Green "Arrow" Costume question. . .

Hey there - this is my very first post to the forum and very much looking forward to response and reading more and more posts!

So my question - Halloween is always a fun time in our household and with my 9-year old wanting to go as a pint-sized Harley Quinn, I though I'd run with the DC theme and go as Arrow from the CW show . . . ordered up a rather well done costume from eBay and with some minor adjustments/customization, should be a very cool costume. My question is how to best soften up the hooded part of the costume - right now it looks brand new, crisp, out of the bag. I want to give it a worn look . . . the material is some sort of canvas . . . any suggestions how to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance!

Usually I suggest putting something through the wash, but I don't think that would be a good thing for the rest of the garment. What you could do is wet just the hood, wring it out, then sit yourself next to a fan and work the hood out with your hands while the fan slowly dries it, which will help the fibers loosen up a bit but still allow the hood to dry without creases. If you just want to eliminate the "store-bought crease," spray some water along the creases and dry it with a hair dryer set to "low," tugging the crease out periodically. You may have to do either of these multiple times before you get the desired appearance.

If you want actual visual wear, you can take some sort of abrasive material (how abrasive depends on how tough the fabric is, I don't know since I can't see/touch it) and rub it along the places that might see the most contact with stuff other than air i.e. the front sides where one would pull on or push off the hood, the back of the head, perhaps the top crease, etc. Always be careful with this though, as a little bit tends to go a long away and you don't want to fray the fabric.

Thanks so much for the suggestions, Vox . . . I'll give them a try!!

-pmk