The first part done was the leggings. These were fairly simple – we decided to use lycra for the entire cosplays, so we got two different colours for the leggings. I used my regular leggings pattern from previous projects and just made lines at 10 cm intervals from a bit below the crotch and all the way down. Then I cut these out of the different fabrics alternating colours with 1 cm seam allowance, combined them into two regular legs and finished the leggings like I normally would.

I usually don’t mind working with stretchy fabrics, but the lycra was really annoying to work with on my overlocker, because it’s so slippery and stretchy that my knife had a hard time getting into it and sometimes it would just fold the fabric up instead.  Maybe it’s time for a knife sharpening.

Next up, I worked on the dress. I didn’t want to invent the wheel, so I bought this dress pattern that was similar from Etsy. I used the midi dress and added some more length and width to it. Then I stitched it up in some jersey to test the fit and to find the right shape and placement for the swirl.

I transferred my lines to the pattern and cut it out from the two fabrics. The top part goes under the skirt part, so I added extra seam allowance on the top-fabric and none on the bottom.

Then I used temporary spray adhesive to place them on top of each other before stitching it in place.

The glue ensures that nothing moves around while stitching – lycra is very “alive” and if you’re not careful, they might get off-set from each other and create puckers.

I used a zig-zag seam very close to the edge of the top fabric to stitch it down. The unevenness in the first photo went away after I washed and ironed the fabric.

Next, I worked on the boots. I used a pair that I also used for a different cosplay as base.

Then I wrapped my foot/shoe/leg in ceran wrap and duct tape. I marked off the front and back lines and the center line between those two on the inside of my legs – these will be my seams and my zipper-seam. I made loads of registration lines (lines that go across the seam lines), so I would be able to line up everything later.

Let’s take a moment to admire boot v. 1, which is now in the trash. 

You’d think I had learned something about bad quality pleather, but no… This one lasted until I had finished stitching in the zipper before the vinyl layer started coming off the fabric and the whole thing just started peeling. Into the trash bin it went, and I waited a week for a new pleather to arrive…

The new pleather is way stiffer, which I think is good, because it wrinkles less and stays better up. Here you see the back with all my registration marks. It really helps a lot with getting the shape right!

And tadaaa – the finished boot! The heel is “free” and showing from the boot inside the boot cover, but the front of the foot has fabric going under it, so the cover doesn’t slide up. Nothing is glued to the original boot, so I can still take it out and use it for other cosplays. Yay!
I think the new pleather colour is a lot nicer than the original, so I’m not too terribly sad about the first one being bad.

Now there’s only one thing missing – I saved the best for last!

Wings!

I started out by drawing the wing shape on my computer using the comic as a reference.

Then I printed out a couple of versions on paper until I got a size I liked. This one is visible from the front while not being super huge – I can *almost* fit through doors!

I transferred the pattern to an 0,5 mm thick clear PVC plate (the kind that is used in frames etc (This kind). Then I cut it out with regular scissors – it’s thin enough for that.

To get the holes, I cut an X with a hobby knife, so my scissors could get in there, then I also cut that with scissors

After they were cut out, I first sanded them a tiny bit to make the surface a bit rough, so it would take the colour easier. Then I airbrushed them back on both sides. Regular acrylic paint or rattle can paint would probably have worked also, but I had airbrush on hand, so that’s what I used.

Next, I took a 2mm thick galvanized steelwire and cut around 90 cms to use for the spine/mounting structure. I got the wire from a hardware store – I think it’s used in fencing. It’s this one (sorry, Danish shop).

Then I wrapped the parts that will go onto the wings themselves in black electric tape. Most guides here will say to use floral tape, but I didn’t find any black, so I went with electrical tape, which I found worked really well, because the next thing I did was glue it onto the wings, and the tape and the plastic fused together really well.

I used a sandwich of clear vinyl, my PVC-wing and holographic foil to finish the wings.

The vinyl is this type, which is used for e.g. protecting windows or books or other items from getting scratched (I assume). The holo foil I had to buy on Amazon, as I didn’t find this locally.

What I did was put the vinyl with the sticky side up, remove the protective film, tape it to the table, so it couldn’t move around and place the wing on it. Then I carefully rolled the holo film on top, smoothing it out as much as I could.

I flipped it so the vinyl side was up and heated the hole thing with my heat gun on medium temperature. Just carefully – too much heat will cause bubbles.

Any bubbles that did appear, I used a needle to punkture. Then I trimmed off the excess, leaving about 5mm around the edges, so the vinyl keeps everything together.
They’re far from perfect, but for my first pair of wings, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out!

And that was all! My cosplay is complete!

Gallery coming soon!