Halloween is making it’s way into everyone’s mind these days! You know that if you don’t start to think about it, you won’t be ready!

I’m here to help you! These costumes are done in very little time. I did these two for my son and his fiance two nights before Halloween last year. Now I’m not recommending you do this, it’s much easier if you start now and have it ready and waiting for that magical day in October when nothing is as it seems.

 

Let’s get ready to make these costumes.

You will need fabric that is at least 60 inches wide.  It would be a bonus if it had a little stretch to it. Fleece works well as does velour, don’t spend a lot of money on the fabric, whatever is on sale will work too.  The colors are important though, as the Yips on Sesame Street were Blue and Pink.  This really works well for a couple as you can see.

Measure your height and double that, divide by 36 and you will have how many yards of fabric you will need.
Example: I’m 5 ft 7 inches so total 67 inches tall x 2= 134 inches divided by 36 equals 3.72 yards so I would purchase 3 and 3/4 yds of fabric for the body of this costume or if you are working with meters divide by 39 and you will find that you need almost 3.5 meters of fabric ( most stores will round it up to the next increment).

I will also need 1/2 meter of some sheerer fabric in black to make the mouth opening. When you are at the fabric store, look for fabrics that you can see through without too much trouble. You don’t want it to be too easy for people to see you though. Get a friend to help you when you go shopping. If you can’t find a fabric that works too well you can use a double layer of something like chiffon, or a fine netting.  Either one will work.   While at the fabric store see if they have styrofoam balls in their hobby section and buy at least 2  or 4 if you are making this for a couple.

 

Google eyes can be fashioned with styrofoam balls and a little bit of paint. Yellow painted eyes go on the Pink Yip while the ones on the Blue Yip remain white. A little black paint for the eyes or if you want to get fancy, you could buy some large shiny buttons in black and pin them onto the eyes, then when you move the eyes will roll too.

You will also need some pipe cleaners for the antenna that sort of come out from beside the eyes.

A package of fiberfill or some sponge square  is also required…..This will give definition to the mouth part otherwise it will just hang down spoiling the effect.  I will provide you with a full list of items you will need to buy, at the end of this article.

How to Make the Yip, Yip Costume.

1. Fold the fabric in half
2. Measure the middle of the fabric from side to side
3. Measure  down about six inches and put a safety pin in there to mark the spot.
4. On only one layer of the fabric mark with a chalk a half circle about 12 inches wide using the center point as the middle of the half circle.
5. Cut this half circle open along that chalk line
6. Now you have a flap and this will become the mouth of the alien
7. open the flap and place the black sheer fabric inside the opening
8. with a needle and thread, sew the black fabric to the opening, do not cut excess fabric away until you have tried this on
9. slip it over your head and see how it looks, with the mouth part open- can you see out?
10. The lower opening of the mouth will be hanging without too much shape
11. cut a piece of foam to fit the half circle of the lower mouth, another option is to cut a styrorfoam wreathe in half and use that to give shape to the lower mouth.
12. with a needle and thread baste this foam onto that curve, you can also use a glue gun, now the bottom “jaw” has some shape
13. Sew both sides of the fabric that was laid out in step 1
14. take a pair of scissors or if you have a rotary cutter, make up and down cuts on the bottom to a height of about 12 inches
15. with the fabric sack now on your head, mark where the eye will be placed, again using your chalk
16. With a long knitting needle make a hole through the styrofoam ball and thread some strong cord or yarn through a button with two holes in it and then thread these pieces of yarn through the fabric.
17. Glue  the two eyes together with a glue gun so that they sit on top of your head
18. twist your pipe cleaners together and attach or push into the styrofoam balls and glue them in place
19. You are done.

SHOPPING LIST

FABRIC as outlined earlier fleece and chiffon or netting.

Thread to match your choice of fabric (although no one will see this so it doesn’t really matter)

Sewing needle

2 styrofoam balls either 3 or 4 inch diameter although you can do 5 as well for each costume

Pipe Cleaners I used gold sparkly ones and hot pink ones

Some buttons in white with 2 or 4 holes they should be flat

Scissors or a rotary cutter and a glue gun are all handy tools that will be used.

Black Magic marker and some paint if you want your eyes to be yellow instead of white (that is an option)

Conclusion:

For our kids here in the Northern States and Canada this is a perfect costume, it can get really cold at the end of October and with this costume, your little ones or your big ones will be nice and warm and no one will see their winter coat and mitts.  Just get ready to shell out some extra goodies for the mom or dad who undertook making this awesome costume.

If you have questions about this HOW-TO, let me know in the comments and I will clarify for you.

The Pictures used in this tutorial are my own, please do not copy without permission.

Happy Halloween!