The Knight Costume- Simplicity 5520 Pattern Review

For Halloween this year, my son wanted to be a knight.  He picked out the pattern Simplicity 5520- view D.  At first he was drawn to the pattern because of the huge ax the child model is holding.  Props go a long way!  After a long discussion about how we would not be making the ax, he still wanted it.  Then I knew we had a winner!

I will start off by saying that I started this costume in June to take my mind off being very pregnant.  In June, my son fit a size 8 perfectly, but he grows surprisingly fast.  By October, I had to make a few adjustments. It worked out fine, but if I made it again I would lengthen the tunic and the body armor. Luckily, the pants were not part of the pattern. The other slight change was that we added the "boots" shown in view B, but his feet are long too.  He did not seem to mind.   If you really want the boot to cover the entire shoe make sure you check the size, especially if your kid has big feet. 

Simplicity 5520

Overall, this pattern was pretty easy.  The most challenging part was working with the tissue lamé.  This fabric is truly tissue-like.  It is very delicate and slippery and snags very easily.  If you sew a seam, don't even think about ripping it out.  When making a few adjustments, I ultimately cut off the old seam and started over because the ripped out area was snagged. The quilting on the "armor" turned out pretty great for eyeballing it.  I chose not to draw the seam lines on because I was worried it would make a mess of the fabric when trying to remove.   

I always like to know what the best part of the costume is for the wearer.  My son's favorite part was the horns on the helmet and armor.  By the end of the night, he decided he viking instead if a knight. I think it was partly due to the horns.

This costume is not sewn perfectly, but I am ok with that because the purpose was that it was for some thing fun for one night.  That is what is so great about costumes!  They are worn for such a short time, SO you can just go for it.  It's a great time to try new sewing techniques or work with different fabric choices.   With this costume, I was able to to try out some free hand quilting and use tissue lame for the first time.  What new things have you tried while making a costume?