How to Make a Clown Fish Costume

Unroll the felt on the ground. Cut a 24-inch length of string using scissors. Tie one end of the string in a knot around the middle of your pencil and the second end of the string around the middle of your permanent marker. Have a friend hold the pencil in the center of the felt and pull the string until taught, using the string, marker and pencil as a compass. Draw a circle with the permanent marker and cut the shape out with scissors.

Bend the orange felt in the middle to create a half-circle shape. Use your scissors to cut along the folded portion to create two half circles.

Sew the two half circles back together along the curved edge using your needle and thread to build the headpiece.

Position the cloth headband at the opening of your semicircle shape, centered lengthwise. Use a strong stitch to join the cloth headband to the sides of the headpiece at opposing edges.

Cut out two 1 1/2-inch diameter circles from white duct tape and position them on either side of the headpiece using scissors. Cut out two 3/4-inch diameter circles from black duct tape and position them over the white circles on either side to create a realistic fish-eye effect. Adhere two lengths of both white and black duct tape to create stripes on either side of the headpiece.

Instruct the costume wearer to wear the headpiece. Place the cloth headband around the wearer's head so that it rests on the forehead, above the ears and upon the back of the neck. This will secure the headpiece on the wearer's head.

Draw an equilateral triangle on the orange felt that measures at least 18 inches on each side and cut the shape out of the fabric. This will be the fin.

Attach the fin shape to the back of the orange shirt with your needle and thread. Fold one side of the equilateral triangle of felt up by 1 inch. Sew the fold onto the shirt with a straight stitch.

Cut two lengths of black duct tape and attach them to the edge of the fin for a black outline effect to mimic the clown fish's color scheme. Create three white stripes using scissors and white duct tape to adhere horizontally to the long-sleeved shirt. Use scissors to cut lengths of the black duct tape into 1/2-inch strips, and place black duct tape in stripes on the shirt, bordering each white horizontal line.

Use scissors to cut a 12-inch oval out of cardboard for the tail. Cut across on the horizontal so that three-fourths of the oval remains. Cut around the cardboard to create two orange pieces from your felt bolt, and hot-glue one on each side. Use your stapler to attach the cardboard and felt tail shape to the back center of the belt.

Decorate the clown fish tail by edging it with white duct tape 1 inch in width. Create an inner edge of 1/2 inch width using the black duct tape.

Assemble the costume. Instruct the costume wearer to don the orange leggings, orange long-sleeved shirt with attached fin and the orange belt.