Mopsy Bunny Costume

If you read my other blog you might have had a sneak peak at this little costume already. I have a tendency to dress Lily up in elaborate dresses and Molly in bunchy animal outfits. I guess I still see her as my little baby.

I really debated what to make for Molly this year. It was between this and Annie. Since she LOVES Annie SO much I thought she would get a kick out of looking in the mirror to see herself as Annie.

But in the end, the Annie costume was too skimpy for October in Pennsylvania and the red curly hair was too much of a challenge. Molly goes into fits if I just mention the word 'brush'.

So instead, I sewed this little bunny costume. But she's not just any bunny. Do you recognize her? She's Mopsy from Peter Rabbit. See illustration here.

I thought a good idea if you had triplets would be to make all three of them Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. If you also had a boy you could make him Peter. Now THAT would be impressive!



My mother used to read those Beatrix Potter books to me all the time when I was little. She bought the whole collection and played the audiobooks before bed. So the costume had some sentimental value for me.


I think the hardest part about this costume were the ears. In the drawings of the bunnies their ears stand straight up.



Have you ever tried to make 12" high ears that defy gravity? It's no simple request. I ended up using a coat hanger. That didn't work so well. They kept falling forward so I hand sewed the ear back against the scalp of the bunny head. Surprisingly, that worked with the help of the coat hanger. They stood up like magic throughout the entire night.

Speaking of trick or treat night....Molly got to enjoy gathering candy for the first time. Yes, we took her along last year but she was pretty oblivious as to what was happening. This year, her concept of candy was well established.

At first she was confused. She was too shy to to walk up to the door. That was until she saw what the other children were collecting at the door. After that first house there was no problem with shyness. If anything we had to keep her from taking the entire basket.

I got so many compliments from the neighbors. It was well worth the last minute hours I spent the day before and the morning of Trick or Treat.



Another interesting detail I included with this costume was the padding. If you look at the illustrations, the bunnies are quite bunchy in their bottom halves.



All the store bought patterns looked loose and cheap in the legs. So I added a thermal lining to the entire costume and packed the middle with stuffing giving that bunchy look to her legs and butt. Every time she turned around we laughed and awwed.


If I had enough time I would have also made little bunny mittens. That would have really completed the look. However, I don't know if Molly would have put up with them for very long.


At first she really protested the hat. She cried and lay on the floor in tears and refused to get up. I thought the costume was going to be a bust, when I had the idea to put her in front of a mirror.


Brian was skeptical. But when she saw herself, the tears slowly subsided and eventually turned into laughter. She began pointing to herself and repeating 'bunny bunny'.


What a cute baby!
I really liked the red velveteen caplet. I don't know if many of the neighbors knew who she was supposed to be but it at least separated her from the average bunny costume.


What's really nice about this costume is that it's SUPER warm. So even if the end of the month is freezing, you child will stay nice and warm.


I also added leather to the soles of the feet. So there' s not need to wear shoes.


Molly used the red gingham lined wicker basket for her Halloween candy. If you look at the illustration you can see that all the bunnies carry one.


Looking forward to next year, I already have a bunchy animal costume in mind for our newest little 'monkey' ;)



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