Me, My Home, and I: How to make a Darth Vader Costume

I had planned on renting a Darth Vader custom, but I was worried it would not fit my very tall husband, so I needed to come up with a costume that would not cost me a fortune and was quick to make. The mask itself we bought on Amazon. It got great reviews and we are very happy with the purchase. We also purchased a red glowing lightsaber. This was really not necessary, but my husband really wanted to buy it. Men. OK so here is how I made the Darth Vader Costume:

The Supplies

I purchased a long sleeve black shirt at Target. You could also do a turtleneck, but it was much to hot for that. We already had the black slacks he used for another costume. For the cape, I went to the second hand store in search for a long black jacket with a collar and with material that had some shine to it. I found a long women's coat with material that was a little shinier than I wanted, but for four bucks I decided to make it work! Than I also found some men's snow boots in black at the thrift store for a very reasonable price. If you have old rain boots or other boots you could also spray paint them black. I also grabbed a black belt from the thrift store for like .50 cents. And don't forget the black gloves. My husband already had a pair.

Putting it together

When I brought home the women's coat, I cut off the arms and sewed the arm holes up. Then I added Velcro underneath the new cape and attached it to the black long sleeved shirt while my husband had it on so I could see where to place it. I also added Velcro to the black belt because it did not fit around my husband. I decorated the belt using silver, blue and red duct tape. Than I cut out a squared shape out of heavy cardboard. I covered it with black duct tape and added red, blue and silver duct tape pieces to duplicate the Darth Vader box. I attached it to his shirt with Velcro. Once the mask came on the whole Darth Vader look came together!