DIY No-Sew Unicorn Costume

Like I hinted in my DIY Toddler Romper out of a T-Shirt, this year for Halloween I wanted to make a unicorn costume for my daughter. I know unicorns are super in right now (I mean, when are they not?) so I thought it would be a perfect idea. I searched through Pinterest and saw a bunch of ideas, but my favorite and the one that inspired me the most was from Craftaholics Anonymous. A lot of the ideas I found use felt as the mane and tail, and even though those will stand up to wear and tear a lot better, I love the dainty look of the yarn. It was very easy to make and I was able to put it all together in a short amount of time. Anyone could do it!

Materials:

Romper with hood (Sweatshirt or t-shirt with hood would work great too)
Two sheets of white felt (I used extra thick felt)
One sheet of felt the same color as your romper/sweatshirt/t-shirt, OR extra fabric (like I used)
Three colors of yarn (I did light purple, dark purple, and hot pink)
Thin silver ribbon
Hot glue gun or fabric glue
Paper and pencil for stencil (optional)

Directions:

Gather your materials. I got everything I needed at Michael’s. The yarn was in the clearance bin so everything turned out to be less than $15.
Make Horn. Cut one piece of your white felt into a semicircle. The size you cut depends on how big you want your horn to be. Starting at one end, roll your semicircle onto itself, creating a horn shape. Once you get the size and shape you want, glue your edge together and cut off excess felt if you have it. Stuff your horn with whatever you have laying around, newspaper, tissue paper, scrap fabric, scrap felt, etc. Take your thin ribbon and glue the end to the tip of the horn. I cut the tip of the ribbon into a point to make it look nicer before gluing. Then wrap the ribbon around and down your horn 3-5 times until you reach the bottom. Cut the excess ribbon and glue to the bottom of your horn.
Make Ears. Draw a long ear shape on a piece of paper and cut it out, or you can draw straight onto your felt/fabric. I used leftover fabric from my cut up t-shirts for my ears (two layers each) or you could use matching felt. Cut two ears out of your material. Then either create a new stencil slightly smaller than your first, draw directly on your felt, or do what I did and cut about half an inch off all around my original ear stencil. Cut out two smaller ear pieces in your white felt. Glue the white pieces onto your bigger pieces, lining up the bottom corner. Place a small dab of glue at the front very bottom corner of your ear and fold your ear in half lengthwise, creating a natural looking crease in your ear. Repeat with second ear.
Attach horn and ears. You can either glue your ears to your horn first (like I did), or glue them all individually to the hood. Find the center of your hood. Use a generous amount of hot glue at the bottom of your horn and ears and glue them to the center front of your hood. Carefully press together to get a good hold until the glue cools.
Make Mane. Cut a small piece of one of the yarn roughly the length of how long you want your mane. Find the end to all three of your yarn. Pinch the three ends of yarn between your thumb and hand, then wrap the yarn loosely around your hand 10 times. Cut off the yarn at the same side as your other end. Carefully remove the loop from your hand. Using the yarn piece you cut earlier, tie a very tight knot around one end of your yarn loops on the opposite side of your two loose ends. Cut the other opposite side of your yarn loops. (This process is similar to making a tassel if you are familiar with that process.) Repeat this process many times until you have enough tassels to make your mane.
Glue your mane tassels on. Starting right behind your horn, place a very large dollop of glue onto the center of your hood. Firmly press one tassel into the glue, holding (carefully!!) until the glue cools. Continue this process, gluing the next tassel right beneath the tassel above it. Go all the way down your hood until the end of the tassel passes your hood bottom.
Make Tail. I did the same steps to make the tail as I made the mane, only changes were I wrapped the yarn from my hand to elbow and wrapped it around about 20 times.
Glue your tail on. I marked on the romper about where a normal “tail” would go. If you were using a sweatshirt or t-shirt, just glue the tail to the bottom of it. Similar to the mane, I added a very large dollop of glue and then carefully pressed my tassel into it until it was cool.
Done! Go show off your adorable unicorn!

I love group costumes. I vow to always be that family dressed up in ridiculous matching themed costumes until my kids refuse to partake anymore (and even then, I am sure I can bribe them somehow). Last Halloween I made my daughter’s Babywearing Ghost costume, so it was really too easy for us parents to get in costume, all we had to do was wear black. This year I wanted to make my daughter a unicorn costume, but I had to think of some way to incorporate costumes for us parents. Then it hit me. What does it take to make a unicorn exactly? A horse + A narwhal = A horse with a horn. Clever, fun, easy, and something not everyone understood, our family costume was born.

How I made our shirts: I bought the same t-shirts her romper was made out of, but in our sizes. Using the same extra thick white felt I used for her costume, I cut out letters to spell “horse” and “narwhal.” I then glued them to the shirts. Done! I really wanted to create hats to match, mine with ears and his with a horn, but he vetoed that way too quickly. He isn’t a costume person. 😉