How to Make Mario and Luigi Costumes {Tutorial}

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So here they are!  The Halloween costumes are complete, hip hip hooray!  They are truly adored and they survived some pre-Halloween festivities this weekend too.  I loved so many of your guesses as to what I was making and I loved hearing all the neat things your children are going to be too!  Halloween is just so fun because of all the costumes, isn't it?

I'm usually not much into making my kids their Halloween costumes since I feel like why put all that work into something they will only wear once but now that they are older and requested these I do have to say it was so fun and I think I may do this every year especially since these are definitely worthy of being dress-up clothing that they can wear year round.  I just have to tell you that Noah and Penelope were absolutely ecstatic when I started sewing these together last Monday, it was so cute!  They would just about die at each fitting and when I was finally done they were screaming with joy.  Priceless, I say, absolutely priceless.  The fact that they have worn them everyday since has just melted my heart.  I love these guys!

Noah has been asking everyday for the past month or so if he could be Luigi for Halloween, he wants all his super powers...throwing fireballs, becoming a giant or teeny tiny mini Luigi, and fighting off bad guys...awesome!  Plus add in the fact that he is trying to find the beautiful Princess Peach who was stolen away and hidden by a mean guy...or that is how Noah tells the story anyways...and who would't want to be Luigi or Mario, right!  ;-)   At one point we had the game for our Wii and Noah and my husband would play together in the morning before he went to work.  My husband would be Mario and Noah would be Luigi. For some reason he thinks Luigi is the bomb, I think it's because green is his favorite color.  Anyways, that is where his love for 'Mario Man' and 'Luigi Man', as he calls them, comes from.  

Since Noah wanted to be Luigi, I thought it would be perfect if Penelope would be Mario...and as luck would have it when I asked her about it she actually did want to be him!  She really looks up to Noah and wants to do everything he does, even if it means being Mario for Halloween cause then she could be just like Noah :-)  Eloise became Princess Peach because, well, it was the only other character I thought I could replicate somewhat easily!

I think her Princess Peach dress turned out beautifully!  I'm definitely not a fan of melty costume satin but I guess one project a year won't kill me.  I left her gown quite long as I thought it looked more princess-y that way.  Don't worry though, I made sure that she wouldn't be able to trip on it when she walked.

Their costume consists of a pair of felt blue overalls with big yellow buttons, long-sleeved t-shirts from Target (Penny's is actually a boy's t-shirt one size smaller than she would wear in her girly size), kid's sized magic stretch gloves from the Dollar Store, Felt mustaches that I re-used from this party here, and the classic Mario and Luigi hats which I made based off this tutorial here.  I made the white circle using my Go! Baby machine with this circle die and free-handed the letters 'L' and 'M'.  The only change I really made to the hat tutorial was that I added a 1.5" piece of 1/4 inch elastic to the back so that the hat stayed on as it's a one-size-fits-all kinda hat and felt stretches just a wee bit.  

I thought today I'd show you how I made their overalls.  I cut and sewed up both of these in one day...probably in less than two hours (of course it went much faster the second time around!)  If you have a little Super Mario fan in your house maybe they'd like a pair too?!  

Mario and Luigi Overalls

1 yard of blue felt per overall

1 pair of well fitting pants to use as a pattern

rotarty cutter and mat

sewing machine and/or a serger

2 big yellow buttons

First fold your felt in half so you can make two pants legs with each cut of fabric.  The fold your pants in half with the front facing out and pull out the crotch area so that it form a point like you see in the picture above.  Cut around your pants straight across the pants hem and then along each side using about a 1 inch seam allowance.  Cut the top of the pants straight up 3-4 inches as this part will feed into the bib part of the overalls.

Now fold your pants with the backside facing out.   Make sure you pull out the butt area to a point as well.  Cut around the sides allowing 1 inch of extra fabric as a seam allowance and cutting straight across the bottom pants hem.  Leave about 3-4 inches at the top and cut.  

If you don't have a pair of pants available to use as a pattern, Dana has a great printable pattern you could use here!

Next using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, either serge or sew (using a zig zag stitch...I would use a zig zag stitch over a straight stitch when using felt for pants as felt is slightly stretchy and these seams usually get stressed with little kids putting on pants!) both front and back sets of pant legs together just at the 'J' shaped curve at the upper right part of the pants legs. 

Here's a close up for you.

Then open up each set of pants legs into a V-shape and lay them one on top of the other, right sides together.  Serge of sew (with a zig-zag stitch) along the inside of each leg.  

Your overalls should look like this now.  Now just sew or serge the sides of the pants, turn right side out and set aside for a moment.

  

Next cut 2 pieces of felt for the bib part of the overalls.  You will want to measure the top of your pants and make that measurement your width.  My bib measurements were 12 inches x 14 inches.  Don't worry so much about the length as you will need to try the overalls on your child to figure out how high you would like them to be on them.  Cut 2 straps out of the blue felt as well, 14 x 2.5 inches in length.  

Lay one piece of bib felt at the top portion of the pants making sure the edges line up nicely with the pants side seams.  Pin and serge or sew it in place.  

It should look like this from the inside once both front and back bib pieces are in place.  

Then cross the straps at the inside of the back bib piece like the picture above.  Sew across (I used a straight stitch here) at the very top of the bib where the straps meet the bib.  Then sew a triangle in the middle of the straps right where they cross for added strength.  Fold the sides of the bib in at an angle to give your overalls that classic graduated shape.  Sew using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Using your rotary cutter, cut off the excess felt.  

It should look a little something like this now.  I neatened mine up a bit after seeing this picture...yikes!

Do the same angled look with the front bib.  Then if you have a buttonhole option on your sewing machine you can go ahead and add your two buttonholes.  If not, you can just cute two buttonholes with an e-xacto knife.  Felt doesn't fray so the buttonholes should be okay although you may want to use a very small zig zag very close to the edges to help them from stretching out too much. 

Try the overalls on your little one and figure out where you need to sew on the buttons and that is it!  Now you have yourself the cutest little pair (or two!) or Mario and Luigi overalls :-)

Please let me know if you have any questions about these.

I am happy to help you anyway I can!

And I hope your costume making is going well, only two weeks to go!!

XOXO,