How I Made The Fantastic Mr Fox Costume

Last year we'd been reading quite a lot of Roald Dahl, so I wasn't completely surprised when my son asked to go to school for World Book Day as The Fantastic Mr Fox.

Creating fur legs for book day costume

I hadn't intended on using teddy fabric for the outfit, I was going to use a woolly cardigan I'd bought from the charity shop, but I just fell in love with this fabric! Isn't it just perfect! My most expensive buy of the outfit, but truly worth it.

I used a pair of my son's joggers as a template for the trousers, and with guidance from Gluesticks, I was able to make these fabulous legs that my son is never out of!

What clothes does Mr Fox wear?

This proved more difficult than legs. I bought the waistcoat for 75p from a local charity shop, and the shirt is one of my son's school shirts but I was struggling with the coat, as I really wanted a tailcoat like the drawing.

Whilst roaming in the Guild Care charity shop, I found a size 6 New Look dress - six!! A denim button-up dress, perfect to turn into a coat. I cut the front and gave the back a couple of tails and just like that, Mr Fox has his coat.

How to make Mr Fox face mask and tail

The tail was a long piece of fabric stuffed with wadding, but I didn't want a Velcro tail as it wouldn't last five minutes at school, so I made it more into a belt to tie on.

For the mask, I followed the instruction by the very talented Handmade Charlotte, the template is spot on.

Finally, we bought some fingerless gloves and attached teddy fur to them to complete the outfit.