Similar to Addison having a dress up day for grade 2, Preston also has a dress up day for Prep. All the prep students have to dress up as Nursery Rhyme characters for Nursery Rhyme Dress Up Day. Like what I did for Addison, I went in search of ideas on Pinterest for Preston to select from. A knight in shining armour was Preston’s pick, in particular one of the “King’s Men” from Humpty Dumpty.
I did some further research on knight costumes and decided to combine ideas from all different costumes I had found. The hardest part was I didn’t want to spend a fortune on fabric, so I went on the hunt in my stash and the clearance fabrics at Spotlight. Turns out I still had plenty of left over fabric from making Addison’s Willy Wonka costume and thought purple was quite a regal colour for a night to wear. I got lucky with some other fabrics I found at Spotlight, in particular some unusual fabric that looked perfect for chain-mail.
I was able to draft a pattern for the costume myself and used a hoodie jumper pattern to make the hood from “chain-mail”. I lined the hood with soft felt I had in my stash. I made a sort of tunic, pull over and added chain-mail sleeves so it was all one piece. I found a lion image that i printed out and used as a template to make a crest for the front of the tunic. I found some more fabric in my stash, this time some crushed velvet and black satin. I have now decided after making the cape that these two fabrics are the work of the devil and I will never sew with them again!!! Horrible and slippery, extremely hard to work with and this cape certainly isn’t my finest work, but it looks ok, so that’s all that matters. I decided to use buttons and buttonholes as a form of attaching the cape to the tunic, that way after the parade is finished he can remove the cape and hood (which is one separate piece, that simply tucks into the tunic) and remain somewhat comfortable in the rest of the costume for the remainder of the day at school.
I made boot covers in a metallic looking fabric, using the same pattern I found for Addison’s Flynn Rider costume. He wore some plain black long pants with the boot covers over the top.
What “kings man” would be complete without his very own Humpty Dumpty to rescue! I bought a Styrofoam egg from Spotlight and decorated him, dressing him in clothes I made using felt. Stuffing the arms and legs with toy fill to make his body and of course a little hat with feather. Some googly eyes and drawn on face and cracks completed Preston’s Humpty Dumpty!
A great and versatile costume that could be used for many other Characters and dress up occasions. I hope you like this DIY Knight in Shining Armour costume, I think Preston looked fantastic.
