Beware the Ides of March!

I never really understood Shakespeare's take on this until I had my fourth baby.  He turned 5 on March 15.  Must be something special about the ides of March as we also have birthdays on the ides of  February, June, and August.  The ides of March is a whole different character.

Last year he declared he wanted a Richard Scarry birthday party.  He dressed himself as Lowly the Worm complete with tying his legs together so he hopped all day because, "You know Lowly only has one foot!"  This year he wanted a monkey birthday.  The afternoon of the 14th I decided he needed another costume.  Here is what I came up with.  Ends up he can use it to be a mouse as well...

1. Get a hooded sweatshirt.  This is a hand me down- Thanks, Gwen.

2. You will need some material for ears and furish material for the middle of the ears and stomach patch. This hood happened to be lined.  I stitched around the hood opening and cut in to the lining material to feed a piece of elastic through so the hood would stay on.  This is also a great trick to use on toddler hoods so they stay over their little ears in the spring winds.

3. Sew two half circles right sides together and then sew on a piece of the furry material.  Sew the ears to the hood.  I sewed them right sides together and then top stitched the front side.  I think this helps them stick out better.  

4.  I don't have a picture of cutting an oval of the furry material and sewing it over the writing on the front of the sweatshirt.  I used a suede backed fur.  I considered minky as well.  Either is good as you don't have to turn any edges under.

5. Here is the tail.  I used a piece of quilt batting and tried to make it roundish.  I sewed it on the back of the sweatshirt at the base and about an inch down so it was one there well.  Tails take a lot of abuse.  This one ended up being drug through the mud all day. 

 You may want to measure so your tail isn't too long.

Have you ever seen a monkey welding a wooden table??