Make Your Own 'Super Mario Odyssey' Cappy

E3 has let me down. There, I said it. Not because of anything that was or wasn't shown, not because any game in particular struck me as a disappointment, but because now—the week after—I still cannot find a good tutorial demonstrating how to make Mario's new possessed hat friend, Cappy.

This is knowledge people need. "Myself but Inhabited by the Spirit of Mario and his Ghost Hat" is going to be the number one costume for those who don't want to completely half-ass or completely whole-ass Halloween this year; folks deserve a head start. And while we may yet be without a set of straightforward instructions there are plenty of good starting points for eager and aspiring Cappy-makers (Capperdashers?) out there to piece together on their own.

Thanks to the extremely high-detail assets Nintendo's released surrounding Super Mario Odyssey we can get a pretty good idea of Cappy's construction. They have an almost woolly finish for one thing, and a very soft and rounded shape. Given that, felt or fleece seem like the best choices of material. Fleece is a little better to work with than the cheaper and more readily available types of felt, but it can also be a bit too soft and therefore not ideal for maintaining shape. A little bit of fabric stiffening spray on the reverse side where needed might be needed to sculpt and hold things in place (and avoid the grandpa-cap look), especially towards the front of the hat where Cappy's eyes would need to be attached.

I'm not saying you can't make a pleather Cappy, by the way, I'm just saying it's not canon.

Cappy's design also rules out any hat styles with vertical seams. No gatsbies, no newsboys. This classic Mario hat tutorial by Cally Cruze is likely the best bet to use as a base. Technically Cappy doesn't have any visible seams, but short of felting and shaping the bulk of the hat in all one piece this is probably as close as most of us could reasonably get. If that one visible seam does bug you, though, be sure to press it flat (bone folders are excellent tools for this) and trim the excess material to minimize it.

It would also be a good idea to add something to stiffen up the brim, as promo art of Cappy depicts a lot of rigidity in that area that most older Mario hat patterns don't account for. Stiffening spray or cardstock glued between the layers should work, but a plastic brim cannibalized from a worn-out hat would be a little more durable…

The final touch is, of course, Cappy's haunting, gigantic eyes. A few felt ovals on a grey backing will get you there, but if you want that glossy look you may want to draw or print those peepers out on a bit of paper instead, back that with some cardstock, and seal it with a self-laminating sheet for that freshly-possessed and mostly-waterproof gleam.

Even without any step-by-step tutorials available, Super Mario Odyssey's Cappy is far from being an unattainable DIY project. Rabbids Peach, on the other hand…. I think I'm going to wait for the YouTube video on that one.