DIY foam “muscles” for costume

Little did I know, that after all these years, I would be making my teenager a costume for a Super Hero Mystery Party.  When I started making it a couple weeks ago, I felt like he was 6 again!  I am still surprised at how much fun we had making this costume.  And, the best part is, he won the contest for best costume!  :)

To make the superhero muscle shirt, you will need the following...

Chair foam (a pack of 4 squares from Walmart was around $7.00 in the fabric and craft section.)
One old tee shirt,
scissors,
hot glue gun
a piece of cardboard or something to put inside of the shirt while you are gluing



Slip a piece of cardboard inside the shirt.
Using the scissors, cut two big squares of foam for the main pectoral muscles of the chest.  (Okay this might be the funniest post that I have ever written!)  Hot glue them to the top of the t shirt.  Then cut 6 smaller squares and glue them below the big squares (see photo)

Cut two rectangles like shoulder pads and glue one on each shoulder.  Next cut two longer rectangles for the biceps to go below the "shoulder pads".

Put a form fitting long sleeve shirt on over the "muscles".  We bought ours in the men's section of Walmart for around $13.  I believe it  resembles Under Armour brand, but was the Walmart version.

I made the mask using the template here.  Thankfully I had scraps of fabric to use, as well as elastic so that I did not need to go to the store.  His character for the Mystery party was the superhero "Bron"  hence the "B".



Luckily, i found a piece of red fabric in my stash and one square of Orange felt to make a cape!  I didn't hem the edges of the cape.  I just cut it, hot glued the "B" on, and he tied it around his neck.



Super easy...  except the mask took a little work.  You may want to just buy one!  This would work well for a men's superhero costume too!  :)