Vintage Clown Costume and Replacing Old Elastic

 This was my brother back in 1982. Yep, 29 years ago, in a clown costume that my mom made.

 Don't you just love the shag carpet?

My mom kept this costume and gave it to me a couple of years ago for my daughter to wear. The collar was lost as well as the pom pom buttons. I made some new pom poms and  just glued them on.

I also made a new collar. I was lucky enough to find this yellow floral fabric at walmart that almost matched the yellow patch on the costume.

I

 I just made a large rectangle, sewed an elastic casing in the middle and then added some green ric rac to match the rest of the costume.

One thing that I did not do when my daughter wore it was replace the old elastic. We had to pin the neck together to keep it on her and the arms and legs were really loose.  I regretted not doing that.

Halloween 2009

My son will be wearing this costume for Halloween this year so I figured I better do it this time.

First I did the neck elastic. This one was really easy, The elastic was already sticking out a bit, so I just used a seam ripper to open it up a bit.

Pulled the old elastic out (I had to cut it since the ends were sewn together),

Then threaded some new elastic in, sewed the ends together by zig zagging back and forth a few times, and then closed up the casing again. Super easy.

Next was the sleeves and legs. These were a little bit more difficult because there wasn't a continuous elastic casing. The elastic was actually sewn into the seam. I don't like this kind of casing so I decided to take it out and change it.

Using a seam ripper, I opened up the seam just where the elastic and bias tape casing were attached,

Undid the stitches that held the elastic in the casing before the seam was sewn shut (those little white stitches in the picture)

and then a little of the casing on each side of the seam.

I sewed the seam back together again without the bias tape casing and ironed it open and flat.

 Then I folded the ends of the bias tape under so that the folded ends line up with the seam.

I sewed the casing back on, leaving the folded ends unsewn and open.

Then you can just slip the new elastic in through the opening, and thread it through.

I glued the ends together with a little fabric-tac to make it easier to sew.

 Then secured them together with a few zig zag stitches,

I then unbunched the the sleeve to pull the extra elastic in and it dissapeared into the casing. No need to sew up the opening.

I did the same thing for both arms and legs and then the costume was done and ready for Halloween!

 Much better

 Doesn't the little guy look adorable in it!

We can't wait for Halloween!!

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