Last Minute DIY Halloween Costume: Raccoon

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This cute little raccoon Halloween costume consists of of a mask and a plush tail. It could outfit both adults and children, or a whole raccoon family if desired. Luckily, it’s super quick and can be made in less than an hour if you’re short on time. Wear it with black and grey clothing, especially anything that is fuzzy. I wore the mask and tail with a knit grey striped sweater and black patterned leg warmers.

Materials

• paper and pencil
• permanent marker
• felt in gray, black, and white
• fabric glue
• scissors
• plain craft mask
• black thread and needle
• stuffing
• black belt

Directions

1. Lay mask on piece of paper and trace its outer shape, marking the two eye holes.  Use your imagination and artistic flair to add two ears and some wisps of fur. Add extra details including the nose, and mark the grey (noted as “G” in the diagram below), white ( marked as “W”), and black (fully coloured in portion).
2. Using the permanent marker, trace the outer shape of the head and eye holes on the wrong side of the grey felt. Cut out.
3. Then trace the white area on the wrong side of the white felt- this will be the second layer. Cut out. Mark the black shapes on the black felt and cut out. The last piece to trace and cut out is the grey bridge of the nose.
4. Arrange all pieces on the mask with the grey layer on the bottom, lining up they eye holes. You may need to make some adjustments and cut the eye holes a bit larger. Layer on top the white layer, the black layer, and the bridge of the nose. Using the fabric glue, attach each piece of felt onto the mask.
5. To make the tail, cut out a large rectangle of black felt roughly an arm’s length (adult’s arm for adult costume, child’s arm for child’s costume) and approximately 10 inches wide. Fold rectangle in half lengthwise and sew along the longer outer edge to make a tube, tapering off at one end to make the tip of the tail and leaving the other end open so that stuffing can be added.
6. Turn tail inside out and pack with stuffing- it does not have to be very full, as you want a floppy tail. Before sewing up loose end, thread belt through and sew around the belt to attach the two together.
7. To make stripes for the tail, use remaining grey felt to cut out 2 inch strips approximately 10 inches long. Add felt glue to the wrong side of the grey strips and wrap around the stuffed tail, trimming off any additional felt. Glue other strips evenly along the tail.
8. Voila! You are ready for candy collecting!