DIY Chuckie Finster + Susie Carmichael Costumes

Growing up as a child, Rugrats was hands down my favorite cartoon to watch. I remember collecting the limited edition Burger King watches, owning the “Search For Reptar” Playstation game, and replaying all of the movies on VHS. A few weeks ago while flipping through the television, I stumbled across an old episode of Rugrats. I let it play for a moment for nostalgia’s sake, but as I went to change the channel, I noticed Nori staring intently at the screen. I decided to let it play awhile longer and before I knew it, the twenty minute episode had passed. To my surprise, Nori didn’t budge a single time during the episode. As a die hard Rugrats fan, you could only imagine the “proud parent” feeling I had inside. Needless to say, this moment sparked the idea for DIY Rugrats halloween costumes.

Deciding which characters to portray came easy. I landed on Chuckie Finster for Nori as his wild hair reminded me of her loose curls. For myself, I went with Susie Carmichael. As a little girl, I recall how excited I was to see a brown girl like myself across the tv screen. In the early 90’s, there weren’t many cartoons we could turn to with a diversified cast, so this made me appreciate Susie even more.

These costumes were so fun to recreate and the best part – they were completed in under an hour! As promised, they are completely sew free, however if you have extra time on your hands, all of the hot-glued items could be sewn on for a more polished look. If you’re ready to see how we transformed into Chuckie and Susie, keep reading below!

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What you’ll need:

Note: I strongly encourage checking your local thrift store for several of the items listed below for a more cost friendly costume.

Chuckie:

• Green Shorts | HERE
• Blue T-Shirt| HERE
• Red T-Shirt | HERE – I sized up on the red shirt so that both shirts weren’t the same length.
• Purple Glasses | HERE
• Yellow Socks | HERE
• Red Sneakers | HERE
• Yellow Felt | HERE
• Red Felt | HERE
• Lime Green Felt | HERE
• (Optional) Orange Hairspray | HERE

Other Items:

• Hot Glue Gun + Glue Sticks | HERE
• Permanent Marker (or) Pen

Creating the Planet T-Shirt:

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1. Draw a circle onto the yellow felt. Make sure the circle is large enough to fit the center of the t-shirt, but isn’t too wide.
2. Cut the circle out and set aside.
3. Draw an “imperfect” rectangle with curved ends onto the red felt (see image above as a reference). Be sure that the length of the rectangle is slightly longer than the center of the yellow circle.
4. Cut out the curved rectangle.
5. Hot glue the curved rectangle to the center of the circle. Tuck the ends behind the circle and glue them down.
6. Hot glue the planet to the center of the blue shirt.
7. Set t-shirt aside to dry.

Creating the Shorts:

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1. Draw wide zig-zags onto the lime green felt. (For reference, I created a total of eight zig-zags, but feel free to adjust this number based on the size of your shorts.)
2. Cut the zig-zags out.
3. Hot glue the zig-zags onto the front of each shorts leg.
4. Set shorts aside to dry.

Once the t-shirt and shorts are dry, your Chuckie costume is ready to be worn. Complete the outfit by layering the blue shirt overtop of the red and cuffing the sleeves of the red shirt. Next, throw on yellow socks, red sneakers, and Chuckie’s infamous purple glasses. Finally, top the look off with a light coat of temporary orange hair spray!

Creating the Dress:

1. Using the above photo of Susie as a reference, draw “squiggly” shapes onto the purple felt. (“Squiggly” is the best way I could describe it haha)
2. Cut out the shapes.
3. Hot glue the shapes onto the dress.
4. Set dress aside to dry.

Creating the Hair Clips:

1. Using the above photo of Susie as a reference, draw three wide “X” shapes onto the red felt.
2. Cut out the shapes.
3. Using yellow felt, draw three small circles to fit inside the center of the “X” shapes.
4. Cut out the circles.
5. Hot glue the yellow circles onto the center of each “X”.

Here’s where things get a little tricky. I had no idea what I would glue these “X” shapes onto so that I could wear them in my hair. I figured a bobby pin would be too long and a regular barrette would be too thick. After digging around in Nori’s bathroom, I found these adorable tiny butterfly clips that couldn’t have been more perfect. I used a tiny dot of hot glue on the center of the butterfly and laid the “X” shape on top. The “X” was large enough to hide the clip which is exactly what I wanted. For those wondering, I found the butterfly clips at Wal-Mart, but I cannot find them online. I linked something similar on Amazon. Also, by applying just a tiny dot of hot glue, it allowed for me to remove the “X” after we were done, causing no damage to the hair clip.

Creating the Hair:

To create Susie’s signature hairstyle, section the top half of your hair into two high ponytails and section the back into one high center ponytail. Braid one section of the hair down and tie the ends with a hairband. Clip the red “X” that you created to the end of the braid. Repeat above steps for the remaining two sections of hair.

If you’re like myself and don’t have extremely long hair, you can easily recreate this look by using braiding hair! I am not a professional, but I was able to install and braid the hair in less than 20 minutes. I followed the directions in this Youtube video.

Once the dress is dry, your Susie costume is ready to be worn! Complete the outfit with purple leggings, red slippers (or sneakers), a green bangle bracelet and red lipstick.

That’s it! Now you’re ready for some adventures with the rest of the gang at Tommy’s house!

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If you decide to try out this DIY, be sure to tag me on Instagram or use the hashtag #BrookeADIYs! Also, if you missed my last two sew free DIYs, the can be found here and here.

Happy Halloween!

Xo,

Brooke