Lady Captain America

I know this is going all the way back to October, but I decided to share it now.  I'm a big geek for comics and Marvel, so for halloween, I REALLY wanted to be Captain America... In lady form.

Here's my costume:

It took time, but I think it was worth it.

I started out with a plain blue t-shirt.  I cut out a sparkly felt star with a silhouette I found on Google Images.  I laid the shirt flat and pinned the star right in the top middle of the shirt, and sewed it with white thread.

I took some blue shimmery-silky fabric and red felt to make the sleeves.  I measured my arm length, (I wanted to make it quarter sleeved so I took off a few inches) and the width from my upper to my lower arm.  I sewed the sleeves together, making sure the shiny side wasn't facing outward, so when I turned it right side out, it would be shimmery.  I then took two strips of red felt, one for each sleeve, and sewed it on the top of the blue sleeves.  I turned the t-shirt inside-out as well as the sleeves, and began sewing the quarter sleeves to the short sleeves of the shirt.  Right-side-out, voila!  Your top is done.

For the corset, I measured my waste, and added two inches to the top and bottom ends for the fabric.  I used the sparkly white felt to make the base part.  In the middle of the corset, I made peaks on the top and bottom of it, as shown in the picture.  I used two pieces of felt to give the corset girth.  I turned them dull-side-out and sewed the edges except for a six-inch portion to pull it right-side-out again.  I then measured parts of the corset of where I wanted the stripes to go.  I cut those, pinned them where I wanted, and sewed them with red thread.  On the ends, I put velcro, for an easy adjustment if the corset was too big or too small.

For the skirt, I took the blue shimmery-silky fabric and cut it into a fairly large square.  This determines how long you want your skirt.  Add a couple inches to create a seam along your waist-line.  I measured my hips,  and cut a circle of the measurement of my hips right in the middle of the square.  I folded the circle inward, and sewed it to make a nice seam.

For the shield, I cut out a circle of cardboard.  I used some left-over red felt and covered the whole thing.  Next, I took some left-over white felt and made a smaller circle.  Alternating colors until I got to the blue.  For this, I used blue poster board.  Then for the star, I used card board and painted it.  To hold it, I made little duct tape straps.  One bigger than the other for the hand and forearm.

To finish it off, I wore white converse and bright red tights!  Patriotic in deed! Now its time to sock old Hitler right in the jaw!  With a sack of halloween candy!

I used about 1 1/2 yards of blue shimmery fabric, a yard of sparkly white felt, and a 1/2 yard of red.