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See also: Costume ideas for the whole Octonauts Crew | Homemade Octonauts gift set, including DIY light-up Octo-Alert!
I ordered an awesome Captain Barnacles mask and cape for Halloween last year. Easy peasy.
Except, two days before Halloween, the set was nowhere to be found.
So off to Walmart I went, determined Captain Barnacles would make an appearance at the preschool Halloween parade.
Armed with felt, a glue gun, and some random clothing pieces — I think we pulled it off. It’s not fancy, but if you want a very basic DIY Captain Barnacles Halloween costume, here’s how I did it.
Be prepared — this is truly a low-key, cobbled together costume. If you want something more robust, you’ll need to search elsewhere. I got inspiration from other tutorials I found, mainly Kaceesix. The version below is basically a blue outfit, with key pieces added to make it look like Captain Barnacles (hat, collar, belt, and boot covers).
You’ll need:
- Felt (Blue/white/gray felt pack, or packs of one color felt, plus additional paper or felt colors for small pieces
- Fabric glue
- Velcro
Base Parts for a Captain Barnacles Costume: Outfit, Boots, and Hat/Gloves
Here’s your clothing shopping list. I went to Wal-Mart to grab it all in one go, since I didn’t have time to order for delivery.
- Blue long-sleeved shirt
- Blue pants
- Chunky winter boots
- White hat with ear flaps
- White fuzzy mittens
Outfit links and notes:
- Hat/gloves: The fuzzy white hat and gloves combo we bought was perfect — with ear flaps, fuzzy animal ears built-in on top, and accompanying gloves to imitate polar bear paws. BUT — the items are actually baby items. My 3 (almost 4) year-old was notably too big for them, but we somehow got the hat to stay on. Be warned, if you have a large-noggin toddler, you’ll need to try a different option. Here are some other ideas (note we haven’t tried these, but they may work for you!), all with Amazon or Target affiliate links:
- Knit hat with pom-pom ears (Amazon)
- Hat with a polar bear face (Amazon)
- Basic white mittens (Amazon)
- Outfit: Our original blue athletic-wear pieces are no longer available, but a basic sweatpants (Hanes) and long-sleeved t-shirt (Hanes) should do the trick. This footie pajamas set (Amazon) comes in blue and goes up to size 5 T.
Captain Barnacles Costume Felt Add-Ons
Rummage in your craft stuff or collect the following items from your local craft supplies store.
- Felt pieces: Dark blue (for accents, 2-3 sheets), light blue (4-5 sheets), yellow (one sheet), white (one sheet). Buy extra in case you make a mistake. Optional: I used foam sheet for the yellow, to make the belt pieces more sturdy.
- Color notes: Captain Barnacles has a dark teal uniform with lighter teal accents. Purchase your colors of felt based on the color of outfit you have. We went with more blue options than teal, since the outfit I found was a more blue than teal.
- Velcro/Hook and loop closures
- Elastic (Needed to attach felt pieces for extra wiggle room. Not required if you measure your felt pieces to overlap and attach, without elastic connectors)
- Printer/paper (or stellar hand-drawing skills)
- Fabric Glue or glue gun.
- Bonus: Laminator and laminating sheets, if you want durability
How to Make Captain Barnacles Costume Embellishments: Hat, Collar, Belt, Boot Covers
I pulled up multiple images of Captain Barnacles for reference and went to work.
HAT
[Update: Octonauts published this printable hat pattern on their Pinterest. Where was this two years ago?!?)
Materials: Light blue, dark blue and white felt, printed Octonauts logo to trace, and glue.
Process: Measure your child’s head while they’re wearing whatever hat you’re using. I created a felt band to fit around the hat, and then a separate front panel with the decor to attach to the band.
Cut the pieces for the band and secure them in a circle. I used hook and loop closures. My head band was made from two pieces, 12 x 2 inches.
Create the front panel:
- Lay down a full sheet of light blue felt and use this pattern to trace the outline.
- (To free-hand draw, place and center a mug about five inches from the bottom of your felt sheet. Starting from about three inches up on one side of the sheet, hand-draw your pattern up and around the top of the mug, and down to the other side, ending about three inches from the bottom on the other side.)
- Find an Octonauts logo (try Google Images), print and trace it onto white felt. Cut it, and glue it to the center of your front panel.
- Cut accent stripes for the bottom of the hat from dark blue felt. Glue on.
Attach the front panel to the headband.
COLLAR
Materials: Light blue and dark blue felt, hook and loop closures, glue
Process: Cut two strips out of light blue felt, 12 x 2 1/4 inches. Overlap the corners so they make a v-shape and secure them together to create the back of the collar.
Cut chevron shapes out of dark blue felt and glue them on the ends opposite the attached corners, aligning them to point down to the ends. (I made a printable chevron pattern if it’s helpful.)
Attach hook and loop closures to the free ends of the strips, one on the outside and one underneath. Align the ends to not completely overlap, creating a collar with two points (like a shirt collar).
I didn’t include the zipper feature with our costume, but feel free to experiment with your own ideas!
BELT
Materials: Light blue felt, yellow felt or foam sheet, paper, hook and loop closures, glue.
Process: Cut light blue felt pieces to fit around your child’s waist. Mine ended up a total of 19 inches long, plus elastic. I cut them 2.5 inches wide, but this is totally flexible based on how you want your belt to look.
Note: I used this type of elastic headband, cut as needed, to lengthen the belt. It was a bad decision. (This is what happens when you last minute shop for craft supplies!) I’d recommend either cutting your belt the correct length and use hook and loop closures, or buy more robust and neat looking elastic to attach the ends.
Measure, cut and attach the yellow bars. Ours were 3 x 1 inch.
Find a round object to trace (mug, bowl, etc.) to create your compass background on yellow felt/foam. Print or hand-draw your compass image to glue on top, and attach it to the belt. Laminate it for extra durability. (One change from the show in our costume: The compass on Captain Barnacles belt is a simple red and white arrow design. I used an actual compass image.)
BOOT COVERS
Materials: One sheet of light blue felt, elastic, attachment mechanism (hook and loop, safety pins, etc).
Process: These were super easy to cut — it’s a sheet of felt cut in two. The back is attached with the aforementioned headband elastic for easy on/off, but again — if you can get the felt to wrap around and attach with hook and loop or better thick elastic, try that. I used safety pins to ensure the elastic stayed attached to the felt.
I also made and laminated a “Captain Barnacles” name tag since most adults aren’t yet familiar with Octonauts.
The main theme here is “Enough.” It’s my word of the year for 2020, and I think it was inspired by this costume experience. (Kidding, sort of). Does it match the costume on TV? Not totally. Did someone still recognize my son without prompting? Yep. Did my kid love it? Absolutely. Did I have to spend a fortune and tons of time sewing? NO! Woohoo! It’s not perfect, but it’s enough.
Cartoon Photo References
Here’s a good shot of his hat and collar:
This could serve as a reference for the full outfit, including belt and boots:
Or you could just buy the mask and cape from Etsy, and make sure your kid doesn’t hide it in your closet and then forget about it. Don’t worry, we found everything I originally ordered…in December.
RESOURCES
