My very first superhero costume was a Rogue suit which I had commissioned. It was okay but I had hoped for better. It wasn't exactly the right shades of green or yellow that I wanted and the color blocking was done in a way that looked like it been pieced together with scraps or at best, used as little yardage as possible. I use a lot of fabric for a suit my size because I would rather have larger pieces cut on the fold than a bunch of seams from small pieces stitched together; just my preference for the best looking suit possible.
The jacket - I spent the past couple of years slowly gathering the items to make the Rogue suit that I wanted. I got very lucky in finding what I feel is the perfect brown jacket at Burlington Coat Factory for only $17 and it's made from polyurethane not leather or cotton. I made my own X patches for the shoulders and attached them with a combination of gorilla glue and instant vinyl glue.
The wig came from one of my shopping binges online at
Best Wig Outlet. It's by Sepia, called "Ebony."
The boots are faux leather and I picked them up a long time ago at Famous Footwear. I happen to prefer the more practical brown knee highs which I can wear in normal everyday life rather than the thigh-high plastic yellow boots with green strappy things.
The gloves were an amazing find at a thrift store in their vintage room! They were only $4 because they were considered "lightly soiled." I knew patience would pay off by shopping for pieces over time and waiting for just the right thing. I hate making gloves!
The belt is just something from my closet. This particular buckle design is just two layers of foamies; one in black, one in red - giving it the embossed "X" look. The backing is a strip of black spandex for the belt to weave through. I've just ordered a nice fancy X buckle from TheWrapofCons but I'll need to paint it.
When it came to making
the bodysuit, I started with the
Kwik Sew #3052 activewear pattern which has been the staple base for all my full length suits. I had transferred it to muslin for my size and marked up my color blocking. Then I transferred those pattern pieces to paper (because that's what I had and was out of muslin) in order to get all the pieces I needed for this design. Let me express how much I hate sewing on curves! I have a couple of spots that are little too pinched or gathered but it's actually pretty good overall.
Fabric - The spandex is Milliskin Shiny Tricot 4-way Stretch which I ordered through
SpandexHouse.com and it arrived THE NEXT DAY. I think the color codes I ordered were #46 (green) and #11 (yellow).
The collar's stitching is actually a bit of a mess for getting that black bias tape in place. Luckily most of the problem stitching is on the inside. I also decided to put the zipper in the front which has two functions, one practical and one for kicks: the practical element is that a front zipper is easier to get out of; the other reason is because it can be unzipped enough for a sexier look.
I also ran into some problems that worked themselves out when I embroidered the chest logo directly onto the suit; the other option would be to make a patch and glue it on like I did for the jacket. By putting the spandex through the embroidery, it began to make folds as it progressed but it's not even noticeable in the final product. I also decided to make a full X logo using a black background and yellow "X" and circled edge; oftentimes Rogue's logo is really just the black spaces and no "X" at all. I went for something cleaner looking plus adding an original touch.
This suit will debut at
Free Comic Book Day at
Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ (May 2nd)!
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