DIY Superhero Costume

We are loving the renewed excitement and energy that little ones bring back to the holidays. Last year for Halloween, Bea had just turned one so we put her in a cute bee costume, took some pictures out front while she snacked on her first fruit gummies, and then called it a night. This year I decided to make Bea's halloween costume --- Super B! I am not at all a super experienced sewer or costume maker so this is a pretty simple DIY costume you can make for your tots.

Here are some of the supplies you'll need to make your own Super hero costume:

After trying to draw my own superhero "B" for awhile and not quite getting it right, I found these handy superhero letter shields here that worked wonderfully as a pattern. Iron on fabric glue sheets make this project really easy. Exacto knives also help : ) 

I used shiny gold fabric, shiny blue fabric, and the iron on fabric adhesive to make the shield. First, I ironed a piece of fabric bond onto gold fabric and another piece onto blue fabric. Then I traced out the shield onto the fabric bond sheet I had ironed onto the blue fabric and cut the shape out. For the gold fabric, first I had to cut out the paper pattern I had printed of the superhero "B" using an exacto knife. I flipped the superhero "B" paper cut-out and traced this backwards B onto the fabric bond sheet ironed onto the gold fabric. I followed the pattern and cut the gold fabric"B" out with an exacto knife. I ironed the gold "B" onto the blue shield and then I ironed the blue and gold "B" shield onto a plain cotton shirt. 

I wasn't sure how much Bea would appreciate something tied around her neck, so instead I attached buttons to her shirt so that I could button the cape on. We had a star theme going on, so I found some fun gold star buttons that amped up the cuteness. I used one on each shoulder and one on the back so that it wouldn't ride up on her neck.

The cape is a piece of shiny blue fabric that I stuck gold, glittery foam star stickers to. At the top of the cape, I put a 2 inch strip of the iron on fabric adhesive, folded the fabric on itself, and ironed it down to bind it. I did this to act as a hem, but also to reinforce the slinky fabric so that it would button better. After many futile attempts to make button holes with my sewing machine, I gave up and just cut some slits in the fabric since the adhesive paper was in there to reinforce it, and would help keep it from fraying, too.  I hemmed the bottom so that it wouldn't fray, but I left the sides unhemmed. The original piece of fabric was a rectangle so I tapered it making a gradual rounded cut from the buttons to the widest part at the bottom of the cape.

For the superhero style bottoms, I just took an old pair of bloomers and sewed on some stretchy gold sequin costume trim. And when I say "sewed on", this was sort of an exploratory mission because using a machine to sew together two stretchy things and sequins was a little above my sewing skills. So, I just held the trim and bloomers together, stretched them out and then did little spots of sewing them together about every inch or so. Did I mention I so don't like pinning things before sewing? There was no pinning involved in this project : ) 

 I wanted to find some bright tights, but these starry leggings were a great find that are a little warmer and   won't get big runs when she falls down like tights would.

Now, to accessorize! 

I made some wristbands out of the same stretchy gold sequin trim that I used for the belt. I just measured around the wrist so that it would fit loosely and hot glued the ends together. 

Little gold boots would be a super cute addition to the ensemble, 

or a little gold face mask for older (or tolerant!) tots.

So, that's it. Hope you like it!

Trick or Treat!