Smash Brothers is our theme for Halloween this year and my 8 yr old Zander has chosen to be Shulk. I didn't know who this character was as I hadn't had the chance to play the new wii u game and had to look him up. He is a very cool looking character but a couple things immediately jumped out at me screaming this is going to be a tall order to fill:

1. He has an intricate ensemble: crazy color designed shorts, a long sleeve turtle neck black shirt with designs around the arms, head and waist, a weird vest thing with both a collar and a hood, and these weird leather doodads around his legs and shoes.

2. He carries a giant sword that

3. Lights up

4. Changes color

5. and has symbols that kind of hover in mid air in the center of the big circle on it.

6. He is blond! Not just blond, but longish, surfer dude hair blond. My kid has short dark brown hair.

I tried oh so very hard to get him to choose one of the other gazillion other characters in the game. I tried to get him and his brother to switch characters as Kaiden is blond and chose a black haired character, go figure, but no go. I resigned myself to making this crazy costume. Luckily I started back at the very end of August or I never would have gotten it all done in time. This 'ible will take you through how I made this costume. I have another 'ible for the Monado, Shulk's sword.

Step 1: The Black Shirt

You will need:

A long sleeve turtle neck black shirt
Poster board
Scissors
white paint pen
Paints: blue, red, white
paint brush
tape

This part of the costume is rather simple. I just painted the design on with those Craftsman acrylic paints you can get at the craft store for like 68 cent a bottle.

First you need to make the pattern stencil. I did this by tracing around a vitamin bottle lid for the outer edge of the circles and a nickle for the inner edge. Just space the circles as evenly as possible and connect with straight lines.

Cut out the pattern.

Lay it out around one of the sleeves like in the photo and roll some tape to hold it a little. Use the paint pen to trace it. Repeat for other sleeve.

Now cut the pattern in half long ways so you have half circles. This is the pattern for around the waist of the shirt. Tape and trace.

There is a pink and a white stripe around the sleeves and waist as well, just sketch out a line for them.

Around the neck, there is a blue ring and around the collar is a white stripe and a pink stripe. Mark those too.

To stop the paint from going through the fabric and messing up the other side, stretch the section you want to work on over something like cardboard or a storage container lid.

Paint them. I found that the colors shows up better if you paint it white first. You will need 2 or 3 coats.

Step 2: The Shorts

You will need:

A pair of plain shorts
Pencil
Poster board
scissors
Paints: silver, red, blue, brown, black
Paint brush

These shorts are rather wild in design. I had a hard time deciding how to approach them. I finally went with this:

Trace one leg of the shorts on poster board.

Use a reference photo to draw out the design.

Cut away one section of the pattern as seen in first photo.

Lay pattern on shorts and trace that cut edge on the shorts.

Flip the pattern over and trace it on the other leg of the shorts.

Cut away the next section from the pattern. Lay pattern on shorts and trace the new line.

Flip it over and trace on other leg.

Continue in this way until the pattern is complete.

Paint

Before painting, put something inside the shorts to stop the paint from seeping through.

Also, it's a good idea to mark each section with its color so you don't get confused later on.

Paint the shorts

Repeat for the back design.

Step 3: The Vest

You will need:

Red fabric
Brown heavyweight fabric
Shiny silver fabric
Light pink fabric
No Sew Sticky Tape
Red Bias Tape
Poster board
fabric marker
pencil
scissors
Paints: black and silver
paint brush
Sewing stuff

To make the pattern for the vest:

Lay out a shirt that fits your wearer. Tuck the sleeves in up to the seam. Trace the shirt on poster board.
The vest is shorter than a normal shirt so take away an inch or so at the bottom.
Also, draw up more on both sides at the neck and connect the lines with a gentle arc for the collar.
This is the pattern for the back of the vest.

Cut out the back pattern.
Fold it in half.
Trace it on poster board.
This will be the pattern for the front of the vest. You just need to change the pattern at the collar. Invert the arc. Instead of curving up, curve down.

To make the pattern for the light pink design, I drew it out on my vest pattern and traced it on another paper that I then used to trace it on poster board.

Trace the back pattern on the red and brown fabric once. Add seam allowances.

Trace the front pattern on the red and brown fabric, then flip it over and trace again on each fabric. Add seam allowances.

Trace the design pattern on the light pink fabric, flip and trace again.

**** I forgot to add the cut out part on the back in the pattern, I had to cut it out after I already sewed it all together and that sucks. Draw on a section like in the picture now.

Cut them all out

You have 1 back and 2 front pieces in red and the same in brown. Turn them so wrong sides face out. Line up the front pieces with the back piece. Pin in place. Sew along the edge of the collar to the end of the shoulder right where the arm hole begins and from the bottom of the arm hole to end at the waist on each side. Do this for the red and for the brown.

*** This is when I sewed the brown (inner lining) to the red but I recommend skipping to making and adding the pockets to the red first. Saves some headaches later.

Line up the two vests with the wrong sides facing out, right sides in. Pin together and sew from one shoulder, around the collar and to the other shoulder and then from just under the arm down the side to the bottom on both sides. Flip the vest Inside out so the right sides are facing out. Line up and pin. Sew all around the arm holes and the bottom.

Put on the Bias Tape and pin in place along the arm holes and bottom edge. Sew on.

Add the light pink:

Line up the light pink design.

I tried spray adhesive first but it doesn't hold. I didn't want to sew it because my fabric frays easy and I didn't want the stitches showing. I used the no sew tape to apply the design.

Try it on.

Step 4: The Hood

You will need:
poster board
scissors
pencil
a hoodie
sewing stuff
red and brown fabric
Bias tape

To make the hood, I traced the hood of my hoodie and added a good bit at the end. I used my hoodie instead of his because I wanted the hood over-sized.

Trace hoodie hood to make pattern. Cut out.
Trace on red fabric, Flip, trace again
Repeat on brown fabric.
Cut out all 4
Align reds, pin, and sew around curved edge and down half way as shown in photo.
Repeat for brown.
Align the red and brown making sure right sides are out. Pin.
Sew around the front edge of the hood from one end to the other. Don't sew the back edges yet.

I struggled with this part and I am sure there is a much better way but this is what I did.

The extra we added to the pattern is for the shoulders of the vest. Figuring out how to attach it was difficult. I ended up cutting out a section from the center of the back of the hood as shown in photos. I cut a piece of paper the width of the shoulder to use to know where to start cutting.

Sew the remaining edges.
Use the Bias tape to make the edges pretty like we did on the vest.

Do your best to line up the hood with the vest. I folded the shoulder strips in half and pinned like in photo and slid the shoulder of the vest up into it and pinned in place. Sew along the edges of the shoulder strips and around the collar.

This left me with a section at the back that was not attached. I had to go back later and arrange the hood how I wanted it to hang and sew that part down. It didn't end pretty but you can't see it under the hood anyway.

Step 5: Pockets

You will need:

poster board
pencil
ruler
scissors
sewing stuff
red fabric

Use a reference photo to sketch out a pocket that's the right size for your vest. Its just a rectangle.

Add a small rectangle across the top for the flap. Add seems allowances as shown.

*I made my pockets complete stand alone and then sewed them to the vest, meaning my pockets had a back which is why the flap works attached for me. If you want to save material and just sew a rectangle to the vest, the vest acts as the back of the pocket, but you will have to add the flap to vest itself as well.

My pattern shown here is so you can fold it leaving just enough for the flap.

Trace the pattern on fabric twice

Fold the pockets like shown and sew the sides.

Sew the pockets to the vest along all 4 sides, leaving the flap loose.

***I added the pockets after I sewed the inner lining to the vest, this made it very difficult. I highly recommend adding the pockets before you sew on the lining.

Step 6: Shiny

You will need:
Shiny silver fabric
card stock
pencil
scissors
sewing stuff
No sew sticky tape

Make the pattern:
Front: I sketched out the size of my pocket and drew the pattern on it for size and cut it out. Lay it on the actual vest and check the fit.
Trace one, flip and trace one =2

Shoulders: Draw a line as long as the width of the shoulder strips of the hood. Draw the pattern from there.
Trace 2

Back: trace the bottom edge of the back of the vest on poster board. Use it to draw half of the pattern. Fold the poster in half and cut to have a symmetrical pattern.
Trace 1

Trace a nickle or something for the buttons on the pockets.
Trace 4.

Cut all out.

With pencil, draw on the designs.

First I tried using a Faber castel pen to draw them on but it smears and so does pen. Sharpie should work, but I stitched black thread along my lines instead.

Use the no sew stuff to stick the pieces in place.

Step 7: Painting

Use the paint pen from earlier to draw out this zig zag-y triangle pattern and paint it.

I started with the parallel lines and cut myself a little template to use for the diagonal lines so they are mostly at the same angle.

Step 8: Leg Pieces

You will need:

Brown felt
Wire
No Sew sticky tape stuff
Scissors
Poster board
Sharpie
Velcro

PATTERN
1. Draw your patterns. We need one for above the knee, one for below the knee, and one for the shin. I made mine long so I had plenty to work with and cut shorter later.

2. Cut out the patterns.

3. Fold the brown felt in half. Trace the upper knee pattern, flip and trace again. Trace the below knee pattern once. Trace the shin pattern twice.

4. Hold the felt steady and cut out.This should give you 4 knee, 2 leg, and 4 shin pieces.

WIRE

Shin pieces:

1. Measure and cut wire for center length.

2. Measure and cut wire for top 3 protrusions.

3. Twist wire pieces together to match the shape.

4. Apply a strip of the no sew tape along center and remove backing.

5. Apply strips of no sew tape along first 2 protrusions and remove backing.

6. Set in wire just at the first protrusion and down the middle, ending before the second one.

7. Align and apply the matching pattern felt piece to that section.

8. Set wire for the second protrusion up the middle and stop before the third.

9. Apply the top felt piece up to that part.

10. Apply a strip of no sew tape to the last protrusion, set in wire and apply felt.

11. Apply no sew tape along the last long line and apply felt to finish, it does not need wire.

12. Repeat for other shin piece.

Knee pieces:

1. Measure and cut wire for the length of the second horizontal strip and for each of the 4 vertical ones.

2. Twist wire together to match the pattern shape.

3. Repeat the method used above to slowly apply the wire and cover with the other felt piece. The top horizontal strip does not need wire.

4, Repeat for other knee piece.

Leg pieces don't need wire.

Step 9: Shiny Leg Pieces

You will need:

Shiny silver fabric
pencil
scissors
sharpie
no sew tape
velcro

MAKE:

To get the designs on the fabric I traced the rounded ends of the patterns from the last step and drew the designs from there. You also need 8 circles for buttons.

Cut them all out.

Use no sew tape to stick them in place.

Use a sharpie to draw on the detail and add stitching lines to the fabric.

WEAR:

Knee and leg pieces:

To put these on, put a piece of velcro on the rounded end. Wrap around the wearer and pull tight. Put the other side of the velcro there and cut off the excess fabric.

** The felt stretches over time so it is a good idea to add another piece or two of velcro to have the option to tighten them later.

Shin pieces:

The top section with first 2 horizontal protrusions rests against the shin, the next one down wraps around the ankle and the last one wraps around the foot. You need velcro on the last one. If yours is long enough to wrap all the way around the ankle, you can use velcro there too.

** The top half doesn't stay against the shin well so we rolled several pieces of tape to help it stay in place.

Step 10: Show Off

That's it! Put it all on and go somewhere you will be recognized to show it off, or head over the the Monado Instructable to complete the look.

We went out a couple times to a few different events.

The first one we went to without the sword and no one knew who he was. The other times he had the sword and got recognized a few times. It's still a pretty unknown character so most people were clueless. He got second place in a costume contest and I'm sure its because no one knew who he was but he had an awesome sword. The poor announcer would ask each child who they were and then she would repeat it, when she got to my kids, she stared at them blankly and just announced their number instead.

If you like, please comment below and vote for us in the costume contest and if you make one, please share!