I’m a child of the 80’s, a time of tacky hairstyles, jelly shoes and gaudy pajama pants worn as everyday attire. 1987 in particular was a good year – a gallon of gas was $0.89, Nirvana was formed, and a brilliant man named Akira Kitamura created Mega Man. The Mega Man games were simple to play – one button to jump, another to shoot – but they were impossible to beat, which is why I never played them as a kid. But as I’ve aged so have video games. Games nowadays are flashy but they are expensive and have steep learning curves, too many buttons, and lack a simple pick-up-and-play aspect. When I purchased a PS3, I longed for some good oldies that I could play in my free time. I soon stumbled on a compilation game that contained all 8 original Mega Man games and have been a man obsessed ever since. So when Halloween was near there was only one idea floating around in my head. Read on to learn how to make a Mega Man costume for under $24 as well as what I call “Mega Man Power Juice”.

Mega Man:Print

1 (L) pair royal blue sweatpants [$8.96]
1 (XL) light blue sweatshirt [$6.68]
1 (M) light blue long-sleeve shirt [$4.98]
1 royal blue knit hat [$2.30]
1 Christmas stocking from the dollar store [$1.00]
(Total cost of materials = $23.92)
matching thread
sewing needle
1 large cardboard oatmeal canister w/ lid
40 tissues
4 safety pins
2 band-aids (or a thimble)
8 hours of time

Mega Man Power Juice (Sangria):

1 (750 mL) bottle cheap red wine
1 liter lemon-lime or orange soda
1 apple, diced
1 orange, peeled and diced

Directions:

1. For Mega Man Power Juice, mix all ingredients in a pitcher and store in the refrigerator for at least 1 day.

2. For Mega Man pants, cut the legs off the sweatpants at an angle and just below the crotch to make the piece labeled 1 in the diagram below. Cut the arms off the sweatshirt (pieces labeled 2) at the seam. Sew the top of the sweatshirt arms (2) to the bottom of the newly created sweat-shorts (1). Try on the new pants (really capris at this point) and cut the sweatshirt arms about 4 inches below the knee (only if they are too tight, otherwise you can leave them). Take the sweatpant legs that you cut off earlier (3 and 4) and put them on upside down and settle at about 2 inches below the knee. Mark the location with a pencil and sew them on, using something solid to stuff in the pant leg at the juncture so you don’t sew the opening too small. Put the pants back on, position the extra material off the end under your foot, trace around the outside of your foot and cut off the extra material (4). Use safety pins to hold the bottom of the pants to your shoe.

3. For Mega Man shirt and cannon, take the empty oatmeal canister and cut the bottom off about 1-2 inches from the bottom (the canister is too long as is). Cut a 3-inch diameter hole in the plastic cover and place back on the canister. Using the fabric leftover from the sweatpants (4), wrap one of them around the cylindrical part of the container to form a sleeve so that the material just reaches the plastic-capped end (the top) but hangs over the edge of the bottom end by about 2-3 inches. Attach the fabric to the canister by either sewing, taping or gluing. Use the canister to trace a blue circle (from the same 4 if possible) and cut it out. Also, cut out a 3.5-inch diameter circle from your red fabric (6). Take the red circle and cut lines from the center to near the edge of this circle (see the picture of my cannon), center the red circle on the blue circle and sew together along the edge of the red circle. Carefully cut out the inner part of the blue circle so you can fit your hand through both circles. Attach this to plastic-capped end of the canister by sewing the edge of the blue circle to the sleeve created earlier. Put on the long-sleeve shirt and put the cannon on your left arm. Use a pencil to mark where you want to attach the fabric hanging off the end of the cannon to the sleeve of the shirt. Remove and stitch together, using something solid (like the empty wine bottle from the Mega Man Power Juice) to stuff into the sleeve at the juncture so you don’t sew the opening too small. For the other sleeve, cut a rectangular piece of fabric from the remaining sweatpant leg (4) that’s about the size of a piece of paper, 8.5″x11″. Roll it and sew it together so it forms an 11-inch long cylinder. Slide the cylinder onto the shirt sleeve and sew the end of the cylinder to the end of the shirt sleeve. Stuff about 40 tissues into the cylinder until solid but fluffy, leaving about 1 inch of fabric at the end. Sew this down onto the sleeve, using something solid to fill out the arm (the wine bottle again) so you don’t sew it too small.

4. For Mega Man helmet, turn the knitted hat inside-out and pull down over your face. Have someone look at a Mega Man picture and use a sharpie to outline where to cut. If the hat is double thickness, do your best to cut out the “inner hat” or at least cut off some of the “inner hat” near the edge so it doesn’t stick out. Use the remaining sweatshirt piece (5) and stocking (6) to create the decorations for the hat and take either the quick route or the detailed route below.
Quick: Cut a long rectangle (for the top), a square (for the front), two light blue circles and two red circles (for over the ears).
Detailed: Cut a piece of fabric 4 times the width of the rectangle and fold it over four times so it is thick, then sew this rectangle to the hat (and do the same for the square). For the ear covers, cut out 6 rings (about 3-inch outer diameter, 2-inch inner diameter) and 2 circles (about 3.5-inch diameter). Stack 3 rings up and cover with one of the 3.5-inch circles and sew down onto each side of the hat. Cut 2 circles out of the red fabric (about 2-inch diameter) and sew down into the middle of the circles.

5. Put on your new Mega Man suit and energize with some Mega Man Power Juice.

Additional Info:

I purchased all of the clothing at Jiffy Shirts. They sell plain and simple clothing that is very cheap but very good quality (name brand stuff). Use the following diagram in coordination with the directions above. Read through the directions before you cut these lines!

And finally, a comparison:

Filed in DIY, Other

13 Responses / Leave a comment »

  1. Vicki says:

    This is easily the most awesome thing I’ve read all day. Bravo.

  2. Lauren says:

    I LOVE that you included a “recipe” for your costume! The power juice sounds delicious.

  3. mom says:

    You are a nut! Costume looks great.

  4. Evan Thomas says:

    Hahaha, that completely made me lol

  5. Katrina says:

    Awesome, Nick! I mean, Mega Man! Love it.

  6. Nick says:

    your my favorite megaman. Although the megaman song haunts me, this really showed off your sewing skills. This is Eli by the way. Its automatically signed in as you on this computer.

  7. Sagan says:

    Ahaha you’re awesome.

    I love sangria. It’s my favourite drink ever. Yum.

  8. Mei says:

    Fantastic effort!

  9. Love it! But I don’t know… I always had a thing for Link from Zelda….

  10. You’re costume is awesome! It embodies more of my experience in the 80’s than I’d like to remember. I played way too many video games!

  11. Elle says:

    Oh my gosh Nick! You freaking crack me up!! You know, my sons are going to want to make this now. The costume-not the Power Juice. ;)

  12. GAIL says:

    THINK I WILL MAKE THESE FOR MY GRANDKIDS AND THIER GRANDPA FOR CHRITMS !! WHAT A HOOT !

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