Batgirl – Batman (new52 version)

Made for: Dragoncon 2012

Background:I’ve been wanting to do a Batgirl costume for ages, but kept putting it off. I finally broke down and committed to it for Dragoncon this year.

Journal Entries: Read more at my Batgirl tag

Patterns Used:
KwikSew 3052 (as a guide)

Cowl:

My cowl is from ReevzFX! I had it for a couple of months before I finally started on the rest of it! I felt like it kept staring at me, judging me, waiting on me to start making the rest of it. I did have to take up the chin strap a bit after the first wearing, and it fit a lot better after that.

Suit:

For the suit, I had an old bodysuit I’d never used for anything – I put it on my mannequin, drew out my seam lines, and then copied them to paper to create pattern pieces. I used the above pattern as a kind of guide to make sure my sizes were right. I used black spandex for the main part of the suit – I switched up between the wrong and right side of the spandex, so there were areas that were matte and shiny, and I used a black knit to make the ribbed sections. The bat symbol I appliqued onto the front with a wet-look gold spandex. When I first wore this at Dragoncon 2012 and looked back at the pictures, I decided the symbol was too low, so I removed it and raised it up about an inch and that looked way better.

Boots:

The boots aren’t quite what I wanted – I had wanted to cover a pair of boots I bought online, but really wasn’t all that happy with the way they fit, so I made spandex boots sewn to the suit, and just slide a pair of heels in when I put it on, like my Ms Marvel boots.

Cape:

The cape I made without a pattern – mostly because I was trying to use up fabric scraps to make it and a traditional pattern piece laid out correctly would not have worked LOL. The outer layer is all I had left of the basic black spandex from the suit, and I used leftover Huntress material for the lining. It took a bit of finagling but I got it to work the way I wanted. I sewed both layers together and turned it at the neck. It snaps in place onto the suit at the collarbone area.

Belt/Gauntlets:

The original belt was made using a strip of leather, covered in spandex, with the designs stitched on, and the “buckle” my husband cast for me. After looking at pics at Dragoncon 2012 I just felt like the belt looked too flimsy, so we replaced it with a fully leather belt with the design etched in and painted yellow. That looked much better. (The original belt lived on to be my 70s Supergirl belt!)

My husband also made my gauntlets; as of this writing (2025) they are cracked and broken and we’ve been talking about 3d printing some new ones at some point in the future. If I ever have a pressing need to wear it again, I will do that!

History:

As mentioned above, after wearing it Dragoncon 2012 I saw some things I wanted to fix/change. So for Dragoncon 2013, I did some upgrades – we remade the belt with a new bat buckle, and gauntlets version 2. I also fixed the fit of the cowl and readjusted the bat symbol on the suit, and just fixed some minor sewing issues on the suit.

I really love how it turned out and it’s so fun to wear. I need to get around to doing the 3d printed gauntlets and get her out of retirement.

Visit my FAQ | Contact Me
Please note that none of these costumes are for sale! This is my personal portfolio.