Introduction: Make a Wonder Woman Costume WITH Your Child

By may-burnett.com

Wonder Woman is the perfect princess for those little girls who aren't waiting around for a prince to save them. This tutorial helps you to not only make a costume WITH your burgeoning amazon warrior, but also make tons of memories as well.

Step 1: Make Lots of Drawings Together

When my daughter told me she wanted to be Wonder Woman for Halloween, I was so excited I got her a pair of red boots right away! I started talking to her about what the costume would look like, and it became clear that we had very different ideas. This was a great opportunity to work with her, listen to her ideas, and help her to make her own costume. Girl power!

Make a cartoon

Take a photo of your child and print it out. Next, put another paper on top and trace her outline. Take the outline and make photocopies. Drawing and coloring on top of these outlines is an easy way to make costume designs!

Design!

Put out lots of crayons, markers, and pencils. Sit down with your daughter and each of you make your own designs. When you have several designs, talk about what parts you like and then combine them in a new costume design. We did this several times because Evie liked being a fashion designer! You can see our first attempt in the photos above.

Make a Final Design

Put together your favorite elements into a final design. This is the drawing the two of you will be working together to create.

Step 2: Gather Your Materials

You will need:

  • Marker, scissors, Seran Wrap, masking tape, aluminium foil, iron, elastic, small drill, red glitter paint, one small sheet of white foam, a camera
  • E-6000 adhesive. This is an industrial grade adhesive many crafters are familiar with. It is really smelly and you will need to use it in a well ventilated place. I found mine at Joanns craft store but you can get it on Amazon HERE.
  • 1 roll of craft foam. I used Darice 2mm Foamie Roll, 36-Inch by 60-Inch, in black. I found my roll in Joanns, but you can also order it on Amazon HERE.
  • Worbla. Worbla is an amazing thermoplastic which is super easy to use! I used it to make the tiara, bracelets, and belt buckle. Cosplayers use Worbla to make armor and all manner of amazing things! I bought my sheet at Cosplaysupplies.com HERE. There are tons of tutorials on the website as well as on YouTube.
  • A heat gun. A must have when working with Worbla. It is also very useful when adding texture to your craft foam. You can find heat guns at Home Depot or most craft stores.
  • 1 can of Plasti Dip. This is really useful to seal the foam and add a little texture. I found my can at Home Depot.
  • 1 can each of red, blue, gold, silver, and clear gloss spraypaint. This is what we used to paint the armor, tiara, and bracelets. We then went over everything with the clear gloss. I prefer the Painter's Touch 2x Ultra Cover paint and primer by Rust-oleum because it bonds well to plastic. I found all this at Home Depot.

Step 3: Leather-Like Armor

If your final design involves leather-like armor, then you can follow these steps to make the armor. Feel free to modify the armor to look like your own drawing. If your final design doesn't involve armor, just skip this step to get to the tiara and bracelets! Don't forget to let your daughter help make the costume. My daughter enjoyed using the spray paint and gluing on the stars. At 6 years old, I am not comfortable with her using the heat gun or handling an iron and hot aluminium foil. But your daughter may be older (or better coordinated) and able to help out a lot more. Pass down those skilz crafty mamma!


The Top

1. It might sound weird, but wrap your child's torso and shoulders in Seran Wrap. Have her wear an old tee shirt and just wrap her up. Trust me.

2. Next, rip off pieces of making tape and cover the Seran Wrap. Don't use long strips or just go around and around her in a long piece because it will pull too tight and make your template too small.

3. Use the marker to draw on the masking tape what you want the top to look like.

4. Cut the template off of your child, trim it, and lay it on top of the foam sheet.

5. Trace your template onto the foam sheet and cut it out.

The Skirt

1. Use the steps above on your child's waist to get a waistband template.

2. Measure out and cut several skirt "straps" out of the foam. Ours were 1 3/4" wide by 16" long.

3. Cut small stars out of white foam to be glued to the "straps".

The Texture

1. Crumple up a sheet of aluminum foil and then smooth it out again.

2. Lay the foam top out on a flat surface. Place the foil on top of the foam top.

3. Heat your iron to the highest setting and iron your foam top through the aluminum foil.

4. This should give you a light texture on the foam. For a little deeper texture, crumple up another piece of foil and press it into the foam while the foam is still hot from the iron.

5. Repeat these steps on all pieces of the skirt and any other "leather" pieces you may have.

The Color

1. Take all your "leather" foam pieces outside and spray them with Plasti Dip. This seals the foam.

2. Once dry, spray the top with your red spray paint.

3. Spray all your skirt pieces blue.

4. Once dry, if you want to bring the texture out more, rub black acrylic paint into the texture and wipe the excess off.

5. Bring all the pieces outside once more and give them a coat of clear acrylic gloss spray paint.

Grommets

We chose to use grommets and ribbon to fit the top and skirt to Evie. If you would like to use grommets in your design, you can pick them up at any craft store that has a fabric section. Lace your top and skirt up using your choice of ribbon. I recommend gold!

Assembling the Skirt

1. Lay your skirt "straps" out on your waistband the way you want them and trim them so that they fit.

2. Number your "straps" so that when you glue them on you don't get confused.

3. Glue your first row of "straps" to the waistband using E-6000.

4. When the first row is dry, glue the second row of "straps" on, again using E-6000.

5. Now glue on your stars and any other skirt decorations. (Evie chose to use hearts as well as stars in her design)

Step 4: Tiara, Bracelets, Eagle, and Belt

For Wonder Woman's accouterments, I used Worbla. You could also use craft foam, paper mache, cardboard, or any other material you are comfortable with. I encourage you to give Worbla a try. It is really easy to use and makes professional looking stuff.

Tiara

1. Make a template by wrapping Seran Wrap around your child's head and then adding masking tape (just like the armor template).

2. Draw on the masking tape what you want the tiara to look like. Take the template off your child's head and cut it out.

3. Lay the template onto your Worbla (on the rougher side, not the smooth shiny side) and trace it out twice.

4. Cut the tiaras out of your Worbla.

5. Using your heat gun, heat the two tiara pieces until they flatten out and become a little shiny.

6. Carefully stick the two tiara pieces together, layering them on top of one another. You don't need glue, Worbla sticks to itself! Told you this stuff was great!

7. You can now shape the tiara to your head while it is warm (don't burn yourself!).

8. When the tiara has cooled, use a drill to make a hole in each end for the elastic.

9. Take the tiara outside and spray paint it gold.

10. Attach elastic to the ends of the tiara.

The Star

We chose to make a 3-D star out of Worbla using a template I found online. You may choose to just paint a star on, glue on a gem, or glue on a foil star. My daughter loved painting her star with red glitter paint!

The Bracelets

When it came to shaping the bracelets to my child's arm, I was cautious. The Worbla can get pretty warm and I didn't want to burn her. So I made a cast of her forearm by using the template technique, taping it back together, and then stuffing it with newspaper. If your child is older, you may just have them slide a thick sock on their arm and mold over that. I also chose to make her bracelets only one sheet of Worbla thick. Evie didn't want them to lace closed. One layer makes the bracelets more flexible so she can open them up to get her arm in and out.

1. Make a template of your child's forearm using the same technique you used to make the tiara.

2. Trace the template onto the Worbla two times.

3. If you would like to add any details like we did, trace these onto the Worbla as well.

4. Cut out your bracelets.

5. Heat up the bracelets and add your Worbla details. (Remember: Worbla sticks to itself!)

6. Form your bracelets around the forearm cast.

7. When cool, scrunch up some aluminum foil inside the bracelets to make stands for the bracelets.

8. Take the bracelets outside and spray paint them silver.

9. When dry, add a little black acrylic paint around the edges of your details to make them "pop".

10. Take the bracelets back outside and give them a coat of clear gloss spray paint.

Eagle

Thereare several different designs you can use for Wonder Woman's insignia. Evie chose an eagle with a glitter heart behind it to go on her chest. We chose to make it out of Worbla, but again, you can make it out of whatever material you are comfortable using.

1. Draw out your design and trace it onto the Worbla.

2. Cut your design out of the Worbla.

3. Heat up your Worbla and stick your design together (if you chose to make it in layers like we did).

4. Have your child try on their armor top. Put a piece of wax paper on the front of the top and press the insignia to it while the Worbla is warm so it gets the right shape. The wax paper keeps the insignia from sticking to the armor top.

5. When cool, take the insignia outside and spray paint it gold.

6. Add a little black acrylic paint along the edges of the insignia to make the layers "pop".

7. Take the insignia back outside and give it a coat of clear gloss spray paint.

8. Once dry, glue the insignia to the armor top using E-6000.

Belt

Like her insignia, there are several different Wonder Woman belt designs out there. We chose the flying W design as the "buckle". The directions are exactly the same as making the insignia except that when you are done, you glue gold trim behind the "buckle" for the belt. Glue the belt to the top of the armor skirt using E-6000.

Step 5: Have Fun and Take Pictures!

Grab your Lasso of Truth and you're done! Have fun! This is a great memory making opportunity! Charge up that camera and take pictures of the two of you working together. At the very least, you will have some great blackmail photos for when she's older. Show them to whoever she is dating, "Oh, look! Here she is in that adorable Wonder Woman costume we made together! Yeah, if you try anything she'll kick your butt. And if she doesn't, I will."

Oh, and one more thing, what to wear under the armor... anything your little amazon wants! Shorts and a tank top, blue star leggings and a white tee, a little white dress. Evie wanted to wear a dress, so I made her a simple tunic with some gold Greek trim.