That Bat menace.

Batman thinks he’s all that.  

According to mr, he pretty much is.  And I come now, to the real reason for our Halloween costumes this year: mr.  mr’s loved Batman for as long as he can remember.  As a kid, he used to watch reruns of the 60’s classic, and he has a near obsession with the recent Christopher Nolan interpretations.  There is no cooler superhero than Batman, in his mind.

mr’s costume was a breeze to make.  Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that his was easier than mine.  Because, really, I hardly made anything.

My inspiration was this

and this

(I know, right?  hahahah!)


When we first agreed that we should base our costumes on the old TV show, mr made it clear that he did not favor a literal interpretation.  In other words, he refused to wear tights.  Or that black speedo thing.  Despite the fact that “every superhero’s doing it,” he would not be swayed.  mr has never been one to give in to peer pressure.  I conceded - mostly because I was just glad he was dressing up with us at all - but when he countered that I shouldn’t worry about him because he could just wear his Batman t-shirt, I gave him a look that couldn’t possibly be misinterpreted.  Meaning I looked at him as if he had creepy iridescent bats erupting from his ears.  I also rejected the notion of Batman in bulky, baggy MAN sweatpants.  But I was unsure where that left me.  

I was folding laundry when I came across my gray sweatpants - my SLIM, slightly flared, fitted, cute GIRL sweatpants.  After getting over the initial reluctance, mr agreed to try them on and I accepted them as a suitable alternative.  He coalesced, as long as he could where my black running shorts as they offered more coverage than a speedo.  And because marriage is all about compromises, we shook on it.  mr also had a pair of black work boots that I was loath to utilize, but with no alternative from the thrift stores I had to admit defeat.  Thus, his bottom half was taken care of with little more effort than some persuasion.

mr also used some black winter gloves he already had.  I wanted to make them much more like the original, but ran out of time.

I bought a gray long sleeved t-shirt at Walmart, which I know isn’t a thrift store, but I got it for thrift store prices, so it’s ALMOST as good.  Using this image, I drew a template (which took a while to get right) and cut the Bat symbol out of felt, then used heat n’ bond to adhere it to the shirt.  I only wish I had made it slightly bigger.  Here’s the template just in case you need to batmanify anything.

For Batman’s belt, I used wide elastic and dyed it yellow with powdered Rit dye (and on a side note, I will only ever use the liquid from now on).  I folded and sewed the ends of the elastic back, then hand sewed large snaps on for a closure.  I cut two rectangles out of felt and folded them up, leaving about two inches or so for the top flap.  Then I pinned them to the elastic in the right spot and sewed down the sides - which sewed the sides of the utility pockets together AND attached them to the elastic at the same time.  Then I cut some button holes (didn’t bother to make real ones since felt doesn’t fray) and hand sewed some little yellow buttons on.  So he could keep his Bat tools in there, if he wanted to.  I found a metal belt buckle at the thrift store and spray painted it gold.  You’ll notice in this picture, though, that Batman has the Bat symbol etched into his buckle.  Which I obviously couldn’t do.  I also needed to cover up the brand name that was there.  So, I cut the Bat symbol out of tan felt to match the gold buckle, but not QUITE.  I mod podged both the felt and the buckle, laid the felt in the right spot and covered it with mod podge.  Then I cooked it in the oven for about an hour and a half so it would really bond together.  Worked like a charm.

Now, the real confession here.  I totally cheated on his cape.  I was completely sold on making it myself - the hood too - but I happened upon an adult sized bat cape at the thrift store for CHEAP quite on accident, and really, who could pass that up?  So I snatched it.  It needed some adjusting.  The shoulder was torn, the front of the cape came down too far and was damaged from where a bat symbol had been but was now torn off, and the back was open from the back of the head down just past the shoulders and closed with a small tie, to accommodate all different sizes.  I took it home, washed it up, mended the tears, measured and cut the front to the right spot and shape, hemmed that, and sewed up the back, because mr was easily able to slip it over his head, no problem.

And, voila!  Part one of the dynamic duo complete.

PS - a little known fact.  After all the fighting, Batman and Catwoman actually reconciled their differences.  Yep, they totally made up.  What?  Oh, come on - you totally know something was going on between them the whole time.

BATMAN THEMED COSTUMES ON A BUDGET!

See the (baby girl style) PENGUIN how to here.

See the CATWOMAN how to here.

See the ROBIN how to here.