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Gandalf's cape is a 'U' shape, where it's longer in front and back than the sides. For my recreation, we used this lovely linen we found for $3/yd. The fabric was also 60" wide which was an added bonus. It's a little hard to explain what I did without providing pictures. You can find great instructions for the cape on the ACS site. So, I took two lengths of the linen and sewed them together to create the back seam. I only sewed up to the middle of the wide rectangle I was creating because that was where I made a hole for his head. The ends of the large rectangle were shaped so that it didn't drag the ground when my brother had his hands down. I drafted the hood myself and pleated this into the hole for the neck. The hood is lined in a white crepe that I had in my fabric stash and the neckline is held together with an extra cloak clasp I had lying around. I added embroidery with a simple feather stitch down the front edges as well as around the opening of the hood. You can kinda see this in the third picture.

       

Left to Right: front, full, detail
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To create the vest, I cut a large rectangle longer in height than width out of a quitled muslin. I then cut a circle directly in the middle for my brother's head. This was finished with bias tape. The sides were then serged and hemmed. The leather panels were made from bone colored vinyl from Joanns that I eyeballed to size and zigzagged on. When the vest is worn, it goes over my brother's head like one of those 'sandwich' advertising boards. There are two grommets on either side which are laced together with tan cording to keep the vest closed.
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Gandalf's quilted double sleeves are actually attached to his undertunic. The tunic laces at the neck and is split at least in the front and back for riding. I'm not sure if it's split at the sides as well. For my recreation, I used cheap muslin which I doubled so that it wasn't so see through. It was put together like a simple T tunic. There are eight grommets at the neckline (four on each side), which are laced with tan cording. I made two sets of sleeves out of two different quitled muslins. The longer lower sleeve is shaped at the end so it's curved and held together with two grommets and cording. I had planned on grommeting the entire length of the opening at the sleeve but ran out of time. The shorter outer sleeve was a simple rectangle cut to size and sewn together. Once each sleeve was finished separately, I basted them together so they acted as one and then sewed these to the tunic. When I first measured my brother for this costume, I cut out the tunic and had it partially together before life got in my way. When I finally got a chance to work on it again, it was three months later and my brother had grown! Curses... So, of course the tunic was now too small. To get around this, I added a triangle of fabric to the back, much like a gore. You can kinda see this in the final picture of the tunic back below. Other than that, I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. :)
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I made a simple set of pants out of muslin that I drafted from a pair of pajama pants that fit him. I used two layers of muslin so it wasn't so see through. The waist is finished with elastic since it's not seen anyway. I added a deep hem at the bottom so he can wear it for a few more Halloweens. ;)
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We made Gandalf's staff using a PVC pipe bought from Home Depot and a decorative finial we found in the curtain section of Walmart. All of this was SuperGlue-d together and then spray painted white. We also have a sword and scabbard from the Dollar Store - we painted the scabbard a dark brown color. Both the staff and sword have been sprayed with clear acrylic to keep the paint from flaking off the plastic. However, in the end, this didn't work and began rubbing off the scabbard after extended use - so next time I'd use the spray paint made especially for plastic to get around this. Gandalf also has two belts that he wears - a white braided leather belt and a darker leather double belt which holds his sword and scabbard. We found a cheap braided belt at the Dollar Store and spray painted it white. For the second belt, I took two leather belts bought cheap at GoodWill and cut them to size. The first belt goes around his hips and is partially hooked closed. The 'tail' is not hooked through the buckle - instead the buckle of the second belt is hooked through it. The second belt then swags down, holding his scabbard and sword. It is attached in the back to the first belt with leather rivets which I bought at Michaels. I used a leather hole punch, also from Michaels, to make the necessary holes. You can somewhat see how it did this in the front and back pictures of the final vest.

       

Left to Right: staff full, detail, sword full
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Left to Right: cape front/back, vest front/back, tunic & pants front/back, neckline closeup, sleeve closeup
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He was really diggin' the deep hood. ;)

   

Left to Right: with friend
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To see the reference images used to make this costume,
check out my Gandalf the White Research.