As promised, today is the final post for the do-it-yourself Super Hero before the big reveal.  Instead of “faking” boots like I did here and here for last year’s costumes, I wanted to inexpensively cover the boys shoes to finish the Superman and Batman costumes.  Here’s how I made it work:

Supplies

Pleather material to match your Super Hero’s boots
1/4″ elastic (I used white for Superman and black for Batman)
Your Super Hero Pants from this post
Your child’s shoe
Large piece of paper
Flexible tape measure
Pen/Pencil
Calculator

Making the Basic Boot Pattern

The hardest part of this DIY is making a pattern that fits your child’s shoe – but you can do it (it’s significantly easier than the gloves in this post) – and you will be so happy with the results.

– 1 –
You only need to take two measurements to get this project started.  1) the length in inches from your child’s knee to the floor, and 2) the length in inches around the sole of your child’s shoe.  Save these measurements for later.

– 2 –
Make a mark on your paper the same length from the top of the page as the length from your child’s knee to the floor.  Put the sole of your child’s shoe on that line.  Fold your super hero pants as if they had a dress pant crease and place them above your child’s shoe as shown below.

– 3 –
Trace your child’s shoe and pant.

– 4 –
Half the length in inches around the sole of your child’s shoe (my initial measurement was 17-1/2″ – half is 8-3/4″).  Draw a straight line of that length beginning at the heel of your child’s shoe, moving towards and past the toe.

– 5 –
Measure the distance from the edge of the traced toe of your child’s shoe to the end of the line you drew in step 4 (mine ended up being 1-1/8″).  Add that same length to the entire front tracing of your shoe (from toe to tongue).

– 6 –
Add 1/2″ to the left side of your tracing to allow for a seam.  Add 1/2″ to the right side of your tracing to allow for a seam.  You will notice in the drawing above that I curved the right seam line a bit towards the ankle to give the boot a little more shape.

– 7 –
Cut out your pattern and trace it to the wrong side of doubled pleather.  Do this twice.  You should have four pieces total.

Warning: Do not pin the pleather unless absolutely necessary – it will leave permanent marks!!!

Making the boot

– 1 –
Sew the left and right sides of the boot together.

– 2 –
Take a length of elastic and stretch it to the same length of the bottom of one side of the boot.  Cut four pieces of elastic the same length.  Note: The elastic will not be the same length of the bottom of the boot.

– 3 –
Stitch one end of the elastic immediately next to the left seam and the opposite end immediately next to the right seam along the bottom of the boot with your sewing machine.  Stretch the elastic so that  it is the same length as the bottom of the boot and find the middle of both.  Stitch the middle again with the sewing machine.

– 4 –
Stretching the elastic to the same length as the bottom of the boot, machine stitch the elastic to the bottom of the boot.  Repeat for all four sides.

Putting the boots on . . .

I’ve found that it’s easiest to put the boots on over the child’s pants.  Pull the child’s pants down through the ankle of the boot to keep the child’s pant from bunching up.  After the child’s shoes are on, stretch the boot over the sole of the shoe.

Bam!  You made Super Hero Boots.