Construction Details:

This was probably my most difficult costume to date, at least sewing-wise.

I made this out of 2-way stretch vinyl and self-drafted patterns. The vinyl doesn't quite stretch enough to make it fit as well as I'd like, and there is so much fabric missing from the cutouts and such that taking it in isn't really an option. However, it fits well enough, and I'm generally happy with how it turned out.

The main body, done in silver, is a leotard, and the black bolero, forming the long sleeves, is attached at the front zipper. I chose to do it in two pieces because that seems like how it would logically be constructed in real life, rather than having an awkward colorblocking effect with the black top. I attached them at the zipper because I didn't want anything to accidentally shift around, though it does make it much more difficult to put on and take off! The leotard has princess seams in the front and back, and the bolero has princess seams in the back, to improve the fit. The black waist piece is a separate piece that snaps on underneath the "metal" discs. (These discs are made of two types of buttons glued together and painted to look like aged metal. I wanted to make the design more battle-scarred than sexy and fetishy, which is also why I went with boots for footwear [the original design has stocking feet], though I'm not sure how well I succeeded?)

All of the silver "piping" is done with actual wire, and handsewn in place in as close to the positioning of the reference image as I could get. The handsewing of all the wire probably took the longest and was the most difficult of anything on this costume. I wanted to use actual wire to accentuate the cyber elements of the design, as well as using actual bits of hardware (washers, bolts, etc.) handsewn on as accents on the arms and at the neck. The waist cincher is edged in silver vinyl.

The visor is made of a ring of styrofoam that I covered in craft foam and then painted black on the outside, silver on the inside, and sprayed with clear gloss. It is surprisingly hard! I thought it would remain floppier than it did, but I'm glad that this method worked, and it created a very hard, smooth, shiny surface on the outside. It attaches to a headband with toothpicks so I can swivel it up and down, if needed. The inside is lined with white EL wire, though I will probably tear that out and replace it with LEDs or something else that is brighter. I want a bright light that shines back on my face, and EL simply doesn't cut it. The wires sticking out of and wrapped around the visor are old, broken A/V cables from a PSX, since that's what I had around, and I wanted to use something that would realistically be used to connect to a device. (If I didn't have anything around, I probably would have bought a generic cable of some type from a thrift store.)

The wires on my hands are also EL wires, with the converters hidden in the bracelets, that snap onto my knuckles. The EL wire isn't very bright, and after the amount of flexing it did while being attached to my hands for the few hours I have worn this costume, the phosphors are already starting to flake off and lose luminescence. I will also be replacing these with LEDs or some other, brighter light.

Sorry, you must be a registered user of and logged in to view and add comments. Either log in or register now!