Turtle Shell for Children

So, what do you do when you want to make baby clothes but you don't want  the baby? Well, you borrow a friends baby! In this case I have a friend who is crazy about turtles and who just had a baby, so I wanted to suprise her with this turtle shell kinda costume thing. 
We decided to make it kinda big so he can grow into it, as for now he can also use it to lay around in.

So! Let's get started

So, first thing's first, let's gather all the material. You will need:

Material
-Fabric of your choice (I found a turtle pattern one which I tought would fit well)
-Foam 
-Thread
-Velcro
-Baby clothes (optional)

Tools
-Scissor (preferably one made for fabric)
-Needles (Sewing needle, pin needle and safety needles)
-Marker
-Sewing Machine (opitional but will be easier with one)
-Tape measure
-And if your like me and not verry good with stuff as being precise and foam, a boyfriend that is

First let's start with the getting the foam into shape.

You will start by cutting out a round shape from the form. The size is up to you. As I said we decided to make it fairly big so he can grow in it. Once you have a nice round shape, cut out a triangle of it. Think Pacman. The more you want it to point ut the bigger the triangle. You will then want to destroy the lovely Pacman shape by cutting a small round hole at the top/in the middle (before this it's a lovely chinaman hat according to my boyfriend)

So, what we did was to put som safety needles to make it stick togheter, as seen in the photo. Now it's time for the, ehh, fun part. Sewing! You'll simply take the thread and the needle and sew it togheter! You will wnat to sew it both on the outside and the inside to make it stable (again as seen in the picture)

The reason you cut out a round piece before was to give it a nice flat top. Now let's fill that hole. (Comment from my boyfriend: I have yet to see a pointy turtle eventough that would be awesome, it would be like a tiny triceratops). So you will cut out a round shape that fits the hole and then just do your best to sew it in there (it does not have to look pretty.)

There you go, your shape is ready!

So what we did first was to realise we had no idea what we were doing and how to go on. So instead we went to get groceries and ate dinner. No, you do not have to do this but this step is kinda difficult as you mostly just freebase it.

But! Here is what we did. 

First we cut the fabric so we don't have loads and loads of it. Thenn fold the corners in making it smooth on the outside. (you will get som wrinkles). Now you will handsew it all around the edge on the inside of the shell. This is to keep it smooth on the outside and all the extrafabric on the inside. Then you just kinda cram all the fabric in there and saw it on the best you can (if you have to much fabric you can just cut it off)

The final step will be added tomorrow. 

And now for the final step- the strap. This step is fairly easy. You start with getting your fabric out and cutting out a rectangular piece that should be a little bit longer than the lenght of your shell (but not a lot) make it twice the width as you want it.

This is where you want to get your sewing machine out. Then fold your fabric over inside out and sew it togheter, making it somewhat like a tube. Then turn it the right side. Now, you will want to fold the end pieces in maybe by a centimeter and sew them togheter, just to make it look good.

So, you know have a shell and a tube. You will want to take out your velcro. Sew one part of it on the tube by machine. The other one will have to go on the shell by hand, a little tricky but not to hard (unless you do like me and make your finger bleed by sticking the needle in it). Now, all you have to do is to handsew on the end of the tube with no velcro on onto the sheald opposite the piece of velcro on there.

And so the final touch. Make another tube, but this time, a tiny one. This time you will fold in the end pieces and sew it on your piece of baby clothing. There, now all you have to do is to put the shell on the clothing (I believe you'll figure out how to on your own) and find a baby to put it on. And there you go, your very own turtle shell! Hopefully it will all be a little clearer if you look at the photos.

My friend loved this shell and she said that for the next five years or so her son will have nothing to say about his Halloween costume.

Good Luck!