Captain America Halloween Costume

True Believers! You know that America needs a real hero, and next year for Halloween, you, too, can be that hero! With just a few easy steps, you can become Captain America and impress your family, friends, neighbors, and local Legion members. (Our Cap ended up saying the pledge at the local legion as part of a scavenger hunt, and it went over extremely well.) Be a hit at conventions and use it to demonstrate your patriotism to young and old alike.

Let's get you on your way to your service as a super soldier, citizen!

Step 1: Materials

You will need the following:

A white long-sleeved athletic shirt
If no vertically-striped shirt can be found, red fabric (preferably with the same amount of stretchines as the shirt) (not pictured here)
A blue athletic t-shirt
Blue running tights (or sweatpants if suitable ones can be found) (not pictured here)
Red vinyl (we ended up using about 2 1/2 yards or so) (not pictured here)
Blue vinyl (about 2 yards total) (not pictured here)
White vinyl (about 1/2 yard) (not pictured here)
Blue fabric (if you choose to make the cowl out of fabric)
Wide black belt (not pictured here)
Red gloves (we used fleece ones, but anything red would be good) (not pictured here)
Stitch witchery
White thread
Tape measure
Rotary cutter and/or scissors
Heavy-duty blue thread
Super glue
Tons of pins, both safety and straight
A small quantity of stuffing (not pictured here)
Velcro (not pictured)
Red duct tape (not pictured)
Blue duct tape (not pictured)

Comments

[shirrel]

Hey thanks for this instructional guide! I want to make a Spaceman Spiff costume (from Calvin and Hobbes) but this is the closest guide I could find. It actually seems like it will be very similar, all I have to do is substitute red vinyl with yellow vinyl and a lightning bolt instead of a star. Just need to figure out the shoulder pads. Let me know if you have any tips and I'll let you know how it goes! Happy Halloween!

[Fruppi]

I suppose I'd go the lazy way and find a garment at Goodwill with shoulder pads in it and either wear that under the costume or cut them out and attach them to your costume :)

[aazana]

Hi there. I know it's been a while, but I'm trying to construct my own Cap costume, and I'm a little hung up on the belt. This is a great costume, and I was wondering: how did you make the belt for this costume? (the one in the convention picture) Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

[Fruppi]

Cap bought those pouches on eBay. If I remember correctly, they are actual WWII era gear. You may be able to find something suitable at an army surplus store. He just strung them on a regular leather belt. He also has a canteen on the back of the belt, not shown in the picture.

[aazana]

Hey thanks! I appreciate that. I'll definitely have to check out the surplus store near me. Thanks for the info!

[egriff]

you forgot the bullet wound

[Hoaxinmi]

ooooo you said it

[ToshiroMifune]

Okay....where'd you get the pants?!

[Fruppi]

Our local sports store. They're just running tights...the kind that are generally meant to be worn in cold weather (although as a non-runner, I'd think you'd still freeze to death in the things).

[WurdBendur]

The scales look good, but they should be smaller. Maybe 1x1.

[Fruppi]

Sure...but that would've made it even more exhausting and time-consuming to make. We cross-referenced a bunch of pictures of Cap's various different costumes and found one that looked like it had scales about our size...don't ask me which particular incarnation that one was :). At any rate, if you choose to make it, you can make your scales as tiny as you want :)

[WurdBendur]

True, scales are not fast. But I'm afraid I'm not a big enough fan to make the costume myself.

[smithn]

first off id like to say I LOVE this. I tried making my own once for comicon but my cowl didn't turn out as nice. on the two side L shaped peaces, are they sewn together in front of your neck? its a bit hard to tell from the picture

[Fruppi]

No, they've got lots of velcro on them, so they attach under the neck, but the cowl is easier to remove that way :)

[animed]

the Cap'n was right

[mg0930mg]

Nice Job! This is an awesome costume now I have my next 6 halloween costumes. *ROLLS EYES*

[Weissensteinburg]

I've got a friend who would LOVE this!