Simple Pikachu Costume

Every year my office does a costume contest for "Harvest Day," and this year we're combining it with a corn maze, which presents costume challenges.

Also, the executive's daughter is really into Pokemon right now. I was thrilled to hear this, since I thoroughly enjoyed the first few seasons when I was in high school. I told him how I've always wanted to make Team Rocket costumes for me and Zane, but have never actually done it. 

Because of this, he's joked (or been serious?) a few times about me showing up in a Pokemon costume. I don't want to let him down, so here's my simple, corn-maze-friendly, Pikachu costume. 

Pikachu - arguably the most popular Pokemon

My materials - I dug through my throw/give away pile and found three old shirts (two yellow, one brown), cardboard box, red stickers.

This shirt from Maui had seen it's last good day. I cut the neckline out so I could wear it backwards comfortably. I just left the edges raw because it's a t-shirt and I didn't want to deal with it.

I cut the bottom off this brown shirt. 

Then I cut that piece in half, cut off the hem, rounded the edges, and pinned it to the old front of the shirt, covering up the Hawaiian flowers. Then I sewed it down with a zig zag stitch to allow for stretching. 

Next came Pika's tail, the most significant part of this project. I sketched the shape and cut it out with a knife. I was very careful, but kept having horrible visions of cutting off my thumb. That didn't happen. 

Then I laid it on top of the other yellow shirt and cut off the right amount of fabric. I cut through both layers of shirt to make a casing. 

I pinned the shirt at every point and valley around the cardboard. Then I changed the foot on my sewing machine (I have no idea the name of this foot, but it was the skinniest), and sewed around the cardboard with a straight stitch. 

I added some brown scraps to the bottom of the tail, because Pikachu's got brown like that. Then I cut around the stitches to show the points better. 

Lastly, I took those hem strips from my brown shirt and sewed them to the bottom of the tail. I actually sewed right through the cardboard. This picture was taken before I realized the ties needed to all face downward. I changed the ties on the left. They now come off the end, parallel to the other ties.

Then I tied it to a belt.

For the ears, I just took scraps and sewed them into triangles. I stuffed them with more scraps and hand-sewed them to a headband.

I had red foam stickers from my scrapbooking days for Pikachu's cheeks, another important feature.

There you have it: Simple Pikachu, ready for an office trip to the corn maze. I don't plan on wearing all the accessories until the actual competition. I don't want to bend the tail or wear pink stickers on my face all day.

Piiiiikaaaaachuuuuu!!!! 

Update: I won the costume contest!!

Here I am with my winnings - a Starbucks giftcard and yummy almonds!

Happy Halloween month everyone! I've got plans for another costume for real Halloween. Stay tuned.