All Thor posts can be found here.
I started the idea of the Thor cosplay back in 2017, while I was still working on my Master's degree. The first piece (bracer) took about 4 months, and the hammer wasn't finished until the end of 2018, mostly due to time and prioritizing other hobbies. While several of the pieces overlapped at the end of 2018, it wasn't until early 2019 when I realized I wanted to actually get serious and finish the cosplay in time for this year's Baltimore ComicCon.
Most of the things I've made start out with a base pattern and get modded along the way. I'd done a sketch of the Thor skirt and... tabard? Skirt tabard? Frontispiece? Whatever it was called, I wanted it to be on the same waistband as the skirt, because I hate layering things. I started with Simplicty pattern 8719, made a mock-up for the draping back, cut it down, made another for the front drape, cut THAT down, and then laid all three of the pieces out to make the final.
Had a bit of a revelation with the fabric shopping for this outfit. I found a really nice faux suede for the skirt and a thick, drapey material for the cape, but then started second-guessing myself. They weren't ruinously expensive, but nor were they cheap, and the thermoplastic materials and tools had already cost a not-casual-costume amount of money. I didn't have a budget for the outfit, per se, but I try to be pretty frugal, especially with student loans still hanging over my head. I looked at cheaper fabric that "would do, probably" and waffled for a bit before deciding not to undermine my hard work on thermoplastics with cheap accessories. That said, it was expensive enough that I didn't want to risk ruining it and having to buy it again, so I was pretty careful with mock-ups and cutting out.
Turns out, going with the better fabric had an unexpected bonus: you don't have to hem faux suede. I cut down the back of the skirt after the initial cut above, but that's still a long, curved outer edge, and I'm very pleased that I didn't have to hem it. I happened to have some brown canvassy material left over from an earlier Jedi cosplay, so I sketched out a rough shape, sewed two pieces together to get clean edges, and did a decorative stitch about 3/4" from the edge with an extra bit in the bottom center. It took about an hour to mark out the design as precisely as possible, but it turned out really nicely. In hindsight, I probably should have put a stiffener between the layers, but at least it's shaped so it stays hanging down and doesn't get caught between my legs as I walk.
It took some trial and error, but I got the tabard and skirt lined up on a single waistband, added some closures, and voila, skirts done! I eventually went back and cut it down a bit more, so it doesn't drag on the ground when I have the boots on, because when you're loaded up with costuming, having to readjust after you or someone else steps on the back of your skirt is... difficult.
I found this pattern online for the cape, but didn't realize until after I laid everything out that it was limited in length by the width of the fabric. I'd initially wanted a full-length cape, but sometimes reality smacks you in the face and you just have to roll with it. Made a mock-up, followed the pattern, hemmed a stupidly long, difficult, curved hem (didn't time it but it was at least 30 minutes), and of course ran into another problem: the shoulders as made with this pattern would be much wider than the shoulder straps on the breastplate. After a few choice words, I ended up mostly following the pattern, but mashing it together more closely and ended up with only a little bit of overhang that gets covered by the brooches.
How does one attach a heavy fabric cape to a hard "metal" breastplate, you ask? Velcro! Sticky velcro base on the breastplate, sew-on velcro on the shoulder tabs, and voila! A cape.
As noted above, I ended up cutting the skirt up a bit so it's not dragging on the floor, which makes the cape look a bit less silly for being short, but you get the idea. It's fun and flowy and drapey and I absolutely swish around the house with it while singing the Darth Vader theme. Because why not.
I started the idea of the Thor cosplay back in 2017, while I was still working on my Master's degree. The first piece (bracer) took about 4 months, and the hammer wasn't finished until the end of 2018, mostly due to time and prioritizing other hobbies. While several of the pieces overlapped at the end of 2018, it wasn't until early 2019 when I realized I wanted to actually get serious and finish the cosplay in time for this year's Baltimore ComicCon.
Most of the things I've made start out with a base pattern and get modded along the way. I'd done a sketch of the Thor skirt and... tabard? Skirt tabard? Frontispiece? Whatever it was called, I wanted it to be on the same waistband as the skirt, because I hate layering things. I started with Simplicty pattern 8719, made a mock-up for the draping back, cut it down, made another for the front drape, cut THAT down, and then laid all three of the pieces out to make the final.
Had a bit of a revelation with the fabric shopping for this outfit. I found a really nice faux suede for the skirt and a thick, drapey material for the cape, but then started second-guessing myself. They weren't ruinously expensive, but nor were they cheap, and the thermoplastic materials and tools had already cost a not-casual-costume amount of money. I didn't have a budget for the outfit, per se, but I try to be pretty frugal, especially with student loans still hanging over my head. I looked at cheaper fabric that "would do, probably" and waffled for a bit before deciding not to undermine my hard work on thermoplastics with cheap accessories. That said, it was expensive enough that I didn't want to risk ruining it and having to buy it again, so I was pretty careful with mock-ups and cutting out.
Turns out, going with the better fabric had an unexpected bonus: you don't have to hem faux suede. I cut down the back of the skirt after the initial cut above, but that's still a long, curved outer edge, and I'm very pleased that I didn't have to hem it. I happened to have some brown canvassy material left over from an earlier Jedi cosplay, so I sketched out a rough shape, sewed two pieces together to get clean edges, and did a decorative stitch about 3/4" from the edge with an extra bit in the bottom center. It took about an hour to mark out the design as precisely as possible, but it turned out really nicely. In hindsight, I probably should have put a stiffener between the layers, but at least it's shaped so it stays hanging down and doesn't get caught between my legs as I walk.
It took some trial and error, but I got the tabard and skirt lined up on a single waistband, added some closures, and voila, skirts done! I eventually went back and cut it down a bit more, so it doesn't drag on the ground when I have the boots on, because when you're loaded up with costuming, having to readjust after you or someone else steps on the back of your skirt is... difficult.
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| Fuzzy socks not included. |
How does one attach a heavy fabric cape to a hard "metal" breastplate, you ask? Velcro! Sticky velcro base on the breastplate, sew-on velcro on the shoulder tabs, and voila! A cape.
As noted above, I ended up cutting the skirt up a bit so it's not dragging on the floor, which makes the cape look a bit less silly for being short, but you get the idea. It's fun and flowy and drapey and I absolutely swish around the house with it while singing the Darth Vader theme. Because why not.
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