No playing, this Game Boy dress is easy to make, and just perfect for Halloween.

So press pause on Tetris, and get out your sewing machine, because it's time to build this thing!

Step 1: Materials

For this dress, you'll need a gray fabric for the base, as well as some black, green/shiny gray, red, and light gray for all the buttons and borders. I ended up using a lot of scraps I had around already.

A key part of this dress is how stretchy it is. Be sure to get fabric that's got some give to it, so your dress will fit snuggly.

Step 2: Prepare the Dress

First, take your stretchy gray fabric that you'll be using for the base of your dress. We're sewing this to have 1 seam down the back, so to measure of width (and just get a rough estimate - you can tweak later) wrap the dress around you and cut.

I'm 5' 10", and so after accounting for the black borders and hemming, cut my dress to be 37" long, and this can obviously be toyed around with for your own.

After you have cut out this rectangle of gray, pin in a small hem and set aside. No sewing quite yet.

Step 3: Borders

I wanted to make my borders about 2" thick, so I cut out 4" wide strips of fabric that were as long as my gray fabric was along the top and bottom edges.

Fold fabric in half length-wise, and pin along the edge. At this point I took out my iron to get those creases in at the fold.

Using a strong setting for stretchy fabrics (see my picture of the sewing machine) sew this pinned strip right along the open edge. No need to be too worried about super straight lines - this seam will be hidden after sewing it to the dress itself.

Once your borders are all set, pin them to the top and bottom of your gray fabric. There should be some overlap between the pinned hem for the gray and the black borders' seam. Using the same stretchy setting on your sewing machine, stitch the two pieces together. Repeat on the other side.

Step 4: Sew Dress Together

Now that you're borders are sewn on, take your dress and fold it in half with the insides out. Because the fabric is stretchy, and you originally measured with some give, this part doesn't have to be perfectly exact. Use a straight edge and chalk to mark a straight line on which to sew, and pin your pieces together along this line. Make sure the edges of the border are aligned.

Using those same stretchy settings, stitch along this line.

Fold right-side out, and you're dress is all set! Try it on and see how it looks - fit, trim, and re-sew some parts, accordingly.

**A bit of advice: after your dress is properly fitted, take a look in the mirror with it on, and use that chalk to mark out where you want your screen and buttons (and also mark where you do not want your buttons, if you catch my drift). This'll be helpful to reference later.

Step 5: Make the Screen

Now comes the fun part. For the rest of this project, you should use Steam-A-Seam (the kind that stretches - see pictured), which is quick, easy, and will give you a nice clean line.

Using your measurements, cut out a small square of the "screen" fabric. I wanted my square to be 9"x9", so I cut out a 10"x10" square.

On the underside of this square, measure out a line 1/2" down from the edge. Stick your Steam-A-Seam along this line, and fold over. Iron to seal, and repeat on all 4 sides. When you're done, you should have a 9"x9" square.

Step 6: Complete the Screen

Taking the lighter gray fabric, fashion it into a square in this same way. I was aiming to have an 11"x11" square to border the 9"x9" screen.

After this light gray is all set, take your screen and, using Steam-A-Seam along the edges, steam it to it's border.

Use some chalk, and more formally sketch out the marks on the dress where you want your screen. When it's all set do the same thing, and use Steam-A-Seam along the edges and iron the completed screen to your dress.

Step 7: A & B Buttons

Find a cup or mug or something else round that is the right size for your dress and your own A & B buttons. Trace around with a pen, and (carefully) cut out.

Use Steam-A-Seam and attach these buttons to the dress

Step 8:

On the underside of your black fabric, trace out a "directional pad" with chalk.

Attach with Steam-A-Seam

Step 9:

For your "Start" and "Select" buttons, take your light gray fabric and on the underside trace out a thinnish strip. Take something with a round base that doesn't extend too far outside these lines (a spare thread spool worked perfectly for me) and trace out rounded edges.

Cut out and attach with Steam-A-Seam

Step 10:

And you're done! I know you're excited, but wait a bit for everything to cool before trying on the final dress. Otherwise the Steam-A-Seam could get stretched out or detach.

When you're all set, get decked out in your retro threads. Looking good, gamer!

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18 Comments

EdB111

5 years ago

fact: you cannot get a game boy. only system to play games on the game boy is the emulater!

TheCommander

6 years ago

this would look weird on me

laith mohamed

7 years ago

Awesome costume

kevenr17

9 years ago on Introduction

HELLA AWESOME!!!!

EmmaKaspersen

9 years ago on Introduction

Well if this doesn't bring back memories xD The SNES came out when I was like, 10, and I remember my brother playing it all the time! (I would have played too, but he never let me ^^;;) This is so cute!

garan

10 years ago on Introduction

This reminds me more of The Warp Zone's video.