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| David the Viking and his axe |
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| Teddy bear vest and boots |
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| Remember, a loose Viking is a pillaging Viking! |
The costume was made up of a stuffed fabric axe, a crocheted Viking hat and beard, a pair of fake fur boots and a fake fur vest, and a neutral colored onesie along with a pair of brown pants.
The Axe: To make the axe I went to JoAnn's Fabric and found some grey felt and brown burlap in their remnants bin. Remnants are almost always 50% off so I got them for a great deal. I cut out an axe pattern on the felt and sewed it wrong sides together, then I turned it inside out and stuffed each side. Then I took the burlap and sewed it together to make a handle, turned it right side out and stuffed it pretty tightly so that the handle would be pretty stiff. Then I hand sewed the handle to the axe head.
The Vest and Boots: I needed some fake fur to make the boots and vest, but fake fur fabric is expensive. So I went to the thrift store and found a stuffed Teddy Bear that was about the same size as Davy. Using my seam ripper I removed the head and opened the seam down the bear's back. I made sure to unstuff the bear (and kept all the stuffing for later use on other projects, stuffing can be expensive). I found that I could cut the arms off halfway down the arm and it made the perfect length for shoulders on the vest. I reinforced all the seams I was keeping intact so that they did not come undone now that the bear was being unsewn. I put the bear on Davy (now that the paws were off the arms fit him perfectly) and measured how far down I needed the vest to go. Then I cut the vest along the bottom (which ended up being right before the legs began). Next I put the legs on Davy to see how far up I needed the boots to go. I cut the top of the boots at the correct length. Now the vest and boots were basically done, but I still needed a way to keep them on his little body. So I got eyelet rivets and placed them evenly on each side of the vest opening, I also put two eyelets on the bottom back of the boots and on the top front of them. I laced the vest with leather cord once I had it on Davy, I laced it up in such a way that the bow ended up at the bottom of the vest (because Davy is teething and I didn't want the laces ending up in his mouth). I laced the boots in the back and then wound them around the boot to the top front and laced them again then tied bows with the laces.
The Hat: My mom made the hat and beard for Davy. She found a hat online and figured out a pattern on her own. If you are not as crochet savy as she is there are patterns for viking hats on etsy. Or you can also try your hand at sewing a hat.
The onesie and pants I got from Babies R Us.
Overall the costume was pretty easy to make and ended up being super cute on him. And I hope that this has been a helpful guide on how to make something similar if you are interested.
