Glow-In-The-Dark Ninja Costume

Amelia got two Halloween costumes this year. She trick-or-treated as Robin but she wanted to dress up as a Ninja when she went to parties and her school's annual Halloween carnival. She was very specific as to what she wanted. She wanted a full jumpsuit, rather than a dress, and she wanted to glow in the dark.

For a pattern, I used McCall's 4951. I made the basic jumpsuit, the mask from view C, and the tabard from view D.

 

This was a tricky pattern. First of all, it's a boy's pattern, and boy's sizes run different from girl's sizes. I made a size 10, which corresponded to Amelia's measurements, and is the size she usually takes, but it was WAY too big. I could have worn it! I ended up having to alter it quite a bit.

 

The pattern also doesn't specify that you have to use quite a bit of ease when you're making the hood and attaching the sleeves. I used my seam ripper more than once.

 

But, when I finally put it together, it looked good.  Amelia thought she looked like a "real ninja," even though she quickly abandoned the mask and boots.

To make the costume glow in the dark, I used glow-in-the-dark thread to embroider the details. I absolutely love glow-in-the-dark thread. When you expose it to light, the effect is so good that it almost glows in the light. The only downside is that it's expensive at up to $5 for a very small spool. I usually wait until there's a thread sale at JoAnn's before I stock up.

 

Since glow-in-the-dark thread is a little bit weaker than standard embroidery thread, it wouldn't stitch through the vinyl, so I used glow-in-the-dark tape to trim the boots. They glowed a little less brightly than the rest of the costume, but it was still a nice effect.

 

I found some great abstract Asian designs for the front of the costume and the sleeve bands, and the back of the costume was embroidered with a ferocious-looking dragon.

Some people did mistake her for a boy in the costume, especially since the hood hid her hair. But that's okay. All Amelia cared about was that she looked fierce and stayed warm. She's a girly girl 364 days out of the year, and disguise is the entire point of Halloween.