Man of Steel Superman Costume For a 5-Year-Old Boy

After completing younger brother’s Spiderman costume, I had to face the disappointment of an almost-five-year-old that his Ironman costume was not yet ready. Recognizing that the craft foam costume attempt was not heading in the right direction, I pivoted to a Superman concept. Luckily that was Columbus day weekend and we were all home on Monday so I had a willing recipient for ongoing fittings.

I made a jumpsuit pattern out of newspaper based on a pajama pant and shirt, and sewed a zipper into the back. The cape is attached to both shoulders with Velcro. The boots are attached to the jumpsuit with a horizontal stitch just below the knee, and then wrap around the back of the calf, and attach to the shoe with Velcro. This allowed me to use his regular shoes, as the stick-on Velcro squares easily came off after Halloween. The symbol of hope (the “S”) was traced onto craft foam (in fact the same batch I had prepared for Ironman armor) and glued to sparkly off-white foam, glued to the chest area and edged with metallic fabric paint.

The silver detail was made with some gray fabric I had from an old dress, I painted it with silver fabric paint and then cut the shapes and attached to the suit with a glue gun. Start to finish: 6 days including the first day which was buying the fabric and the first jumpsuit attempt which was too small and I had to start over the next day. There is something special about wearing a cape, especially a long one, and we were treated to many rounds of Superman racing through the house.

Last but not least, my son took great pride in being able to wear hair gel, and it was a wonderful final touch to making my little Superman.

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