Hero the Elephant!

Hero has been obsessed with elephants since seeing Jungle Book a few months ago. Those elephants are only two scenes in the entire movie, but Hero would grab his stuffed elephant and march around the house saying, "Hup-two-three-four, Giddi-up! Two-three-four!" and singing the marching song.

So I wasn't too surprised when he said he wanted to be  "ELEPHANT!" (He did add blue elephant, but I'll explain that in a second.)

McCall's 6105

I used a McCall's pattern, but I adjusted it a bit for my liking. The fabric I was lucky to find. It looks so much like elephant skin, right?! My mom and I were shopping for the costume's supplies, and I had picked up a blue suede cloth for the elephant, when she happened to find this in the remnant pile, on sale, in the upholstery fabrics, with just the right amount! SCORE!! It was still a bit more per yard than the suede cloth, but it is soft and thick, so it will be warm! That's when I overruled the blue part of Hero's request. 

With the fabric so thick, I used my walking foot on the entire costume. I love that thing!

But not wanting to let him down completely on the blue, I bought a bit of the suede cloth to make the lining of the hood. 

The first adjustment I needed to make was with the hood. I had it made, without the ears, trunk and tusks on and tried it on Hero's head. . . and it didn't fit! What is with that? Just like the panda of two years ago! The part under his chin wouldn't overlap like it's supposed to, but the edges did meet up just right. The piece with the trunk and tusks was supposed to be placed on the top flap. Instead I made it into the fastener by centering it, securing it to one side and adding Velcro to the other side.

The other part I changed were the feet. I don't know why they would sell a pattern in this size (it's a one size, size 4 pattern) that asks you to cover the the feet on the bottom. Because I'd rather him not walk on the fabric all night, destroying it in the process, I eliminated the bottom and finished the edges. I also added a 3 in long elastic to each foot to hold the costume down while he's walking.

I decided the placement by putting Hero's shoe in side the costume and lining the elastic up with the most narrow point.

Hero loves it! Two costumes down, two to go!