Make It Mondays: DIY Medieval/Renaissance Costumes from Household Supplies

Here is a wonderful post in our series of guest posts this summer. I loved seeing how Yvie’s children supplemented their education by making costumes out of materials that are cheap and easy to find. What a great way for history to come to life! You can find  more of Yvie’s posts at her blog, Homeschool on the Range. This post contains Yvie’s affiliate links which help support her blog.

These tutorials were written by my ten-year old son. They are written for kids, from the perspective of a kid. I hope that your children enjoy them!

Supplies :

• Tracing Paper
• Black Marker
• Picture (to trace)
• Crayons
• Laminator

Directions :

• Print out the picture that you want to copy. We used shields and crests.
• Trace the picture on the tracing paper with the black marker.
• Color it with crayons. Use bright colors. Don’t color too hard, or the wax will run!
• Cut out your shield and laminate it to make the colors even brighter.
• Hang it up and let the sun shine through! 

• Blue t-shirt (one that is too big for you)
• White paint
• paintbrush
• scissors
• Gold trim (optional)

Directions :

1. Cut the seams up both sides of the t-shirt so that you can lay it open flat (see second photo).
2. Paint a French cross on the front in white.
3. Sew gold trim along the top and two sides of the front.
4. Slip it over your head, and wear your best sword and cap!

I am in the middle of this photo, wearing the Musketeer costume, when we had our Medieval party.

Supplies :

• Black cloth, about 3′ by 6′
• Scissors
• Red cloth, at least 12″ by 3″
• Sewing Machine
• Tin foil
• Cardboard
• Viking hat (with horns removed)

Directions :

• Fold the cloth in half, so that you have a 3′ by 3′ square.
• Cut out a neck hole in the middle. We cut it a little too big, and just used safety pins on either side to make it the right width.
• Cut out two 12″ by 1.5″ strips of cloth, with a little ‘V’ at the ends. Make a cross and sew them to the front of the black square.
• Sew about 3″ in the middle of both sides of the square. This will keep it closed, but make it easy to get on an off.
• Cut a 2′ length of cardboard and wrap it with tin foil. Cut a larger square at the bottom, glue it, and wrap it with foil. Now you have a sword!
• We used a viking hat for a helmet, but you could make one with tin foil, like the Roman Legionnaire, but without the red stuff.

****If you like these tutorials, please consider purchasing the book that they have written, Recycled History, which spans from Ancient Egypt through World War II. (There are two more Medieval-themed projects in the book.)  All proceeds from the sale go directly into their Lego Mindstorms fund, so that they can get creative on a robotics level!!****

 

In Yvie’s home, the question is not “what would you do for a Klondike bar?” – it’s “what would you do for a Lego set?” She and her husband road-school their children across the US. Find them at Homeschool on the Range or on Facebook.