DIY No-Sew Mr. Potato Head Costume for Kids and Adults

I’ll take the red nose with the blue eyes and the smiling mouth, and I’ll pack my angry eyes just in case…oh, I forgot to mention it’s for my little Mr. Potato Head. A couple weeks ago for my boys’ Awana classes it was Mr. Potato Head night.

I decided to make an outfit that I could also share with you all, whether it’ll be used for Halloween or just-because dress-up. My boys got a kick out of this no-sew Mr. Potato Head costume and I loved pulling it all together. You can make Mrs. Potato Head too, however, I did not provide any specific printable pieces like I did for Mr. Potato Head.
 

Mr. Potato Head Costume Tutorial

 
Feel free to use these templates still but add red lips instead of a white toothy smile, pearl earrings to the ears, or eyelashes to the eyes! Oh, and she probably wouldn’t look too great with the bold eyebrows or bushy mustache.

This craft will take a few days to fully complete, but it is so much fun. No sewing needed. You can make as many or as few accessories as you wish depending on the time you have.
 

What You Need

• 2 cotton t-shirts, at least one size bigger than normally needed (purchase burnt orange t-shirts, white shirts and burnt orange dye, or white shirts and regular orange dye plus coffee grinds or tea bags)
• Fabric scissors
• Adhesive hem tape
• Mr. Potato Head printable templates
• Regular scissors
• Stiff red, black, orange, brown, pink, and white felt (I used several sheets of white and painted them the felt colors I couldn’t find)
• Fabric markers
• Iron (optional)
• Acrylic paints (I used black, blue, white, and pink) and brushes (optional)
• Sticky back velcro
• 2 black foam visors (optional)
• Black puffy paint (optional)
• Regular, soft felt (optional)
• Elastic (optional)
• White long-sleeve shirt (normal size)
• White winter gloves
• Plain ball cap (we did red, but lime green is more accurate)

Download Your Free Mr. Potato Head Template

Directions

1. First, you will want to dye the shirts if you are going that route. Follow the instructions on the packaging. I actually dyed mine using orange dye, coffee grounds, and tea bags in the sink and didn’t let it soak quite as long as the instructions said to get the color I did. Dry completely and iron before moving on. You may need to iron a few times by the end of it.
 

 
2. From one of the dyed shirts, use the fabric scissors to cut out a large square piece. This will be the back pocket to store the accessories. Leave a little room to fold over the seam.
 

 
3. Attach the hem tape around the back of the cut pocket piece on the sides and bottom, and attach to the lower back of the shirt according to the hem tape instructions.
 

 
4. Using your fabric scissors, cut out the eyes, mouths, noses, etc.. If you choose to use the templates I’ve provided, cut those out with regular scissors first then trace them onto the felt then cut the shapes out of the felt.
 

 
5. Figure out the placement for the eyes, nose, and mouth, including where you want the center velcro to be. Mark those spots with a fabric marker.
 

 
6. Draw on “holes” with a brown fabric marker and draw a smiley line over the top of the big, toothy smile (this will also match up with the tongue.)
 

 
7. Draw holes on the back and sides like a Mr. Potato Head has too.
 


 

 
8. If you want to add a little more detail, trace around each circle with a black fabric marker and add a little extra line to the left side of each “hole” to give it some depth.
 

 
9. Follow the setting instructions for the fabric markers you use. I chose the dryer heat set method.

10. Now let’s decorate the facial features. For me, the white felt seemed too see-through, so I painted with white acrylic paint over top of it.
 

 
11. I painted pieces that needed to be a different color than white too if I didn’t have that color felt (i.e. pink ears and a pink tongue because I did not have stiff pink felt.)

12. I then added features to each of the pieces, like blue and black pupils, one for each set of eyes, I added teeth to the smile, a line to the tongue and ears, “ridges” for the mustache, and so on. Let these dry completely, which might take some time. I let them sit overnight.
 

 
13. Once the fabric marker drawings are set into the fabric, start adding small pieces of Velcro to the center of each (I just did this for the front of the shirt, but you can do it to the back and sides if you wish.) Be sure to keep the scratchier part of the Velcro on the shirt and the softer pieces on the accessories or you will run into problems of things sticking to each other.
 

 
14. When you place each velcro piece on the back of each facial feature, make sure you see where you want the piece to land on the shirt before. The eyebrows and mustache will hang behind the facial features, so position the opening over your velcro piece. I placed the ears on the sleeves and did not have drawn circles for those.
 

 
15. I went back through and added 2 more pieces of velcro to each piece to make sure they stay in place. For the red nose, I Added pieces to allow the nose to sit nicely horizontally or vertically.

16. If you choose to make the Mr. Potato Head shoes, they can be a little bit challenging and only fit on small feet. If you have solid black or blue shoes, that would be better. These managed to stay on for a little while how I made them; I recommend using hot glue or some sturdier glue rather than staples to attach everything. I first tested  to see how the visors will fit on top of my kids’ shoes. I then removed the stretchy band from the back of the visors.
 

 
17. For my baby, I just had to add a piece of Velcro on the back of the visor for it to fit over the shoe. For my older son, I used a strip of velcro then stuck a strip of regular felt over the sticky back of the Velcro where it did not touch the visor.
 

 
18. I then used the puffy black paint to draw on some shoelaces. Let this dry completely before doing anything else with these.
 

 
19. I stapled a small strip of elastic to the bottom so it slips over the shoe and stays in place. The staples did not hold very well, so I recommend trying something sturdier like hot glue or something.
 

 
20. Dress up with the white shirt as the bottom layer, blue pants (we did blue jeans), top with the Mr. Potato Head shirt, wear the hat and gloves and shoes, and choose your face! My boys had fun changing out the eyes, nose, and mouth. Wear the eyebrows as a mustache or the mustache as beard! There are so many possibilities. Store any extras in the back pocket!
 
Try making your own style accessories or changing them up for Mrs. Potato Head!
 

 
Know someone who could use this? Hit the “share” buttons below! Be sure to follow Arts & Crackers on social media (buttons at the top right of the page.)

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Will you make a Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head costume? Did you have a Mr. Potato Head as a kid? Share your memories with me in the comments below.

If you decide to do this project, I would love for you to share on my Facebook page or email me at [email protected]!