Domo Arigato: finale

(Robot Costume Part 1: The body)
(Robot Costume Part 2: The helmet and limbs)
(Robot Costume Part 3: The Feet)
(Robot Costume Part 4: Girl Version)

Phew! I thought maybe this tutorial/costume would sit in my to do folder FOREVER.  But today's our last Robot Costume post!  We made it!  

Today I'm showing you how to make just a slightly different version of the robot.  I'll call it:

Girl-ified.  It has all the important elements of the first version - the blinking lights for buttons, the glowing sticks for fuel gauges, the light up ball on top.  But there are a few distinct features... not the least of which is the appearance of several pink buttons because pink is my daughter's favorite.

Now, I'd like to make this disclaimer upfront - yes.  Of course the first version can be for a girl OR boy.  Just like the daughter can be Han Solo and the Dad Princess Leia (did you see that article on Facebook?  So cute.)  BUT my daughter can be sort of a girly girl, and requested a specific girl robot with a TUTU of all things... so, you know, I had to accommodate, right?

If you're daughter is anything like mine, you might find this robot tutu helpful.  SO.

Let me start by saying I first tried to construct a tutu out of strips of duct tape folded together and trimmed in half dangling downward - kind of like the tulle strip tutus you see everywhere but with duct tape.  Fail.  BIG BIG FAIL.  People.  I hate duct tape.  I can not use it.  I am duct tape deficient.  I don't know why.  I like it when other people make stuff with it.  But that tape hates me and has a personal vendetta I will never understand. It was a hot mess, let me tell you, getting stuck to everything, folding in on itself in weird places, taping my fingers together so tightly I almost lost circulation and became fingerless... anyway.  I very quickly scrapped it and moved to plan B.  Which I am glad of, because it looks way cuter.

I did NOT want to spend anymore money - especially after ruining the first costumes.  I needed to use something I had on hand...

I realized I had some screening in the garage that I had purchased for a different project loooooong ago.  It's the same stuff in your windows - very flexible, almost like a thick fabric, but still metal looking.  

So for the robot tutu you'll need:

Window Screening (comes in a roll)

Silver duct tape (grumble, grumble)

Silver or gray embroidery floss

Needle

Silver ribbon

A scissors

Start by cutting three pieces of screen.  You can use more if you'd like, but I used three and it worked well.  If there are too many layers it'll be so thick it won't lay right.  

Measure around your girl's waist.  Now add 1/2 that or double it (depending on how "ruffly" you want it).

Cut your first screen piece that width and the entire length you want it to be - I made mine knee length on my 2 year old.

Cut the second piece the same width and about 2-3 inches shorter.

Cut the third piece the same width and about 2-3 inches short than the second.

Now, lay them all together, flat, and line up top edge.

(again, sorry for these old crappy photos.)

1. Using your needle and your embroidery floss, hand sew a basting stitch across the top edge of the tutu.  Be sure to go through every layer of screen.  Make your stitches nice and long and you can leave about 2 inches between them.

2. When you've gone across the whole width, leave a long tail on both sides and pull your needle free.  Hold tightly to one end of the embroidery floss and pull the other end, gathering the screen.

3. Gather the screen to the waist measurement and tie some quadruple knots in both ends of the floss so it doesn't come ungathered.

4. Lay a long strip of duct tape flat with the sticky side up.  It needs to be the same width as the tutu plus about 4 inches.

5. Lay your tutu with the gathered top edge on the duct tape strip.  Make sure it is centered with about 2 inches of duct tape extending on either side.

6. Cut two pieces of silver ribbon no shorter than 12 inches each.  It needs to be long enough to tie in a bow with a double knot, so keep that in mind when cutting them.  Lay one ribbon piece on the duct tape ends that extend past the tutu.

7. Cut another strip of duct tape the same length as the first strip and lay it sticky side down over the screen tutu, sandwiching the gathered edge of the tutu between.

8. Make sure to press the two strips of tape tightly together at the ends, sandwiching the ribbon between.

And that's it!  Now all you have to do is wrap it around the girly robot and tie in a bow!

Here are some awful photos that give you an idea:

I loved it.  mini thought it was awesome.  We liked it so much I made two mini ruffles for her wrists using the same method.  You can see them in this photo:

Here are the rest of the details:

1. I bought a bit of silver spandex fabric online to make her some tights.  They were cute, but not super stretchy and she was FREEZING and ended up having to wear leggings OVER them, so you can't even tell they are there.  Shame.  I think the idea is still cute.  You can use the baby tights tutorial from Made By Rae.  

2. I got this... I don't know... alien headband maybe?  Somewhere... I think the party store? It was a buck.  I loved the shiny silver balls on top.  But the headband was green - weird.  So I covered it with the shiny silver duct tape.  Then I used the same method to attach a ping pong ball over a battery operated tea light as I did for bug's helmet so that the ping pong ball would glow.  I used velcro once again so I could turn it on and off.

3. I wanted the girl robot to have hair instead of a helmet head, so when I saw the silver tinsel wig at the party store for 1.50 I snatched it!  It was adult size so I simply took some elastic and sewed it around the back half of the cap while stretching it so it cinched up the cap that fits over the head.  It worked fairly well, though mini was NOT excited about the itchy wig.

Also, she had shiny silver dress shoes already, so she just wore those.

And that's that!

The robots were a hit everywhere they went.  I was excited that I was able to pull it off.

As a side note, we try to dress up as a family for our church party, usually.  So mr. and I wracked our brains to come up with a scientist duo that would have created robots.  And this is what we came up with:

Can you tell who we are?  People usually couldn't until Justin started saying, "me me me me me me me." In a really high voice...

Our inspiration photo:

via

So maybe I couldn't pull out two awesome muppet costumes in 2 hours, but at least he's got the green shirt, brown tie, and orange hair and I've got the red tie, glasses, and skull cap for the bald head.  And the lab coats - which are admittedly the wrong colors but were the closest we could come on no budget or time.  I think we did alright.

Besides.  The robots are the important part, amiright?

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Domo Arigato, Part 3

(Robot Costume Part 1: the robot body)
(Robot Costume Part 2: the helmet & limbs)
(Robot Costume Part 3: the Feet)
(Robot Costume Part 4: Girl Version)

I fully intended but neglected to give a how-to for the robot shoes mentioned in the first tutorial for the robot costume.  Remember this?

"Middle picture: These pieces are for "robot shoes".  Two rectangles with a small curve for the ankle, 4 skinny rectangles for the sides of the shoes, 4 small rectangles for the fronts and backs."

You can see the shoes here:

and here:

Here are the measurements I provided in part 1:  (Ignore the top and bottom pictures as we've already covered that)

FOR 4-6 USE A SHOE to measure, NOT A FOOT.  These are made to wear OVER SHOES.
Piece 4. G - from left side of shoe to right side - straight, not curved. Add a half inch.
              H - from heel to toe. Add a half inch.  For the curve - center it and cut enough for
                    ankle to comfortably fit through.
Piece 5. I - from top of shoe to bottom of sole.  Add 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch.
              J - from heel to toe. Add a half inch.
Piece 6. K - from top of heel to bottom of sole.  Add 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch.  (should be the 
                    same as I)
              L - from left side of shoe to right side - as with G above - then Add AN INCH.

Remember to use a shoe for your measurements as these will be slipcovers for your kid's normal tennis shoes.

I don't have a photo tutorial for this, but it works basically like this graphic I created:

1. Take your back piece (piece 6 above) and cut it in half the short way.
2. Sew the piece you just cut and the other piece 6 (the front) to the top piece, or piece 4 above.  Sew the cut piece 6 to the edge with the curve cut out of it (one half on either side of the curve) and the whole piece 6 to the opposite side.  Make sure you sew them with right sides together, and when you open it flat, it will look like the picture to the right of the arrow.
3. Now take your two piece 5's and sew them to the long sides of piece 4, right sides together.  When you open it flat, it will look as it does to the right of the arrow.
4. NOW.  Line up the corners to sew them.  Line up the yellow edge of piece 5 to the yellow edge of piece 6 and sew, the red edge of 5 to the red edge of 6 and sew, the purple edge of 5 to the purple edge of 6 and the orange edge of 5 to the orange edge of 6.  Make sure that you line the edges RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.  Trim the corners and flip it the right way.  You will have a flat box shape with no bottom.
5. Hot glue velcro to the back - put the rough side on the right side of the fabric on one half and the fuzzy side on the wrong side of the fabric on the other half.  This way, you can easily open and close them around the tennis shoe.  

And that's that!

After you sew them you'll want to spray paint them the same silver as the rest of the costume.  And remember my word of warning about spray paint!  NOT ENAMEL!

I've got one more robot-related post and then we're done!

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.

(Robot Costume Part 1: the robot body)
(Robot Costume Part 2: the helmet & limbs)
(Robot Costume Part 3: the Feet)
(Robot Costume Part 4: Girl Version)


Today's the day.  The day I finally share THE Halloween costume tutorial.  It's been forever since I left you that teaser (like 2 years???) and for some reason, the tutorials just never got written.  But I'm ready.

You may remember from past posts that I actually kind of love making costumes.  

And I especially like it when our family matches.  Like the Batman themed costumes when the kids were little. 

And the Mario themed costumes from about 3 years ago.  Though the best was probably before bug even turned 2 and I was pregnant with mini.  That kid looked awesome.  

So when bug requested a robot costume I was actually pretty stoked.  I was positive that if I started early enough, frequented the thrift store, brainstormed and took my time I could come up with something crazy awesome.  I even sketched out some designs, patterns and specific ideas.  Now, something I want to warn you about is that these pictures are not stellar.  This was before the awesome camera and it is impossible to take good pictures AS I am sewing since I sew in a dungeon.  (No, literally.  There's chains and shackles and everything...)

I'll be sharing this costume in bits and pieces - we'll tackle the main body, helmet, accessories and then the girl version I made for mini.

Here we go!

First off, for the main body, you'll need:
1 mattress pad (I used a queen and got two robot costumes out of it)
fabric for lining
batting (like for a quilt)
1 long zipper (coat zipper is best)
1 small square of tulle or mesh
12 metal grommets 
1 mini Christmas tree light necklace, tiny battery operated with a small on/off switch
3 small (thick) glow sticks
6 large buttons
3 extra large buttons
felt scraps in multiple colors
embroidery floss
needle and thread

First off, let's talk about the separate pieces you'll need to cut:

Top picture: two large rectangles for the body, two skinny rectangles with a curve cut out of one end for the sides, two small rectangles for shoulder straps.
Middle picture: These pieces are for "robot shoes".  Two rectangles with a small curve for the ankle, 4 skinny rectangles for the sides of the shoes, 4 small rectangles for the fronts and backs.
Bottom picture: Felt "gauges" to embellish the body.  I actually looked up pictures of vintage robots to get an idea about how the gauges used to look.  (I know, I'm ridiculous.) 
For the circle gauge: I placed the white circle on top of the aqua circle and used gray embroidery floss to sew the marks around kind of like a clock face.  That was the only thing holding the two together, but it worked out great.  I placed the tiny green felt circle in the middle, used red embroidery floss to sew it on with an "x" and then sewed a small arrow with a line on the back.  
For the rectangle gauge: I used black embroidery floss to sew the tiny red felt strip to the white felt trapezoidal piece at the edges, using small stitches that chained together, and continued that stitch to the edges of the white piece - making a black box to indicate the number window of the gauge.  I used the same floss to make the small and longer markings all through the window area, and a long arrow coming from the bottom of the white piece to the marks.  I sewed the white trapezoid piece to the yellow rectangle with white embroidery floss, then the aqua circle to the bottom with aqua floss.  In both cases I just hand stitched around the edge.

I'm not sharing a pattern or anything, because you have different sized kids than I do, so I'll share how I measured my kids and you'll be able to customize your robot pieces!

Piece 1. A - from shoulder to shoulder
              B - From shoulder to however long you want it to be... I chose upper thigh.
              Cut two pieces.
Piece 2. C - from the front of the shoulder, around the arm to the back of the shoulder.  
              D - from armpit to however long you want it to be... for me, upper thigh.  (same 
                    length as B above)
              Cut two pieces.
Piece 3. E - from next to the neck to the shoulder
              F - from the end of the collarbone over the top of the shoulder to the back of the
                   shoulder at the top of the shoulder blade.
FOR 4-6 USE A SHOE to measure, NOT A FOOT.  These are made to wear OVER SHOES.
Piece 4. G - from left side of shoe to right side - straight, not curved. Add a half inch.
              H - from heel to toe. Add a half inch.  For the curve - center it and cut enough for
                    ankle to comfortably fit through.
Piece 5. I - from top of shoe to bottom of sole.  Add 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch.
              J - from heel to toe. Add a half inch.
Piece 6. K - from top of heel to bottom of sole.  Add 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch.  (should be the 
                    same as I)
              L - from left side of shoe to right side - as with G above - then Add AN INCH.
Piece 7. M - the aqua circle is about 3.5 - 4 inches in diameter.
              N - White circle is about 3 - 3.5 inches in diameter.
Piece 8. P - Height of rectangle is about 3 - 4 inches.
              O - Length of rectangle is about 5-6 inches.

Phew!  Now that that's done...

Cut a mattress pad piece, a batting piece AND a lining piece for every single part of the robot body and shoe.
I used a thick mattress pad for two reasons.  1, I liked the quilting detail.  I thought it would look like imprinted metal.  2. I needed something thick and able to keep its shape well.  This way the robot would be soft and pliable for kids' movement, but also boxy and stiff looking.  This is also why I added batting to every piece.  3. It was free.  I got it from someone who didn't need it anymore... and free is the best price for fabric!

FRONT.

1. Cut a small square of tulle (or mesh).  This is a pocket for the glow sticks (or fluid/fuel indicators, if you will) so make it tall enough for the glow sticks and wide enough to fit three across.
2. Pin the felt pieces to the front body mattress pad piece.  I lined them up vertically, but you can do it however you want.
3. Pin the tulle rectangle to the same piece of mattress pad.  I pinned it across from the circle gauge horizontally, but it's your choice.  Each glow stick will have it's own little compartment, so place pins to mark where you will sew down the tulle for pockets.
4. Sew around the outer edge of the two felt gauges.
5. Sew from the top left corner, down, across the bottom, up to the right corner.  Then sew straight down in two spots to make the three see-through pockets.

Now your font piece is ready, and we can start construction!

1. Cut out your lining pieces and batting pieces.
2. Place your front mattress pad piece and front lining piece right sides together and sew up one side,
3. Across the TOP, and down the other side.
4. Leave the bottom open.  Turn right side out.  Insert your batting.
5. Sew across the bottom.  (I was careful to use selvaged edges so I didn't need to hem this.

NOW - I didn't take pictures of this entire process, but you need to do that with every single piece.  Just put right sides together, sew, turn right side out.  Insert the batting.  Sew the opening closed.  For EVERY PIECE.

Some notes:

 1.  Cut the back piece in half FIRST, before lining and stuffing it.  Just cut up the back - halving it vertically.  Line and stuff and sew up the two halves.  Then sew on the exposed zipper.  Just pin the zipped up zipper to one half, sew it on, then pin along the other half and sew.
2.  Topstitch anything that won't be sewn directly to another piece for added stability and a more finished look.  So, top stitch the long sides of the shoulders, 
3 and 4. and topstitch the curves of the side pieces, but leave the side edges.

 Here's a closer look at the zipper functionality.  If you are sure to cut the back in half and line, stuff and sew up the halves separately BEFORE adding the zipper, there will be finished edges inside and the zipper won't get caught on any unfinished batting and threads hanging out (see pic. 3)  I love the look of the exposed zipper - more industrial, I guess.  If you have a coat zipper, that is awesome because the whole back will open then.  I didn't have one, so I just added a normal zipper that stops at the bottom.  It opens all the way down to the bottom, which is more than enough space for bug's shoulders and arms to get through.

Once you've sewed your details to the front piece and your zipper to the two halves of the back piece, then lined, stuffed and sewed every single piece, you can put everything together!

1. Pin the shoulder piece to the top corner of the front piece.  Place the short end against the top edge of the front piece and the long edge along the side edge of the front piece with right sides together.  Sew straight across the TOP.
2. Do this with the other shoulder piece on the other top corner of the front.
3. Pin the side piece to the front piece.  Place the long edge of the side piece against the long edge of the front piece with right sides together and sew it down.  Then repeat with the other side piece on the other edge of the front piece.
You should have a front piece with two rectangles flopping off of the top and two long rectangles flopping off the sides.
4. Now connect the side pieces to the back piece.  Just line up the long edges and make sure to sew right sides together.  Do this with both sides.
5. Sew the shoulder straps to the back piece at the corners.
6. The back will look like this when unzipped.

A few detail shots:

1. Once everything is sewn together, the whole body should be able to practically support itself since you used thick mattress pad PLUS batting AND lining for every single piece individually.
2. I sewed a "vent" to the bottom of the front mattress pad piece.  I thought it added detail and it also made the front stiffer and boxier.  I just sewed parallel lines about 3-4 inches long and about 1/2 inch apart.
3. I sewed the points of the side pieces - the pointy parts of the curve for the arms - to the body at the front and back at an angle after sewing up the sides.  This reinforced the connection there which added some stability, but it's not entirely necessary.

Now, let's give it some color!

 Yes, I realize that if I had painted it first and THEN sewed the stuff on the front, I wouldn't have had to tape them off, but I wasn't thrilled about shoving painted fabric through my machine at the time, though now I realize it probably would have been ok.  Ah well.
So, tape off anything you don't want silver - the two felt pieces and the zipper in my case.
Then spray away!  
The bottom picture is after one coat - I did three total.

One last important note.  And I mean super duper duper important.  Use normal, indoor/outdoor spray paint.  Like Krylon.  READ THE LABEL.
Do NOT - NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT - use ENAMEL spray paint.  Right now you're thinking DUH.  Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, a mom made a robot costume.  She put a lot of thought, time and effort into it, and because she was only a moderately good sewer, she was very excited for how it came out, despite the amount of time and deep thought that went into every decision and every stitch.  Finally, the day came to make the costume silver.  She had silver spray paint in the garage, ready and waiting, and it was a beautiful, shiny, sparkly silver she had meticulously picked out - not realizing there was a difference between types of spray paint (you see, she may have been a moderate sewer, but was a spray paint novice.)  She sprayed and sprayed that robot costume until it shone and she was very happy.  An hour later, she went to check the costume, which she had finished a week ahead of schedule!  Curiously, it was still wet with paint.  Perplexed, the mom figured spray paint would simply take longer to dry on fabric and left it overnight.  In the morning, she check it again, and it was STILL wet!  Confused, the mom read the spray paint can and in horror realized she had bought ENAMEL spray paint, instead of the normal stuff.  Being completely unsure if the enamel paint would EVER dry on fabric, she nearly collapsed in despair upon realizing that she had ruined her lovingly created costume.  A day later, when it still was not dry, she set to work making a new one - which involved buying a new mattress pad, re-creating the felt gauges and other hand-sewn details, lining, stuffing, sewing, zippering, sewing, detailing, and FINALLY painting the costume once again - this time with NORMAL EVERYDAY SPRAY PAINT in normal silver.

Can I tell you the worst part of that story?  Yes, it's true.  But that's not the worst part.  The worst part is that I decided to sew up both bug's and mini's costumes and THEN spray them all at once.  Which means I ruined not one, but TWO costumes and had to re-create not one, but TWO costumes.  In a week.  AHHHHH!!!

Now, you will understand why the costume looks a little different from here on out... I changed the positions of the details and gauges on the front and was a little more careful with sewing the details - plus I had to use a different lining fabric, since I was all out of that awesome polyester I inherited from my grandma.

On the upside, I think I'm forever an expert on making robot costumes.

Ah, yes, to finish the body, all you have to do is:

Use a scissors, hammer and the grommet tool that comes in the grommet package to place 12 grommets in a grid on the front of the robot suit.  Cut a little hole through ALL LAYERS (easier said than done...), stick the grommet pieces through, use the tool and smack with a hammer.  DONE.
Use the little Christmas Tree Lights necklace to light up the grommet holes.  Place the necklace inside the suit, then make sure to stick lights out of the grommet holes.  There will be more lights than holes, that's ok.  Just makes sure all the holes are filled.  Then hand-sew the necklace into place with embroidery floss.  Secure it to the suit in many places - I sewed the necklace to the suit at each grommet to make sure the lights would stay in the holes - and I only sewed into the back layer - the lining fabric - not all the way through.

A note: I realize the Christmas Tree Lights Necklace may not be so easy to find.  I happened upon mine at Menard's - a local hardware store.  If you can't find one, THIS is the EXACT necklace I used and it's only $5.99 on Amazon.  Also, I was planning on using normal white battery operated Christmas tree lights.  I would have sewn a little pocket to the inside of the suit to accommodate the bulky battery pack.  So that's an option too.

Tomorrow: The helmet!

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

About time.

Ok, ok.  As promised, I'm done with the DIY gift posts now.  It dragged on and on, but I hope you stuck with it and got some AWESOME ideas for the now approaching all too quickly holiday season.  (yikes)

If you need a quick reference back to all things Gift it. 2014, here's your wrap up!

1. 5 Favorite Handmade Gifts for Kids - Red Ted Art

2. Stud Earring Holder - Young and Crafty Sisters

3. 5 Grandparent Gift Ideas - Hi! It's Jilly!

4. Fat Quarter Doll Quilt Tutorial - Simple Simon and Company

5. Birthday Sack Lunch - A Girl and a Glue Gun

6. 8 Gifts for Gadget Lovers - Melly Sews

1. Personalized Recipe Book

2. Gift Wrap Cut-Outs

3. Friendship Bracelet Kit

4. Top Secret Spy Kit

5. Easy Peasy Art and Photo Display

6. Pretend Play Dr. Kit

7. Light Up Reclaimed Wood Wall Art

8. Mini Photo Block Necklace

9. Underwater Superheroes (Superhero Inspired Rashguards)

1. Giant Stuffed Drinking Jar

2. Encourage-mints

3. Lemonade Basket Teacher Gift

4. Best Pop Gift

1. 30 Gifts Parents Will Love - 

10 Must-Make Gifts For Mother's Day, 

10 Fabulous Gifts For Father's Day, 

5 Fantastic Gifts for Grandma, 

5 Super Fun Gifts For Grandpa

2. 100 "Newbie" Gifts - 

25 A+ Gifts for Teacher, 

25 Highschool Graduation Gifts, 

25 Friendly New Neighbor Gifts, 

25 Lovely Housewarming Gifts

3. 50 Great Giftwrap Ideas (+ 6 Awesome Sources)

4. 20 Cute and Clever Gifts for Cat-Lovers!

5. 30 Lover-ly Gifts - 

10 Valentine's Gifts (for anyone and everyone), 

10 Wedding Gifts (they'll love to use), 

10 Anniversary Gifts (for those you love)

6. 113 Awesome, DIY Baby Gifts!

There you have it!  Gift it. 2014!  That's exactly 362 gift ideas for you to make for every kind of occasion you could imagine! Also, don't forget that most of these come with free printable gift tags, etc., just click on the post and scroll to the end. Now get cracking!  We've got gifts to make!

If you don't know what this series was all about, read the explanation here.

Also, you can see even more ideas:

Gift it. 2013

Gift it. 2012

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

A "SUPER" kind of gift.

Well, I don't want to draw this gift it series into ANOTHER month - since it was supposed to be finished in August, you know.  BUT, I did want to share just one more "super" cool gift I worked on in collaboration with a friend of mine.

UNDERWATER SUPERHEROES

So, last year my friend Kim contacted me by email and asked if I'd be willing to help with a project.  Her partner was turning 30 and she wanted to throw him the biggest, awesomest birthday party around.  After considering her options, it was clear she needed to combine his two greatest loves: free diving and Batman.

(I should probably mention that at the time they lived in the Cayman Islands (is that cool or what?) so diving was not an uncommon hobby.)  

Her plan was to invite his buddies for a birthday free dive in the coolest setting ever - but not just ANY birthday free dive.  NO.  A SUPERHERO free dive!  She wanted to present each participant with a rashguard made to look like their favorite superhero, then capture the whole dive with some underwater photos.

She asked me to design and create the rashguards.  Naturally, I said yes - because it seemed like the coolest idea ever and also, I'd never created superhero rashguards (has anyone?  I mean, that's not like a common request, is it??) so it was an intriguing challenge.

And thus began my superhero rashguard extravaganza.  Kim polled the guys for their favorite heroes, then purchased rashguards in appropriate colors and had them shipped to me.  This was a whole lot better than me trying to find rashguards since I know nothing about them or about diving in general.
My job was to figure out the best way to get the superhero logos on the rashguards.  I considered I few different options - hand-sewing something like felt that wouldn't fray, iron-on transfer, and freezer paper stencil were contenders.  In the end, I decided to make appliqués out of nylon knit and spandex since that's what the rashguards were made out of.  I was afraid that the other options would not handle stretching well and could quite possibly fall apart under water.  Plus I wanted them to look really professional, and while freezer paper stencil would have looked nice under normal conditions, I thought the logos would warp when the rashguards were stretched out while wearing.  
Oh, yeah, I also needed to make some capes, and I knew the knit nylon would be best for underwater capes.  I didn't have to make any of the masks, since they'd be wearing diving masks.

I bought red, white, yellow and black nylon knit with spandex in it - found in the dance/swimwear section at JoAnnes.  I also purchased heavy duty heat n' bond.
My general steps were as follows:
I found the appropriate superhero logo online and resized it how I needed to.  I printed it off on cardstock for a pattern.  
I cut the logos out, then laid them on the knit fabric I'd bought and drew around with a marker.
I cut squares around the logo, then ironed the square of fabric to a square of heat n' bond.
I cut the logo and heat n' bond layers out simultaneously since they were already ironed together.  It made cutting the knit fabric so much easier since the heat n' bond was sturdy and kept the fabric from stretching while I cut.
Once they were all cut, I used my iron on a medium setting with no steam to iron the different pieces onto the rashguards.  For some I had to stack the different pieces onto each other.
I used a stretch stitch with a walking foot to machine sew each piece down onto the rashguards.  (I didn't bother with zigzag stitching the appliqués because they're knit, so they won't fray.)  Fortunately there were no unfortunate "sewing the front to the back" moments - which I often do when adding something to a pre-made garment.  Phew!
I created the capes with the knit fabric and sewed a gathering stitch across the top to make them bunchy.  I added velcro pieces to the sides and the middle, then also to the rashguard at the back of the shoulders and right under the neck - wrong side of the cape, right side of the rashguard.  This way, the divers could easily detach the capes if they needed to.
I did this with much less bulky capes in red for Superman and black for Batman.  I just cut the capes narrower and more triangular.  

Some costumes were easier than others... here's what I did for each superhero:

Batman: 
cut - a yellow oval, a black oval with the bat symbol cut out of the middle
iron - First I ironed the yellow oval over the rashguard brand in the center of the chest.  Then I ironed the black oval/bat shape over the yellow one.
sew - all around the outside edge of the black oval and all around the inside edge of the bat shape (which also sewed down the yellow oval since they were stacked.)
create cape - cut a long trapezoidal shape that was 1 and 1/2 the width of the rashguard from should to shoulder and approximately down to my mid-calf.  Cut the bat wing points at the bottom of the cape.  Gathered the top edge.  Folded above the gather and sewed it down.  Attached 4 squares of black velcro to the underside of the cape and the outside of the rashguard (at the shoulders and neck areas).

Superman: 
cut - a yellow diamond-y shape, a red diamond-y shape with the block letter "s" cut into the middle
iron - I first ironed the yellow piece down, then the red piece with the "s" on top of it.
sew - I sewed all around the outer edge of the red piece, then on all the inside red edges as well.  There were some small areas that needed to be sewn, I just made sure that any red edge was zig-zagged down.
create cape - cut a long trapezoidal shape that was slightly shorter than the Batman cape and just as wide.  Gathered the top edge, then folded above that and sewed the raw edge down.  Added 4 velcro squares to the cape and rashguard - the same as the Batman cape.

Thor: 
cut - Two large white circles, 4 medium white circles, one long skinny yellow rectangle that was the width of the rashguard about 4 inches from the hem.  Three small rounded rectangles (each slightly smaller than the last) plus a circle and a "T" all out of yellow.  This is the Thor symbol for the belt.
iron - the two large circles across from each other at the top of the chest, then two medium circles about an inch lower, then the "belt" (or skinny rectangle) across the shirt at belly button height (or so) and then the last two medium circles below that.  Iron the 3 rounded rectangles touching each other, biggest to smallest vertically in the middle of the belt.  Then the circle on top, centered, and the T on top of that, centered.
sew - around each circle and the outside of the rectangle.  Sew around every edge of the smaller belt pieces as well.

create cape - Thor's cape is huge and billowy in pictures, so I made his longer than the other two, more rectangular than trapezoid, and about 2 and 1/2 times the width of the rashguard.  Gather it at the top, then sew down the raw edge to the inside of the cape.  Then I attached the velcro differently, to create the puffiness of Thor's cape at the top.  I sewed the velcro to the OUTSIDE of the cape (the right side that you can see when worn) in 4 spots.  Then, the cape is is kind of rolled under at the top to attach to the velcro pieces on the rashguard.

Green Lantern: 
cut - A white circle with the green lantern shape cut into the middle, a smaller white circle to fit in the very center.
iron - the large circle first, right in the middle of the shirt.  Then iron the small circle in the center.
sew - around ALL white edges.  The big circle, the middle circle, the inside weird shape, ALL.  

Spiderman: 
cut - A large black spider shape
iron - a large black spider shape
sew - all around the outside edge of the spider (and the billion skinny legs...)

Wolverine: 
cut - 8 long skinny black diamonds, 2 of which were slightly bigger and 2 of which were slightly smaller
iron - Fit the smaller diamonds with the middles right at the shoulders and the points going down the front and back.  Iron the medium diamonds across from each other just under the armpits with the middle at the side seam, the largest diamonds across from each other about 3 inches lower with the middle at the side seam, and the other medium diamonds about 3 inches under THAT with the middle at the side seam.
sew - around each diamond.

Lion-O from Thundercats (and you better know what that is because it's pretty much the single greatest cartoon of my childhood.  Seriously.):
cut - one white circle, one red circle slightly smaller, one black thundercat roaring cat symbol thingy.
iron - the white circle in the middle of the upper chest, then the red on top of that - centered, than the black cat symbol coming from the right side of the circle.
sew - AROUND EVERY EDGE.  around the white circle, the red circle, the black cat - everything.
note:
(I didn't want to cut the belly off of rashguard to resemble the real lion-o costume, and I was back and forth about making the logo appear down on a "belt" around the waist of the shirt or just putting it up on the chest like the others.  In the end I put it on the chest because I wanted it to look more unified with the other rashguards.)

 Aquaman:
fortunately does not wear a shirt or have a logo, so I was spared!


Like I said, this was kind of a long process, but I actually had fun figuring it all out and making it work.  

Kim hired a professional photographer for the occasion and had these awesome underwater photos taken.  ALL of the water photos and ones with the actual heroes were taken by Heather Holt. There are lots more photos of the superhero dive here. You can find Heather Holt Photography here.  She does all kinds of photography, not just underwater:  family photos, weddings, kids, etc. and her stuff is gorgeous so check her out!
(These are copyrighted photos, so please don't steal them, mmmkay?)  

I really love how the capes look underwater and I think it's particularly cool that it looks like the flying superheroes ARE flying as they glide through the water.

The name of the shipwreck they were on is the USS Kittiwake.  

It's just off Grand Cayman's Seven Mile beach and is only a 5 minute boat ride from shore, which makes it popular with divers.  Plus look how clear that water is!  

Here is the birthday boy, AKA Batman, in his underwater, saving the universe glory.  

They had some fairly epic battles.  Unfortunately, I don't know who won.  Perhaps it was a stalemate - they are ALL superheroes, after all.  It would be a pretty even match.

Kim told me the guys had a great time and all saved their rashguards to wear on later dives as well.  I'd call it a successful gift!

It would be pretty easy to alter this idea to fit t-shirts for Halloween costumes!  Otherwise, think ahead to summer and make your kids some hero rashguards to wear to the beach!  My son would love the Batman one.  I may have to get on that.

OR, even better... go to the Cayman islands RIGHT NOW.  It's been cold enough here lately that I am DREADING winter.  So a trip to tropical isles sounds pretty perfect!

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*