DIY Vanellope von Schweetz Costume

Bring Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph to life this Halloween with this DIY Vanellope von Schweetz Costume!

We love Wreck-It Ralph and are looking forward to Wreck-It Ralph 2 later this year! One of my daughter's favorite characters is Vanellope von Schweetz and relates to her a lot, actually. She has ADHD and sometimes thinks of herself as a "glitch" because she thinks differently than others do. Just like Vanellope does, my daughter uses her "gift" to stand out from the crowd and accomplishes her goals in her own special way!

I really enjoy making my daughter's Halloween costumes, and this year she is thrilled to go trick-or-treating as Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph!

Vanellope wears an adorable mint-colored hoodie. I couldn't find one in the store that was the right color or right price, so I did what I know best - DIY! First, you'll need a plain white hoodie (it can be regular or zip-up). After we made our DIY Tie-Dye Backpack, we some extra Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye in turquoise that turned out to be the perfect color to match Vanellope's shirt.

Get the hoodie wet and wring it out until it is damp. Be sure to wear gloves and work in a large plastic tub to help keep the dye in one place. I started pouring some of the dye along the bottom of the shirt and kneaded it into the fabric. This helped to distribute the dye to give it an even coloring. Then, I worked my way up the shirt doing the same thing. If you wring some of the dye out, just mop it up with the shirt and keep working. Hold it up and check to make sure you don't have any white areas.

One bottle of dye should probably be plenty, but I was paranoid about halfway through and ended up using two. It actually worked really well!

Once the shirt has been dyed completely, fold it up and place it into an airtight bag. Let it sit in the bag 6-8 hours or overnight. This keeps the shirt damp for the dye to completely set in.

Put on gloves and remove the shirt from the bag. Rinse the shirt in warm water until the water runs clear. This means all of the extra dye has been removed. Use the largest load setting on your washer with hottest water suitable (according to shirt directions) and add a small amount of laundry soap, then dry it completely. Make sure to wash and dry the shirt separately the first few times you put it in the laundry to keep it from bleeding onto other clothing.

Now that the shirt is ready, it's time to make it look like Vanellope's! She has pink hood ties and stitches along the front pocket. I decided to use hot pink paracord for both of these. Thread a length of paracord through the hood and tie both ends to keep it from pulling out. Easy, right?

For the stitches, cut four smaller (2'-3") pieces of paracord. Use a lighter to melt the edges and keep them from fraying. Use some fabric glue (or strong craft glue) and glue two pieces together to make an "X". Let it dry completely. Now that the paracord pieces are ready, you have a couple of options:

Temporary: place the pieces at the top of the pocket seam. Hold in place and use safety pins on the inside of the shirt and pocket to keep the stitches in place. After Halloween, you can remove the stitches and wear the teal hoodie wherever you want!

Permanent: Use some fabric glue and place the paracord in place. For extra hold, use small stitches with matching pink thread and tack them onto the shirt.

For Vanellope's tights, you can use use regular white leggings or tights. October around here is usually pretty chilly, so I found some white fleece-lined leggings to keep her nice and warm!

I got my hands on some of LaurDIY's new products from Plaid that are perfect for Vanellope's signature stripes: Perfect Soft Fabric Paint in Aquamarine and Don't Be Jelly, plus some Galaxy Glitter Fabric Paint in Stardust for a bit of sparkle!

I laid down the leggings on my Mod Podge Silicone Craft Mat and taped where the white stripes need to be on the front of both legs. Then I used a LaurDIY Sponge Applicator to carefully apply the paints to the un-taped areas. Last, I added a layer of the Galaxy paint to the purple stripes. Carefully peel the tape while the paint is still wet.

Lay or hang the leggings up to dry for about 24 hours. Use a drop cloth to iron over the purple stripes to set the glitter paint (otherwise it will rub off). Turn the leggings over, tape the stripes and paint them the same way you did on the front. Let them dry and iron again to set.

For Vanellope's skirt, I used Made Everyday's Layered Skirt tutorial using a chocolate brown cotton fabric. The skirt is very easy to make, and looks adorable! It's a perfectly flouncy skirt that can still be worn after Halloween.

Vanellope's hair is filled with tiny candies and sprinkles. Real candy would be a mess if we come across any rain or snow, so I decided to go with some miniature plastic candies, lollipops, and peppermints that I found with the mini Christmas decorations (My Little Christmas brand at Hobby Lobby). If you can't find anything like these, you could make your own out of polymer clay, or use colorful beads or buttons. You'll also need a bunch of black bobby pins, a glue gun, and glue sticks.

If your candies have any glitter on them like mine do, be sure to spray them with a coat of clear spray paint before assembling them to seal it in. Otherwise, the glitter will rub off easily and they won't look so sparkly anymore.

Heat up the glue gun. Add a pea-sized blob of glue on the back of a candy. Place the end of bobby pin into the glue with the flat side facing the glue. Hold in place until the glue sets. Make as many hair pins as you want! I made about 20.

For the licorice hair tie, I found a length of red twisted cord trim at the fabric store. Next, I ran some wire through the cord and trimmed the ends of the cord and wire. After trimming the ends, make sure to use some Fray Check to keep cord looking nice!

To get Vanellope's hairstyle, pull the hair up into a high ponytail*. Wrap the licorice around the ponytail (we did a few times), twist the cord together and leave the two ends sticking up. Last, stick the candy pins into the hair until it looks just how you want it.

*If you are going to use the spray hair color to make it black like Vanellope's, this is the time to do it. Just make sure to put the hoodie on first and cover it before spraying! We didn't spray her hair for pictures so that you can see all of the hair accessories.

Put on some black shoes (she's going to wear her DIY Galaxy Shoes) to complete the look. This was such a fun costume to make, and my daughter can't wait for the Halloween parties to begin!

What are you/your kids going to be for Halloween this year?

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