Ball Of Yarn Halloween Costume

Look at that! Two posts in two days, consider this a Halloween surprise (but really, sorry for being so MIA lately)! Last year we made one of my all time favorite costumes, this ramen bowl that you all loved! After we made that costume I immediately had an idea for another costume, a giant ball of yarn! We didn’t have time to make it last year, so I knew we had to make it a priority this time around. Using a similar technique to that of the ramen bowl, we made this cute costume complete with giant knitting needles!

I won’t lie, this costume is already another of my all time favorites; maybe it’s because I am using yarn for literally everything IRL, be it a latch hook rug, or as an addition to many of my projects. Maybe it’s because it’s from the same method that made the ramen bowl, but either way, it’s such a fun costume!

36″ balloon
Newspaper or newsprint, cut into strips
Papier-mache mixture (equal parts elmer’s glue and water)
Large yarn (we used 4 .55 lb balls)
Spray paint that matches your yarn (we used Martha Stewart’s poodle skirt pink)
Wide white ribbon
2 6″ foam ball
2 1″ wooden dowels
Brown paint that matches the wood color
Paintbrush
Scissors
Hot glue gun

1. Inflate your 36″ balloon to its full capacity. In a large bowl, mix together equal parts water and white glue until smooth. Cut long strips out of newspaper 1″-1 1/2″ wide. These will be used to papier-mâché the foundation of your “ball of yarn”.

2. Place the strips of newspaper in the glue mixture, removing any excess glue with your fingers. One by one, cover the balloon with papier-mâché strips until the balloon is covered. Allow the first layer to dry completely before placing a second layer. We did three layers of papier-mâché to make sure our bowl was sturdy.

3. Dry the papier-mâché overnight before carefully deflating the balloon and removing it from your structure. Once the balloon has been completely removed, level off the top of the ball by cutting it with scissors and cut a hole in the base large enough to fit it around your waist.

4. With your spray paint, paint the entire bowl the color of your yarn. You don’t need complete coverage, just enough to help any small gaps that may be seen when laying in your yarn.

5. Using a large sheet of foam core, cut out a circle the same diameter as the top of your bowl. Cut a hole out of the middle of the foam core circle large enough to fit around your waist. Hot glue the foam board to the top of the ball. This will help keep the costume sturdy on top.

6. Unravel your yarn. Start layering it on the papier-mache and hot glue it all around the sphere to completely cover it up. Leave a few strands of yarn hanging to make it look like yarn is hanging loose.

7. To make the knitting needles, first paint your foam balls to match your dowels. Next, cut a small circle out of the ball the same size as the dowel, then glue the ball on top of the dowel.

8. Weave some of your spare yarn around one of the needles to give the illusion that you are knitting, and glue its end to the ball.

9. Once all of the yarn is hot glued to the base, cut two pieces of white ribbon long enough to fit over your shoulders. Hot glue the ribbon to the inside of the costume, making sure it’s very secure.

And there you have it! Our very first, but definitely far from last costume blog post of 2019! I’m really excited about all of our costumes this year, so stick around for those new tutorials to come out as well. If you’ve been paying attention to our Instagram, you’ll know this isn’t our first costume of the year, and don’t worry those how-to’s will be going up soon, as well as the new costumes! And for those of you who are waiting for more couples’ costumes, we have those coming as well, just you wait!