When my husband proposed making a vintage TV costume, initially, I wasn't so hot on the idea. Then I began to think about the first TV I can remember in my parent's living room - it had a blonde cabinet, sparkly fabric covering the speaker, and legs similar to the ones on our boomerang coffee table, then I began to get excited about the project!

Step 1: The Box

It began with a sports utility box from U-Haul that we cut down, and added holes for the head and arms.

Step 2: TV Box

My husband fashioned a box to hold the iPad. I bought a roll of wood grain contact paper from Home Depot to cover the box.

Step 3: The Fabric

I was obsessed with using sparkly fabric for the speaker. Unfortunately, since I didn't find it, I made my own weaving gold Christmas cord through a piece of brown fabric.

Step 4: The Grid

The grid design on the speaker are dowels, hot glued together and painted with copper acrylic paint.

Step 5: The Knobs

The knobs were oven dials purchased from a mom and pop hardware store, and a knob I found lying in the street. They were painted and attached to the box with velcro.

Step 6: The TV Legs

My other obsession with the costume was that it had to have legs. Originally, I was using the legs from our boomerang coffee table, but they too heavy for the box. Poster board proved to be the only material that would roll without creasing.

Step 7: Decorative Elements

A metallic poster board was used to frame the TV and for decorative strips on the sides and bottom.

Step 8: Rabbit Ears

The rabbit ears were dowels, spray painted silver inserted into half a toy basketball painted copper. A small tart tin was used as the base.

Step 9: More Rabbit Ears

Two holes were punched in the center of the tin to wire the dowels. Two holes were punched on either side to sew the tin to a piece of an old t-shirt sewn into a headband.

Step 10: TV Show

The key to the costume was going to be an iPad that was going to act as our television tube. A perusal of the Internet Archive gave us the perfect solution – the 1955 pilot episode of The Lawrence Welk Show!

Step 11: Finishing Touches

1/2" pipe insulation was added to the neck and arm holes for comfort, and to give the costume a more finished look. Then all we had to do was slip the iPad into the box!