Bat Gril (Batman/Ninja) Hood

Bat Girl needed a cool hood like Batman. I had some scraps left over from her  cape which is awesome cause they will match seamlessly. I CAN make things with out patterns, however it's easier to start with a basic shape, so I searched ninja hood pattern and found this on google image search

I thought it was perfect cause ti was already on a grid, that will make it so much easier for em to scale it up, cause it was scaled down to 25%. Then I had a better FASTER idea. I saved the image to my computer and then opened the picture and zoomed in until it was just an inch or two bigger then her profile. 

Then I just held a piece of paper on top of the screen and traced it on my paper. EASY!

Then I pined it on her head pinning it to fit, not pinning along the edge. 

 Now so I can see my lines when I take it off I drew the "seam" with a marker

 Now when I take it off her, I can lay it flat and make the needed changes.  You can see that I needed a different angle for the back. When It was on her head I also marked the other changes I needed to make. Notice the arrow on the bottom, I needed it about an inch longer

 So I lay it on top of my fabric and I cut the new shape

 Pin on the new pattern

 Mark more changes

And the next pattern I cut out was PERFECT. 3rd times a charm right?

So this is my pattern shape, and I also cut out some triangles for ears

Pin them on

I had to hand sew them on since the opening was so small, but it didn't take long. 

Then after the ears are on just sew up the out side of the hood. I sewed the dart first (the little triangle opening, then I sewed down the back profile of the hood. 

 This is the hood right side out

 I finished it off with black bias tape around the edge to it looked nice and clean (but that's just cause I had some) If I didn't have any I would have either hemmed it or just did a zig-zag around the edge.

Then a small strip of velcro on teh front of the neck to keep it together

 And there is the finished hood. 

 I made a separate mask so she can wear just the hood, or the hood and mask. I will post the mask next. It's SO EASY.

Total cost for Bat Girl hood $0.88 (I had to buy some velcro) :)

VADER HELMET!!!

OH YES I DID!
Since I had no instruction on this I did things the slow way, and a bit out of order, so I will save YOU the trouble and show you how to do it the most effective way.

Found THIS hat at a thrift store for $.50 (score!) It's PERFECT. Turn it around backwards and the angle of the bill is just right for the hood thing on Vaders Helmet

  

FIRST SAND IT. You need a rough surface everywhere you will glue or paint. Next get a permanent marker and mark the middle. I just did a few lines here and there. I used a sewing tape measure to get the exact middle, you can also use a piece of string and a ruler if you don't have a tape measure. ...or just eye ball it.

Now that you have your middle you will need to mark the curve for the eyes. 

It should gently slope back into the helmet

Then I cut it with my jig saw, it went REAL fast and easy. (you might be able to cut it with a utility knife if you don't have a saw)

(I did find this site and I used it as a shape reference for the shape of the hood piece.)  Then I took a brown paper bag (you can use news paper too) And I taped it inside around 1/2 and then drew the basic shape on the paper with a marker. 

 I didn't take a picture after I drew the Vader helmet shape, but basically just hold it up and draw a line around for the base and then up to where it goes around the eyes.

 Then I took out the paper and cut out my shape

 To make sure it's the right shape I taped it back on. It's not usually perfect the first time, so I take my marker and redraw the lines how they should be or mark any changes to the pattern.

  As you can see I cut it too short. I needed it to go to the center line, and I was short about an inch.  Also you want the hood just SLIGHTLY longer then the bill at the very least so you can cover the bill with the craft foam. You can see where I drew the line for the base of the hood, this helmet will work for an adult, just draw the hood longer. (the helmet is actually kinda big on my 3 year olds head)

 I redrew the pattern with the changes

 PERFECT fit this time. WOOT!

 Well slightly long in back, but that's just how i needed it.  Now take your pattern and cut 4 of them out of craft foam. (I got an assortment of colors in a pack of 12  for about $5 at wal mart. They are the big sheets that are about the size of 2 pieces of paper. I only needed 2 though) Craft foam is kind of thin, but I found 2 layers to be just about right

I found this glue at wal mart also, in the craft isle for about $3. You need a glue that says it will work for plastic. 

 Now I glue one layer of the out side of the bill, using tape to hold it in place as the glue dries

 And the other layer on the inside of the bill. You can see the layers overlapping at the seams. I took my scissors and cut the top layers together cutting right down the center seam, and then the bottom layers the same way. Then the fit nicely together.

 Once the glue is set you can add the strip that goes down the middle. Make sure to let it hang off a bit on the front and back. That way you can round it under neath and completely cover your seams (99sorry, I don't know why this one didn't turn) (here you can see the seam taped down in the back)

 Then I glued the edges together, and to avoid finger cramps I utilized my abundance of clothes pins. If you do this, I suggest putting a scrap piece of foam on either side, sandwiching the hood. The clothes pins will dig into the foam and leave dents.

 Now to stiffen the hood use some scraps of fabric and glue and basically paper mache it on the INSIDE ONLY. Do one layer at a time. I also covered my seam from the hood to the helmet on the inside to reinforce the bond to the plastic. I only did 2 layers and it is stiff enough for me. I used just white elmers glue (non washable) and a little bit of water to thin it out just a bit, not too much. I also did a few layers of mod podge. It's just personal preference, or what you have.

 Then I painted the glue on the out side. This acts as a primer for the paint as well as giving it a little more strength. I did about 4-6 layers on the inside and on the out side. (using both glue and mod podge, but either or will work) I also gave the hard plastic one coat of mod podge to help even out the sanding lines and help the paint adhere.

 When it was ALL dry I started painting with my high gloss black paint. (YAY) This was after the first layer.

 I ended up doing 3 layers. And I might actually go back for more touch up, there are a few pin hole size parts that got missed.

 And here is the final helmet! LOVE IT! So does my 3 year old.

I still need to add a small foam piece to the inside for a bit of padding

There you have it! Vader helmet $.50 on the baseball helmet, $1 on the foam $3 on the glue...and used HARDLY ANY for a grand total of
$4.50!

Google Image Search

      Google image search is my BEST FRIEND. I do a lot of prep work just looking at pictures. I would say a good majority of the projects that I do aren't really my idea at all. I just put my own spin on them. I don't want to take credit for something that is not mine. A lot of times I just save the image from the search on a file on my computer so I can reference it later. However, I will do my best to give credit where credit is due.
     

A few more costume props

Just a few more elements to the Vader costume. They are not necessary, but they REALLY add to it. I found these little black shin guards at the thrift store for $1.98. They were practically NEW. But they did have the red "Wilson" logo on them.

Nothing a little bit of black glossy paint cant fix right? I didn't sand them before painting or anything, just painted it on and when it dried the paint was seamless. You can't even tell it ever had words on it.

Then there is also the long robe/vest thing. I used the left over black fabric from the sheet I made his cape out of.
    I didn't have a pattern so I measured the length from his shoulder to where I wanted it, then I pulled out one of his vests that fits him pretty well. I just turned it inside out so I could clearly see the seams, and I placed it on top of the fabric and just around the back of the vest to get the right size and shape, cutting it slightly bigger for you seam allowance. Then I did the same with the sides. Only I didn't make my sides quite as wide as his vest.
   No hemming or anything fancy. I just did a zig-zag stitch all the way around to keep the edges from fraying.  Now I have a simple vest that I can throw in my costume box. It would be great addition to a pirate costume too...or a ranger. I'm sure there are plenty more applications for a simple long black vest. :)

Vest $0 (30 min project)
Shin guards $1.98 (1 min project)

Bat Girl Gauntlets

     I have been doing a lot of stuff for the Vader costume, and not so much for Bat Girl, cause well Vader has some COOL props.
      I LOVE scrap fabric. I had just a few SMALL scraps of black spandex left over from my swimsuit I made this year, so small that I ALMOST threw them away. Well it turns out it was JUST enough to make some cool Bat Girl gauntlets...or fingerless gloves, or what ever you want to call them.

I wrapped the fabric around her arm where I wanted the gloves to sit, and pinned it in place. (any stretchy fabric will work)

Then cut next to the pins, not super close, the pins will be your seem. And I cut the point that goes down to her middle finger. I did not plan on hemming these, since it's just a Halloween costume for a 5 year old, and it's spandex, it's not going to fray. If you want a hem, make sure to cut the shape big enough to allow for one. 

Back view

Now cut one for the other arm, (don't forget to cut it with right sides together, or wrong sides together. You need it flipped for the other arm)

Then I folded it together and placed it on a piece of paper so I could draw where I wanted the spikes, and get the right size.

 Then draw around it for your seem allowance

 You need 12 little spikes cut out, pin them together (this is the most time consuming part, of you omit the spikes, this is like a 15 min project)

 Then sew around the out side of all 6 spikes

 turn them inside out

 Now pin to the gloves (right sides together, spikes inside the seem)

 Sew up the seem and flip it inside out, ALMOST DONE!

I cut a little strip to make the ring that would go around her middle finger, and I had to hand sew it on cause it was SO tiny. But it only took a min or two.

PERFECT FIT!

She LOVES them. Very super hero-y

Total cost for this project $0 (see, I LOVE scraps, those would have been $6-$10)