How to Turn Your Little Brother Into Ash Ketchum (Or Make Your Own Sewing Pattern)

Also, how to create your own patterns for costumes! Which may be more useful for some of you.

The first step for turning your brother into Ash Ketchum is to buy him an Ash hat during Chicago Comic Con, but the first step to creating your own costume pattern by scratch is to snatch all the free newspapers from your student union. Or get yourself a newspaper through some more legitimate means. You really only need one newspaper. I went a little overboard because my brother is abnormally tall.

I'M 5'10" DAMMIT.

I then got my brother's measurements--across the chest, from the underarm to the hip, neck to shoulder, end of the shoulder to where you want the armpit to hit, and from the shoulder to the hip.

Then I searched online for patterns for button-down shirts. I wanted to see what the collar and arm holes looked like, but I didn't want to copy it exactly because the only free patterns I could find were for women. So I adjusted things a little bit in my head, and began to sketch the back and front of the shirt on the newspaper. Each of these are only half of the shirt. So you have one of the front pieces and half of the back piece. Don't worry, it's still all under control.

Use your cutting mat to measure the distance from the neck to the shoulder, and mark that across the top. Then sketch in the length from the shoulder to the armpit. Following that, measure from the armpit to the waistline. Basically, it looks like this:

You can use these points to sketch in the neck and the armholes. These will be curved lines, but you want your shoulder and side seams to be straight lines.

This is your front piece. Your back piece will be exactly the same except that the neck hole will be much, much shallower.

I don't have a picture of this step either (I suck) but then you measure how long you want the sleeve to be. You mark this length for each side of the sleeve (also determine the width and cut your pattern to be that wide, plus the seam allowance). The top of the pattern will need to be arched to have enough room for the roundness of the shoulder. At least, that's why I think there's an arch. Dammit, Jim, I'm a gamer, not a seamstress! Also, I'm a Trekker.

NO! BAD KITTEH!

Here's a picture of my cat. Because reasons.

The far piece is the front pattern. The middle piece is the back pattern. You lay it out so that the center is on a fold of the fabric, so it opens out to be the whole back. The near piece, of course, is the sleeve.

Now I don't have pictures do to a total walk though, but here are a few in-progress pictures.

Adding the sleeves to the "vest" of the combined fronts and back.

The basic piece of the shirt. 

Added the yellow trim and now hemming the opening of the shirt.

And here's my brother wearing the costume! And that's how you turn your little brother into Ash Ketchum.

Have a nice night, guys!