Bumble Bee Bullies

If you don't know already, I am completely in love with my dogs. My life would not be whole without them.  I would take them with me everywhere if I could, and if Sunny didn't make the weirdest high pitched, whiny sound when she sees other dogs, just because she wants to play with them so badly. For the past few years, my fabulous friend Marisa, owner of Sassymouth Photography, (check out her site, seriously, she's an amazing ninja photographer with mad skills) gets a whole bunch of her favorite people to march in the Daffodil Festival Parade. We are lucky to be on that list! She was our wedding photographer and we just bonded instantly. The first year, my husband drove his big ass Jeep and pulled her sassy float. I rode shot gun along with my two meatballs, Zoe and Sunny. It was great. So many more photos! http://www.sassymouth.net/blog/archives/2770

This year, she came up with an awesome theme of bumble bees like in Blind Melon's "No Rain" video, complete with cute little bumble bee girls, tutus and ribbon twirlers. Too bad we couldn't convince my husband to wear one.  Unfortunately, it effin rained. All morning. But we got to dress the pups up as bees so it was totally worth it to see everyone's faces light up when the girls went marching by.

Since I like to do things myself and try to save a few bucks, I made their costumes. It was super easy and only took a few hours.  All together it cost me about $10 for both of em. And you could totally make one for your kids! DIY Halloween for sure...

I bought two yellow kids size shirts at Goodwill.  I got some black cloth from my Noni, who has an abundance of it in every color and cool neon pattern from the 80's you can imagine.  Tuille was buy one get one at the craft store...with a coupon, only a few dollars for two big rolls of black and glittery yellow.  I already had hem tape at home...  the greatest invention ever.  It's pretty much like glue for fabric. And for people who can't sew.   Onto assembly...

I  cut the black fabric for the stripes to fit all the way around the shirt. If I were to do it again, I'd probably go with material with a little more give. Once I put the stripes were on, it was a little harder to get the shirts on the girls because it didn't stretch...they're a little chunky.


Measure the hem tape to be just about the same length as the stripes. Line them up on the shirt and use your iron to "melt' the pieces of fabric together. Seriously, it likes glue but without the mess. Work in small sections at a time.

Once you have the stripes on, make the tutu at the bottom of the shirt. You can do it on the inside or outside of the shirt.  I had never played around with tuille before but it's kinda fun. Again measure a piece of hem tape that will go around the bottom of the shirt and place it there. Bunch a little but together to get the look you want. Work in small sections to iron it in place, making your way completely around the entire shirt.

To make wings, I started with a really long piece of tuille and started at one end to make the bow. I folded it over, then did it to the other side.  Kinda like "bunny ears" when you're tying shoelaces. After I had the two bows, I tied them in a knot, just like laces. I wrapped the excess around the middle of the knot to thicken it up. If you have too much, you can cut it off. Just secure the end by tucking it in the middle of the knot.  You can make two sets of these for wings or just leave it at one. Attach this with a safety pin to the back of the shirt. They also make tuille with wire on the edges if you want the wings to be "perkier."  By the time the parade was done, the wings were a bit saggy...

Definitely check out the rest of the soaking wet pictures on her blog! And buy some hem tape!


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