How to make a Captain Barnacles, Octonauts costume.

My son is obsessed with the Octonauts and so this year his costume was a no brainer. I choose to have him be Captain Barnacles because I had a good idea of how to pull it off pretty inexpensively. It also allowed me to mix in some store bought items which cut down on my sewing load.

I bought a thermal shirt from Target and he already had matching jeans from H&M. I made a belt, hat, and collar out of felt using glue to put together the pieces. I used a winter hat that fit him well to get a general shape for the "ears".  I created the "zipper" at the shirt collar with a bit more glued felt. To complete the look I painted the boots with blue fabric paint. I free handed pattern pieces so it's definitely not perfect but, it has personality.

I made my accessories out of the felt squares you can get at any craft or fabric store. I cut the pieces out and use Elmer's glue to put them together. Don't be afraid to be heavy with the glue, it dries clear and stiffens the felt.

I bought some basic boots at Target and painted them with fabric paint. Make sure you leave at least a day or two for this to dry.

The belt comes together. I doubled up the blue felt for more stability (I bought a yard of the blue felt since I need so much). I hot glued the velcro to the felt since it's much faster than tacking it and I only need it to hold up for a night.

This is before we put on his ears and hat. He loves it!

The final product is pretty darn cute. However, my son is so charming he can make anything look cute.

Trick or Treat time!

We painted our pumkin with the Octonauts symbol. Since he's to young to carve this year I went the quick route with some basic white acrylic paint and ten minutes of my time. Escher sort of helped.