Sometimes our Book Character Day costumes get their start from tv shows. My daughter’s love of Bluey led us to choosing The Grannies for Book Character Day this year. And, yes, there is a book too.
Bluey and her sister, Bingo, dress up as grannies Janet and Rita as part of their imaginative play. Thankfully, their attire is super simple which makes the Grannies costumes easy to DIY. I simply ‘shopped our house’ for items to make these which made the entire project free except for my time.
Granny Janet
Referencing images in the book, I pulled fabrics from my stash to see which might work best for the costume. My daughter was instantly obsessed with the minky dot ones. I had a light pink and green that worked to create Janet’s shawl.
I cut the pink pinky dot fabric into a 26″ x 62″ rectangle. Then I cut two rectangles from the green fabric 26″ wide by approximately 5″ high. I sewed one on each of the shorter ends of the large pink rectangle.
Honestly, I thought I was done. Place over head at midpoint and wrap around. But, my daughter had other ideas and insisted that the back be enclosed to match the photos.
Assuming your child wants the same, I turned the fabric inside out and carefully pinned it along my daughter’s back to quickly size to her. I used fabric clips along some of the edges and then safety pins to better secure the fabric in half. Minky fabric tends to slip some so this helped me keep it in place as I sewed a quick, curved line from the fold to the green trim pieces.
I did a quick check to make sure this fit my daughter before trimming off the excess along the seam I had just sewn. Then flipped it right side out.
One of the perks of using the minky fabric is that I could skip hemming the unfinished edges. This made creating the costume piece a lot faster.
Janet’s Granny Glasses
For the granny glasses, I started with a pair of freebie sunglasses my kids had. I traced the outline onto a piece of paper so I could create a template to match Janet’s glasses. Then I placed a piece of fabric stabilizer over top. I traced the design onto it. Trimmed the stabilizer and ironed it to a piece of purple felt.
I carefully cut the felt – following the design on the stabilizer. Then peeled off the stabilizer and used hot glue to attach the felt to the sunglasses frames. Instant easy Granny Janet glasses.
Granny Rita
Janet has to have Rita – the Grannies are a pair. Thankfully, my daughter owned a Bingo plush toy so all she needed was a costume. I went back to my fabric stash and found a pair of purple cotton fabrics that would work. I made the shawl similar to how I created Janet’s – just smaller.
My daughter requested that I add a button to help secure the shawl. Thankfully, I also had one of those in my craft supply stash that worked.
The Grannies go to School
On Book Character Day, my daughter put on her Bluey t-shirt with navy leggings. Then she and Bingo got into their Grannies costumes and headed to school. They looked simply adorable!
And, in case wearing the costume got to be too much, we also packed my daughter’s Bluey ears headband. This way she could make a quick switch from Janet to Bluey whenever she wanted.
Want more DIY costume ideas? Find all of our costumes HERE.
