How I Made My Toddler Groot Costume

I thought that one of the most adorable Groot moments in Guardian's of the Galaxy Vol.2 was when the Ravager crew dressed him up in one of their costumes and made him their mascot. Not even a crew of hardened space pirates can resist his cuteness! 

I began the process by looking at reference photos and drawing a picture of the front and back of the costume. It has a LOT of details, and I included as many as I felt I could while keeping my sanity. 

I then began to make the pattern out of paper. I started with a basic jumpsuit pattern, and made two of the front piece and two of the back. If you are unsure about how to make a jumpsuit you can use a shirt and pants in the size your child wears, fold them as shown in the photo, and trace around. Cut two for the front and tape them together along the front seam, and you have a completed front piece. Fold the pants the opposite way to get the right shape for the back of the pants, the back is always a little different to make room for your bottom. Repeat tracing, cutting ad taping to make a complete back piece. 

I made two complete front pieces, and two complete back pieces because there would be some overlapping pieces. I then drew the various shapes on the pattern pieces and added a label on each piece with a matching label on the drawing so I could keep track of what each pattern piece was supposed to represent. 

In the photos above you can see part of that process. In the photo of the stack of papers you can see some are already cut out and some have been drawn on and labeled but have not been cut out yet. Once I had done all the pattern pieces I cut them out of my fabric, I used a sheet I got at the thrift store, because fabric is soooo expensive!

Once I had the pieces cut out I selected the ones that would need to have the special design on them. I first taped the diamond pattern on in masking tape I had cut into thin strips. 

I then used a frame stretched with sheer fabric that I use for screen printing, and screen printing ink to fill in the diamonds. These are things I had on hand, but you can also just spread on some acrylic paint, it might be a bit slower and not as smooth, but it should work just fine.

When I took off the tape I felt that the pattern was just a bit too contrasting, so I added some red paint over top by spreading it on each diamond with my finger. It took a while, but I liked how it turned out. When that was done it was time to sew it all together. The zipper was really important because it gives a sense of scale to the costume. I found mine on Etsy, from this shop: GIANTzippers
I was so happy with that order, the zipper is fully functional and just AWESOME.

I sewed all the front together and then all the back. the left leg is actually double layered witch allowed me to slip a piece of a thick sock that lost it's buddy where the knee pad would go and sew around it and through it to make that detail. I also used an old wire hanger to make the buckle on that leg as well. 

When the sewing was all done I tried it on him and made a few adjustments to the hems and shoulders to make sure the sizing would be right. When I was pleased with the fit, It was time to weather. I used black shoe polish applied with a junky paintbrush and some cheap brown dollar store shoe polish to spread it a little more. I mostly applied it to the seams of all the details which also helped to make each detail pop. 

He wore it to comic con and the lace-up leg tightened all by itself over time and he really disliked that, so I sewed the lace to each loop to keep it from tightening anywhere.

On Halloween I used some cheap green Halloween makeup from Walmart to color and spike his hair. I then used bronzer to get his face more brown, then added streaks of different colors of brown with watercolor. If he had been more cooperative I could have made it look more like wood, but his natural cuteness shone through and that is really whats important. 

If you liked this post, check out how the rest of our costumes turned out here:Guardians of the Galaxy Family Costume