How to Make a King Costume

Tutorial for a simple DIY King costume for kids you can make a home. Makes a great king Halloween costume for a boy, and also works as a DIY knight costume.

I made four Halloween costumes yesterday! It’s amazing what can happen when Dad is around to hang out with the littles and take the kids on school runs! His new job doesn’t start until Friday, and we are all making the most of our days off with him!

Johnny and I had a LOT of discussions about what he wanted his Halloween costume to look like, and we finally settled on this king costume. I’m thrilled to say that he loves it! He wore it all afternoon yesterday, and had it on first thing this morning!

DIY King Costume Tutorial

I am all about simplicity and comfort when it comes to dress-up costumes for kids – and I want my Halloween costumes to double as play costumes all year round. You don’t want scratchy materials distracting them from their pretend play! Fleece is super comfy, and – bonus – nice and warm for Halloween trick or treating. Even in California, it gets a little chilly by October 31st!

This tutorial doesn’t have as many photos as it should, but hopefully it will help if you are curious – it’s really very easy to make!

MATERIALS:

• Fleece
• Felt (for the dragon and crown – go here for the felt crown tutorial)
• Scissors
• Thread
• T-shirt (for sizing)
• Sewing machine (you CAN make this entirely by hand, but it will take a while!)

Use a t-shirt as your sizing template. I cute Johnny’s top large, because I want him to be able to wear it over anything, plus it looks a little more armor-ish that way. Be sure to allow for seam allowances!

Cut your cape to start off as wide as the top at the shoulders, and then widen out slowly. Johnny wanted a LONG cape, so that’s what we went with.

Cut out your dragon or whatever embellishment you want out of felt. I free-handed mine (and was shocked when it turned out this well!) by looking at a few images of dragons from Google image search. The design of this particular top is such that you could put one design on one side and another on the other, making two outfits in one – the cape reverses so that it will cover up the other design. I haven’t done that yet, but might.

Sewing steps:

1. Stitch dragon (or other embellishment) onto front of shirt.
2. Stitch the side seams, right sides together.
3. Hem the arm holes and bottom of the shirt.
4. Stitch the neckline hem
5. With shirt wrong side out, insert cape – so it is between the two shirt layers. Stitch shoulder seams, including top sides of cape.
6. Turn right side out and enjoy!

We have a galaxy-traveling king who has somehow acquired a light saber!

What are your kids dressing up as for Halloween? Are you making costumes?

MaryAnne Kochenderfer

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.