Whiptips – ideas for kids super hero costumes
Whiptips is an crafts advice column for readers to ask questions or offer advice by leaving your comments. View the Whiptips archive here. You can submit questions, to whiptips@gmail.com. Please include photos with your questions!
Wendi from Hip to be Square wrote in asking for advice on making her daughter a super hero costume (Teen Titans to be exact). Her question has a few sections – stencilling or appliquing a design from from a comic book, ink jet printing onto fabric – is this ink jet fabric good enough to then make clothing out of – how sturdy is it for wash and wear?
Every September my family goes to Dragon Con, a sci-fi/fantasy convention. The first couple of years my daughter went she didn’t really get what was going on. Last year she loved seeing all the costumes, and this year she’s actually a fan. She LOVES Teen Titans and I want to make her some fan gear. I’ve been thinking about appliquéing or stenciling a small bag for her to carry her water bottle and a snack, but the other night I had the wild idea to scan and print (on fabric) some art from one of the Teen Titans comic books and sew it into a simple dress for her to wear. I looked at the ink jet print on fabric products today at Michaels and ended up leaving without buying. Does anyone have experience working with these? Do they print well? Is the fabric quality good enough to make a dress? I don’t mind piecing together 8.5 x 11 panels, but it won’t work well if the fabric is tissue-thin or too loosely woven. Can the final project be machine washed? Any and all advice is very welcome – include completely different suggestions for making her something Teen Titan-y.
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:34 am
I think it would be rather simple to make her a dark blue cape like Raven has. She can wear whatever she wants under it, but the cape would cover it up! Plus it is super fun to wear capes, and if she get’s tired of it, she can simply take it off.
Or you could do a simple freezer paper stencil of the teen’s on a t-shirt. I’ve done stencils of other comic heroes, and if you chooes an iconic picture, they come out well.
September 3rd, 2006 at 3:18 pm
I haven’t got any experience with the ink jet printer fabric, but have used iron-on transfer printer paper before with good results. Also, for a heroes and villains party I had recently, I made an Incredibles logo out of craft felt and stuck it on my outfit using spray adhesive.
September 3rd, 2006 at 4:20 pm
I’ve found you can use a mid-thickness cotton backed with freezer paper quite well in the printer (make sure it’s pre-washed to remove the surface treatment and I’ve found unbleached and undyed works much better at keeping the colour). Iron with a very hot iron and it should hold the colour, although probably not forever.
As the partner of a comic book artist, can I make a plea to please remember that those drawings are in copyright and someone has worked hard to create the look you want to copy. It would be polite to email the artist (it should be easy to find them through google) to ask permission first and you certainly should not use the designs for anything other than your personal use.
September 3rd, 2006 at 4:35 pm
If you knit, there’s a girl on etsy who makes yarn inspired by comic characters. I know she has some titans stuff:
CountingMermaids.etsy.com
September 3rd, 2006 at 9:06 pm
wendy, i have used the printable fabric extensively and the products on the market are better now than ever. the pre-made product i like best has the word “treasures” in the brand name (i forget the real brand name). the quality of the fabric is acceptable for a costume (not to thin, not loosely woven, but not as smooth as other cottons).
however, my favorite method for printing on fabric is treating my own fabric with bubble jet set, that way i can make fabric cuts the size i want, whatever size will fit in the printer.
September 3rd, 2006 at 11:21 pm
I wrote a post about this on April 27. I would strongly echo P’s advice not to take anyone’s graphic work without asking. Moreover, Bill and I came up with a logo for the child, an E with a lightning bolt through it and I think it was far preferable for him to have something unique to him. In this case how about making some Teen Titans-inspired drawings that include some characteristics of your daughter and design her a Teen Titans-esque logo?
We have used the inkjet printer fabric extensively and find that it can’t withstand the constant washings of, say, bathtowels or regular clothes but it can take the occasional washings with dishwashing soap with just a bt of fading. Be sure to follow directions. We use the Printed Treasures (washable) brand by Milliken. It’s the same weight as quilting fabric and would be fine for a dress.
September 4th, 2006 at 12:16 am
I’ve recently put some research into printing on fabric with my ink jet printer. I’ve used both Printed Treasures which Weeks mentions and Bubble Jet Set on my own high thread count cotton. Bubble Jet Set requires you to treat your fabric which you’ll need to back with freezer paper before sending through the printer. You then treat the printed output with a rinse. More flexibility because you choose the fabric to treat and I would say cost wise it’s a better deal if you don’t factor in your time. Printed Treasures is just so convenient even though it costs $20 for 5 sheets.
My Epson C88 uses the Dura Brite inks which are supposed to be waterproof. I’m hoping that characteristic adds some durability to the prints but I don’t have any long term experience. I like the C88 because the printer options allow me to choose Adobe RGB as a color option. I had scanned in some child’s artwork and this option printed the colors true to the original.
As far as costumes ideas. My daughter used to love a Spider Man costume someone had made at her pre-school. They used black fabric paint in the tube to create the lines on the outfit. I thought that was so clever.