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Cats Musical Costume

Hi everyone! This is a costume I made based on the musical Cats. I made it by painting a unitard with fabric paints, knitting the arm and leg warmers, tying the yarn onto a cord base to make the tail, painting my face in the style of the musical, and making the wig out of yarn (as per my Instructable on how to make a Cats wig, http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Cats-Wig/ ). I wore this costume on Halloween at my church's harvest festival, and all the kids loved my costume. It was very rewarding to make such an intricate and unusual costume on my own.

17 comments

Apr 21, 2012. 7:21 PMhdougherty1 says:

Wow. This looks great! I am re doing my white tiger costume this year to look more like the a Cats-musical costume. I love the whole costume you made. Sadly I am cheating on the warmers...I am crocheting instead of knitting. I can tell you worked very hard on it!

Oct 30, 2011. 4:44 PMJunklady04 says:

How did you make your tail for the cats outfit. The leotard and the panty hose cap had instructions but not the tail. I made this for my daughter and she was a hit when she wore it. But the tail that I made did not resemble a cats tail.

Vicki

Oct 24, 2011. 10:40 AMKatiebug713 says:

How did you get the ruffle stuff attached to the unitard? The stuff thats around the shoulder area. Also what is it actually that you used?? Looks awesome by the way :)

Aug 22, 2011. 3:03 PMTerynML says:

I am currently a competitive dancer and we are doing a routine to Jellicle Ball. Could you make me one? This looks so authentic, and it would look great. Just let me know if you want to! I need to know a price, but I would love to have one like this. Or if you are interested in selling this one, let me know.

Aug 22, 2011. 7:25 PMmelgre2 (author) says:

I don't really have much time right now, as I'm starting college in a week. However, I will point you towards some other Cats costumers who may be able to help you.

http://www.theccdb.com/viewforum.php?f=8

^That is a link to the commissions forum on the CCDB. If you look around there, I guarantee you will find someone who has had much more experience costuming than I have who will be able to make you a costume.

Aug 23, 2011. 1:01 PMTerynML says:

Thank you!!!

Jul 12, 2011. 10:35 PMLivStoleYourPie says:

That looks so much like the real thing!

Aug 13, 2011. 10:02 AMmelgre2 (author) says:

Thank you!

Aug 6, 2011. 4:14 PMcats_demeter says:

Hey love the costume, but how long did it take you to make it wig and every thing? and did you use a maniquin for the unitard kinda random but when i thought about it it seemd like it would of bein easier. also do you have to knit the leg warmmer and arm warmmers cause i want to make a cat costume for halloween and i cant seem to find a good body suit for it, if you could help that would be great

and were do you get the paint for the make up and costume

Aug 13, 2011. 10:02 AMmelgre2 (author) says:

From start to finish, this costume took me about two months. But I didn't work on it constantly, and there were a couple of weeks where I didn't work on it at all. The wig itself only took me 3 or 4 days, again, not working on it constantly.

I didn't use a mannequin for the unitard, but other Cats costumers use one and find it much easier. I don't have a mannequin, so I made do with painting flat.

I knit my arm and leg warmers, but other people have used fleece with detailed painted or sewn on or faux fur.

I got my unitard from Discount Dance, an online dance store. If you look up "Mock Neck Unitard" on Google, you should be able to find many online stores that sell them.

I used fabric paint for the unitard. I ordered fabric paint online. I used Jaquards Textile Colors and Setacolor for this unitard, but for other unitards I bought Tulip Fabric Paints from my local Joann Fabrics and used those.

As for makeup, I had some theatrical and clown makeup lying around the house, and used that. I later bought some Snazaroo waterbased makeup I found at Michaels. You can buy makeup online, just search for theatre makeup and figure out what might work best for you.

Aug 6, 2011. 2:34 PMcats_demeter says:

Hey love the costume, but how long did it take you to make it wig and every thing? and did you use a maniquin for the bodys suit kinda random but when i thought about it it seemd like it would of bein easier. also do you have to knit the leg warmmer and arm warmmers cause i want to make a cat costume for halloween and i cant seem to find a good body suit for it, if you could help that would be great

Jun 22, 2011. 1:18 AMnazbojfreak says:

Beautiful costume! You did a fantastic job on this! How long did it take you, do you think, from start to finish? And, may I ask where you got the original unitard? Please make an instructable on the costume part!!

Jun 26, 2011. 5:20 PMmelgre2 (author) says:

I worked on the costume on and off for about two months, but as I had school I could only work on it when I had free time. I can't give an estimate of how many hours I spent working on it.

I got my unitard from Discount Dance.

I do have an instructable for the wig, and I'd like to make some more for the other parts of the costume. The only part I'm not sure about it the unitard, just because there's so many different ways to paint a unitard. But I will look into making some other instructables on Cats costumes!

Jun 27, 2011. 4:19 PMnazbojfreak says:

Yeah, it's beautiful. You really did a wonderful job on it. I think this is one of the best fan-made costumes I have ever seen! I can really tell you've put a lot of love and effort into it! It's fantastic!

142

Feb 27, 2011. 2:48 AM

Kiteman says:

That's really good!

Is there any special skill to the face-painting, or did you just prop a photo next the mirror and copy it on your own face?

Feb 27, 2011. 3:16 PMmelgre2 (author) says:

Thank you! Face-painting is quite difficult until you become comfortable with having a brush that close to your eyes. It's very much a practiced skill, my first few faces were very messy with shaky lines.

As this was an original character, I went through several trial faces until I found a good design, but with most canon characters, I pick a reference and try to copy it to my own face. Eventually, with enough faces, you don't even need a reference. But practice is key, it's really about becoming comfortable with the medium and the basic features of Cats makeup.