Finally getting a chance to post about my oldest, J’s, Halloween costume. J had a pretty clear idea early on what was wanted, so I only needed a few more bits to make it happen on Halloween day.
After I finished the little guy’s Ninjago outfit there was not a lot of time left. So I had to abandon my earlier ideas on how to finish the cape that J wanted.
The base of the costume was a black micro fleece pull-over and pants for the first layer, so my big concern was that with all that dark fabric my kid would be visible in the dark. Granted our small town doesn’t have a lot of traffic, but I consider it betting against the odds to send anyone out at night in dark clothing.
J really liked the sparkly green fabric that looked a bit like reptile scales. I was thrilled because the metallic reflective nature of it would increase visibility.
So I did some quick measurements for length and width, then cut out basically a U shape with the top edge of the U being the selvage on one side. Sat down at my serger and created a blind hem style casing along the selvage edge. Threaded a 14″ length of 1/4″ elastic thru the casing and tied a knot.
Presto, first layer of cape. And a scrap off one of the corners from the remnant as an “eye patch” since the fabric is fairly sheer.
J also wanted an over layer made from the holey fuzzy black fabric I had bought. At this point I’m down to about 35 minutes til they need to leave for the Halloween party.
Grab the fabric, black corded elastic, toggle closure, and the ever handy safety pins.
There are 2 yards of fabric and J is only 4 1/2 feet tall. Okay, fold it nearly in half. Run the elastic thru the holes in the fabric (handy that). Gather up fabric on elastic and slide toggle into place. Knot ends of elastic so the toggle doesn’t fall off.
Place the double layered cape on J over the green sparkly cape.
Pull up top layer and drape about head and neck to create a hood. Use safety pins to secure into place.
With 10 minutes to spare, J is good to go. Mom is a hero again. Yay!
“You are the best Mom ever!” – My payment.
My husband took the kiddos out to the party and then trick-or-treating whilst I stayed home to greet goblins at our door. He said J wore the entire cape for the party, but the top black layer was too heavy (hey that is 2 yards of fabric) once they were outside.
So big win! J was even more visible, because the green cape was on the outermost layer of the costume. That works!
Mamas2Hands 