making your own superhero costume

How would a 14-year-old boy go about making his own superhero costume, without anyone else knowing about it or being able to connect the costume with him?

Does he have a friend who's in on it?

He gets the stuff from a rubbish dump and hides them in an abandoned building?

Does the boy have any sewing skills at all? How about design skills?

If not, he'd probably have to improvise. The easiest solution, and the cheapest, would probably be to get a plain white (or colored if he prefers) T-shirt, and then drawing some sort of logo on it with marker. He could probably snazz it up by drawing a crazy pattern with other colored markers.

He could probably get a blanket or sheet to use as a cape, although he could probably buy a cape from a clothing or crafts store.

To cover his face, he could get a ski mask or a masquerade mask.

I happen to know that some hobby and craft stores sell premade masks that can be decorated.

I suggest going to a good hobby and crafts store as well as a fabric and clothing store and taking a look around to see what's available. I'm pretty sure a visit to Hobby Lobby will provide him with enough material to get him a shirt, cape, mask, and any materials he may need to customize them and stick them all together. He may end up looking incredibly tacky, but it'll be a start.

When I was 15 ish my 11 year old male cousin asked ne to teach him to sew. He gave a vague reason having to do with Marines and Martha Stewart. I taught him, because why not? Looking back it could have been because he wanted to know how to make a costume. That would have been awesome.

Buy the components from as many different sources as possible and put them together separately (one of the best parts of Batman Begins was Bruce getting the separate bits for his cowl from different companies and purchased through dummy companies (and having to buy in bulk to stave off suspicion).

Use cash.

Improvise using common stuff that anyone would have.

Keep the price down by buying from second-hand stores.

What else other than cash could a 14 year old use?

"Mum, I want to buy this off ebay, could you please use your credit card to get it? Never mind what it's for..."

What else other than cash could a 14 year old use?

Five-Finger Discount.

But yeah, if he's got the eye for being a bit unconventional, it shouldn't be too hard. Between dragging clothes out of the back of the closet, the craft store, thrift shops, garage sales, and the numerous DIY sites on the internet, along with some dedication to the project, it isn't too hard to improvise while making clothing. I've done that part enough times on my own to know that it's true, even if my skills as a seamstress are horrible.

On hiding while making it… well, the night and a flashlight are your friends as long as you have a room to yourself without the risk of someone looking in. If that doesn't work, its fairly easy to shove the costume in a trash bag in the closet, put it in the bottom of a backpack before school, and find a secluded spot ether at school or afterward, like in a one-person bathroom or something.

Making sure it won't get back to him ever? Hmm. Well, I assume that people won't bother to notice a kid going and buying clothing, as long as it looks like something that will fit him. You can cut that stuff up for material fairly easily, and as long as it doesn't look like the original article of clothing, it should be fine. If his mom sews, she probably has a sewing kit, and it should be pretty easy to nick a needle and some thread. There's also things like dying clothes darker, which I think you can actually do with some coffee, hot water, and a little time, but then there's things like koolaid, bleach pens, and actual fabric dyes too. Hell, just look into how people alter their clothes on their own now, and you should get plenty of inspiration on how to obfuscate the materials he's getting.

How goofy would this be:

• a feather-covered red face mask thing (those things that only cover the eyes)

• a blue scarf tied over the lower face

• a puppy-dog-ears headband

• black gloves

• brown shirt and pants

• cape made from a white bedsheet

Is it likely that people will burst out laughing upon seeing this? Also, would someone with skill at drawing be willing to draw this so I can see what it'd look like?

I'll draw it out. Also I giggled a bit at the description, so if that's what you wanted then you got it!

That actually wouldn't be too bad if there was some sort of color coordination going on (and he ditched either the feathers or the Dog Ears), but I guess that's kind of the point.

EDIT: It would look something like this:

edited 24th May '11 1:10:05 PM by SalFishFin