How to Make a Daffy Duck Costume

Warner Brothers' Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies brought lovable, zany Daffy Duck to the public in 1937 in "Porky's Duck Hunt." Of course, he was a hit. If your child adores Daffy Duck and wants to have a Daffy Duck costume, you can make one quite easily.

Things You'll Need

• Black leotard or black sweatshirt and sweatpants
• Pins
• Yellow-orange tights or lightweight fabric pants
• Elastic
• Black thread
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Needle
• Baseball cap
• Yellow orange fabric
• Black ribbon
• Posterboard
• Stocking cap
• Cotton batting
• White felt
• Black felt
• Feather
• Fabric glue

Instructions

Make Daffy's Body

1. Purchase a black body leotard because Daffy Duck's body is all black. For a less fitted look, you can also use a long black sweatshirt. Combine it with sweat pants that have been cut off at the thigh with triangular edging to resemble feathers.

2. Use elastic on the leg for the Daffy Duck costume. Measure the width of your child's mid-thigh and cut two pieces of elastic to fit.

3. Cut a piece of the discarded leg 1 1/2 inch wider than the elastic. Clip it so that it is one long strip. Turn the sweatpants inside out and stitch the piece on with black thread at the top and bottom. Create a sleeve for the elastic, leaving the end open. Insert the elastic, stitch one end down. Pull it through the sleeve you created, overlap the other end by 1/4 inch, and stitch down

4. Use yellow orange tights or lightweight pants for the legs of the Daffy Duck costume.

Prepare the Parts for Daffy's Head

1. Find two old hats. These are for the head. One is for the foundation, a baseball cap with a brim. The other, a black stocking cap, is used for Daffy's large head.

2. Place the baseball cap on the head of the person to wear it. Use a pin to mark the spot the farthest point back on the round of the ear.

3. Press the hat flat against the posterboard. Draw a line straight out from the mark that you made, 2 inches. Slightly angle the line toward the front of the bill until it touches the point where the front of the bill curves toward the back. Continue to outline the cap bill, repeating the process on the other side.

4. Cut a separate piece of posterboard for the ear flaps. Cut a piece of cardboard in the shape of a U. It will be about 2 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches long.

5. Snip out 4 pieces of yellow orange fabric from the U shaped pattern. Place two of the pieces, right sides together. Between the two pieces place 1 1/2 feet of ribbon.

6. Leave 1 inch extending out at the seam edge and stitch. Do the same for the other two. Turn right side out. You should have the ear patches with a long ribbon coming off of them. Stuff with cotton batting. Set the posterboard pattern aside. Turn the upper seams in and stitch shut on the outside.

7. Pin the bill pattern onto the same fabric that is folded in half. Cut around the pattern so that you have an extra 1/2 inch all the way around. Turn the faces of the fabric together and stitch 1/4 inch seam along the outside of the bill. Begin the seam 1/2 inch from the edge that attaches to the cap and leave 1/2 inch open at the opposite end. This gives you material to attach it to the cap.

Assemble Daffy's Head

1. Fill the stocking cap with cotton batting. Try to find a stocking cap with a tight weave so the batting doesn't show. Knits do not work well for this project. The stocking cap should create a head twice the size of the wearer's head.

2. Fit the stocking cap over the baseball cap. Make certain that it is stuffed all over, including the back. You will need to clip the front, leaving at least a 1 inch overlap to sew. Turn the edges of the stocking cap under and pin.

3. Turn the bill fabric right side out. Insert the card board. Add stuffing above and below the posterboard so that it is about an inch thick. Slide the bill over the brim of the cap so that the posterboard lays on top.

4. Turn under 1/2 inch seams and pin the bill to the cap by removing the stocking cap pins one at a time and adding the material for the bill.

5. Attach the ear flaps to the inside by removing the pins holding the other material on, one at a time, adding the flaps, and reattaching the pins. Make certain that as there is no batting where the seams attach. This makes sewing even more difficult.

6. Sew all the way around the base of the hat and above the brim. If your machine is heavy duty, you can easily handle this. Otherwise, stitch this by hand using very small backstitches.

7. Cut large white ovals out of felt for the eyes. Cut smaller black circles of felt for the pupils. Glue them on or hand stitch. Add a black feather at the top of the head.

Resources

• Visit the Clicket page for Looney Tunes costumes.