smaller: Small projects - Where the Wild Things Are

The Wild Things are here!

Grecolaborativo is a family collaboration made up of a couple creating with their young daughter and son. Their plush art is created under the name Lizette Greco, and is based on their own children's drawings and made using only thrifted and recycled materials. They also accept commissions for pieces using drawings from other children. Their aim is to create artwork that celebrates a child's perspective of the world and will hopefully be passed from generation to generation. Recently Lizette told us how to make these fun costumes based on 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak.

Wild Things and Max Suit

This 'Wild Thing' and 'Max' suit is like a large footed fleece pajama with big feet, claws and a tail attached. The head piece is separate and a little more work so make sure your child will be willing to wear one before you invest your time in it. Don't worry if by the time your child goes out the door wearing this costume, the tail and one ear is held by a safety pin here and there. Ours did.

Easy claws: take two rectangles of thin black fabric, put them together and draw zig-zags. These are the claws (four claws are enough). Sew following the lines and then cut the excess fabric that makes the triangles in between the claws. Turn inside out and stuff your claws lightly and sew them shut. Attach them to the end of the "sleeve", but only to one side (top side) of the sleeve so that the hand is free to come from under the claws and reach out for candy. You need to make a total of four sets of claws to attach to both hands and feet.

Big Furry Feet: First, take a comfortable shoe the child will wear to go trick or treating. Place it on top of a two inch thick foam rectangle. The rectangle must be about two inches wider than the shoe all around (hence the big feet). Trace the shoe over the foam, remove shoe and cut the shape you just traced. Insert shoe in this space and make sure the foam is held firm around the shoe. Cover this big foot with fabric making sure you catch the claws at the tip of the foot. Use thick black fabric for the sole which might get dirty and/or wet. You can either attach the foot piece to the leg or just let the leg fall loosely over it.

Head piece (Wild Thing): Start by measuring and cutting a big sack-like-piece that goes widely over and around the head. Sew it as a sack and then trace and cut a wide slit for the mouth. Big teeth are made just like the claws but bigger and in white. Ears are big circles folded in half. Eyes are half covered in fabric, and faux fur for eyebrows. Glue pupil on as well. Once assembled, eyes are sewn to the top of the head . The nose is a loosely stuffed rectangle. Pin the corners without stuffing to make nostrils. Hand sew nose in place just below eyes. Cut, sew and stuff two big horns and attach to head as well. The head piece will be wobbly so the child can wear a baseball cap or any other hat that can be hidden under the head piece. You can pin or hand sew the head piece to the hat to keep it from sliding side ways.

Head piece (Max): After making another Wild Thing suit for our then four-year-old son, we discovered that he didn't want to wear a big head piece. That's how he ended up wearing a Max-like-suit that matches the colors of the Wild Thing. Max's head piece is just a hood with ears attached. Long rectangle folded in half over the head. Sew the back of the hood closed. Sew a button and cut a slit to keep the hood in place (under chin). Cut two circles, fold them in half and sew them in place as ears.

Grecolaborativo

Lizette Greco