Past Projects: Harley Quinn Times Two

I'm still getting over whatever sickness struck me down this past week, so sewing progress has been pretty much non-existent. So instead of a new project I bring you another entry to the series of past projects; Harley Quinn done two ways! For those of you not as nerd-savvy, Harley Quinn is a Batman villain most often seen as the Joker's lead lady. Her name of course is a play on harlequin as is her costume.

Harley's original costume

As it is with most comic book characters, her costume has been re-imagined many times for different series and different medias. Last year in the fall I had a video-game themed costume party to attend and was having a hard time coming up with a costume. A lot of video game ladies have costumes that show off a bit more skin than I'm frankly comfortable with, and the other choices like Princess Peach didn't really resonate with me either. I was already planning my own interpretation of Harley for a halloween party a month or so later, so I looked up what Harley's costumes looked like in the newer Batman games Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. The Arkham Asylum costume was just awful and not something I wanted to wear, but the Arkham City costume had great potential. It was sexy and just a little revealing without being ridiculously over the top.

Harley in Batman: Arkham City

Of course by the time I had finally settled on what costume to make I had precious little time left before the party. I whipped up a red corset using one of my victorian patterns cut down to be an under-bust corset. If I ever have a little extra time I would like to go back and make one with the straps that Harley's has, but the one I made was passable. Most of the costume was pretty easy, I had an old pair of black skinny jeans hanging around that got one leg painted red, and a pair of knee high boots got the same treatment. The first tank top I made for the party was made from a red and a black tank top I had laying around, cut in half and sewn back together. The red of the tank top didn't match though, so I made a new one for the next use of the costume.

Completed Arkham City costume

Shortly after the video game party I went to a convention with Frightful Acts. One of my co-workers is a huge superhero fan and has several of his own Batman and Superman costumes, so I brought along the Harley costume as well. It was impressive enough that I got interviewed by the Boston Phoenix for a small online article about costumes at the convention!

After the convention was over I had just one or two very short weeks to complete my plans for Halloween. I had decided months before I even thought of the video game Harley Quinn costume that I wanted to make a more Victorian inspired version of Harley. I had been thinking I could use the same corset as the first costume, but I really wanted to do a full party-colored outfit. I tried out a new corset pattern for the second costume that ended up really flattering the look well.

My own version of Harley

The bolero top has a few issues, but the corset and skirt came out perfect. There were even a few girls drooling over this costume at the next convention I went to! Unfortunately I didn't get to do a proper photoshoot with either of these costumes, but at least there's a little photographic evidence.

 Hopefully my next update will be progress on the victorian bathing costume I'm planning. I've got the pattern and should get a chance to buy the cloth tonight.

Past Projects: Maleficent

I haven't made much progress sewing this past week. The under-robe for Emperor Palpatine is almost finished and I have my pattern pieces cut out for a chemise, but that's about it. So in lieu of any new material to write about, I bring you a project completed in the past - The Maleficent Dress.

The idea for this costume began when an old professor of mine found out I was working with Frightful Acts as a costumer. She owned a gallery a couple towns over and requested that I think about submitting a costume to her upcoming Halloween show "Things That Go Bump in the Night." The deadline for submission was only a couple weeks away so I needed to not only come up with an idea fast but make it one that would be quick to put together. Eventually the idea to make a more historically accurate version of the villainess Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty came to mind. I had already made a medieval houppelande that would be appropriate for the time period the movie takes place in so I wouldn't need to do much research or draft any new patterns. So with just one short weekend to sew the dress I set to work.

Detail of the fabric used

I found a great faux-alligator skin fabric in the upholstery section that I thought would work well for Maleficent since she becomes a dragon at the end of the movie. It makes the dress fairly heavy and hot to wear but it looks stunning. I also managed to find two perfect shades of purple to match Maleficent's original color pallet. I decided to use the lighter shade of purple for the kirtle to go under the houppelande. 

The fairly basic Kirtle

A darker shade of purple became the lining of the sleeves. I decided that the sleeves should be dagged since Maleficent's original design definitely shows the influence of dagged sleeves. I also wanted to cut the neck with the deep V seen in later houppelande examples so that the kirtle color would show when the dress was on a mannequin. As I looked at more examples of houppelande's I began to realize that dagged sleeves seemed to have dropped out of fashion before the V-neck became popular though. In the end I decided to just go ahead with my plans since this was more of a character costume than a strict historical recreation. 

Detail of the dagged sleeves

A bit of fur trim and a jeweled belt completed the dress, and then it was on to the hat. I was actually able to find an old fashion plate with a hat that had two curled horns just like Maleficent's, but of course I've lost the link. I was going to put a veil on the hat since almost all historical examples had one, but after some advice to keep it more like the character I left it out. The day it was due at the gallery I managed to whip up a stuffed head to support the hat, and the dress looked great!

A view of the train with fur trim

I dropped it off at the gallery feeling pretty good about it. Most of the work submitted was your traditional types of fine art, but there were a few other sculpture submissions, and the owner of the gallery had specifically asked for a costume from me. A couple days later I got an e-mail telling me that the artist curating the show had "decided against having costumes in the exhibit." I was crushed. I had spent hundreds of dollars on cloth and given up a whole weekend at the request of my professor all for nothing. 

As luck would have it though I had used the same color pallet for a costume made for one of Frightful Acts masks. I brought the dress by the studio and the rest of the guys loved it. The dress now has a new home as one of our monsters, and it looks like it was made just for the mask.

All in all I am very pleased with how the dress came out. It's a bit too big for me though and it's hard to wear as a costume at conventions because of the train getting stepped on by the crowd. It looks good in our repertoire for now but ultimately I'd like to find a buyer for the dress who really loves it and would actually get some use out of it.