DIY Hulk Costume - How to Sew Muscles

I LOVE Halloween!  We are so excited that it is almost here.  Mostly what I love about Halloween is the challenge of making my kid's Halloween Costumes.  This weekend I had a little extra time on my hands so I figured out how to make a simple Hulk costume, complete with muscles. Come see how to sew muscles in a costume.

I know, I could have just gone out and bought one with way more fancy muscles but where's the fun in that?  Plus I wanted him to have another dress up that was comfortable and fun to play in and those polyester suits get shredded fast. I think I hit the spot.  He played in it all afternoon today and wouldn't take it off at bedtime. 

I have been kicking around this muscle idea since last year when one of the boys wanted to be Captain America with muscles.  I did just buy that costume, cause I didn't quite have it in me then. Of course now that I've made a muscle shirt, I can see all kinds of things I could do to improve it.

Now for the details on how I made these muscles in case you want to give it a try. The great thing about Halloween costumes is that it doesn't matter if they are perfect looking when you are finished. It's a great time to experiment and push your sewing skill limits. 

How to sew muscles a costume

To create the muscles, I added layers of batting to the front and sleeves before sewing the shirt together. I left the back a single layer (we live in Florida and it is hot enough with out wearing a little quilt around).

1.  Start with a long sleeved t-shirt pattern.

 To make my pattern I traced one of his shirts by turning it inside out and laying it flat then tracing around the pieces on the back side of wrapping paper.  Thankfully it sewed together, nicely. If you don't want to attempt making your own pattern there is a good PJ pattern available from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop that you can use.

2. Make the Chest by sandwiching layers of batting between 2 layers of fabric. 

Cut an extra shirt front and draw on the muscles with a pencil or fabric pen. Look at some pictures of the character you are making and just do your best to draw them in a simplified manner. Sandwich layers of 1/2'' thick polyester batting between the 2 layers of fabric. Here's a glimpse of what mine looked like.

I used a double layer of batting for the whole front and then added a triple layer for the chest and upper arms. You can add more layers if you want more bulk.  Pin all the layers together and sew along the drawn lines to define the muscles.

3. Make the shoulder muscles in the same fashion.

To make the sleeve I cut an extra sleeve piece and sandwiched the batting in between the 2 fabric layers. I used 2 layers of batting just on the upper arm this time. 

 

4. Sew it all together and finish off the hems.

Your little one will LOVE it even if it doesn't look just perfect. To see how I quickly added some green legs to this costume on Halloween night, click on over to this Halloween wrap up post.

Have you seen Picmonkey's  spooky edits?  I couldn't resist trying them out. Of course we'll paint his skin green for the big night. Love you Little Hulk!

Happy Halloween sewing!

More Halloween Costume ideas

Baby Bumble Bee Sewing Pattern

DIY Guardians of the Galaxy Costumes

Make a Hooded Bat Cape

DIY Jack Skellington costume