One of the most versatile and reusable costumes I have ever made has been my plain, brown clown costumes.  All you need is a clown costume pattern:  (Here s the McCall’s pattern –  clown pattern ), some brown fabric and an imagination.

As far as the sewing goes, just remember, no one who watches your elementary school show is going to inspect your seams……unless the costume falls off during the performance, so although your sewing doesn’t have to be pristine, it does need to be serviceable.

Over the years my brown clown costumes have been gingerbread men, reindeer, the big bad wolf, 3 bears, dogs, cats, and chocolate. They would probably make pretty good tree trunks, weeds, or a beetle.  Anything that COULD be brown, will work.    The trick is to use accessories that are easily removed from the base costume so that your “brown clown” can be anything