Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Person

Character Name: Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Person
Series: ....uh, your local car dealership???
Specifics: this costume was made for fun
Cost: ~$47 (which is like $30 more than it should've cost)
Time: 4 days
Started: February 2017
Completed: August 2017
Debuted: FanExpo 2017


References




Gallery



Photo credits: Becky and Elliot


Costume Information

My friend, Becky, has been talking about making a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Person costume for years, and at some point, I decided to make the costume with her. I made a purple one and she made a pink one. These were ridiculous costumes we made for fun and were a nice break from the more serious and time-consuming costumes we make.

We followed this tutorial, just with a few extra steps. This tutorial involves tying two laundry baskets together to make the base of the costume.

Most people who make this costume have wide enough shoulders that their shoulders stick out of the arm holes enough to support the costume. But Becky and I are both really small people, so we ended up tying straps inside the laundry baskets to support the baskets.

These costumes ended up being more time-consuming and costly than we imagined, mostly because we originally bought nice spandex for them. It was only after sewing this nice spandex that we realized it was too heavy for this costume and weighed down the laundry baskets. We went out and bought new fabric -- super cheap lining fabric -- and that worked. The lesson here is to go for something cheap and light!

To keep the mouth from fraying, we lined the edge of the mouth with heat-and-bond before cutting it out. We made the eyes out of two layers of white felt and some black felt that we stuck together with heat-and-bond. We glued the eyes to the costume with heat-and-bond as well.

These costumes were super well received. Everyone got a kick out of them. And one of the coolest features of this costume is that the entire thing folds down into a small round carrying case, so it's super easy to transport to cons and store.



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