MY SUIT (SHIRT)

My shirt is a pretty similar story to my pants. For my first costume, I was looking to quick, cheap, and solutions that were easy to acquire from resources familiar to me. I had no clue how to pull off an all-fur shirt, nor did I know that might be part of a traditional Grampus costume. For the first costume, I opted for a black “pirate” shirt that I bought off of Amazon. I liked the vintage look with the flow and ties, and felt it better suited the Krampus look. I was covering it with the robe, so you would only see a small portion of it anyway, and it didn’t really matter.

With the first shirt, I noticed that my human shoulders just weren’t broad enough to fill out the costume to the dominating size I wanted from my Krampus look. In a pinch, I pulled out an old black T-shirt and threw it on, under the pirate shirt. I tore apart an old bed pillow and stuffed my shoulders full of the stuffing, so it would be disguised, and build out the shoulders a bit more.

For my second costume, I had purchased fur scraps from a shop in Austria. I had already completed my pants with some of the fur scraps I had purchased. I had an entirely different style and color of fur scraps left, that I hadn’t used on the pants. They weren’t enough to create an entire shirt, but if I retained the robe, I could hide the unfinished parts once again, and complete the costume.

I purchased an oversized denim, button-up work shirt. I made sure the denim wouldn’t stretch and lose its shape under the weight of the fur. Not knowing how to sew, I got out the hot glue gun again, as well as my large pile of glue sticks. I glued the fur scraps to the front of the shirt, leaving the opening so I could take it on and off. I only had enough fur to glue to the front of the shirt, and to the cuffs. That was fine though, since I only needed to cover the parts that would be exposed under the robe.

I completed the shirt by tucking and gluing down the collar. I added velcro along the button strip so it would connect together. I also added a leather belt to keep the velcro in place and keep the front of the shirt closed.

I still had the shoulder problem with my new shirt. My quick solution wasn’t going to hold up against the weight of the fur. I went on Amazon again and purchased an inexpensive set of hockey shoulder pads that I could easily, and comfortably, wear under the shirt. That gave me the desired shoulder volume, and a chest full of hair, for the suit.