DIY Knight Costume - Part 2

Last year, I made Joshie a templar knight costume.  It was a little too big last year but it fits perfectly now.  He agreed to wear it again since none of the kids at his new school have seen it yet.  I was starting to get worried that I'd be making something last minute.

We put on his costume and practiced trick-or-treating over on main street.  It was cold and so most of his costume was hidden under a bulky jacket and gloves.  Then I realized, he needs a cape/cloak!!!

So I made him a cape which took no more than 30 min and we are now set.  Maybe it'll rain again this year, or maybe it'll snow.  Either way, he'll look like he's wearing a costume.

Here's a side by side.  I used some old fabric that I had in my stash that was originally intended for me.

My model was at school so the mannequin had to stand in.

Here's how I did it.

First I folded my fabric in half.  If I made the cape shorter, then I would have cut it out (like in pic 1) and continued on.  However, my fabric wasn't long enough so I had to join some more fabric to complete the arc (pic 2)

This is what the joined fabric looked like.  

After I cut out the arcs, the rest was just finishing touches.

I did a rolled hem with my serger around the entire cape (except for the neckline).

Then I used some bias tape to bind up the neckline

Easy peasy!  Maybe I need one too...

DIY Knight Costume

When Joshie was little, he was superbaby, then a police man, and then batman. This year we decided that it might be time for someone that wasn't a superhero.  So when I asked him what he wanted to be, he said "Wolverine".  Yikes... I really had no idea how I was going to make that happen.  Lucky for me, we had a book about knights at home and he liked the idea about being a knight.

I found this tutorial in Dutch on making a knight's costume.  It was hard to follow since google translate wasn't doing a great job translating from Dutch to English.  So I ended up making my own pattern.

Materials Used:
1M of gaberdine (not the best choice for a kid's costume but it's what I had)
Approx 5M of bias tape for the trim and belt loops
Scrap black fabric for the waist band
White and red jersey scrap fabric
Two snap buttons

Heat n Bond

Measure measure measure your child.   The most important parts to measure are:  head circumference for the neck and shoulder circumference since this is a pull over costume.  Length can be whatever you want it to be. 

As of this posting, I did not make him a hood because he said he wouldn't wear it. I'm sure if I chose something other than gaberdine, he would have been ok.  Memo to me for future costumes:  only use 100% cotton!

By the time I sorted out my fabric, he was sleeping so I couldn't measure him.  I used Bear Bear's head as a guide.

When I was finally able to get him to try it on, this is what it looked like.  Eek!  Too big!

I solved that problem by adding two snap buttons on each side about 2" above the waist band.

The applique was fused on using fusible web and I stitched the white crest down using a large straight stitch.  I didn't bother stitching down the templar cross.  It was fused well enough that I didn't bother.  After all, this will be worn 3 times at most and then maybe Baby Bunny will wear it later on when he's big enough.  I considered using our family's coat of arms but it was really detailed.

Here's a detail shot.  This would have been a great opportunity to try mitred corners using bias tape but I just folded the tape over and sewed it down.

Here's a front/back shot

Here we are trying it on outside.  He's using a stick in place of his sword since we forgot it inside the house.  Hubby made a "Samara" from the movie "The Ring".  He used Batman's head from last year's costume, thrifted shirt/nightdress from the Salvation Army, two left hands from the Dollarama, a wig, and a bunch of plastic bags to make this creepy scene.

And another back shot on on our neighbour's driveway.   He's looking for the bunny that hopped over the yard.

Can't wait for trick or treating!