Domo Arigato: finale

(Robot Costume Part 1: The body)
(Robot Costume Part 2: The helmet and limbs)
(Robot Costume Part 3: The Feet)
(Robot Costume Part 4: Girl Version)

Phew! I thought maybe this tutorial/costume would sit in my to do folder FOREVER.  But today's our last Robot Costume post!  We made it!  

Today I'm showing you how to make just a slightly different version of the robot.  I'll call it:

Girl-ified.  It has all the important elements of the first version - the blinking lights for buttons, the glowing sticks for fuel gauges, the light up ball on top.  But there are a few distinct features... not the least of which is the appearance of several pink buttons because pink is my daughter's favorite.

Now, I'd like to make this disclaimer upfront - yes.  Of course the first version can be for a girl OR boy.  Just like the daughter can be Han Solo and the Dad Princess Leia (did you see that article on Facebook?  So cute.)  BUT my daughter can be sort of a girly girl, and requested a specific girl robot with a TUTU of all things... so, you know, I had to accommodate, right?

If you're daughter is anything like mine, you might find this robot tutu helpful.  SO.

Let me start by saying I first tried to construct a tutu out of strips of duct tape folded together and trimmed in half dangling downward - kind of like the tulle strip tutus you see everywhere but with duct tape.  Fail.  BIG BIG FAIL.  People.  I hate duct tape.  I can not use it.  I am duct tape deficient.  I don't know why.  I like it when other people make stuff with it.  But that tape hates me and has a personal vendetta I will never understand. It was a hot mess, let me tell you, getting stuck to everything, folding in on itself in weird places, taping my fingers together so tightly I almost lost circulation and became fingerless... anyway.  I very quickly scrapped it and moved to plan B.  Which I am glad of, because it looks way cuter.

I did NOT want to spend anymore money - especially after ruining the first costumes.  I needed to use something I had on hand...

I realized I had some screening in the garage that I had purchased for a different project loooooong ago.  It's the same stuff in your windows - very flexible, almost like a thick fabric, but still metal looking.  

So for the robot tutu you'll need:

Window Screening (comes in a roll)

Silver duct tape (grumble, grumble)

Silver or gray embroidery floss

Needle

Silver ribbon

A scissors

Start by cutting three pieces of screen.  You can use more if you'd like, but I used three and it worked well.  If there are too many layers it'll be so thick it won't lay right.  

Measure around your girl's waist.  Now add 1/2 that or double it (depending on how "ruffly" you want it).

Cut your first screen piece that width and the entire length you want it to be - I made mine knee length on my 2 year old.

Cut the second piece the same width and about 2-3 inches shorter.

Cut the third piece the same width and about 2-3 inches short than the second.

Now, lay them all together, flat, and line up top edge.

(again, sorry for these old crappy photos.)

1. Using your needle and your embroidery floss, hand sew a basting stitch across the top edge of the tutu.  Be sure to go through every layer of screen.  Make your stitches nice and long and you can leave about 2 inches between them.

2. When you've gone across the whole width, leave a long tail on both sides and pull your needle free.  Hold tightly to one end of the embroidery floss and pull the other end, gathering the screen.

3. Gather the screen to the waist measurement and tie some quadruple knots in both ends of the floss so it doesn't come ungathered.

4. Lay a long strip of duct tape flat with the sticky side up.  It needs to be the same width as the tutu plus about 4 inches.

5. Lay your tutu with the gathered top edge on the duct tape strip.  Make sure it is centered with about 2 inches of duct tape extending on either side.

6. Cut two pieces of silver ribbon no shorter than 12 inches each.  It needs to be long enough to tie in a bow with a double knot, so keep that in mind when cutting them.  Lay one ribbon piece on the duct tape ends that extend past the tutu.

7. Cut another strip of duct tape the same length as the first strip and lay it sticky side down over the screen tutu, sandwiching the gathered edge of the tutu between.

8. Make sure to press the two strips of tape tightly together at the ends, sandwiching the ribbon between.

And that's it!  Now all you have to do is wrap it around the girly robot and tie in a bow!

Here are some awful photos that give you an idea:

I loved it.  mini thought it was awesome.  We liked it so much I made two mini ruffles for her wrists using the same method.  You can see them in this photo:

Here are the rest of the details:

1. I bought a bit of silver spandex fabric online to make her some tights.  They were cute, but not super stretchy and she was FREEZING and ended up having to wear leggings OVER them, so you can't even tell they are there.  Shame.  I think the idea is still cute.  You can use the baby tights tutorial from Made By Rae.  

2. I got this... I don't know... alien headband maybe?  Somewhere... I think the party store? It was a buck.  I loved the shiny silver balls on top.  But the headband was green - weird.  So I covered it with the shiny silver duct tape.  Then I used the same method to attach a ping pong ball over a battery operated tea light as I did for bug's helmet so that the ping pong ball would glow.  I used velcro once again so I could turn it on and off.

3. I wanted the girl robot to have hair instead of a helmet head, so when I saw the silver tinsel wig at the party store for 1.50 I snatched it!  It was adult size so I simply took some elastic and sewed it around the back half of the cap while stretching it so it cinched up the cap that fits over the head.  It worked fairly well, though mini was NOT excited about the itchy wig.

Also, she had shiny silver dress shoes already, so she just wore those.

And that's that!

The robots were a hit everywhere they went.  I was excited that I was able to pull it off.

As a side note, we try to dress up as a family for our church party, usually.  So mr. and I wracked our brains to come up with a scientist duo that would have created robots.  And this is what we came up with:

Can you tell who we are?  People usually couldn't until Justin started saying, "me me me me me me me." In a really high voice...

Our inspiration photo:

via

So maybe I couldn't pull out two awesome muppet costumes in 2 hours, but at least he's got the green shirt, brown tie, and orange hair and I've got the red tie, glasses, and skull cap for the bald head.  And the lab coats - which are admittedly the wrong colors but were the closest we could come on no budget or time.  I think we did alright.

Besides.  The robots are the important part, amiright?

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*