Ninja Warrior Shirts: They're Easy to Make!

Henry wanted a Ninjago party when he turned 7. Fine by me--surely there are all sorts of Ninjago-themed products out there, right?

A quick trip through the party store yielded NO Lego Ninjago. Tons of TMNT, but no Ninjago--not even any Lego stuff. 

Ok. Lemme rethink this. What was I going to the party store to get exactly? A bunch of licensed doodads that every parent will have to surreptitiously throw out after bedtime? I don't want that anyway.

I decided that I would limit the spending on each child to $5. With that $5, I was going to give each kid something they might really use: A karate gi.

I know karate and ninja aren't the same, but we're talking about 7-year-olds. I thought I could risk it.

I went to Joann's and found t-shirts on sale for $2.27 each. I bought 10. Then the felt by the yard was $8.99. I bought 1 yard. DONE!

Here's what I did with them:

Step 1: 

Lay out the shirt (this is so you can take a deep cleansing breath before you start slicing and sewing. This poor shirt has no idea what you have in store for it. Say a little prayer.)

Step 2: 

Fold it in half lengthwise 

as carefully as possible--no stress or anything

Step 3: 

Slide your scissors into the groove of the 

center fold and cut through the front of the shirt (not the back, silly!)

You did it! This is what you should have: 

Step 23 (I lost count):

Now, for people who want more precision, get your iron and a ruler and some other tools I don't have and figure out angles and stuff. For everyone else, just fold down one side of the shirt at an angle. I truly eyeballed it. Then I held both ends in a ninja grip until I got the lock down on the sewing machine. 

THIS is my sewing machine. I want a new 

one for my birthday. But for now, this is what I got. It works. 

A real gi is white and has three stitches 

on each side. I want to be really authentic, 

so I made three stitches as well.  

Wow. It's so authentic.

Step 54: 

I then repeated the angle guessing for 

the right side and then sewed it up too.  

See? 

The felt served as the waistbands and the things that go around the head. I have no idea what those are called. Sweat bands doesn't sound 

very ninja-like, so I'm gonna call them super-strength head wraps. 

 I cut the super strength head wraps in 2-inch 

widths, in case you're interested.

And because I had so much money left over, 

I bought myself a latte. 

No, wait. 

I bought suckers. And some ninja eyes off Etsy. 

I needed the coffee more than they needed sugar, but hey, it's a party.

Here are two super ninjas enjoying their outfits:

And here's more of the gang: 

Adorable.

Whoops, I mean scary! 

All that, after tax, still got me under budget at $46.83. Still enough for that latte.

Thanks for looking at this post. I hope you're inspired to make whatever you need!

Have a ninjatastic day!

Until next time, stay crafty!

Alison