For Halloween 2019, I decided to dress up my 4-year old son as Robin/Nightwing to complement his older sister dressing up as Batgirl.

The inspiration came from researching comic book images of various Robins within Batman lore online. I decided to draw upon Damian Wayne as Robin since I found him to be the most colorful and flashy of all characters who donned the Robin mantle. Since one of the Robins (Dick Grayson) becomes Nightwing when he matures into adulthood, I thought why not have a Nightwing-inspired top and pants as part of the ensemble. Although my son has no idea of the origin of either Robin and Nightwing, he describes his getup as a “double superhero.” When you partially unzip the hoodie and see the Nightwing top, to me, it serves as a visual and tangible metaphor of my son’s nascent potential.

I had to rethink my original concept of color-blocking the top and decided to use a hoodie pattern (McCall’s M7239, View D with View C kangaroo pockets) instead by mashing it with pieces from another pattern (Simplicity S0222A/1035, cape, modified fins and modified mask front, modified boot covers). In order to indulge my kid’s love of dressing up, I decided to get more wear for the season by making it practical for colder temps. Size cut and sewn was 3T for all pattern pieces. The Nightwing part of the costume is from Oliver+S Field Trip Cargo Pants +Raglan T-Shirt pattern, size 3T lengthened to 4T).

The outer red polyester/Lycra leather-look knit was quilted to fleece using nothing but a yardstick and Frixion marker to provide visual interest and texture. Black satin-like polyester lining was handsewn into the jacket after machine-swing the pieces. The same process occurred for the gold lame hood lining. Clear snaps were added to the cape and front of hoodie so that the cape is optional for play and the hoodie can be worn everyday if my son chooses during this Fall season.

For the pants, the knee sections were reinforced with the main fabric (woven) to provide stability and durability since the fabric chosen to mimic body armor is a Ponte knit.

Hoodie:
-Red leather-like knit from Fabric Mart Fabrics;
-Black hexagon-like Ponte knit (Yaya Han Fabrics), green spandex, gold lame, yellow fleece (hidden) from Joann’s;
-Black satin-like polyester lining (my stash)
-Separating zipper from Amazon
-Robin logo patch bought from HatchAPatch on Etsy

Nightwing top:
-Black jersey (sleeves) from Fabric Mart Fabrics;
-Black hexagon-like Ponte knit (Yaya Han Fabrics) from Joann’s
-Nightwing logo bought from 8bitSpock on Etsy

Nightwing Pants:
-Black woven twill-like mystery fabric from my stash;
-Knee sections is from the same fabric as the top and hoodie sleeves (black hexagon-like Ponte knit (Yaya Han Fabrics) from Joann’s).

Mask and boot covers:
-Clear elastic, paracord lacing, green spandex, fleece, and inner cotton lining (from Joann’s;
-eyelet grommets and double-fold bias black tape from my stash.

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