How to make an upright umbrella costume that opens and closes?
October 29, 2016 8:32 AM   Subscribe

How can we make an umbrella costume for our 3-year-old that opens when he raises his arms and closes when he lowers them?

Our 3-year-old wants to be an umbrella for Halloween, with me as the sun and his dad as the rain. We love it but we're also a bit stumped.

Our idea is that he would be upright: the umbrella part would rest on his shoulders, his body would be the stem, one of his feet would be the handle. Here's where it gets complicated: we'd love to make an umbrella costume that he can open and close in response to dad/rain and mom/sun. We're thinking some sort of round cape that can rest on his shoulders: when his arms are down the umbrella is closed, when he lifts his arms the umbrella opens. But the ribbing and tension of a real umbrella translates into a rather complex, delicate, and sharp costume scenario. How can we we make a convincing movable umbrella mimic that is both 1) soft, safe, and durable enough for a 3yo and yet 2) tense enough to really open rather than just flop about?

(There's clearly an easy way out here involving holding an umbrella or wearing an umbrella hat - as far as we're concerned, that's too much like a normal rainy day. We're all for deconstructing an actual umbrella though, if that gets us to our goal.)

Yes, we have only the weekend, clearly a factor in construction, but we're good at making things, and tend to be quick about it. I will say though that sewing machines are best avoided.

Thanks for suggestions - your mechanical inspiration is much appreciated!
posted by marlys to Grab Bag (13 answers total)
 
Hmm... This is brainstorming, not a well-thought solution...
Pool noodle segment. Fancy would be two in front, two in back, so the full spread would be a hexagon with his arms up. Make a round cape. FOr each pool noodle, attach one end to his shirt at nipple level, one end to the cape (at approprriate radius distance, that may take some tweaking). So when his arms are down, it hangs down, but when he raises his arms it holds the cape stiff(ish). I'm thinking chest-height attachment, inches below his arms, to maximize spread without his arms all the way horizontal, give more of a cone shape.
posted by aimedwander at 9:07 AM on October 29, 2016


So cute!

Instead of a cape that rests on his shoulders, what about moving it down so it starts right under his armpits and around his chest? Put his arms out above the umbrella, but make sleeves of the same fabric (or a long sleeve shirt that's close enough in color.) Around the big circular umbrella/poncho's edge, put in some curved supports (I want to say that a bigbox hardware store will have something like flexible thin plastic strips?) and attach them at even points to rays of vertical supports underneath the outside fabric, which in turn would be attached to a soft band around his torso. Right where your kid's hands rest when his arms are down, make two handles. Add decorative "tips" of something soft (maybe metallic pipe cleaners?) sticking out where the supports run to the edge.

That way he can have his arms up, say, to hold a candy bucket, or to scratch his head, or be held by a parent, without whapping anybody in the face.
posted by Mizu at 9:08 AM on October 29, 2016 [6 favorites]


Oh, and you could make a mini-cape to go around his shoulders that doesn't have any structure to it so it blends in with the umbrella if it's up or down.
posted by Mizu at 9:20 AM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Possibly easier than the pool noodle - fill up some kid's/small tights with newspaper/whatever stuffing and use them as the rods. As long as they're each tied together with some black wool or thread at the distant toe-end & are reasonably well stuffed/not too long, when he lifts two, the others will come up as well. They're also easier to attach to whatever the base costume is with stitching or pins (source: making bug legs that wave together, although they hold out in a line rather than a circle!)
posted by AFII at 9:32 AM on October 29, 2016


I would probably use something like this bat costume as a base. A colorful top half and solid-colored legs (for the handle) would work well.
posted by belladonna at 9:48 AM on October 29, 2016


Ok, here's how I would do it. Get some wings like these that attach at the wrists. (Target has a few different ones.) then join the wings together in the back and cover the whole thing with black fabric. Then get some bamboo skewers like you'd use for making kabobs and spray paint them silver. These are the ribs of the umbrella. Hot glue them in place on the front side of the wings. You'll probably need two or three for each "rib". Then when your kid stretches their arms out, they'll be a two dimensional version of an umbrella. You could also make some kind of little legwarmer things to make their lower legs look like the handle of the umbrella.
posted by MsMolly at 9:52 AM on October 29, 2016


I wonder if you could use those wire foam hair rods (like these guys). You could maybe figure out how combine them end to end, and then you'd get the tension of a real umbrella without scary sharp stuff for the little one.
posted by superlibby at 9:57 AM on October 29, 2016


Ooh, I also think it might be easier if you made the umbrella part around his waist - if you attached it with yarn/string/whatever to his elbows, he could lift that up easier. Maybe his top half be blue with a big white fluffy wig for a cloud on his head?
posted by superlibby at 10:03 AM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


What about something that opens when he pulls strings? I am thinking of the same principle as those old fashioned wood toy men that dance when you pull on the string.

You could make an umbrella cape with tubes where the ribs of the umbrella would be. Run string or yarn through the tubes and the ends hang down in the front near his hands. When he's not pulling on the string the umbrella is floppy and not open, when he pulls on the string it tightens up and opens. Not exactly sure what materials you'd use but I feel like there has got to be some way to make it work.
posted by selfmedicating at 10:04 AM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


I did this once by cutting an umbrella in half and sewing it to the sides and underarms of a shirt. I don't actually remember how I got in and out of the shirt but it worked great.
posted by fshgrl at 11:03 AM on October 29, 2016 [5 favorites]


If you want it to be soft, it seems like taking fabric, scalloping the outside edge and drawing in the lines, then sewing to the arms and sides would work. You could also attach with snaps if you wanted it to be removable.
posted by dame at 12:01 PM on October 29, 2016


Response by poster: Thanks all - these are really helpful! It hadn't even occurred to us to put the umbrella under the arms - that makes a ton of sense and should make getting a good shape much easier. We're going to tackle this tomorrow morning, looking forward to it...
posted by marlys at 6:03 PM on October 29, 2016


If you can, please update us with pictures! I've been thinking about how darned cute this is all day. :)
posted by Mizu at 2:43 PM on October 30, 2016 [2 favorites]


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