Any of you looking for last minute costume ideas for All Saints’ Day? I know I am! How about making a Mother Teresa costume from a pillow case, a single bed sheet, and a roll of blue painter’s tape? Read on my friends, read on! You can find all of my All Saints’ Day resources for kids here.
Also, you should totally check out my All Saints’ Day food labels! This is the perfect All Saints’ Day party printable as it turns everyday kid snacks into symbols of the Saints, making celebrating a breeze for mom!
This costume tutorial doesn’t involve any sewing and the results are super cute!
All you need is some white fabric and some blue painter’s tape, scissors, a safety pin, and either some bobby pins or a headband. You’ll also need one adorable child for inserting into the costume.
I have found that a veil falls more evenly around your head if it’s the shape of a half circle rather than a rectangle. Mother Teresa’s order (Missionaries of Charity) have one wide blue stripe and then 2 more narrow blue stripes on the edge of their white garments. So I ran one strip of blue painter’s tape and then cut another one length wise for the 2 more narrow strips. I hot glued the veil onto a headband for baby Violet to keep it on her head because she has no hair for pinning it into.
As always, supervise your children at all times and always take necessary precautions. In other words, don’t let your children choke on painter’s tape and then try to sue me. I promise you’ll find I don’t have much to sue me for anyway 😉
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Where To Purchase A Mother Teresa Costume
If you would rather buy one than make it youself, check out this Mother Teresa costume available from Amazon. Super cute!
If you are looking for ideas for All Saints’ Day costume ideas for kids, be sure to check out my Saint Costume Directory!
Check out my All Saints’ Day Resource Page here.
You could be any kind of girl saint, from St. Maria Goretti to St. Elizabeth of Hungary, by wearing a white dress and draping the appropriately colored fabric over it like a toga. (Red for martyrs, purple for royalty, etc.) Tie around the waist with a piece of string. Then add props, like a lily or crown, and you're good to go! Hope this helped! 🙂
And I thought iron-on stitching was a great way to get a no-sew costume! That’s how we made simple albs for dressing apostles in a passion play.
Love it! Analee was Mother Theresa last year and everyone got a kick out of it. There's just something about a baby dressed up as a nun that is the cutest thing in the world!
no sew – simple! love it.
Mother Teresa, ora pro nobis.
pax Christi – lena
This is brilliance, Laci. Shear brilliance! Thank you SO much for sharing.
Ingenious, Lacy!!! And you can get that painter's tape at the Dollar Tree too;-) I do not sew so I shout a "woot, woot" for simple instructions! Gracias, gracias!
amazing Lacy. the painter's tape was ingenious!
For your son you can make vestments easily by hot gluing ribbion onto cloth napkins and sewing them together, just leave a hole for the head in the middle. Maybe you could even staple them together if you want to avoid the sewing machine! I put the instructions on the link up, so maybe you already saw this, if not the instructions are here: http://withhopeinthedivinewill.blogspot.com/2010/10/from-napkins-to-vestments.html
I love the Mother Theresa costume! Lisa
Lacy, I love this! Passing the link around to my friends!
Very cuit. Thanks!
Thanks for this great idea! I am going to try it today. I like your idea so much that I posted your blog on my blog. Happy All Saints Day!
Too Too cute !!!
Love your blog Lacy.
Thanks
God Bless
Hugs Robyn xx
Great idea!
That painter's tape is a hoot! 🙂
Hi there Lacy,
Lovely costume – very Catholic and cute!
FYI, Mother Theresa of founded the Missionaries of Charity.
Sisters of Charity was founded by Mother Seton (a branch of it anyway)
I just wanted to say "thank you" for sharing your genius idea of the white sheets & painter's tape. We dressed my 4-year-old in her homemade sari and she won first prize at our parish Festival of Saints tonight! I'll post pictures on my website soon. It turned out so great!! 🙂
Happy All Saints Day!
I did a very simple version of your Mother Teresa veil and posted it here:
http://asliceofsmithlife.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-am-thankful-for-all-saints-day-and.html
Thanks for sharing the wonderful and easy idea!
Tracy at "A Slice of Smith Life"
http://www.asliceofsmithlife.blogspot.com
To make a male child into St. Francis (or any other friar for that matter) all you need is a large black turtleneck, an oversized rosary (or normal size for a very little one) and some masking tape. The turtleneck can come down long like a cassock, be belted with the rosary, and the tape can be used as a clerical collar. Stuffed animals make the perfect St. Francis edition.
Fantastic! I would love to see the picture of your cute baby's smiling face, so full of joy as a poster to promote religious vocations with a caption like…"Its never TOO early to start thinking about giving your life to God"
Seriously! Or for a bumper sticker… With one of Blessed Theresa's sayings about the poverty of a country who allows abortion. I would definitely purchase one!
Lovely blog. I just found it today!
How would you wrap the blanket on an older child? Do the same thing like the baby?
hey this is so cute!!! it’s a really ingenious idea, i’m gonna try it out on my Zoe, and see, but your Violet looks so adorable!!!!!!
Thanks for the idea! My daughter has a presentation on Mother Teresa and wants to wear an outfit like hers. This is awesome!
This is great! although I am not making this costume for all saints day, it is very helpful (I am doing a pageant at school about someone who faced challenges- I chose Mother Teresa!)!
Thank you for this post! You saved me a late night of sewing blue ribbon on a sheet and pillowcase. Love this!
I had this exact same idea for this years all saints party. Just didnt know how to execute the draping of the sheet on my 8 year old daughter. Thanks for the help.
I made this costume from your intructions for my 8 year old daughter. She wore it to school today for her biography project. I wish there was a way to paste the picture here for you! She looks GREAT! All the moms at the school could not believe that I made it! Thank you so much for this post!
So happy to hear that! Amazing! 🙂
How do I get a step by step to make this costume for my 5 year old. I see your explanation, but I’m a little confused on the gown part! Thank you!
i just pinned it on the top of her left shoulder and brought it under her right arm and pinned it in the back. They have to wear something white underneath it because it won’t cover everything. The idea is to just have those blue stripes draping across the chest like a sash and also along the bottom. You could add the tape stripes to whatever you have that is white that you’re going to wear. Hope this way helpful! I really didn’t sew anything, it was all just safety pinned in place.
Yes, just draping it creatively works well, also for older girls. I also just used safety pins and my daughter wore her white leotard under with tights.
Even with the pins, as I said, it was very wearable and allowed her to run around like usual (Lol) Even if you don’t get all the tape perfectly measured, it still looks great.