The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book Character Costume

I wanted to share the book character costume I made for one of my littles. For this tutorial, I chose to sew together her skirt...however, if you want this be a NO-SEW tutorial, consider purchasing an inexpensive shirt/bottoms, and proceed with the tutorial. Scroll down to find out how!

Supplies needed:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric:

• 1/4 yard white print with dots/food

• 1/4 yard small multi-colored dots

• 1/2 yard of green (more if directional)

• HeatnBond UltraHold Iron-On Adhesive *

• Scissors - These are my favorite

• An iron

• Sewing machine

• Blank white shirt: I'm using Monag

• 1" wide elastic and safety pin

Instructions:

*Keep in mind that I created a skirt for a petite 4-year-old. If your child is older/bigger, you will need more fabric. The HeatNBond Ultrahold is designed for NO SEWING. If you would like to sew the applique on for a longer lasting outfit, considering purchasing HeatNBond Lite. You can sew through this.

First, I created a simple skirt. There are many YouTube videos about this, and I may go into depth about this in the future, but here is a simple pattern to follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SYsZ194zk8 from the Crafty Gemini! She makes things quick and easy. This skirt took 20 minutes, tops!

FOR NO SEW: Consider purchasing a simple green skirt or set of bottoms! Either choice would be cute.

After the skirt is assembled, it's time to cut some butterflies, caterpillars, food, and dots!

With the HeatNBond, cut out shapes that are slightly bigger than the shapes on the fabric you'd like to cut out.

Here, you can see my rectangle cut-out is slightly bigger than the piece of pie and muffin in the top right.

Fuse the HeatnBond onto the BACK of the fabric, per the package instructions. Flip the fabric over to the right side and carefully cut out your pieces. For the butterflies, I got as close as possible around the body and left the space in between the antennas. That area was too small to cut into.

You should have something like this! Arrange the dots on the white shirt and the other pieces on the skirt. Fuse them according to the HeatnBond package instructions. The Ultrahold means that you do not have to sew these on. They will stay long term if fused properly. However, if you would like to ensure longevity, consider purchasing HeatNBond Lite that you can sew on to your shirt.

Lastly, use your dot fabric to create a little headband and you have a simple, ADORABLE book character costume!