DIY: How to Make a Spider-Man Costume for Girls

How to make a Spider-Man costume for girls

I’m pretty crazy about DIY costumes, and I’m also insanely excited about Spider-Man Homecoming right now.

When I learned that the #SpideyBloggers had a challenge to create a DIY Spider-Man costume with thrift store materials, I was nothing but excited!

Related: Interviewing Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon on the set of Spider-Man Homecoming

Sony Pictures brought a busload of bloggers to the Goodwill Boutique in Chelsea immediately following the Spider-Man Homecoming press junket.

Related: Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal on Spider-Man Homecoming

We were given $25 and 15 minutes to get what we needed to make a homemade Spider-Man costume out of thrifted materials. We were also allowed to bring our purchases home and add elements from around the house to complete the costume.

Before we started I knew I wanted to figure out how to make a Spider-Man costume for girls. I was inspired by the homemade suit in Spider-Man Homecoming, but I wanted to put a girly spin on the unique design.

This is a screen grab of Spider-Man in his homemade suit: 

But there are currently no great pictures of Spider-Man in the homemade suit.

Fortunately, there are toys with excellent pictures on the packages, which gave me all the details I needed for constructing my own suit.

I picked up these three items at Goodwill Boutique in New York City:

Here’s what I bought:

• Motorcycle booties (If you don’t have any, I’d totally go for a cute pair of boots from JustFab. They’re all just $9.99 with free shipping!)
• An Amanda Uprichard blue dress similar to this one
• A red hooded sweatshirt

Then I added a few items I already had:

• Blue tights
• Blue lace (actually from my mom’s basement)

And a few other accessories and things I needed to enhance the costume:

• A Spider-Man icon decal I designed and made from vinyl adhesive. If you don’t have a cutting machine you can get by with drawing one with a sharpie. (I do highly recommend one! with my Cricut Explore Air 2 review to see why I love it so much)
• Red duct tape for covering up the buttons on the sweatshirt.

how to make a Spider-Man costume for girls with inspiration from Spider-Man Homecoming

Spider-Man costume for girls materials

• Red sweatshirt
• Blue dress or skirt
• Blue tights
• Boots
• Blue lace (about half a yard)
• Red tape
• Needle and thread
• Stick pins

How to make a homemade Spider-Man costume for girls

The first thing I did was I tried on the red sweatshirt and realized it was way too small for me.

I sent a picture to my friends so they could laugh with me, because I obviously bought a size 10 sweatshirt for kids, not for ladies.

Then I called my niece and begged her to be my model because I didn’t want to be the Spider-Man dressed up in a short skirt and tight clothes.

The next thing I did was remove the sleeves from the sweatshirt and set them aside. The red sweatshirt sleeves made perfect leg warmers / boot covers to tie the costume together.

I used the sleeves I cut off make a pattern (traced onto a paper grocery bag) and roughly cut out lace a bit longer than the sleeves.

Then I flipped the sweatshirt inside out, pinned the lace around the sleeve and started sewing it on.

Note: My aunt told me exactly what to do for this and even gave me the pins, needle and thread. I’m not crafty! 

When the lace was sewn all around the the hole in the sweatshirt, I stitched it down the length of the arm to make it a closed sleeve.

I made sure the sleeves were a bit longer because I wanted to make these cute, sporty thumbholes at the ends.

The thumbholes were made after Tia (my niece) had the sweatshirt on. I just cut a slit in the lace right where her thumb hit and trimmed off the extra fabric.

Then I covered up the buttons on the sweatshirt with red tape so they didn’t distract from the rest of the costume.

I also stuck the homemade Spider-Man icon sticker on the sweatshirt. It looks speckled but it’s really a glittery blue vinyl.

The next thing I did was gather up all the individual pieces of my homemade Spider-Man costume, including the Spider-Man Homecoming Spider Sight Mask Hasbro provided at the press junket.

Then we got Tia dressed in her DIY Spider-Man costume:

I especially love how the cuffs of the sleeves make a nice snug top for the leg warmers. The opposite end of the sleeve has a wide flare that’s perfect to cover up the top of the boots.

She looks adorable and casual without the mask, and very much like a cute and girly Spider-Man with the mask added to the outfit:

Making the DIY Spider-Man costume for girls was so much fun!

I have lots of other costume posts. Here are my favorites:

• Here are 13 DIY Halloween costumes made with tutus.
• Check out these 15 DIY baby Halloween costumes (with several toddlers ideas, too!)
• More than 20 baby Halloween costumes under $20.

Spider-Man Homecoming opens in theaters everywhere on July 7, 2017. Get your local showtimes and pre-order tickets today!

Don’t miss the first Spider-Man Homecoming trailer and exclusive details from the Spider-Man Homecoming set!