Valkyrie – Marvel Comics

Made for: Dragoncon 2011

Background: I absolutely loved Chris Bachalo’s Valkyrie art.

Journal Entries: Read more at my Valkyrie tag

Related Costumes: Enchantress, Queen Aelsa

Patterns Used:
KwikSew 2004

Leotard/Cape:

The “clothing” parts were simple – I made the leotard out of 2 layers of black spandex, using the above pattern. The cape I made by just draping and sewing. The cape snaps onto the suit, and I added some padding at the shoulders for some lift.

Boots:

The boots took up the most amount of time. I built them off of my original Ms Marvel boots (the ones that were too short). I made a loose boot cover and covered it in strips of leather and black vinyl. They’re all sewn on and hemmed – it wasn’t hard, just tedious. I attached them to the top of the base boots along the top edge, and they snap closed up the back. Glued some more strips around the bottom part of the shoe, too, to blend it into the boot cover. The medallions were just found pieces, glued on. The boot dagger I bought from a costume store and repainted.

Belt:

The belt was fun, too. Bought a belt at Home Depot, and my husband reversed all the hardware so I could use the brown side. The sword on the belt was a costume sword that I bought, repainted and re-covered the hilt. The dagger was another found piece, again, repainted. I made a little pouch for the side of it, and pulled the canister off the back of my stormtrooper belt, repainted it and covered it in suede. Added a secondary belt to the lower part, and a loop to lace the leather strappings through to tie around my waist. The belt and leg straps (which are just pieces of leather) were all decorated with various buttons, buckles and chains I had in my stash from over the years. Great stash-busting project!

Armor Pieces/Sword:

My husband made the gauntlets (heat formed plastic), armor pieces (foam) and my giant sword (insulation foam with wood handle). The chest pieces velcro onto the suit, and the arm pieces have attached elastic, plus decorative leather straps that tie on.

Wig:

My wig was made of two wigs sewn together and braided. (The second wig was what was left of my original Aurora wig after I took wefts out of it for my second Aurora wig – I used what was left of it to bolster this one.) Why 2 wigs? When I tried it out with one it just looked too “small” so I tried it with two and that looked much thicker and the way I had in my head.

History:

I hardly wore this at Dragoncon because I wasn’t happy with the wig. I fixed it and took the white backdrop shots and was much happier!

Unfortunately after that it still took me a couple of years… ok, ok, over a decade – to wear it again. I finally pulled it out of its bin, cleaned it up and wore it to Memphis Comic Expo 2023. Didn’t fit quite the same a decade later, and I’m not near as good as walking in those heels for a long period of time like I used to be… I was basically limping out of the building after a few hours LOL. But I AM glad I finally wore it again and got some new photos. I hate only wearing a costume once or twice.

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