DMGTDK | Sudawan Corness

Photographer(s)

Model

Date Completed

Hair & Make Up

Time Spent

Worn At

Kevin Pack Photography

Sudawan Corness

July 2015

8 Months

Manchester Mcm Expo 2015

Dark Magician Girl

(the Dragon Knight)

Reason for making this costume:

A new card set had been recently published by Konami, featuring new cards from the Yu-Gi-Oh Anime which had never been available before. Since I hadn't made a "Yu-Gi-Oh" costume since 2012, I decided to make Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight as this character was one of my favourites and this was a different outfit.

How I made the costume:

The Crop Top -

I took a pattern from an existing top and modified it. Once I had all the pieces for the top, I then transferred all the patterns to shiny black lycra, cut them out and sewed them together.

The Gloves -

I found a glove patten online which was suitable, as these gloves are fingerless, I cut the tops off, folded them over on the inside, pinned them and stitched the edging for a clean finish.

The Breast Plate -

For the breast plate I reused the pattern I had used for the crop top and modified it. For the cups I used masking tape for the pattern, which was split into three sections to be later stitched together. Once I had all the pattern pieces I needed, they were then cut from interfacing and satin. As the interfacing was "iron on" I ironed it to the satin, to give a cleaner look.

The pieces were machine stitched together except the shoulder pieces, were hand stitched separately due to the angle of the breastplate. The shoulder pieces were lined and included wire at the edges to keep their shape, piping was used for all the borders of the armour, to emphasis the edges.

A zip was stitched to the back of the breast plate, as it was the most discreet place to have it.

The gem in the middle is made from a styrofoam block sanded down, primed with gesso and painted with nail polish. It was attached using permanent double sided tape.

The Skirt -

Paper patterns were made for the front parts and for the waistband, these were then transferred to interfacing and satin. I attached an invisible zip to the side of the waist band, then stitched the 3 pieces underneath afterwards. For the skirt itself, I measured double the width as this was to be machine gathered. This was then sewn underneath the waistband, with the end pieces pinned to the sides to give the "curtain" look.

The Gauntlets/Leg Armour -

Paper patterns were created first, then transferred to interfacing and satin. The gauntlet is made up of three pieces that were piped at the edges and then stitched together. The gem is made from styrofoam, sanded down, primed with gesso then painted with gold nail polish. It was attached using permanent double sided tape.

The armour pieces for the legs were also made the same way as above. The pieces were attached to my knee and ankles using velcro, for easy attachment and removal. The armour pieces on the shoes were sewn directly to them for security. The arm bands were made from interfacing covered with gold material, with velcro as the fastening.

The Hat -

A template was made using my original design of the hat from my first DMG costume. The hat is comprised of four separate pieces, the front, the two side pieces and the back (which sits at an angle). For the front after ironing the satin on, the piping technique was used for the edges and black adhesive was used for the black spots. The lightning symbol is made from interfacing covered in gold material, then appliquéd on top. The pink feather is made from pink satin stuffed with wadding and sewn in place. The three rims are piping and hand stitched into place. Both front and back pieces were then attached by stitching them together at either side.

The Sword -

Two blocks of styrofoam were used as the starting point. Using an electric sander, the styrofoam was sanded and carved until they resembled a blade and handle. The circular details are polystyrene balls, attached using contact adhesive.

The prop was then paper mâchéd, with three layers in total. It was later primed with gesso, sanded lightly, then painted with acrylic paints.

Thoughts:

This costume was a bit difficult to wear, as the shoulder pieces took up a significant amount of space. Plus the bodice was fairly tight, so it felt as if I was wearing a corset. This was definitely a learning experience, as it taught me to better manage my time, and not to under estimate how long things take to make.

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