Home-made Robinson Crusoe Costume (from recycled school clothes)

My kids celebrated World Book Day at school this week. After much discussion, my older son decided to dress up as Robinson Crusoe the shipwrecked hero of his favourite (audio)book.

I used some outgrown school clothes to make his costume.

First I found one of his old school shirts from last year  that was on the grubby side anyway... 

I threw three black teabags into about 1.5-2 liters of boiling water. 

 I put shirt into the tea-dye and let the pot boil for a couple of minutes before turning the heat off and leaving the shirt to soak for an hour or so.

I then rinsed the shirt in cold water and hung it out to dry.

When it dried, I ripped off parts of the sleeves, and tore into the pocket. (As it is still cold out I was concerned A would freeze with too many tears...)

The shirt turned out really well, much better than I had hoped for.

For the bottom part of the costume I used a pair of scruffy P.E trousers that were already riddled with holes for some reason.

I cut the cuffs off the legs in a zigzag fashion. And cut a few holes into it.

A added an old scarf as a belt onto which he strung the pouch he uses for Cubs and tucked in a wooden knife S lent him. Alternatively it's quite easy to make a weapon from sticks and rope.

What I really like about this costume is that I could recycle old clothes that we no longer have a use for, my only added cost was 3 teabags, and the fact that the costume is comfortable to wear, its not made of that clingy polyester material like most of the cheaper costumes you can buy in shops.