Project: Bumblebee

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My SILs and I have been planning Gavin’s first birthday party since he was a few months old.  One of the themes we’ve been really keen on is a bumblebee theme.  The idea of dressing Gavin up as a bumblebee was just too cute to pass up. 

Now that his birthday’s just around the corner, we’ve discovered that finding a bumblebee outfit for him isn’t quite as simple as we thought.  Although there are a lot of bumble bee outfits online, like the two adorable ones below, the fabric is usually too thick for Gavin to wear comfortably in our tropical environment.  Given the way he sweats just sitting still in a diaper and a singlet, I doubt he will tolerate us dressing him up in a fluffy bumblebee costume.

We did spot a bumblebee outfit similar to the penguin outfit he wears in the picture below.   Unfortunately it was only available in size 0-3mths. 

So the task has fallen upon us to make him an outfit for his birthday since we haven’t given up on the idea of the bumblebee theme.  After all, when am I ever going to get the chance to dress my son up as a bumblebee ever again without him telling me I’m cramping his style? 

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been hunting around town for materials to make Gavin’s bumblebee outfit.  We found this yellow and navy blue striped romper at the Brand’s Outlet in Ikano for a steal (RM15):

So far this is the closest we could get to the black and yellow stripes.  We did see a bumblebee swim suit in the Brand’s Outlet as well and I was sorely tempted to buy it.  The hubby is thanking his lucky stars that it was too small for Gavin because it happens to be a girl’s swim suit.  Dang!  And it was so adorable, too – with wings, antennae and a little stinger to boot!  Ah well, it’ll be more fun to make our own anyway…

Materials

Finding art materials to fashion our own wings, antennae and stinger hasn’t been too hard either.  Although I miss Spotlight in Australia where you can get just about anything you need for an art and craft project like this, I found Craft Haven in 1Utama (top floor on the bridge) quite resourceful.  Spotlight is still the place to go, but since we’re in Malaysia, Craft Haven will have to do. 

The Wings 

Our original plan was to use wire hangers to fashion the wings and pull some stockings over it.  Since my MIL is a little worried Gavin will scratch himself with the wire, my backup plan was to use felt squares for wings.  Felt squares are sold at Art Attack (next to MPH on the top floor at 1Utama) and Craft Haven, but it costs an insane RM5 a square compared to Craft Haven’s RM2.50 a square.  The other problem was that neither shop sold black felt. 

Craft Haven also offered some alternative materials – shiny black paper (which we decided against because Gavin will crush it) and thin, black foam sheets (I’m not really sure what it is called).  We decided to go with the black foam sheets and bought a bottle of glitter paint to draw the veins on the wings. 

The Antennae

Craft Haven also sell bottle brush wires which would be perfect for the antennae if it weren’t for the fact that they come in packs and you can’t buy the wires individually.  The other alternative is to cut antennae out of the black foam sheets, stitch two layers together and insert wire into the core to give it a bit of body.

My SIL bought some pompoms for the ends of the antennae but you can also make your own pompoms using wool or cross-stitch threads.

To attach it to Gavin’s head, we could either use a hairband or a black beanie.  Judging how quickly Gavin knocked off the reindeer hairband I tried to make him wear for Christmas, I think we’ll probably do better with the black beanie – if we can find one.

The Stinger

This is just a little triangle cut out from the black foam sheets.

Assembling the Bumblebee Costume

I can’t remember where I found this picture, but this was the template I used to make the wings and paint in the veins.  I’ll post a picture of my handiwork once the paint is dry…

That’s about as far as I’ve gotten.  Stay tune for Part 2!

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Other posts that might interest you:

• The Bumblebee Costume Part 2
• Bumblebee Costume Part 4
• The Bumblebee Costume Part 3
• School Reports and Elephant Costumes
• Train Soft Toy Project D – Molly the Yellow Engine

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