- samsnedorf
Making a bodice for the Storm cosplay
The bodice was probably the most difficult part of this cosplay and was the one piece that I kept putting off because I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to tackle it. After a few days of thought, I got the idea to use a one-piece swimming costume as a template and from there it actually ended up being fairly simple.
I began by laying the fabric out on a flat surface and placing the costume over it. Then using some marking chalk, I carefully outlined while leaving about 3cm extra all the way around, just in case I needed to adjust it in any way.
Laying a costume over the fabric as a template
I traced the back piece first which just had a straight line across for the top. I also made sure to leave a little extra for the gusset and cut that out. I then lay the costume on the fabric again, traced and left about 10cm extra on the top because I knew that I wanted to carefully shape the front.
From there, I pinned the fabric together and tried it on to see the fit. It was surprisingly good for my (low) level of skills.
My sewing machine has trouble with really thin fabric and for that reason, I cut out lengths of regular black fabric about 3cm wide which I then sewed into the seams of the costume to give the fabric a little more density, thus allowing my machine to pick up the thread from the bobbin.
Extra black fabric to make sewing easier
I unpinned the costume, flipped it inside out, then began adding the black fabric to the edges and repinned it. I did this only up the sides and along the gusset, leaving the top and leg holes open.
I tried it on a second time for shape and went back to trim off any edges that were longer than necessary. Then I carefully put a hem around the bottom area.
For the third time, I tried the costume on and looked at the bust part. Because I am fuller at the top, I knew it had to have a little extra support. I traced the shape that I wanted whilst wearing it to try get as accurate as fit as possible.
I took it off and folded it in half so that the cut would be identical on either side and began to cut a sweetheart shape into the front. It was a little high at first but I went in again and got it perfect.
From there, I needed to add the gold fabric. I folded the fabric and cut two long strips of about 6.5cm. I realised that they needed a little reinforcing around the top so I grabbed some leftover black felt from a previous project of mine, pinned it to the very top of the sweetheart shape, and once again drew an outline. I cut the felt out and tacked it along the top which made the shape a little stiffer.
Pinning felt to the top for support
I was then able to pin the gold fabric over and it held its shape a little better.
Rather than risk screwing the gold fabric up on my machine, I opted to sew the top part by hand just because it was delicate work and oddly shaped. It worked out better that way because it was more controlled.
Once it was sewn on the bodice, there was a lot of excess gold still left attached. What I chose to do was try the bodice on, take that extra gold and tie a bow in the back and then any excess from there, I cut off. It worked out perfectly. This way I had extra support and leftover gold to do the arm pieces with.
Sewing on the gold band
Storm's costume has a gold band that drapes down on either side over her arms so I took the remaining gold, hemmed it and sewed it on under the armpits on either side and joined them together at the back.
That was the final part of the sewing done and the costume is very near completion.
Sewing the gold armbands on
If you are interested in watching the full video, you can check it out here