How to make a Papuan costume with your own hands for a boy, girl

Getting ready for New Year's celebration in kindergarten or school, you can surprise the audience with an original carnival costume. An open and picturesque Papuan costume will look unusual on a winter holiday. Making such an outfit for your son or daughter with your own hands will not be difficult even for a person without sewing experience. In addition, the cost of a costume made independently from improvised means will be significantly lower than when buying.

Preparing to create a costume

Making a New Year's costume can be a great excuse for family activities. First, you need to prepare a sketch. You can take a ready-made drawing from the Internet and print it out. However, it is much more interesting to watch films and cartoons about savages with your child, read books, and look at pictures. Books by writers such as Sat-ok, James Schultz, Seton-Thompson will help you get a complete picture of the Papuans; children's encyclopedias about different peoples will come in handy.

Children learn that one of the most ancient peoples on the planet lives on the islands of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, and even in the 20th century the Papuans were considered savages.

It will be interesting for a child to draw a sketch of his own outfit. When working on a drawing, it is necessary to take into account that the Papuans use a minimum of clothing: men and women wear a belt and a small skirt made of palm or banana leaves, wild animal skin or palm fiber. Papuans usually wear many bracelets on their arms and legs, mostly wooden or bone, and their necks are also decorated with beads or a necklace.

The Papuan costume usually consists of the following elements:

• skirt (or a top for girls);
• decorations;
• headdress or wig;
• bandages on arms and legs;
• Papuan weapons - spear, bow, stick.

It is also necessary to choose suitable footwear; ballet shoes or sandals will suit boys and girls. If the room is cool or there is no desire to expose the child too much, the carnival outfit is put on over a gymnastics suit of flesh or black color, imitating the dark skin of savages.

Dark shorts, a T-shirt, and tights will do.

Materials

A Papuan costume made with your own hands should reflect the closeness of the ancient people to nature, a harmonious relationship with it, so natural materials or their imitation will be required for work. The next stage of the creative process will be the selection of materials depending on the invented sketch.

The following will be useful in your work:

• bright patches;
• garbage bags;
• New Year's rain;
• tulle;
• mesh from washcloths;
• cigarette paper;
• cardboard.

You will also need an elastic band of any width or thick tape, glue, scissors, and most importantly – imagination.

For boys

What can you make a Papuan New Year's costume for a boy from? There are no restrictions on this issue. First, you need to make a skirt or loincloth, then do the hair, weapons and body art.

Garbage bags

If the party is tomorrow and the child does not have a costume, garbage bags will help solve the problem. You will need 1-2 packages of garbage bags. Colored bags will look more interesting in the product, primarily green ones, they can be combined with red or yellow, purple and even black.

What you will need for work:

• 1-2 packs of garbage bags;
• elastic band or thick ribbon 3-4 cm wide;
• scissors.

The creation of the costume begins with measuring the child's waist. The elastic or ribbon is cut according to this measurement, it is necessary to leave a reserve of 5-15 cm.

Progress of work:

1. The elastic is sewn to the required volume, and the ends of the tape are tied. The elastic is put on the back of the chair for ease of further actions.
2. Garbage bags are unfolded, each is cut into strips 2-5 cm wide. The number of strips determines the fullness of the skirt. The length of the strip is determined as follows: the length from the child's waist to the knee, multiplied by 2, plus 5 cm for the knot.

   

3. Each strip is folded in half, thrown over the elastic and tied in a knot. The belt should be completely covered with ribbons.
4. The stripes need to be ruffled.

This budget skirt looks funny and is easy to make with your own hands in 1.5-2 hours. In a similar way, you can tie long strips of fabric to an elastic band, the main thing is that the material does not crumble, so thin knitwear or jersey will do.

Textile

If you have a small piece of thin, bright fabric (green, yellow, with an animal print), you can quickly make a loincloth for a savage.

Progress of work:

1. Measure the child's waist, multiply by 2 - you will need a piece of fabric of this length.
2. The width of the cut is determined by the distance from the child's waist to the level just above the knees (plus 2-3 cm).
3. Having laid out the fabric, it is necessary to cut it along the height from the knee level to the waist along the entire canvas. 5-8 cm are left uncut to the waist level.
4. The side parts of the bandage are sewn together.
5. The top edge is folded back by 3 cm, stitched, and an elastic band is inserted into it.

In a similar way, you can make decorations – cuffs for your arms and legs.

Weapon

A Papuan costume made by yourself will not be complete without weapons. The options that exist are presented in the table:

Type of weapon	Material, manufacturing method
Wooden club	Any stick found in the forest will do for this.
Stone axe	You will need an oblong stone and a stick to which the cobblestone is tied with ropes.
Spear	You will need a thin stick. Cut out 2 identical triangles from cardboard – this will be the top. The triangles are glued together at the end of the stick.
Bone	Prepare flour paste. Crumple newspapers or other thin paper, coat with paste and shape into a bone. Let dry, paste again so that the bone acquires a smoother surface. When the craft is completely dry, paint with white paint. You can cut out a large bone from thick cardboard and paint it.

Such a warlike savage made an indelible impression on his peers.

Decorations

There shouldn't be much decor in a man's image, the suit is already bright enough. It is enough for a Papuan to put colorful beads, wooden or stone, on his neck, 1-2 bracelets.

Wool beads

Beads are easily made from felt using the wet felting method.

You will need:

• wool for felting of several colors;
• needle with a large eye;
• ribbon;
• soap.

You need to wet the wool fiber with soapy water and roll it into a bead with your hands. You need to moisten the wool periodically. The beads should not be small - the larger they are, the more interesting they will look. The finished balls are placed on a dry towel and rolled over it to remove excess moisture. You can dry the product completely on a radiator.

Then the beads are strung on the ribbon with a needle, they can be alternated with wooden ready-made rings or beads. The ribbon is tied around the child's neck - the decoration is ready.

Bone necklace

The easiest way to make bones is from white cardboard. Having drawn or printed a template, the bones are cut out of thick paper or cardboard. You will need 6-10 bones for a necklace. Make a hole in the top of each bone and thread a cord through it. The alternation of large and small bones looks interesting.

Polymer fangs

A savage with animal fangs on his chest, evidence of his successful hunt, will look even more bloodthirsty.

Teeth can be molded from the following materials:

• white polymer clay;
• salt dough;
• self-hardening plastic.

In the upper part, during modeling, it is necessary to make a hole for the lace. Such "fangs" can be used to decorate a belt or make bracelets for hands and feet.

Head decor

A black wig with short curly hair will perfectly complement the image. It is appropriate to insert a bright feather into such hair, fix polymer teeth or bones. Hair braided into several braids is decorated with bright ribbons.

No wig and no time to look for one? Then it is enough to tie a headband of the same color as the skirt or loincloth. If the boy's own hair is shoulder-length, a hairstyle of several small ponytails secured with bright elastic bands will look interesting.

Body art

The final touch of the costume will be body art. For this, special paints, markers or make-up are used, decorative cosmetics are also suitable. On the forehead and cheeks, 2-3 multi-colored stripes are drawn, tattoos can be drawn on the bare arms - that's it, the image of a Papuan is ready.

For girls

A do-it-yourself Papuan costume for a girl differs from the boy's version by the obligatory presence of a top. A top, a tank top, a cropped T-shirt or a gymnastics suit will come in handy. Girls' wild skirts can be more voluminous and bright, and there are a little more decorations. Another difference is that girls usually go to the holiday without weapons. It will take a little time to make the costume, from 1 hour to 3-4 hours, depending on the complexity of the idea.

Paper suit

Although paper is not the most durable material, such a craft will be budget and at the same time bright, elegant. The work begins with making a belt. The belt can be made of thick rope or paper cord. It is necessary to measure the child's waist and weave a braid from the rope or cord, its size is 1.5 times larger than the volume of the child's waist. All elements of the costume will be attached to this belt in the future.

Option 1

Colored tissue paper is cut into strips, the length of each strip is equal to the distance from the girl's waist to her knees or slightly shorter.

For density, several strips are connected with double-sided tape, a stapler or glue. Then bunches of colored strips are fixed on the belt, it is more reliable to fix with a stapler. The more voluminous the skirt is, the more beautiful it is. Another option is to cut strips twice as long as the distance from the belt to the child's knees. In this case, the strips are thrown over the belt and fixed together with double-sided tape.

Option 2

Using a hand-drawn or printed template, cut out palm leaf-shaped pieces from colored paper. Additionally, you can draw veins on the leaves and serrate the edges with scissors. The leaves are secured to the belt with tape or glue. The belt is decorated with paper flowers or “beads” cut out of thick paper and painted.

For a paper costume, the top part is made like this:

1. It is necessary to measure the volume of the child's chest and divide the resulting number by 2.
2. Weave a belt of the required size from a cord or rope, attach paper strips made for a skirt to it. The length of the strips is 1.5 times less than the distance from the child's chest to the waist.
3. Paper strips are attached to the belt in the same way as when making a skirt.
4. The belt is sewn onto the T-shirt across the chest from armpit to armpit or in a semicircle from shoulder to shoulder.

The top is made in the same way if the skirt is made from garbage bags, tinsel, or washcloth mesh.

Fatin

This is a wonderful material for creating carnival costumes. It is necessary to buy soft tulle, it lies in beautiful folds and will not prick the child's skin. Yellow, green, orange tulle will do, a combination of 2 colors looks interesting. The easiest way to do it is the same as in the case of the male version of the Papuan costume: strips cut from tulle are tied to an elastic band sewn into a ring, or a ribbon, which is then tied at the waist.

The tulle strips need to be straightened out. This skirt turns out lush and elegant. A T-shirt or top will do as a bodice, tulle strips are sewn onto it so that they hang down to the middle of the stomach. A tulle necklace looks beautiful: in this case, the strips of fabric are tied to a cord that is hung around the child's neck.

Ribbons

Shiny packaging ribbons look great as an element of the Papuan costume. The ribbon is cut into pieces equal to twice the length of the skirt. The ribbons are folded in half and collected into bundles of 3-5 pieces and tied on the belt with the knot facing outward.

The following are suitable instead of packing tapes:

• mesh washcloth, unraveled into threads;
• New Year's rain;
• acrylic threads for knitting;

From these supplies you can make a cute Papuan costume.

Textile

If you have 1-2 days to spare, you can make a New Year's outfit from a light, shiny and beautiful fabric - satin. With a width of 1.5 m, you will need 2 m, you can take 1 m of two colors.

Progress of work:

1. Cut out patterns in the shape of palm leaves in 3 sizes from cardboard: for cuffs 10 cm long, for a skirt depending on the child’s height 25-40 cm, for a top 20 cm.
2. Using cardboard templates, cut out leaves; the quantity depends on the child’s size.
3. To prevent the fabric from fraying, the edges are treated with fire.
4. Leaves are sewn onto the elastic (length equal to the child's waist + 3 cm for hemming). It is better to place them overlapping, alternating colors.
5. The top is decorated with leaves sewn in a circle.

For the bracelets you will need 4 rubber bands 2-3 cm wide, the length of each is equal to the circumference of a child's arm/leg + 3 cm. The smallest leaves are sewn onto them.

Decorations

A Papuan costume made with your own hands must be decorated - after all, even girls on distant islands in the Pacific Ocean always want to be beautiful.

What is suitable for decorating a festive outfit:

1. Large artificial flowers – they can be used as bracelets on hands and feet, to complement a skirt and top, or to decorate hair.
2. Beads made from artificial fruits look funny - bananas, apples, lemons, oranges from a children's kitchen set will do. They are strung on a string - and in 10-15 minutes the decoration is ready.
3. Ready-made beads made of shells, stones, feathers, and large beads will do.
4. Chenille wire rolled into flat circles will be a wonderful addition to an outfit.
5. The costume is diversified by decor made of paper. The child can paint circles cut out of thick cardboard with bright geometric patterns. Thanks to the holes made in the upper part, such circles, imitating beads, are suspended from a belt or headband.

An obligatory element of the female version of the savage costume is a head decoration. A simple ribbon with beads and feathers sewn or glued on can be used for this purpose. A girl can wear a black wig or braid her hair into many African braids.

Another option is to make a Papuan princess out of your daughter. To do this, cut out a rim from cardboard in the color of the outfit, which will become the basis of the crown. Palm leaves cut out of fabric or paper are attached to the top of the crown (from the inside) with a stapler, glue or double-sided tape. The outside of the crown is decorated with chenille wire, New Year's tinsel or tissue paper.

The approach of the New Year will become a memorable event in the life of a child if he prepares for the party together with his parents, inventing a Papuan costume and making it with his own hands. The savage outfit is not distinguished by its complicated execution and large consumption of materials, in this case it is more important to show imagination.

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