Suckerpunched by Life: A Babydoll Cosplay

The title pretty much says it all - one of my costumes for the upcoming Anime Expo will be Babydoll from the movie Sucker Punch.  I had such high hopes for this one - now don't get me wrong...the costume for this one is actually coming out pretty good and in a timely manner, which is incredibly exciting, especially given the time constraints I have due to school/work/homework.  I'm fudging a little this year, and also creating Babydoll's white Sailor Costume the night she is supposed to give her dance debut which will be made out of almost the exact same pattern with some very minor drafting differences.

However life decided to knock me with a little sucker punch of it's own and now all my accessories, the gun, the sword - dear God, the wig...are a no go.  My significant other was unfortunately laid off from his place of work, and we are barely making ends meet as it already is.  So plunking down $100 and change on the items I'd need to create the accessories is not gonna happen.  Thankfully I'm blonde already and a dear friend of mine can pull more of the gold out of it to give me a similar hair color (and possibly some extensions so I can have long enough hair for the ponytail.)  Honestly tho, in the way of Hell, this is really only first circle stuff.  I'll manage.

I found some really cool pictures floating around the internet that details the costumes.  Apparently in good 'ole Pasadena that had an exhibit at the Arclight during the first few weeks of the movie.  The chap over at http://hollywoodmoviecostumesandprops.blogspot.com had posted these and it was a real treat as a cosplay to have such amazing reference photos.  Here's a couple but, seriously go over to his blog and check it out.  He's got pictures of lots of the costumes from this movie.

 

I picked up a medium weight dark denim to work with.  I cut a couple of swatches and tested some methods of hand distressing - that's right people, the costume has wear and tear - none of this brand new denim stuff.  While I was at it, I picked up a light weight silver white denim to make the trim and the sailor collar out of.  A few swatches will be under going some tests on how to dirty it up - india ink is my first go to, we'll see what happens.  If the drape of the collar doesn't work out in the light weight, I'm planning on backing it with the medium weight to give it more body.  I'm planning on adding a lining to it anyway so that none of the stitches from the collar show.

The only things I did not purchase at this stage is the fabric for the tie and hand, and the buttons.  I did not find a fabric that was suitable for the tie, it's difficult since I do not know what the fiber content or even what type of fabric it is.  So I'm having to walk through downtown L.A. seeking the right fabric on sight and drape only.  I should get achievement points when I find it.

I have not yet begun to plan the dance outfit yet.  I need to sit down and watch that part of the movie since there are little to no reference pictures on the interwebz.  I suspected that it was satin but, I think I remember it being slightly see through.  If that is the case, I might fudge that as well - I'm sure peeps at the con don't want to see EVERYTHING - there are some people you wouldn't mind, but I don't think I currently fit into that category, so I'll be one of those rare con-goers that tries to dress appropriately to body type.  I'll post more when I get to that stage.

I've started drafting the skirt and so far so good, no huge snafus.  On the other hand it's just a giant rectangle of fabric, how hard could it be (famous last words I'm sure, why do I tempt the universe in such a way?)  Stay tuned for pictures, updates, and tears!