Katniss and Gale Costume

My daughter is usually a disney princess or something very girly like Mary Poppins. She wanted to something more grown up and edgy. Still famine but not so frilly. She loves the hunger games and we went to the movies every time one came out. She just got the first book although its still a bit above her reading level she keeps trying :) She wanted to be Katniss for Halloween and who doesn't love her mockingjay costume!

So down to the how-to: The pants and shoes where the only things bought. Kids Rothco BDU black pants. And the boots were bought from a ebay store. Just girls style military boots.

The Jacket: I used a Jalie pattern 2456 that I already had for a fitted ice skating jacket. Challenge is this pattern was made for spandex fabric. So I had to adjust the size that cut to account for the cotton/poly blend fabric. I also made a new collar pattern to look like the shape of her collar as well. I used nylon webbing straps to make a design of the front of the jacket to match the real Katniss Costume. I used a leather looking spandex I already had attached interfacing to it on the edge of the front closure of the jacket and a zipper :) I then realized that Katniss's jacket has a built in arm gaurd.... So i created the shape with 3mm craft foam and covered in black matte spandex. I used left over jacket fabric to make a patch to fit the foam and took apart of the sleeves to attach the patch to the outside of the sleeve and then sewed the sleeve back together.

The Neck and Shoulder armor. I used a Cordura nylon fabric for the neck and smaller weave of the same fabric for the shoulder plates. I made the pattern for this peace all by hand. Its connects using velcro.

Body Armor: I'm usually just a seamstress. This was new territory for me. After many hours of youtubing tutorials I used craft foam to mold the armor myself. I got it from hobby lobby because there the only store around me that carries different thicknesses of craft foam. The main pieces use the .25 thick of craft foam. I used a heat gun to heat the foam up and then mold it to the shape I wanted. When it cools it retains the shape. I then Covered it in the same fabric I used for the shoulder pieces. This was a challenge because it was not a stretch fabric and there was lots of bends and curves that made this difficult. I then took the 3mm foam and cut out the edges of the pieces. Covered it in 4 layers of black plasti dip and 2 coats of matte clear acrylic spray. and then glued it on in place. I used leather hole punches to make nice and neat holes where my straps were going. I used elastic and velcro for the straps. There is a chest plate, back plate along with boot, shin, and knee guards (these pieces are all separate)

Wings!! I used 2mm craft foam and made a pattern for each feather out of paper first. Then molded each of the feathers by hand and gluing them on to a base. They attach to the back piece of armor like the orginal costume with strong magnets. They are easily removable but stay on when you want them. They also have 4 coats of black plast dip each and 2 coats of matte clear acrylic. I have some shape changes I wish I could change now but for my first attempt at ever molding craft foam I'm pleased with them.

Quiver: Took me 3 tries to get a shape and size I was happy with. I started off only using craft foam and they were just to BIG for her little body. In the end... Box of spaghetti covered with 2mm craft foam and cut at a diagonal. And a 5mm craft foam edge on the top. Also covered in the same 4 coats of black plasti dip and 2 of matte clear acrylic spray. I also used left over fabric from the neck peice and cut a design out to match that of the original costume and glued it to the quiver. Because its nylon fabric with rubber coating on one side to make it water proof it doesn't fray. I wanted it also to be removable like the real costume. So I found "dixie cup bracket" and cut it in half. for the room I had available on the back. Painted it matte black to match and one side is attached to the back plate armor and the other to the quiver. I had to skrew it in so there is a thin piece of wood inside the quiver to make it work. and there was a enough foam I didn't have to do that with small screws and glue worked great.

Arrows: I just used 1/4" thick wood dowel rods that were 12" long. Pack of 12 from hobby lobby. Painted them black with regular acrylic paint. Got black arrow nocks and fletching from ebay and supper glued them all on on one side. Also pained on a sliver metallic line on each arrow to match Katniss's ( really went for accuracy as much as I could) I used silver nail polish I already had and just scotch tape to keep my lines clean. Turned out AWESOME! I used a piece of .25" thick craft foam to punch holes in (with leather punches) in the design I wanted the arrows to be in when they were in the quiver. I attached the arrows to the foam and inserted them into the quiver. This way they wont fall out while shes running or bending over. They still look great.

for GALE:
His jacket and pants were bought. The jacket is boys m65 military style jacket with hood in black and same pants as katniss costume. Yes I could have sewed them but just easier to buy these parts :) His body armor I used craft foam again but this time his looks like it had leather outside so I created a design on my silhouette cameo that looked like their body armor from the movie. I found faux leather contact paper from home depot and had the cameo cut out the design. I then placed this pece on 2mm craft foam. I used an exacto knife to cut the foam out using the contact paper as stencil for myself. Worked awesome. Used a practice football jersey for the fabric for in between the cut outs. and attached to thicker piece of foam for the chest piece.

Tactical Vest/backpack. This was all just watching movie and drawing up design and making pattern for this my self. I used gray denim for the fabric and black binding for the edge. I think it turned out great. I used snap closures and nylon straps and buckles all bought a Joann fabrics for this piece of the costume.

Took about a month to complete in my free time. (this is start to finish planing, ordering some fabrics online everything. I started August 19th and I just finished this past Saturday the 17th. Took the kids out on Sunday and tried to get some good pictures of them in costume. (Ps I made props for their pictures. Poster I had printed at Walgreens and made in photo shop and the mockingjay symbol was made with my silhouette cameo using thing cardboard and spray painted it black) Good Luck and Happy costuming!!!