DIY Medieval Knight Children’s Costume

Learn how I created a medieval knight children’s costume for Halloween! The knight accessories, including a helmet, sword and shield, were made using a kid’s craft book!

Hello Crafty Friends! I’m back with another handmade Halloween costume to share with you, this year it is for a medieval knight! I really had fun making this costume, especially the accessories. My son asked to go as a medieval knight for Halloween, so I made his little sister an adorable fire-breathing pink dragon! This was such a cute sibling idea and the costumes together were adorable.

After finding out my son wanted to go as a knight, I headed to our library to find some books and ended up finding an amazing book by Usborne called “Knights and Castles things to make and do“. It was such a cute book and it had tutorials for making a knight helmet, shield and sword – perfect for both pretend play and Halloween costumes! 

The tutorials in the book were a great jumping off point for making all of the knight’s accessories. I looked through the other books we checked out and came up with the basic design for the rest of the costume. I created the pattern for the tabard, belt, and chainmail shirt and cowl.

While I do not have step-by-step pictures for this costume, I hope this post will still be helpful if you are planning to make your own knight Halloween costume. I enjoy creating handmade Halloween costumes especially when I can get creative and just make things on the fly, often times without a pattern. While that works for me, I know not everyone works that way. I’d recommend starting with a knight pattern from Simplicity, Burda Kids, or McCalls to get the base of the costume made.

DIY Medieval Knight Costume for Kids

Supplies Used

• Tabard
  • Blue and green velour (crushed panne velvet) 
  • Gold and black trim
  • Black Velcro
• Chainmail shirt and cowl
  • Silver confetti dot fabric
• Sword
  • Cardboard
  • Gray felt
  • Silver glitter HTV (I used Silhouette Brand but I’ve linked to Siser brand which is similar)
  • Blue cording
  • Hot glue
• Helmet
  • Poster board
  • Gray felt
  • Silver Glitter HTV
  • Two decorative buttons like these La Mode Silver Antique buttons
  • Needle and gray thread
• Shield
  • Cardboard
  • Gray felt
  • Silver Glitter HTV
  • Hot Glue

The Tabard

I created a tabard using green and blue velour from Joann Fabrics along with decorative trim from my stash. A tabard was a garment from the middle ages that could be worn by knights to show their coat of arms and colors. I made this tabard with blue and green sections and divided them down the front with gold trim. For a tutorial on how to make a tabard, you can check out my post on making a Robot Costume. This knight tabard was made the same was as the robot tabard, but lined in blue velour.

I created a belt to go around the tabard using black glittery fabric and a few layers of trim. I used interfacing with the black glittery fabric to give the belt stability. 

The Chainmail Shirt and Cowl

I wanted to add a bit of “chainmail” to the costume, so I used silver confetti dot fabric from Joann Fabrics to make a shirt and a cowl. I used one of my son’s shirts to create a pattern for the chainmail shirt, though I ran out of time before Halloween and did not have time to hem it or finish the neckline! Luckily it didn’t matter much as it was under the tabard!

The chain mail cowl was also created using the confetti dot fabric and connected to the tabard. I cut a circle with a hole in the center for the head. I cut the back of it open and then draped it on the tunic to create the cowl, letting it overlap in folds along the shoulder lines. 

The Knight Helmet

The helmet is my favorite part! The Usborne Knight book shows how to make it using paper. I followed the instructions making it from white poster board and a pipe cleaner to fit it on my son’s head. 

Once I was happy with the fit, I created it out of grey felt. To add some sparkle, I used Silhouette heat transfer material in silver glitter. No need for a cutting machine, just cut it with a scissors and iron it on one side of the felt. I love the glitz it adds to the front of the helmet. 

The Sword and Shield

While the helmet was my favorite part, the sword and shield were my son’s favorite! I made the shield following the basic guide in the book using gray felt and the silver glitter HTV.  I added a large loop of felt to the back of the shield, so that his arm could slide through and it would be easy for him to carry.

The sword was made using cardboard, gray felt, silver glitter HTV and blue cording. It held up for Halloween and a few weeks of play at home before becoming pretty flimsy. While I didn’t manage to get a lot of process photos of this costume, I did get some of the sword! I put them together below so you can see the general idea of how the sword came together.

I really love the way this costume turned out! It looked really cute on my son and it made a fun sibling costume set when paired with the pink dragon! I hope this post will give you inspiration if you are planning to make your own knight costume!