Mrs Captain America Glow Costume

Turn your ordinary Halloween costume into a glowing display that lights up the night! It's a big hit in the clubs or just out for the night. If you're modifying a costume for your little one, it has the added benefit of making your trick-or-treater more visible.

I have been playing with EL wire costume concepts for a while, and one of the down sides of EL home-made costumes is, if you sew them to a little black dress, it doesn't look like much in the day light. This time, I wanted to make a costume that looked good in the light AND dark!

Check out what I've done here, but keep in mind that you can do this with almost any costume, clothing or accessory so get those creative juices flowing!

Step 1: Supplies

Here's what I used:

Dress:

1. Purchased "Mrs. Captain America" costume.
2. Red, white and blue 2.3mm EL wire, EL Wire inverters, AA batteries

3. needle and thread

4. hot glue gun

Mask

1. The mask came with the purchased costume
2. White 2.3mm EL wire
3. hot glue gun
4. needle and thread

Shield/Purse

1. Purchased small Captain America plastic shield
2. Red and white 2.3 mm EL wire, EL wire inverters, AA batteries
3. scrap cloth
4. zipper
5. hot glue
6. needle and thread
7. electrical tape

Step 2: Planning

Planning is critical!

Start with how you want to carry the battery packs and plan out from there, trying to find the most efficient path for your EL wire. This will save you time and precious EL wire.

My plan:

The Mask: Have one battery pack to power the mask, that clipped to the back of the costume with the cable hiding under my hair.

The Dress: 3 battery packs for the dress, one for each color EL. I didn't want too many battery backs clipped to the dress so I thought to myself.... A PURSE!

The Shield: The reason I love this costume so much... I turned the shield into a purse to hold the battery packs for the dress and the shield, along with any other necessary essentials for a night on the town. Practical, nerd-tastic chique :)

Step 3: Sew and Glue to Your Heart's Content

With the game plan set, its now time to get to work.

The Mask:

Hot glue around the outside and circling the eyes along with the 'A' atop was about it for the mask. I added a few stitches at weak points so if the hot glue failed during the night it wouldn't completely fall off. The tail coming out the back is still glowing, I wrapped electrical tape around the parts I did not want visible.

The Dress:

A similar combo of hot glue and hand stitching, only this time relying more on the sewing. Using clear fishing line as thread makes it nearly invisible when glowing. I started with the connectors near the arm pit of the dress, where I would route the tail into the purse to power the dress.

The Purse:

I sewed together a quick bag with a zipper. I hot glued the battery packs directly to the shield, then used more hot glue to secure the zipper bag to the shield, leaving plenty of room for my phone, wallet and some spare batteries. I attached a strap I bought from the fabric store and voila... Captain America Purse! I hot glued the EL wire along my planned pattern, putting opaque tape over the areas I did not want to be seen glowing on the front and back of the shield.

Step 4: Dance the Night Away!