Homemade Friday: The Fierce Ninja Costume

I'd like to promise that this will be the total and final, for-real-this-time last time I discuss this costume.

But.  We'll see.

It's just that when it comes to sewing it never works out for me.  Seams will be wonky, hems will be uneven, and I have to rip out mistakes multiple times.

Do you know how many times I used the seam ripper on this entire costume?  Once.  Just once.  It's kind of a record.

I'd been playing with the idea of making Sebastian a ninja costume for a few weeks now.  Part (most) of it was mom guilt.  My mom made all of mine and my sister's costumes growing up, and it actually felt weird to buy a mass produced one.  But for the past few years that's what I've done because I didn't feel like I had the time to sew one myself.  Or the capability.  But mostly the time.

And I saw how much Sebastian loved to wear his costumes throughout the year.  He literally wore the pants off his bat costume from last year.  But I've never paid full price for costumes, mostly because I don't want to pay $20-$30 for something that's going to fall apart.  I may have spent the same amount for the costume I made, but it was custom-made and it'll hopefully last a lot longer.

The kids were gone last Saturday all day so I figured it was now or never.  I didn't tell Sebastian I was making it at first in case I completely screwed it up or ran out of time.  I didn't want him asking me over and over and over again when it was going to be finished.  Like he did when I finally told him two days before it was finished.  He literally lay at my feet while I sewed asking "Is it ready yet?  How about now?  It's ready now, right?"

Lesson learned, Sebastian.

The pattern I used was for a karate outfit, I think, but all the ninja costume patterns looked weird and complicated and awkward.  I just made the belt extra wide and tied it in the back instead of the front.  I started with the jacket and it all went relatively easy.  I used black and red flannel, which may be the only fabric I ever sew with because it worked great. 

I found this free pattern online for the ninja hood.  It was a little difficult at first, mostly because I couldn't believe that something so large (13 inches across!) would fit like it was supposed to.  But I trusted the directions and it worked out fine.  In case you ever need to make a ninja hood, I saved the picture and opened it up on my desktop and enlarged it until the measurements were the right size, then traced it onto some computer paper that had been taped together.  I'm sure there's a much more 'correct' way to do it, but this was the way that worked for me.

I finished the hood first because I knew he wanted something to wear and the jacket required hand sewing that I wasn't ready to work on yet.  He wore it all that day. 

At first he was still saying he wanted to wear his Spiderman costume I'd gotten him at a consignment sale that didn't have a mask, and I was okay with that.  I wasn't going to force him to wear the ninja one just because I made it, so I bought some face paint to put a Spiderman face on him if he wanted.  But I didn't need to as eventually he didn't even mention Spiderman.  (That means I win.  Suck it, Spiderman!)

And next year I'm thinking I may be able to tackle costumes for both kids.

Maybe.

(Look how stinkin' cute he is!)