DIY Shark Costume

(using Fruit of the Loom® full zip hoodie)

DIY Shark Costume

DIY Shark Costume

Looking for a fun family costume? How about a shiver of sharks? With just a Fruit of the Loom Full Zip Hoodie or a Fruit of the Loom Hoodie Sweatshirt and some craft supplies, you can make an amazingly comfortable costume in less than an hour.

Estimated Cost: $30 or less

Use caution while crafting! Adult supervision recommended while using sharp or high-temp tools.

Costume garments:

Fruit of the Loom Fleece Full Zip Hoodie(charcoal heather)

or Eversoft Fleece Full Zip Hoodie Sweatshirt (black heather)

Costume supplies:

1 piece white felt

1 piece red felt

3 pieces gray felt

Fabric marker

2 large googly eyes

Items you need but may already have:

Hot glue sticks

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Fiber fill

Optional:

Finger protection for hot glue gun, Boys' Elastic Bottom Sweatpants, Adult Eversoft® Fleece Sweatpants.

Start with the templates!

The shark fins should be on 11”x17” paper, all other pieces can be printed on standard 8.5”x11” paper. Cut out all the paper pieces.

image shows person measuring out shark gums on felt

The shark gums will be made of red felt. You will need three of these (or if you have long strips of felt, make one strip three times the length of the “gums” template). Trace your template on the red felt. Next, cut out your shark fins from gray felt. Last, you have the teeth, which will be cut out of the white felt. Your template is for one set of teeth, you will need to use this to cut out three sets of teeth. If your felt is long enough, all three sets of teeth can be from one strip of felt.

Completed spider DIY costume using Fruit of the Loom full zip hoodie for kids

Assemble the shark fin

Lay your two shark fins on top of each other. On each of the edges that make up the point, glue using one line of glue. You will leave the bottom of the fin open for now. Later, you will need this to be open to stuff the fin.

gluing the shark fin felt pieces together

Once the glue is dry, turn inside-side out to have clean outside edges. Glue the open edge almost closed, tucking the bottom into the fin.

filling the glued together shark fin with fiber fill

Once that has dried, fill the fin with fiber fill then glue closed. We will attach this later.

Add the gums and teeth

If you have short sections of gums, go ahead and glue then into one long continuous piece. Do the same with the teeth. We will start by attaching the gums. First you will glue the red felt to the outside of the hood. You want to glue just the edge to the outside, with most of the felt hanging over the edge toward the face. This will get wrapped around the edge of the hood.

gluing the red felt for the gums to the inside edge of the hoodie leaving a little extra red felt to wrap around the teeth

When you are ready to glue the inside edge, glue just shy of the free edge of the felt so you have a little extra red felt to wrap around the teeth.

gluing the teeth to the hood of the sweatshirt

Next, glue the teeth to the felt that is inside edge of the hood. Once you have that glued, you will glue the small edge that is still loose to the teeth. The result should be a set of teeth that looks like it has gums on both sides.

Attaching the fin

You will attach the fin to the back of the sweatshirt. Use the center seam of the hood as your guide. Choose the position on the back of the shirt and glue your fin. You may want to reinforce this with some simple sewing – if this costume is for an adult, safety pins would work.

glue googly eyes to the hood of sweatshirt

Add the eyes!

It’s the last step! The easiest way to get the eye placement is to flip the hood so the top of the hood is visible. Place your googly eyes on either side of the center seam. When you are happy with the placement, get the glue.

You are finished! You’ve just made a shark costume so cozy they will want to wear it long after Halloween is over.

Start with the templates!

Assemble the shark fin

Add the gums and teeth

Attaching the fin

Add the eyes!

Shark Video