Astrid Costume | How To Train Your Dragon

I love my daughter. When she commits to a Halloween costume she doesn’t change her mind. So as I was putting the finishing touches on her costume last year she informed me she wanted to be Astrid for this year. So I had a whole year to mull it over and plan. But of course who needs a year, when you can get it done in one long weekend right?

By: Janet New

Supplies

• Newspaper (to make paper patterns)
• Long fur fabric (approx. 1/3 yard, Fabricland $9-18/yard)
• Short fur fabric (approx. 1/2 yard, Fabricland $9-18/yard)
• Fake suede (approx. 1 1/4 yard, Fabricland $7.50/yard if you want to sew long cape, 1/2 yard if you don’t)
• Dark Grey Fleece (approx. 1  yard, Fabricland $8.00/yard only purchase if you want to sew long cape)
• Vinyl chocolate brown (approx. 1/3 yard, Fabricland $8.00/yard)
• Vinyl silver (approx. 1/8 yard, Fabricland $8.00/yard)
• Interfacing (fairly thick)
• Red Fabric (approx. 1/3 yard, Fabricland $18/yard)
• Brown boots (Joe Fresh $19, but will use all winter)
• 1″ Black elastic Fabricland
• 6 Silver eyelets Fabricland
• Large 2″ Curtain Grommet (or something similar Fabricland)
• Crayola Molding Magic, white (2 pkg., Staples $3.95/pkg.)
• Clip on long pony tail ($7.50 Ardene Outlet)
• Leather shoe lace Fabricland
• Silver and black acrylic paint (Dollarama $1 ea)
• Weldbond, Michaels

Boots

I essentially sewed leg warmers made out of the two types of fur to go over the boots so that the boots would be reuseable. Added strips of fake leather to the fronts to emulate laces.

Shirt

I chose a fairly thick knit for the shirt. It was super easy, I basically sewed two rectangles together leaving space for arms at the side, head for the top and torso out the bottom.

Skirt

The fur part of the skirt was my Joe Fresh neck warmer from last year, but sewing a fur mini skirt should be fairly easy. For the leather part of the skirt, I cut it all out of one piece. Because it’s pleather, it doesn’t fray so there was no need for sewing. I made the waist band 2″ high, and the flaps 8″ long making the skirt 10″ long in total. To measure for flaps, measure my daughters waist (over the fir skirt) then divide up into equal parts. We had 9 flaps at 3.25″ wide.

I was surprised how easy eyelets were to install. I purchased a small package of them, and it came with a hole punch tool as well as the tool needed to finish the eyelet. All you need is a hammer (I was at the cottage with no hammer so I used a rock, very Viking style of me!). I then used a leather shoelace to close the skirt.

Bird skulls and spikes: I made these out of the Crayola Molding Magic. It’s very easy to work with (no mess, no cooking). The kids and I had a great time making these. You will need 4 spikes per flap from small to large in size as well as one bird skull per flap, and two extras for the shoulder armour. After we molded our items, we let them sit for 24 hours to dry. We then gave them two coats of acrylic silver paint, and burnished them with a paper towel dipped in black acrylic paint, which we dabbed on then quickly wiped off.

After I glued them on with the Weldbond (after the Gorilla Glue didn’t work), and instructed my daughter she was to lift the back flaps of the skirt whenever sitting down at school.

Small fur cape

I made a paper pattern out of some newspaper, to get a better idea of size for the back, the neck pieces and hood. I have shown here what the basic shapes should look like. Click here to download SmallCape_SewingInstructions. The good thing about a paper pattern is you can keep cutting and taping until the fit is right, and you probably have a live model that you can tape it to like I did. I would then advise (to make sure the left and right sides are equal), cutting two of only one of your front shoulder pieces, and folding your back piece in half and cutting from a folded piece of fabric.

Shoulder Armour

I had some fairly thick interfacing which I ironed on to the silver pleather I purchased, to give the armour a bit of stiffness. I then cut out shapes like the ones below. Notice each strip is smaller than the last with the most outside strip being the one that curves inward. Once cut, I then made them look old by dabbing with black acrylic paint and wiping off. I mostly did the outside edges.

Knee Pads

Used some left over pleather. Sewed two ovals and finished them with two straps of black elastic on the back.

Arm Wraps

I use the short fir to line the wraps for warmth, suede on the outside and long fir for the trim. They are essentially long tubes which I then sewed a couple stitches in to keep the thumb separated.

Headband

I cut a 1″ strip out of some left over suede. I then attached a series of brass snaps, then glued the band closed. At either end of the band I sewed in a bit of leather shoelace.

Hair

Fortunately my daughter has similar hair colour to Astrid. Unfortunately it’s a bit short so I purchased a ponytail extension from Ardene, and then removed the hair from the hair clip and bobby pinned it into my daughters hair. I then made a complicated french braid to finish the look.

Long Suede Cape

Living in Canada going out on Halloween is hit and miss with the weather. And it’s such a shame to hide the costumes under winter jackets, that’s why I usually create my costumes to accommodate either extra layers or some sort of cape or jacket. See my peacock jacket here from last year. This year a long viking looking cape was in order. Again, I made a paper pattern out of some newspaper, to get a better idea of size for the back, the neck. I have shown here what the basic shapes should look like. Click here to download LongCape_SewingInstructions.  Please note that because my daughter will be wearing the cape while trick or treating I attached her shoulder armour to the short cape rather than the red shirt.