Family Aladdin Costume Part 2 - Toddler Magic Carpet Costume

Check out part one of our Aladdin family costume in my previous post for details on our Genie and Jasmine costumes.

When we decided on an Aladdin Halloween costume theme, I went around and around debating which character we should make Little Plum. In the end we decided on the magic carpet, and I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out! After the initial design process, the costume was actually pretty simple to construct. Here are all the details in case you, too, would like a tiny magic carpet in your life!

I wanted the costume to have a bit of a flying squirrel quality, but I wanted Little Plum to be able to walk by herself as well. With this in mind, I decided on a dolman type sleeve and left the bottom of the costume open. I measured Little Plum's length from neck to ankle and her arm span to get the general costume dimensions. (In reality I chased her around with a tape measure for 20 minutes, then measured a pair of her pajamas!) Then I added little sleeve-like openings that went from her wrist to her elbow. This is all much easier to see in the design diagram below!

With the general dimensions determined, I cut the fabric using my ruler and rotary cutter rather than drawing out a pattern. I had the fabric folded in quarters when I cut, with a fold along the top edge and a fold down the middle. I just eyeballed the curve from sleeve to body, and since the fabric was folded I knew the two sleeves would match. I also free-handed the neck opening, using her pajama top as a guide. We were left with basically a huge poncho at this point.

To sew it up, I began by heming the bottom edges using some great gold tassel trim. Then I sewed up the side seams with more tassel trim sandwiched in between. I finished off the wrist and neck openings using fold over elastic with a zig-zag stitch. I'd never used fold over elastic for more than hair ties before, and it was a huge pain to sew, but it really made the difference in having the costume look finished and professional.

Now it was time to decorate the carpet! I relied heavily on costumes from the Aladdin musical and the few I could find on Pinterest to determine the carpet design. The final design is true to the movie carpet, but only features the center-most portion if the design since I was working on such a small canvas.

I made three patterns for the basic shapes - the tear drops, the swords, and the purple claws. I cut all the shapes out of felt and placed them on the costume starting at armpit level so that the design wouldn't be too distorted with her arms at her sides.

I used fabric glue to attach the felt to the costume. Initially I let the pieces dry about an hour before trying it on and was disappointed that they were easily peeling off. I set it aside for a day and when I came back they were solid as a rock! Lesson learned - let fabric glue cure for 24 hours or so.

I finished off the costume with a hair bow made out of the gold tassel trim. I just rolled the trim up and hot glued it in place before attaching it to an alligator clip. I added cheap non-slip shelf liner to one side of the alligator clip to keep the bow from slipping.

Pictures totally don't do justice to just how hilarious this costume is in real life! When she moves her arms and the carpet flaps around you can't help but giggle, especially with all those tassels.

The true success of the costume is the she actually loves to wear it! Once the glue fully cured there was no way she could pick the felt pattern off, and it is super easy to put on and take off. But most importantly it doesn't hinder her movement at all, which is of course top priority when you have an oh-so-busy toddler on your hands. It's even tricycle approved!

I hope this tutorial was helpful if you find yourself needing this oddly specific costume! A magic carpet wasn't necessarily the obvious choice when we were thinking about Aladdin characters, but the costume ended up being fairly simple to construct, totally recognizable, and completely hilarious!

I hope you're enjoying the Halloween season and having fun dressing up!