“Batman and Robin” Part 1
I have successfully completed half of Elijah’s request for Halloween . . . his Batman costume. Call me crazy, but I really wanted to make the boys costumes this year, start to finish. If you could see the crazy sketches I drew you would have initially reacted much like my husband Mike, but I feel like the finished product has been well worth my time and effort. The costume is actually hidden so Batman doesn’t wear it out before I can take a picture with Robin when his costume is done.
Just in case you have your own Batman and Robin to dress for Halloween – I’m including my design process in this post.
SUPPLIES (less than $15)
Some of the yardage will reflect purchases made with Robin costume in mind:
- Gray Fleece Pants (Walmart – $3.88)
- Gray Long Sleeve T-shirt (Walmart – $3.88)
- 1/8 yd black felt (Jo-Ann sale price – $0.37)
- 1 yd royal blue felt (Jo-Ann sale price – $2.99)
- 1/8 yd yellow felt (Jo-Ann sale price – $0.37)
- 1/2 yd blue taffeta (Jo-Ann sale price – $3)
- 2 decorative buttons (Elijah picked out from my button box at home)
- 1/4 inch wide black elastic for cape (had at home)
- Sticky velcro (from Grandma)
- Clear thread (had at home)
LOGO SHIRT
This was so easy it pleasantly surprised me :).
- I found a graphic logo for the batman shirt online and re-sized the file to be 7″ wide to fit Elijah’s 4T gray shirt (he’s not really a 4T – I bought big in case we needed to layer underneath his costume for cold weather).
- I printed two copies of the logo, and cut one to be the black bat pattern and one to be the yellow oval pattern.
- Both were cut from their respective pieces of felt and machine sewn onto the shirt with clear thread (this eliminated buying a million spools of thread – who really enjoys re-threading bobbins anyway?).
- I hand-sewed two buttons (that Elijah picked out himself!) to the front of the shirt to attach the cape to.
CAPE
This is my favorite part of the entire costume because it drapes really well and flares out when Elijah runs around the house.
- I cut the blue taffeta fabric across the top and seamed it in the middle so that it became 1 yard wide (and there was no waste).
- I seamed the right, left, and top sides of the cape.
- I cut the cape to be 25″ long to hit Elijah in the back of the knee.
- I scalloped the bottom edges of the cape alternating between the width of my scissor and a cup and then ran a stitch along the scallop border (to finish the edge and prevent frays)
- I threaded the 1/4 inch wide black elastic through the top seam of the cape and measured the gather (while on Elijah) to drape around his shoulders and fasten to the buttons.
- The elastic was seamed into a loop at the end of the cape that enables the cape to be fastened to the shirt via it’s buttons.
ARMS, LEGS & UNDERWEAR- Arm, leg and underwear pieces were traced directly from the fleece pant or shirt (allowing room for a seam) onto blue felt so that they would be an exact fit.
- Underwear was seamed the same as the pant (RIGHT SIDE OF THE FABRIC FACING IN), turned right side out, and then machine sewn onto the pant of the costume. (The only part of the underwear that was a guesstimate on my part was the angle of the underwear from the crotch section to the hip. I just eyeballed it until it looked the way I wanted it to look)
- 2 leg pieces were seamed (RIGHT SIDE OF THE FABRIC FACING IN), turned right side out, and machine sewn onto the pant of the costume (top and bottom)
I traced the winged portion of the arm band from an old Batman costume Elijah had onto two pieces of felt (for each band). Winged portions were machine sewn together and then seamed into the arm band. I turned the arm band inside out and hand stitched it to the shirt of the costume (the arm hole was too small to stretch around the machine).
BELT- The belt was created from two pieces of yellow felt (machine sewn together) 2.5 inches wide by the length of Elijah’s waist.
- I sewed black lines of felt (2 cm wide) around the belt at 2 inch intervals.
- The buckle of the belt was made from two pieces of yellow felt (3.5 X 4 inches) stitched together with a black felt piece (2.5 X 3 inches) stitched to the middle.
- The buckle was machine sewn onto one side of the belt
- I placed sticky velcro to the back of the opposite side and to the belt itself.
MASK
This was the trickiest part of the entire costume. A cheap plastic mask might work just as well if you have access to one.
This was the trickiest part of the entire costume. A cheap plastic mask might work just as well if you have access to one.
- I traced the shape of the mask onto blue felt from an old batman costume Elijah had – but took care to make it larger so that it would fit him. I also made the eye holes larger so he could see better.
- There are three pieces to the actual mask: the front eye piece, and two side pieces that are seamed together from the top of the head to the nape of the neck, and then to the front eye piece.
- The ears were made from felt triangle pieces (two per side) sewn together and then sewn to the side of the mask
- The mask is fastened under the chin with sticky velcro (note – do not attempt to machine stitch sticky velcro – lesson learned!)
Take a look at the finished product:
Elijah’s reaction was absolutely priceless, and made every moment of this project absolutely worth it. 🙂