I’ve made her costume every year except the first one. That year, she was about 7 months old and dressed as an octopus. Since then, she has been: a lamb, a princess, a butterfly, a pirate, and this year she is Batgirl. She asked for a store-bought costume for next year. What a stinker.

We looked around for lots of Batgirl pictures before designing the costume. I must say that there are a lot that aren’t appropriate are a 5 year old. Eventually, we picked an inspiration photo and got working.

The Inspiration

Little Batgirl

I hit the fabric store with a vague idea of what I wanted. I found the shiny, stretchy purple fabric right away and knew it was perfect. From there, I just added a bunch of accents. I used one of her summer dresses as a template then made 2 layers – the shiny purple (a bit see through and not very warm) and a black jersey lining. The cape was a bit of a disaster – I’m not going to talk about it

She asked for a knitted hat. I found a great pattern to go with the costume the whipped up some matching fingerless mitts to tie it all together. I really like the idea of knitting costume components – she is sure to be warm!

I can’t wait to hear what she wants to be next year!