DIY Fear from Inside Out Costume

You knew it was coming. I couldn’t make Quinn a new costume and not make one for Elliot. We have decided on an Inside Out theme for Disneyland’s Halloween party, so it’s time to showcase my Fear Inside Out Costume!

Quinn is dressing up as Anger and I will be Bing Bong from Inside Out. Elliot decided to forgo sadness (although that would have been fun) and Joy, so we decided he could act adorably fearful in his Inside Out Fear Costume.

Fear Inside Out Costume

I love that both costumes only require simple materials, some of which you may have on hand but all should be easy to find. My only struggle for the Fear costume was the purple knit cap. Finding a beanie in Arizona in the summer is absolutely ridiculous. 😉

Amazon to the rescue in this case. I bought the duct tape at Michael’s with 40% off coupons and we already had the shorts and felt at home. Then, I found a Carters blue and white striped shirt at a thrift store, it was fate and only $2.99! Bonus is that it’s a nice shirt that he can use for school pictures this year.

DIY Fear Costume Materials

• Purple knit cap
• black, white and purple felt
• Houndstooth duct tape
• Maroon/Merlot duct tape
• purple sparkly pipe cleaner
• ribbon
• hair clip
• blue and white striped button down shirt
• blue pants or shorts
• glue gun
• hole punch
• Fear template

How to Make an Inside Out Fear Hat

First you need to print out a copy of the Fear template. I printed it at 165%, to make the eyes exaggerated like in the film.

Using the printed face as a template, start by cutting the eyes out using the white felt. I like using double-sided tape to keep the template secure to the felt when cutting it out. Then work inwards, cutting out the purple eye balls, black pupils and black eyebrows. Then hot glue it all together.

I temporarily pinned the eyes on the hat first to adjust the placement before hot gluing it in place. The final touch is adding the purple pipe cleaner through the top of the hat. I covered the end of the pipe cleaner with a piece of duct tape so it wouldn’t poke Elliot’s head on the inside of the beanie.

Fear Vest & Bow Tie Tutorial

Now technically you could buy a tie and vest. I saw a few houndstooth vest options for adults on amazon but they are pretty pricey and I needed a kid sized one for Elliot.

There is a cute maroon bow tie at a reasonable price on Amazon but I figured if I had to make a duct tape vest, I could make a duct tape bow tie too.

I started by making a rough vest template out of newspaper. If you own a vest already, you could just use that as a template instead. Adjust the sides and size until it fits good.

Now make yourself some duct tape fabric. Basically you layer strips of duct tape, slightly overlapping each one until you get the size you need. Then repeat the process in a perpendicular pattern on the opposite side, so that you have double-sided duct tape fabric.

I ended up running short on my houndstooth duct tape and because I was crafting in the mountains, far away from a craft store.

My fix? I opted to make the back of the vest with the merlot duct tape I bought for the bow tie. Once you cut out your vest pieces from the “fabric” using your template, tape it together with extra tape.

At this point you will want to adjust the vest with tape and scissors to make it fit properly. This vest opens in the back rather than in the front, I wanted to match the look of the character’s vest but keep it easy for Elliot to put on.

The vest was stiff enough to stay on by itself but to be safe I punched two holes on either side of the back and used ribbon to keep it tied together.

To make the bow tie, make another large sheet of duct tape out of maroon/merlot colored duct tape. Fan fold the duct tape fabric like an accordion then taped the center of it to create the bow tie shape. I used a small piece of duct tape to attach a simple hair clip on the back.

And the best part it was a really inexpensive project. I spent $6 on two rolls of duct tape (remember I used 40% off coupons) + $3 on the long sleeve shirt at a thrift store + $5 for the knit cap.

We already had the felt, pipe cleaner and shorts, so our entire project only cost $14. And Elliot can wear the long sleeve shirt for picture day next year! I think that’s quite a deal on a super cute costume!

Ok we now have an Anger costume, a Fear costume and a ridiculous Bing Bong costume for our Inside Out costume theme. We are headed to Mickey’s Halloween Party in the fall and I need to make one more costume for Peter!

More Inside Out Ideas

• Anger Inside Out Costume
• Bing Bong Costume
• Inside Out Family Costumes including I would Die for Riley boyfriend Idea
• More Inside Out Costumes
• Inside Out Coloring Pages
• Bing Bong Cupcakes

This post was originally published July 24, 2015.