Homemade Captain America Costume

Make a homemade Captain America costume using old T-shirts and a few basic sewing supplies. Learn how to make the shirt, pants, and a comfortable fabric helmet for a fun DIY superhero costume.

When Eric was little, he was obsessed with superheroes, especially Marvel’s Avengers. So, when it came time to dress up for Carnaval at school, I wasn’t surprised that he wanted to be Captain America.

I was actually relieved. I figured Captain America would be easier to make than Hulk or Iron Man. Little did I know that the following year, I’d end up making a Thor costume!

I’d already made him Superman and Batman costumes, but Captain America was a little trickier. I couldn’t find a costume I liked, so I decided to make my own using old T-shirts and other materials I had at home.

The costume itself wasn’t particularly difficult to make. What took the most time was figuring out how to make the helmet! I tried cardboard, craft foam, and even modifying a store-bought helmet before realizing that Eric probably wouldn’t wear any of them. In the end, I came up with a comfortable fabric version that took less than half an hour to sew.

I’ll show you how I made the shirt, pants, and helmet so you can avoid all that trial and error. You can also make a matching Captain America shield and superhero boots to complete the costume.

Vintage Captain America costume

Whenever I’ve made superhero costumes for Eric, I’ve tended to choose the vintage versions. I love their bright colors and playful designs, and I think they’re especially cute on little kids.

For Captain America, I went with the classic royal blue shirt with a large white star on the chest and red and white stripes around the waist.

Making the Captain America shirt

If you can find a premade Captain America shirt with the classic design, you can save yourself some sewing. Otherwise, it’s fairly easy to make one using an ordinary blue T-shirt and some fabric scraps.

I chose to make Eric’s shirt short-sleeved so he could wear it over a white long-sleeved shirt when it was cold. That also made the costume more versatile. During the summer, he wore the blue shirt with navy shorts. (He insisted on wearing the superhero boots all year, though!)

Materials needed

• Royal blue T-shirt in the appropriate size
• Scraps of red and white jersey fabric (old T-shirts work well)
• Fusible web for attaching the star (or freezer paper and fabric paint, if you prefer)

1. Cut the blue shirt

Before cutting the blue T-shirt, decide how large you want the white star to be. I found a star clipart image online and printed it at a size that looked good on Eric’s shirt.

Place the paper star on the shirt to help determine where to cut, leaving enough room below the star for the seam allowance.

Once you’ve decided where to cut, fold the shirt in half to keep the cut even, then cut off the bottom portion just below chest level.

2. Cut the stripes

The trickiest part of making the shirt is calculating the width of the stripes. I used six red stripes and six white stripes, alternating the colors to create six stripes across the front and six across the back.

Lay the shirt flat and measure its width. Add enough fabric for seven seam allowances, then divide the total by six to calculate the cutting width of each stripe.

For example, if the shirt measures 36 cm across and you’re using a 1 cm seam allowance:

(36 + 7) ÷ 6 = 7.17 cm per stripe

To determine the length, have your child try on the shirt and measure from the cut edge to where you want the finished shirt to end. Add a seam allowance at the top.

Tip: If you’re using old T-shirts for the stripes, cut them from the bottom so you can reuse the existing hems. This saves you from having to hem the finished shirt. Otherwise, remember to add extra length for hemming.

Cut six red stripes and six white stripes using your measurements.

3. Sew the stripes together

Start by placing a red stripe and a white stripe together, with their right sides facing each other. Line up the bottom hems, if you’re reusing them, and sew along one long edge.

Add another stripe of the opposite color, again with right sides together, and sew along the unsewn edge. Continue alternating red and white until you have a panel of six stripes.

Repeat with the remaining six stripes to make a second panel.

I used a serger (overlock machine) for the seams, then reinforced them with a regular sewing machine. You can use whichever sewing machine you have.

Lay the two panels underneath the blue shirt to check their width. Make any adjustments needed before joining them.

Place the two panels together with their right sides facing and sew along both sides to form a tube of striped fabric.

4. Attach the stripes to the shirt

Turn the striped tube right side out and the blue shirt inside out.

Slide the right-side-out striped tube inside the inside-out blue shirt, aligning the upper raw edges with the right sides of the fabrics facing each other. Sew around the entire edge to join the two sections.

Sew around the entire edge to attach the striped section to the blue shirt.

Turn the shirt right side out. The basic Captain America shirt is finished! Now it just needs its white star.

5. Add the white star

I cut the star from white jersey fabric and used an appliqué technique to sew it onto the shirt. If you’re unfamiliar with appliqué, this tutorial explains the technique.

You can also make the star without sewing it:

• Iron-on transfer: Use white, opaque transfer paper designed for dark fabrics. Cut it into a star and apply it following the manufacturer’s instructions.
• White duct tape: Cut out a star and stick it onto the shirt. This is a quick, less permanent option.
• Fabric paint: Cut a star-shaped opening in freezer paper using a craft knife, keeping the surrounding paper intact. Iron the freezer paper onto the shirt to create a stencil, then paint the star with white fabric paint.

If you’re painting the star, follow the paint manufacturer’s instructions for heat-setting it once dry. You can see a similar stenciling technique in my Wall-E shirt tutorial.

And that’s it! Your homemade Captain America shirt is ready to wear.

Making the pants

You can use blue sweatpants, leggings, or other comfortable pants for the costume. I couldn’t find any in the right shade of royal blue, though, so I decided to make my own.

I repurposed a large adult T-shirt in the same color as the top of Eric’s costume, using a pair of his existing pants as a pattern. By cutting the fabric from the bottom of the T-shirt, I could reuse the original hem for the pant legs.

If you’ve never sewn pants before, this easy kids’ pants tutorial walks you through the process. It may look complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, you can make them surprisingly quickly. (I made quite a few pairs when Eric was potty training!)

Making Captain America’s helmet

I wasted SO much time trying to figure out how to make Captain America’s helmet!

I tried cardboard, craft foam, and even papier-mâché over a store-bought helmet. Not only were those options time-consuming, but Eric didn’t want to wear any of them. They were just too uncomfortable!

Eventually, I decided to focus on making something comfortable that he’d actually wear. That’s when I thought of using a swim cap pattern to make a fabric helmet.

It was an unconventional solution, but it worked!

I used some of the blue jersey fabric left over from making the pants and cut the pieces slightly larger than the pattern to give Eric a little extra room. As it turned out, the helmet was a bit too big, so that probably wasn’t necessary.

Even though I’m not particularly skilled at sewing, I finished the helmet in less than half an hour. After all those failed attempts, I couldn’t believe how easy it was!

Decorating the helmet

To make the white “A” on the front, I used this Captain America logo as a template. I cut the letter from white jersey fabric and appliquéd it onto the helmet.

If you’d rather not sew it on, you could paint the letter using a stencil or cut it from white, opaque T-shirt transfer paper designed for dark fabrics, just as I described for the star on the shirt.

For the little wings on the sides, I drew the shapes freehand and cut them from a stiff, white iron-on mending fabric. I bought mine here in Spain, so I’m not sure it’s exactly the same as the one linked, but it looks similar.

Because the fabric had an iron-on adhesive backing, I placed two pieces together with their adhesive sides facing and ironed them to create a thicker, stiffer material. Stiff felt would probably work well, too.

I attached the bottom of each wing to the sides of the helmet with a few stitches. You can sew them by hand or machine, or try using hot glue instead.

Once attached, the wings stood out on their own, just as I’d hoped!

Putting it all together

One of the best things about this homemade Captain America costume is how comfortable it is for little kids. Eric loved wearing it and continued playing in it for months after Carnaval!

To complete the costume, you’ll need:

• Homemade Captain America shirt
• Blue pants
• Fabric Captain America helmet
• White long-sleeved shirt
• Red superhero boots
• Captain America shield
• Red gloves (optional)

Start with the white long-sleeved shirt, then pull the Captain America shirt over it. Add the blue pants, helmet, and red boots.

You can finish the costume with red gloves, although they’re optional. I bought some for Eric, but he didn’t want to wear them!

Grab the shield, and your little superhero is ready to save the world!

This post was originally published on October 21, 2015. It was rewritten and republished on October 26, 2026, with clearer instructions, new photo collages, and additional tips for making the costume.