idea! :)

Let me know if you give it a try! I'd love to hear from you!