Does your child want to be Newt Scamander for a day, with this easy low cost DIY costume, they can.
With book week fast approaching, i asked my son what he wanted to be this year and his answer was easy, after purchasing him the book for his birthday at his request, and with the release of the movie, my son BJ loved both, and was reading the book and watching the movie over and over.
So when he replied NEWT, from J.K. Rowlings "Fantastic Beasts and where to find them", i knew instantly it would be a hit and told him i would start working on it right away
Finished costume
After researching pictures of Eddie Redmayne: Newt Scamander's film costume, i realised the outfit was quite easy and it wouldn't take me long to find the pieces needed to put it all together.
In the past i have sewn costumes from scratch but because i had a few weeks notice, i thought i would try my luck at sourcing some of the bigger pieces from thrift stores and trash and treasure markets and altering anything i needed.
So upon my stop to my local Charity store that afternoon i came across the perfect woollen jacket that was almost the exact colour of Newts and for only $5.
As it was a ladies jacket and a large size with my son only being 8 it was going to have to be altered as the shoulders were too wide and the sleeves hung down past his hands.
During the same trip i also purchased two white long sleeve button down shirts for $2 each one to wear under the vest and one to be made into the mustard/yellow vest.
These shirts also happened to be ladies shirts, but they were only a small size and fitted my son perfectly.
I was also lucky enough to find $3 dark grey pants which I measured and hemmed to the right length.
I used one of the shirts to create the period mustard vest.
First i cut the sleeves and collar off to the top button to avoid fraying. Then i trimmed the bottom of the shirt and cut them into points to create the bottom of the vest. this was then quickly hemmed on a sewing machine, however you could also use iron on hemming tape for an even easier fix, or just leave the edges as they are.
I already had some yellow and red Dylon dye (or RIT Dye) and i combined the two colours together until i was happy with the hue and dyed the cotton shirt, once it was hung out and dried I sprayed the black buttons gold and it was ready.
For Newts neck tie i used a simple black piece of ribbon and made it into a bow.
I was lucky enough to already have an old vintage suitcase in my garage so I dusted it off and went out the following day to our local trash and treasure markets.
There I found the perfect pair of black shoes which were BJs size and and an old sports scarf which has yellow and black stripes both for under $10 combined.
After spray painting the black shoes and blue suitcase to as close as Newts as I could, using dark brown and gold spray paint, the finished result was great.
The Jacket on Newt has a trim so I measured my son's arms and cut off the overhang.
I sewed a strip of ribbon to the cuff to appear as close to Newts as possible.
It was also double breasted so I removed all buttons from the front.
Now with the original cuffs cut off, to make the jacket slimmer I cut a piece from the middle and re sewed it up, I used the cuffs to make a small button belt at the back of the jacket to hold the shape and also because Newts jacket has a back belt.
Last but not least was the accessories.
I used the scarf and painted over with black fabric paint, the team logo already knitted into the black panels to make it the similar to Newt's.
I decided to make the suitcase look a bit more authentic, so it needed a little niffler poking out ! This was a simple process. Being thrifty i used one of my son's plastic pirate coins, some scrap black fur material; sewn into a tube (however any black material would work), and a scrap of pink fleece for nifflers fingers. I cut out and sewed to the fingers to the top of the fur tube.
I hot glued the coin to nifflers hand and secured the bottom of his arm to the inside of the suitcase.
Last but not least was the big day !! Book week parade day at school.
So out came the book and the costume which cost less than $20 was on.
Ready to walk amongst the nomag's, BJ looked and felt the part !
The costume turned out so great that he was one of the lucky few to be presented with a special award.
Happy days ! I wonder where next year's book week will take me.
👀
If you don't have the time, creativity or patience you could always shop this look instead of making it.. but where is the fun in that !
I hope this DIY Fantastic Beast's costume has inspired you to start creating some fun costumes yourself that your kids will love.
KJ xoxo
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