How to Make a Child's American Indian Costume

Cute little Native American

Many children, especially once they see movies about Native Americans, will love the unique style of dress. And dressing your child like a Native American is one of the easiest costumes to make. It is perfect for Halloween, as well as useful for Thanksgiving pageants and themed parties. And this simple costume barely requires sewing. In fact, it can be made from used clothes from your own closet or a thrift store.

Things You'll Need

• Cotton shirt and pants, dress, or dress sized shirt, preferably tan, white or brown
• Scissors
• Beads
• Fabric paint
• Suede strips

Instructions

1. 

   Make fringes like these

   Put child in clothing and measure how much fabric can be cut into fringe. Make a line on the inside at the top of where you want the fringe to be. Cut lines in the bottom of the shirt/dress, the sleeves, and if you chose, the hems of the pants to form Native American style fringe.

2. Thread beads onto the bottoms of some of the sleeve fringes. Tie knots on the bottom of the fringes to hold the beads in place. If you are using small plastic beads, you can also do the hems of the pants and the shirt. If you are using large clay beads, you might want to stick to the sleeves so they do not get ripped off or lost.

3. Use the fabric paint to paint a Native American themed design on the shirt. You can use stencils, or if you are artistically inclined, go for freehand. If you want to make the design look beaded, use puff paints and make the design out of dots. For quilling, make the dots more like lines.

4. Use the suede thread to braid into long hair. You can also use it to make a simple wrap headband. Use several strips of suede, or add beads. Remember to tie it a bit looser if you add beads, so your child doesn't end up with a headache.

Tips & Warnings

• If you cannot find fabric in the right color, dying it also works. Buy a white T-shirt in the men's section, or simple light colored cotton sweats and throw them in the washer with dye in the color you want them to be.

• Always be careful with beads and small children. You might want to omit the beads with children below 3.

References

• Your costume can look like this, but be much cheaper and more original