kojotutorial: lil' cowgirl bandana

I wouldn't say Halloween is my favorite holiday- just generally, I don't love scary/creepy stuff. However, I love costumes and the chance to play dress up. And I especially love coordinated family costumes and will ride that train until one of our kids refuses to cooperate with my shenanigans. Luckily, this year, Burke decided he'd like to be a horse and have Piper Jane as his cowgirl sidekick. I was happy to oblige.

 

Piper Jane's cowgirl costume is pretty simple- a patterned onesie, a kid's cowboy hat (from the dollar store) with a yellow sash and fabric flower tied around it (to make the fabric flower, I used the same basic process as I use to make jersey ruffles, but with about twenty little circles I cut from various yellow and pink fabric scraps), a baby pettiskirt and a little coordinated bandana.

I thought I'd put together little how-to's for the bandana and pettiskirt in time for Halloween in case you have a baby in your life just dying to be a cowgirl (or a big brother who insists on a baby cowgirl sidekick, you know, whatever). The biggest bonus of this costume is that I've been wanting to make Piper Jane a pettiskirt anyway... and everything else took very little time to put together. Fabulous.

Anyhow, to make a mini bandana, you'll need:
-a 12"x12" square of fabric
-two 6"x3" rectangles of the same fabric
-a sewing machine and sewing supplies

1. Iron your square of fabric in half diagonally, right sides facing each other. Also iron your two rectangles in half horizontally, right sides facing each other.

2. Stitch around the the two open edges of your triangle. Leave about 2" open at the top of each edge and do not sew along the folded edge. Turn right side in, pressing to tuck the raw edges for the 2" openings inside the fabric triangle.

3. Sew along the open edge of each rectangle, making two tubes. Turn right side in, press flat with the edges turned into the tube and sew finish off each end.

4. Tuck a little rectangle (which will be your bandana 'ties') in each 2" opening in the triangle. Sew openings shut, securing the ties in place. Top stitch around bandana.

5. Tie on your baby girl and admire. Cute, right?

Stay tuned for the more-involved-but-totally-worth it pettiskirt tutorial.