Our daughter’s playschool has started doing dress-up day every Friday and I am here for it! I was never really that into dress-up as a kid, but I think I’m trying to make up for it by making sure she has something fun to wear for each theme. This week’s was my favourite one yet! They’ve been busy with space this week and so we DIY’d a little jetpack backpack for her. I have seen some similar ones in Pinterest, but not loads with clear instructions. I was also set on only using things that I already had at home. Fortunately I’m fairly well stocked on craft supplies…

I am also still loving using my Cricut Maker. I’ve specifically left it out in an easy to access spot, so that I really can make cute details (like these star stickers) in a matter of minutes. Full instructions for the stars in the steps below.

DIY Jetpack Space Dress-up

What you need:

Feel free to make adjustments to use things that you’ve got around the house! Most of the similar ones I saw online were made with cooldrink bottles. I almost bought some bottles just for the sake of the DIY, but stuck with trying to not waste. Turns out I actually prefer the shape of the square milk bottles. It’s easier to glue them together and they sit nice and flat on the wearers back.

Since I sort of figured out my process as I went along, there are many little notes along the way with this DIY. Be sure to read the whole thing through before getting going.

2 milk bottles. (Ours were 2l bottles. The purple sprayed bottles below are Fair Cape and don’t have any handles. If yours have handles, make sure that they are glued towards the back of the jetpack.)
Paint (Ideally a spray paint that is suitable for plastic. For my first version, the silver one pictured below, I used a general silver spray paint which gave great coverage, but easily chips off. If you want it to be long lasting, use a primer first or a plastic friendly spray paint. The purple spray paint used here held up MUCH better on the plastic bottles, as it includes a primer.)
Yellow, orange and red fabric or paper (Ideally something light like tulle or tissue paper. I used some gold fabric that is yellow on the reverse. I didn’t have any red or orange fabric so I spray painted some while tulle with orange and red spray paint. It worked surprisingly well.)
Narrow elastic (I had loads of 8 cord elastic, so used that. You could even use ribbon or string, but it may not stay on as easily.)
Ribbon
Stars for decorating 

Stapler
Hot Glue Gun
Craft knife

What to do:

Start by cutting slits for the elastic to go through, with a craft knife. In these bottles I cut a slit in the top and bottom groove, about 4cm long.

Next paint your bottles. 

Thread the elastic through into the slit closer to the bottom of the milk bottle. Use tweezers to pull it back through the second slit. If you can’t get the tweezers through, make your slit a little longer. Make sure your piece of elastic is long enough to go through the bottle and around the shoulder and still tie at the ends.

Cut two pieces of fabric from each colour. Each of my pieces was about 25 x 35cm. Rough is fine.

Cut rough slits about 3/4 of the way up each piece of fabric. Round off the end of each slit to make flame shapes. 

Gather up the straight side of one of the yellow and one of the red pieces together and then gather the orange piece around them. Staple them all together to hold them in place. Repeat for the second flame set.

Using the glue gun, put some glue around the inside rim of the bottle opening and some on the stapled end of the flame. Glue them together. Once in place add some extra glue in any gaps to make them stick together more. Repeat for the second flame and bottle.

Glue the two bottles together. Be sure to make both front visible sides flat sides of the bottle (i.e. no handles if your milk bottle has handles).

Wrap the bottle with some ribbon and tie it at the back. This will help hold them together, while also looking nice.

As an extra detail we added some stars that were cut on my Cricut Maker. This was actually a special request from the wearer herself. She loves helping push the flashing buttons on the Cricut, so it’s the highlight of the DIY for her. To make the stars, simply add the star shape to your canvas in Design Space. Duplicate it as many times as you want and resize them to be different sizes. Click “Make it” and follow the on screen instructions to cut them from vinyl.

Happy crafting!

Jetpack Space Dress-Up DIY

Active Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour

This easy recycling project makes a great jetpack for a space themed dress up.

Print

Materials

• 2 milk bottles
• Silver paint (see notes)
• Yellow, orange and red fabric or paper (see notes)
• Narrow elastic
• Ribbon
• Stars or stickers for decorating

Tools

• Stapler
• Hot Glue Gun
• Craft knife

Instructions

1. Start by cutting slits for the elastic to go through, with a craft knife. Two slits on each bottle, one towards the bottom and one close to the handle.
2. Next paint your bottles.
3. Thread the elastic through into the slit closer to the bottom of the milk bottle. Use tweezers to pull it back through the second slit. If you can’t get the tweezers through, make your slit a little longer. Make sure your piece of elastic is long enough to go through the bottle and around the shoulder and still tie at the ends.
4. Cut two pieces of fabric from each colour. Each of my pieces was about 25 x 35cm. Rough is fine.
5. Cut rough slits about 3/4 of the way up each piece of fabric. Round off the end of each slit to make flame shapes. 
6. Gather up the straight side of one of the yellow and one of the red pieces together and then gather the orange piece around them. Staple them all together to hold them in place. Repeat for the second flame set.
7. Using the glue gun, put some glue around the inside rim of the bottle opening and some on the stapled end of the flame. Glue them together. Once in place add some extra glue in any gaps to make them stick together more. Repeat for the second flame and bottle.
8. Glue the two bottles together. Be sure to make both front visible sides flat sides of the bottle (i.e. not handles).
9. Wrap the bottle with some ribbon and tie it at the back. This will help hold them together, while also looking nice.
10. As an extra detail we added some stars that were cut on my Cricut Maker. This was actually a special request from the wearer herself. She loves helping push the buttons on the Cricut, so it's the highlight of the DIY for her. To make the stars simply add the star shape to your canvas in Design Space. Duplicate it as many times as you want and resize them to be different sizes. Click "Make it" and follow the on screen instructions to cut them from vinyl.

Notes

Paint: Ideally a spray paint that is suitable for plastic. For my first version, the silver one pictured above, I used a general silver spray paint which gave great coverage, but easily chips off. If you want it to be long lasting, use a primer first or a plastic friendly spray paint. The purple spray paint used below held up MUCH better on the plastic bottles, as it includes a primer.

Fabric: Ideally something light like tulle or tissue paper. I used some gold fabric that is yellow on the reverse. I didn’t have any red or orange fabric so I spray painted some while tulle with orange and red spray paint. It worked surprisingly well.