Check out how I made my son a Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume! My son and I love reading the Wimpy Kid books together (also I am grateful that it is a book where the text is large enough for these old eyes to read!).
My boy is just like his mother, always a little left of centre and likes to be a little different to everyone else. I was sure he would choose Grey Heffley but apparently, he’s not cool enough and it had to be Rodrick Heffley.
I know the majority of crafters out there are probably looking for a Grey Heffley costume over Rodrick. It would be very easy to adapt this costume to suit Greg’s character (I’ll give you some suggestions further below).
As this project was for Book Week I decided to create the cartoon character from the book. I thought this one would be more fun! You could also create your costume based on the movie characters which would probably be a great way to go if you’re short on time.
As my boys get older, it’s getting harder to come up with ‘cool’ Book Week costumes. Each year they seem to set me an even bigger challenge! But that’s okay, I never shy away from a crafting challenge. If you’re still pondering ideas, I made this Dog Man costume too.
This Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume went down a treat with all of Campbell’s friends. He even got plucked out at the school parade to briefly speak about his costume in front of the kids, parents and teachers.
I thought he would shy away from it but he embraced it quite well. I quietly felt like I got a Mama gold star for this costume, hehe!
Let’s get into the DIY and I’ll show you how I made a Rodrick Heffley costume for Book Week.
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid Costume Steps
Supplies for Diary of a Wimpy Costume
- Plain white t-shirt
- Plain black pants
- Stretchy headband
- Large sheet of white poster card
- Scrap cardboard
- Black fabric paint
- Black sewing thread
- Sewing needle or sewing machine
- Black tights/pantyhose or sheer organza ribbon
- Large round plate (mine was 30cm/12″)
- Masking tape
- Paintbrush
- Black marker pen (chisel-tip is ideal but not required)
- Black fabric/laundry marker or bullet tip black marker
- Hot glue gun
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Access to Internet and a printer
I usually like to have a photo with all of the supplies that I used. However, with this project, I just went off the cuff and figured it out as I went. So unfortunately I don’t have one for you today.
This supplies list is quite long but not set in concrete. I’ll also give you some alternate suggestions as I go through the tutorial. Sometimes it’s simply more about what you have around the house.
You may also choose to only make part of this costume, so I’ll create a mini-supply list under each section.
Step 1: Making the Loded Diper shirt
This Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume was made before I had my Cricut so I had to come up with an old-fashioned way to do this. If making the tee doesn’t appeal to you, you can of course buy a Loded Diper shirt too.
Unfortunately for me, if I’m not organised enough to order items 2-4 weeks in advance then it won’t reach me in time. So crafting my own is often my best choice.
If you need your costume to last longer than one occasion, be sure to read the washing and pre-treating instructions for the paint. Typically when I make costumes it’s in the hope that they will just get through the day.
But my son had a little use out of this t-shirt and several washes. After that, he stained it (why I never dress them in white!) and then outgrew it. So let’s get onto crafting our Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume shirt!
Supplies you’ll need for the Loded Diper Shirt
- Plain white t-shirt
- Scrap cardboard
- Black fabric paint
- Paintbrush
- Black fabric/laundry marker or bullet tip black marker
- Access to Internet and a printer
Printing your Loded Diper text
I started by doing a Google image search for a Loded Diper logo. Once you have found one, download the image. This is typically done by hovering over the image, then right click > Save Image.
Once you have the image you can then print it in black ink. Keep in mind the size of your shirt, you may need to adjust the printer scale settings to fit.
If you are unsure of the size, you can print a trial one and put it against your shirt to check. My son is a giant 8-year-old (similar to the size of an 11-12 year old) in these pictures if that helps give you perspective.
Painting your Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume shirt
Place the scrap cardboard inside your shirt to protect the paint from seeping through to the back of the shirt and getting stuck. Line up the printed Loded Diper text under the shirt.
Given it’s a white shirt, it should be fairly easy to see through to the black image. It might also be a good idea to tape it to the scrap cardboard to ensure the printout doesn’t move.
For the next step, you will need to trace around the text outline. I had a fabric marker so I used this. However, you could use a marker or a pencil may even work. Ideally something with a thinner, bullet-tip point.
Once you have traced around the text, simply paint inside the lines. I kept an eye on the shirt as I was worried the paint would stick to the cardboard.
I didn’t have any troubles at all though. I just kept moving the cardboard from time to time whilst the paint was drying.
Step 2: Making the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Mask
Supplies you’ll need for the Rodrick Heffley mask
- Stretchy headband
- Large sheet of white poster card
- Black sewing thread
- Sewing needle or sewing machine
- Black tights/pantyhose or sheer organza ribbon
- Large round plate (mine was 30cm/12″)
- Masking tape
- Black marker pen (chisel-tip is ideal but not required)
- Hot glue gun
- Pencil
- Scissors
Tracing Rodrick’s face
Prior to getting started with the face, I created a rough template of the size of my son’s face (Image 1 below). I just did this from copy paper to get an idea of the spacing and where I would need to place the ‘viewing hole’ in the mask.
This isn’t necessary but you may want to check by lining up your work as you go with your child’s face. My son was away for a few days so I needed something to refer to.
The next step in our Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume will be to start by drawing the face in reverse. You will see why as we go along but if you follow the pictures it shouldn’t be too tricky.
Using your large plate, and the white poster card, trace around the edges in pencil (Image 2 below). Be sure to leave space around the edges for Rodrick’s hair and ears.
After that, I continued to sketch some thick hair strands, ears and facial features in pencil (Image 3 below). You can refer to my images to see what to draw and where. Then cut Rodrick’s head out and the mouth where your child’s eyes will be (Image 4 below).
Adding some colour to your mask
Okay, so I hate to say ‘add some colour’ because technically black and white are not colours (that’s just the designer in me being picky!). But basically, we’re going to add some life to Rodrick now.
I used a chisel-tip Sharpie pen to make this process a little quicker. However, the type of tip won’t matter too much, just use what you have.
So using your black marker, trace only the inside of the nose and outline Rodrick’s eyes and eyebrows, as I have in (Image 5 below).
Now we flip the head (Image 6 below)! It doesn’t really matter if you didn’t take this into account at the start, it just means your Rodrick will face a different way.
With your black marker, trace around to bring your Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume to life. Go over the lines we marked out on the other side.
I left a space between the edges and the black lines to make it look more like the character. You can refer to my image below for how I finished the outlining.
Step 3: Behind the mask
These are the last few steps and the all-important functional step for making sure we can attach the Rodrick Heffley mask.
Cover the mouth ‘eye holes’ of your mask
Attach the black tights (or in my case, sheer ribbon) across the mouth (Image 1 below). As I used ribbon, this is where I used my hot glue gun.
However, it really depends on what you’re going to be using here. You might get away with masking tape. Alternate options to tights or ribbon could be sheer fabric or anything black and seethrough. I even contemplated using some fly screen offcuts I had in the shed.
Create a headband
I cut some scrap paper from the white card to attach to the stretchy headband (Image 2 below). The size and shape will depend on your headband but it was an almost square shape that I then folded in half to fit the width of the headband. I used my sewing machine to attach the paper to the headband but you could hand stitch too.
I used the template of my son’s face to check where I needed to attach the headband to the mask (Image 3 below). After this, I simply used plenty of masking tape to attach (Image 4 below).
I thought this party might not last until the end of the day. But I’m happy to report that it lasted the entire day and months later is still intact!
Step 4: Bring your Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume together
Book Week dress-up day is where the hard work put into your Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume is going to be all worth it! I dressed my son in black sweatpants and white sneakers.
Then, of course, sent him along to school with his favourite Wimpy Kid book (at the time). The picture below is with his brother who dressed up as Anh Do’s Ninja Kid.
Adapt to suit Greg Heffley’s character
But what if you want a different Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume? This would be easy to adapt, following similar instructions. I would search Google images for pictures of the character you want to be.
For this example, we’ll use Greg Heffley. On the mask, simply change the style of hair (3 small tufts). I would then remove the eyebrows completely since Grey isn’t as moody as Rodrick and doesn’t need them!
Instead of making the Loded Diper shirt, you simply use a plain white tee. This Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume would be much quicker to make too.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume conclusion
I hope you enjoy making your Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume! And your kiddo got a great thrill out of it too. There are many ways that you could put your own spin on this or save yourself some money by using other materials that you have around the house.
Have you made your own Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume? I’d love to know how it went and any alternate materials you used. Comment below!
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