Handmade Halloween Leaf Man Costume

While Love Bug may have channeled Queen Tara from the movie Epic, Sweet J is a leaf man all the way. Leaf men are the warrior protectors of the forest and from the first time he watched it, Sweet J has been battling the invisible enemy ever since. Leaping from one piece of furniture to the next, tumbling on the floor, charging forward (while yelling) with the large pastry knife he snagged from the kitchen in hand – he is fierce.

We took some liberties with the colors because I am a person who likes to use what we have, i.e. his shirt and pants. Also, it would have been nearly impossible (for me) to find monochromatic greens for every little part. I just don’t have the stamina to search! :)

Here’s how we made the costume:

Supplies:
-green knit for the tunic
-brown felt for the belt, knife sheath and shin protectors
-paint
-fleece for the hat

I chose knit for the tunic because it doesn’t need hemming, it stretches and it provided a better surface for painting than fleece would. (Fleece is perfect for costumes where we live because Halloween night is usually a bit chilly). The tunic was created by folding the knit in half, long enough to cover my little guy, and cutting a hole for his head. I sewed up the sides a ways to make it easier to wear (the belt didn’t stand a chance at holding the front and back in place with his movements). Because the knit was wider than his shoulders, I tied them up. Then I used paint and added designs to the tunic, similar to the movie still images I was using for inspiration.

I made my little Leaf Man’s helmet out of fleece using this great hat tutorial from the winter series earlier this year, put together by the lovely Delia from Delia Creates. I used another hat of his to create the pattern for this one. And then, again using movie stills as inspiration, adding the crosshatched portions to make it more helmet-y.

To finish off the outfit, I made a belt, knife sheath and little shin protectors for his little shins. Felt is nice to work with because it too needs no hemming. The belt was just a strip, cut to size. I used the pastry knife and made the sheath to fit, with a loop so it could hang from the belt. The shin guards were definitely not necessary but I thought they would be cute nonetheless. Sweet J is not crazy about them but I’m hoping we can come to a compromise.

Altogether, my little guy is now a full fledged warrior. Sweet J did not enjoy the photo session as much as the queen. Lately, he’s been fulfilling his two-year-old requirements more frequently and with much enthusiasm. He’s lucky I think he so cute.