storybook-cottage: Let's Play Dress Up...Kid Scientist

A few months back brother Jason asked me to put together a few dress-up outfits for my little foster nephew. Brother Jason and Krystal-in-law have been parenting J for almost a year now. He is a sweet little guy, and copies everything niece Tessa does.

He is a year younger than Tessa, Jason and Krystal's oldest. (They are due to have a baby THIS Thanksgiving Day!)

Here are their kiddos...

Brother Jason said that J goes around wearing Tessa's princess dresses, and could I please make him or find him a few outfits that are not princess dresses. And could I do that for around 30 dollars.

Of course I want to do that. How could any person not want to do that?

The results were inexpensive and simple to put together. They can be easily duplicated. I used a lot of things we already had around the house.

I hope to blog all 5...scientist, doctor, ninja turtle, dinosaur (found at a yard sale), and superman (an over-sized, cape T-shirt from Walmart).

Unfortunately I cannot share the amazingly cute photos of J or reveal his name, because of foster aunt guidelines. But Tessa had no problem modeling them along with J.

She's adorable!

What is really cute is that A, our youngest, one-year-old foster niece kept finding the glasses and putting them on top of her little, cute head with her little, cute pig tails. I wish I could share photos of her too! Maybe some day.

So here's how I quickly put together this costume.

I bought an adult-sized, white T-shirt at Goodwill for around 99 cents. I wanted it to be long like a smock, but not falling-off baggy, so I cut it down the front and hemmed the sides over.

This is dress-up, so it doesn't have to be great quality...just fun. Fabric glue is a good alternative to sewing. I use this one and this one with good results.

Here is a picture of the front of the T-shirt, which actually became the back of the dress-up smock.

Then I took the back in, by folding down the middle, sewing a seam, and cutting the fold. You can see the seam here.

This became the front of the smock. Next I free handed a beaker using a think, black sharpie.

I cut out a piece of yellow fabric, and stitched it by hand onto the shirt, using black thread.

Finally I added a piece of elastic to the back of the neck, so it can easily slip on and off, and added a red ribbon to tie it, although I doubt it will get tied.

To accessorize, I bought a pair of children's black sunglasses at The Dollar Tree and removed the lenses.

I added fun duct tape to these small water bottles. Some of them are partially filled with beads. Some are partially filled with a mixture of water, cooking oil, liquid soap, and food coloring. Filling them only part-way means they can be pretend poured, or shaken/mixed...which makes them bubbly.

I super-glued the lids onto the bottles. Some of them not very well. You may want to check them carefully. ;)