A Willing Worker...: Halloween Costume 2016 - DIY DC Superhero High Harley Quinn

My younger daughter was Batgirl last year. She was in a big DC Comics phase, which then faded in favor of all things Star Wars. However, late this summer she discovered the new SuperHero High series/books/action figures, so DC Comics came back into favor. I'm okay with that because this request for (an age appropriate) Harley Quinn was easier to make happen than her favorite Star Wars Clone Wars character Ahsoka Tano. I'd rather make goofy shorts-over-leggings than togruta head tails any day!

So, here is our 8.5 year old Harley Quinn from SuperHero High!

Because not everyone knows who Harley Quinn is (I didn't) and because there are tons of inappropriate adult version of Harley Quinn out there, here is the look we were going for...

... and here is how we did!

Not bad, huh? Grace is pretty pleased.

This costume was a mix of freshly made items of clothing plus clothing we had in a drawer already. First, we needed a pair of leggings with one black leg and one red leg. I made them from fleece - its late October in Wisconsin and I'm a mom. :)

Then a pair of blue shorts to go over those. (I tried to get her to skip those because I just don't understand the whole current shorts-over-leggings fashion trend but Grace wouldn't budge.) So, blue shorts it is. More fleece.

The shirt was a fun remake. I took a white long sleeved shirt we already had and an old black turtleneck of Keith's that had the collar all worn but the rest of the shirt was usable black jersey knit and did a mash up. I removed the white shirt's collar and added a black mandarin collar. I took off the white long sleeves and added black puffed short sleeves (Grace is determined she's going to wear this in summer and it HAD to match the action figure. For now, she's wearing a long sleeve black shirt underneath.) The diamonds were cut from fleece, fused, and then stitched on to the shirt. A black band around the bottom to mimic the action figure's belt, six black buttons stitched down the middle and viola - a Harley Quinn shirt!

The whole shirt remake only took a few hours over one weekend. It was definitely more of a hack-and-sew mash up than a properly drafted shirt but I'm fine with that. It started a bit large so that it could fit over a long sleeve shirt for warmth and its a costume for pete's sake. Mash ups are fine.

The mask was next. It has two layers stitched together... fleece for smoothness/softness against the skin and felt for sturdiness, with an elastic band around the head.

We tied ribbons around hair ties for the colored hair. I did that wipe-in hair dye last year for WyldStyle... never again. I let Grace make the rules on most of this costume (blue shorts... short sleeves...etc) but I put my foot down on hair dye. That stuff is nasty.