CW Arrow Season 4 Green Arrow WIP

NerdyChristina

New Member
Hello! I am starting my very first thread for this current commission. An old Army friend has asked me to make him the Season 4 Arrow costume for a convention in a couple of months. Lucky for him, I am taking a break from school so I have some extra time to commit to this project.

I spent the better part of yesterday (about 8 to 10 hours) watching all the scenes where this costume is worn to grab screenshots for reference. I saved over 300 images so I'm sure I have enough to work with.

As I go, I hope I will be able to help you as well while you build your costume too!

My next post will be what I ordered to get this project started. I am finalizing my shopping list right now.

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I ended up in a rush to complete the costume so I took lots of pictures as I went. It arrived to my friend this afternoon so I await pictures of him wearing it.

I will post all the supplies that I bought in this posting.

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Fabric

I ordered my fabric from Mood Fabrics. I couldn't find what I wanted in local stores or some other websites. I did buy extra just in case I messed up a pattern piece and needed to recut.
www.moodfabrics.com
Black Stretch Faux Suede Backed Faux Leather (In hind sight, I would choose the non stretch for future projects. This fabric was a bit of a headache to sew together due to the stretch. I just wanted to make sure my friend would fit the costume well.)
Black/Gray Stretch Jersey Backed Neoprene (this was needed for the pants as well as part of the outer vest. It also helped by being the lining to the outer vest and hood.)
Black Textural Polyester Neoprene (This was used only on the bottom part of the pants)
Kelly Green Spacer Mesh
I also bought some muslin to create patterns and test sewing techniques on before cutting into the actual fabric.

From Joann's I bought some extra firm stabilizer and medium loft volume (both found with the interfacing).


Hardware and Notions

Nickel finish Jeans Rivets with hammer and anvil (You NEED the hammer and anvil to set the rivet. Do not forget them!)
https://goldstartool.com/Jeans-Rivets-CHOOSE-FINISH-100-pack.html

From Walmart:
Two black 24 inch heavy jacket separating zippers
Double wide black bias tape
TWO spools of a darker green thread (I ran out in the middle of the night, causing me to wait until the morning to buy more so go ahead and buy two or three spools now. You'll thank me for it.) I used Article 210 Color 61A from the thread selection- I forgot what the name of the color was.
Industrial Strength Velcro Strips
Fabri-Tac Permanent Adhesive (It's not with the fabrics, it it in the crafting aisle with all the other types of glue)


Two 4 oz Angelus Green Paint
One 4 oz Angelus Black Paint (https://angelusdirect.com/collections/paint)

10 mm EVA foam for the quiver (http://tntcosplaysupply.com/store/p29/EVA-_38_Foam.html)

DAP Weldwood's Contact Cement from Lowes or Home Depot

Razor Knife will help with cutting the EVA foam in one or two cuts from Lowes or Home Depot

Set of 4 38mm Center Release Buckles for the quiver straps (You only need two though) (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0773JRBKY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

I needed a pattern for the pants so I picked this one while at Joanns.
http://www.simplicity.com/burda-sty....html#prefn1=brand&prefv1=Burda+Style&start=4


Additional Clothing/Boots

You will need a solid black compression shirt with short sleeves. You can find some on Amazon for about $12.

Black laced up boots. I was searching for screen accurate boots but my friend bought his boots from Walmart for $42. Check the definitive build thread for screen accurate links and advice.

Gloves: My friend had me purchase gloves from Walmart BUT the more screen accurate gloves can be found here (https://www.511tactical.com/taclite2-gloves.html)

Suspenders: The real costume has no waist band. You can see in a few shots in the show that Stephen Amell is wearing a three point suspender over the compression shirt but under the vests to help keep things where they need to be.


Extras

You don't need this, but being a female in FL and my male friend in Chicago, I bought a male dress form to help me with this project. I know he will be well used so it was worth the investment.
https://www.acesewing.com/DRITZ-D1760M-Mr-Ardis-Male-Dressform-p/sku17518.htm

Once you paint the faux leather, the fabric gets a tad "tacky" so I had major issues with that and the stretch with my pressure foot. This new foot saved me a LOT of headache during the project. I have an 160 Anniversary Singer Machine and this foot will fit MOST Singers (check to make sure your model is on the list before purchase).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G6TZRUM/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These clips came in handy when the fabrics got bulky and when I didn't want to put any pin holes through the faux leather.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PNIWT2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For pattern making you can use: roll of Duct tape, sharpie, and plastic wrap

Wonderflex or Worbla for mask
Heat gun to heat above plastics

For bandoliers for the straps of the quiver, I highly recommend checking out these! I would have bought these but my friend didn't want to spend the extra money.
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/apengineering

Hot glue gun and glue sticks came in handy for the quiver

Paint brushes and air tight container to keep mixed paint in

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I think that is all that I had bought for this project. Some stuff I already had in the house but most I had to to purchase. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
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Pants

I started this project with the pants. I know I struggle a bit with pants and I knew that I would be altering the pattern so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to take my time.

I started with the Burda pattern for pants. I was looking for a pair of pants with a straight leg and little or no waist band. The pattern was easy enough to figure out what to cut. I also taped the pocket yoke to the front of pants pattern piece since there are no pockets in this costume. Once the tissue pattern was ready, I cut everything out on muslin and sewed it all together to make sure it was right. Unfortunately, my husband is not the same pant size as my friend so I had to trust that the pattern was true to size. I did not add the waistband to the muslin pant.

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I then took a fabric marker/pencil to the muslin pant and drew on the different pattern pieces on one side of the pants. (I ended up using the front and back of the right side of the pants. I then seam ripped the pants apart and cut out all the pieces along the lines that I drew. This was to make sure I still had the needed seam allowance so it would all come back together seamlessly.

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I then transferred all the new muslin pattern pieces to the faux leather and neoprene. Make sure you double the fabric and have right side to right side together before cutting to save time.

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NOTE: The leather pieces in the reference pictures I saved appear to be sewing on top of the neoprene. This meant that the faux leather did not have any seam allowance cut into them but the neoprene needed about 1/2 inch seam all around to allow for the leather to be glued and sewn down to the bottom neoprene layer. In hindsight, I wish I had cut out an entire piece of neoprene for the pants and then just added the faux leather pieces on top instead of everything being it's own individual piece. It was a bit of a headache to make sure everything lines back up.

Then, I started to mix my paint to find the right shade of green. I didn't mix enough together so once I was done with the pants, I needed to mix and match another batch. I ended up doing this another time so learn from my mistake, just use the entire TWO bottles of green in the get go. It's not fun to run out of paint in mid painting and have to match it all together. I used a piece of faux leather to test my color on. I used two coats to get an even color on the leather. It tends to dry a tad lighter to make sure you test with two coats and let it dry before altering your paint again. Also note the black paint is VERY potentiate. Add it in about half teaspoon to teaspoon amounts until you get to the color you want.

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Once you find the right shade of green, paint and dry all the faux leather with two coats. It goes faster if you use a thin layer on each coat. The paint does leave the fabric a bit tacky so it's best to wait about 12 hours before sewing together. 24 hours is best and the bottle recommends 48 hours. I sewed some pieces together later in the project and the paint stuck to each other and peeled off the faux leather, causing me have to come back with more paint for touch-ups.

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It's also helpful to dry your fabric up and away from all pets.

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After you let your fabric dry (hopefully for a full day), you can now use the tissue and muslin pattern pieces to figure out your new fabric puzzle. I used my fabric glue to glue down the pieces together so they don't shift and move while sewing them all together.

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I mentioned in the supply post that I had issues with the tacky fabric not moving on my pressure foot so I spent the money for a walking foot for my machine. I don't think I will go back to a pressure foot again. I love this thing.

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Once both front of the pants were done, I added the rivets. I don't have a work table but I do have a rubber block that I used for hammering the rivets. I made note about making sure you buy the hammer and anvil when you purchase your rivets. These pieces of equipment are made specifically for each size and style of rivet. If you don't purchase these, you will not be able to successfully install your rivets. Make sure you remove any cats from your work table before hammering. You don't want them to run over your work in a panic.

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Continue on to the back and alter, cut, paint, dry, puzzle piece, glue, and sew your pant leg together. For the design on the butt, I used a ruler and carefully drew on the pattern. I then used a sharp knife to cut into the leather and then glued it all down to the neoprene patch. I made sure to cut both sides of the butt together so they would match up easier when it came to that point. This also will add a bit more height to the back of the pants which will be good since there is no waist band.

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Also, it helps once you have the back seam done to go back and sew into the “ditch” to set the seam nice and wide and prevent the two halves to not stick to each other.

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The side piece that extends from the front of the pant to the back was a bit of a headache to make sure I created correctly in my pattern but came out great in the end. Make sure you take the time to figure it out and sew it all up correctly.

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Continue to follow the instructions in the pattern to sew all the pieces together. The waist band will look incomplete so you will need to take the time to even it all out. I would recommend folding down the edge and sewing it to create a clean edge/line at the top of the pants.

Zippers. This pattern called for a 6 inch zipper. The only 6 inch zipper I could find was at Walmart and it was Navy. I had to paint the zipper fabric and then struggled with the instructions on the pattern to install it. I have never installed a zipper the way it was instructing me so I kind of just did it myself and got lucky that it worked. I did check YouTube and I recommend this if you are struggling with the zipper part too.

You have now created a pair of crazy patterned pants! If your pant is a bit tacky still, parchment paper is nice to use to keep the painted fabric from touching each other and risking the paint to lift or peel off.
 
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Quiver

The next thing I made was the quiver. I used my male dress form to draft a general size onto some pattern paper and created a pattern from there.

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I originally planned to make the quiver into a box shape and then use my dremmel to sand away the edges but this design made it really hard to get the curves into the sides so I scrapped that idea quickly.

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Second idea was the winner. I traced one piece of the front and side to the sheet of EVA foam, doubled it and then glued the sides together. I made sure to place the seam along the center back of the quiver. Hot glue works on EVA foam but it's bulky and messy. I found that DAP Weldwood Contact Cement also works well, it just take a bit to dry to plan to sit there and hold the pieces together for a long moment. Also, a razor knife makes cutting the EVA foam super easy unlike an Xacto knife which takes at least three passes to go the whole 10mm.

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Next, I drew out a sketch of the whole quiver and cut out the pieces of faux leather and painted it. I then glued the pieces together along with the neoprene and stitched together.

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I also took my dremmel to the bottom piece of the quiver and sanded it down to create a inset bottom. (I had traced the oval EVA foam to another sheet of EVA foam to create a bottom piece. I then glued the bottom to the bottom edge of the quiver.)

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Once the glue is all set in the fabric part of the quiver, I went back and added all the detailed stitching. I followed my sketch to where I needed to add stitching.

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I didn't take any more pictures, but right as I was starting to glue the fabric to the EVA foam, I realized I had forgotten to add the rivets to the fabric. I again followed my sketch to where to add the rivets.

I found that the Fabri-Tac worked best to adding the fabric to the EVA foam. I glued the bottom edges down the best I could and added a black piece of faux leather to create the base. I also folded in the fabric on the top. I found that it was easier to add the bottom and fold the top with hot glue.



I will cover the straps in a later post. You will need to make the straps only after you have completed both vests to make sure you have the right size and direction with the fabric.
 
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Inner Vest

If you noticed during the course of the fourth season, Oliver wears two vests with his costume. The inner vest is a mesh vest with the armored shoulder cuffs/pads and then the iconic green leather vest is worn over it.

I don't know why I started with the armored shoulder pieces but feel free to make the vest first and come back to them. Again, in hindsight, I can see where I can improve with these (especially with the use of a thinner EVA foam or Worbla but I hit a time crunch and didn't have time to order any more supplies.)

The pieces were first created by making a general shape of the armor and and sewing together four layers of material. The top layer is the neoprene followed by the stiff stabilizer, volume fluff/loft then another layer of stiff stabilizer. This is when the wonderclips really come in handy instead of relying on sewing pins to hold everything together.

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I then measured out about an 18 inch strip of neoprene with the extra piece on top that will attach the bicep strap to the armor piece. I then added a more slightly narrow piece of faux leather over the neoprene and sewed them together. Then I attached the piece to the bottom of the piece neoprene that is bigger than the armor base piece. This will provide a place to sew all piece together as well as give you some seam allowance for when you sew the armor to the vest.

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I then drew the pattern of the green armor pieces onto the faux leather, cut them out, painted, dried, then clipped them to the armor base piece. Then, sew all the pieces onto that piece of neoprene where the bicep strap is attached too. Once the outer stitching it done, go back and sew down all the individual pieces down.

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Add the same rivets as the pants and quiver to the piece.

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Now to the vest.


In fashion school, we were taught in pattern making class that you first drape on the dress form with muslin and make your marking directly onto the fabric. I used my many reference pictures to help find all the different seams in the vest.

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Now, you can make the whole front of the vest in one piece and just add the stitching in later... but I like to make things hard on myself and I didn't think about that until about hour 2 of stitching this vest up.

Once you have your pattern, cut out all the pieces- like you did with the pants. It really helps to label your pieces before removing them from the dress form. Make sure to make if you have pattern pieces that need to be cut on a fold! I forgot to do this, twice, so thankfully I had extra fabric to recut those pieces.

After removing the pieces from the dress form, I then traced them onto pattern paper.

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Since this was the first time I had done this, I wanted to make sure things were right so I pinned the new pattern pieces to the dress form to check. It all worked out perfectly.

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I then took the pieces off the form and pinned them to the mesh. I made sure to add the seam allowance as I cut around the pattern pieces. I gave myself a 5/8" seam allowance, in case I needed the extra wiggle room to fix something. I meant to add the seam allowance to the paper patten, but forgot until it was too late.

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Again, you are doing a giant puzzle with finding the right piece to put together. Once you find the two pieces that need to be sewn together, I cut away ONE of the piece's seam allowance and sewed the pieces together with a tight zigzag stitch. This is the night that I was working hard and ran out of thread in the middle of the project (about 3am so I couldn't just get up and leave for Walmart while kids were sleeping in their beds). This stitch eats up SO much thread, but it came out really clean and pretty screen accurate.

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Continue and stitch everything together. There is one piece on the shoulder that is painted faux leather so don't forget about the details.

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I like to make sure everything lines up perfectly before installing the zipper.

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I also noticed that the back near the collar was sticking out a lot so I added some darts to the vest. I'm pretty sure the real costume doesn't have darts but I needed to add them. You might be able to alter the middle seam up the spine.. but I think I was way too tired at this point and just placed darts in instead.

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I ended up adding some black bias tape to the vest before adding the zipper to give the vest a nice finished hem/edge.

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Then I attached the armored shoulder pad things. It took a bit to figure out where I was going to place them because if you sew them right onto the edge, you leave your arm with no space for moment. I ended up sewing the armor up higher onto the shoulder to allow for more arm movement.

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You can do this before sewing the pieces together, but I used the same leather paint and painted all the mesh to make it the right shade of green. The mesh is kind of difficult to paint. You don't want to glob the paint onto your brush and put it on the fabric because most of it will just fall through the mesh holes and not spread. Make super light and quick strokes to get the paint to move across the top of the fabric and not into the mesh holes.

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My friends biceps measurement out to be 16.5”. I made sure to make the strap along the stretch side and then sewed up the ends of the straps to 16” to allow them not to fall off his arms but still allow them to stretch to accommodate his biceps.

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Mask

I didn't take many photos- at all really. I will still talk about what I did though.

I pulled up some reference photos for the general shape of the mask. I even screenshot a behind the scenes live video Stephen Amell did on Facebook where you can see the inside of his mask. It looked like the mask is actually formed to his face and then has a strap that goes all the way around his head to keep it in place. I mean, honestly, you can stress to make the mask strapless, but if you are wearing the mask, your hood is most likely up anyways.

My husband was thankfully home for the day so I used him as my model. I got a general sense of the edges of his face and where his eyes were and started to make many, many, many templates. I would finally get the eyes right, but had the top too low to where it showed his eyebrows. Once I FINALLY got a good template cut out, I then made another copy on fabric for the real mask (since this is my test run) and also on Wonderflex. I wanted to use Worbla, but I didn't realize that I was completely out of the material so Wonderflex it was. I trimmed the Wonderflex to allow for a "seam allowance" amount of space around the fabric and as well as around the eyes. Wonderflex is pretty amazing in that it has a mesh inside the plastic which allows it to stretch a bit while warm. I stuck the wonderflex to the fabric, let it cool to a point that is was just still flexible (while hot, it's pretty floppy), and then put it to my husband's face. Please make sure the plastic is not hot enough to burn your skin!

From there, I set it continue to cool on his face to form the final product. I made sure to cut the mask with the stretch going across the face. While it was cooling, I stretched the fabric and Wonderflex to help make a tighter form across the bridge of the nose. After it cooled and looked good, I cut out another piece of fabric with long straps on it and repeated all these instructions to make the actual mask. Don't forget to paint and dry your mask before shaping. You can do it afterwards but I find painting a flat piece of fabric much easier than a shaped mask.

The black mask is the test run I did.

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Now, I wanted to make sure this mask fit my friend well so I left the back exposed to the smooth part of the Wonderflex, so he can reheat and reshape the mask. If this mask is for you, I would go ahead and add another layer of faux leather on to the inside to make a cleaner look. I would leave the inside leather as black so don't worry about painting it. I also left the straps untied or sewn so my friend can fit the mask to his head comfortably but securely.

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Outer Vest

Now to the iconic green leather vest that the Green Arrow wears. I did hit a time crunch and I didn't take many pictures of the sewing process, but I will talk about what I did but it is VERY similar to what I did with the pants.

I have seen a cosplayer that I follow use the following technique to making a pattern so I wanted to try it out. I knew that this vest will be heavy and bulky but still needed to be worn over the other vest so I made sure to make the pattern with the other vest still on the dress form.

I started by covering the whole dress from and vest with plastic wrap. I then covered one half (front and back side) of the dress form with duct tape. This actually uses a bit more Duct tape that I thought and I ended up running out of what we had at home and had to run to Walmart for more.

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Once you have the duct tape on, start drafting your pattern pieces right onto the tape with a sharpie. Now, this is not a very error-friendly way of pattern making but you can easily cut/tear small pieces of tape and cover up the lines that you don't need or mis-drew. Make sure to label all your pieces too. There are going to be a lot.

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Now CAREFULLY cut the plastic wrap off the dress form and cut away from the duct tape. I put the pattern back on the dress form just for this picture and to make sure it looked good before committing to cutting out the pieces. Make sure to add seam allowances (about 5/8" to pieces that are not leather). You need to have that lip there to give the leather a place to sew together. I highly recommend taking the time to find a way to make the mesh pieces larger. I make the top part of the vest a large mesh piece and sewed the leather right over it and it make life so much more simpler!

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Here is when I stopped taking so many pictures. Like with the pants, I started with the front of the vest and started to piece together the pecs and ab pieces.

Hindsight, I wish I had just make a large piece of mesh and neoprene and sewn the smaller pieces to it but it still all worked on in the end. This process is going to be very long, especially when you add in the painting and drying of the faux leather. I believe it took me about 2 days to sew this all up, and I pulled all nighters both nights too. Once both sides were mostly done, I added the rivets and hung it on the dress form to check the work and size. Now, most of the leather will all be sewn down at all edges, but there is a piece that is apart of the top ab piece that extends to the armpit. This piece is not sewn down because it is a quiver strap holder. It looks like there is a snap that holds the piece in place but I didn't have time to hunt down a snap (they didn't have any at Walmart and Joann's is on the other side of town) so I just used a rivet instead. I would highly recommend lining this leather piece with some neoprene to give it some extra volume and strength. You can see this piece holding the strap in place in the reference photo below.

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Once the front pieces were done, I started with the chevron pieces in the back and attached the back to the front with the side panels. As I was sewing, I was sewing the leather pieces directly onto a piece of neoprene to give the vest more structure as well as the peek a boo black between the leather panels.

For the decorative piece at the bottom of the back of the jacket, I took the painted piece of leather, and used the farbri-tac glue and glued some strips up mesh to the leather and then glued a neoprene backing to it. Make sure you add a touch of glue to the sides for the mesh to allow the leather to attach to them to create the ribbed look.

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The Hood

This part was tricky. I started with the center panel that runs down the center of the hood. I ended up cutting out a piece that was about 23 inches long and maybe 5 inches wide. From there, I found the corner of my muslin and made a 1/4 circle to create the starting of the hood sides. I continued to fine tune the hood (I noticed that the center piece tappers in a bit towards the front) and I wanted to make the the bottom edge of the hood would still fit onto the vest.

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Before sewing the hood pieces together, I am going to share with you a way I WISH I had done it. It wasn't until afterwards I realized it would have looked nicer this way. ALSO, make sure your hood pieces are COMPLETELY dry! I rushed into this step and when I was done sewing the seams and went to turn the piece right side out, the paint had started to stick to each other and peeled a little bit. I had to go back and do some touch up paint a long the seams.

I decided to line the hood with the black neoprene to help give the hood more structure and weight. I highly recommend sewing just the leather pieces together and then sew just the neoprene hood pieces together. Stop at this step because now you need to add the decorative arrow design to the leather. I went back and sewn an additional stitching down the seam allowance to allow for the hood to lay flat instead of bunching at the seam.

For the decorative arrow design, I drew out a template on neoprene and then traced it onto just the leather part of the complete hood. I did two different techniques for this step and I will share with you the one that was easiest and yielded a better result. Cut out a large piece of mesh (that will easily clear the stitching needed around the design and paint and dry the mesh green. Then, very carefully, stitch along the drawn line on your leather hood onto the mesh below. Once the mesh is secured to your hood, you can trim away the excess mesh and then carefully cut around the stitching on the leather to expose the mesh detail below.

The first detail I did, I had cut the leather first and then added the mesh and it was a nightmare to sew up. I don't recommend cutting the leather first. You can see how it was difficult to sew the leather down to the mesh and it created a slightly ugly edge.

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Now that the leather has the attached mesh design sewn on, you can now attach the two hood pieces together. With right sides together, sew the hood pieces together around the top part (the part of the hood that goes around the face of the wearer). I did not do this on my costume and it ended up with you being able to see the seams and extra seam allowances along the inside of the hood.

I would also recommend sewing along the edge of the front of the hood to keep the seam flat and give the front edge of the hood a clean and sharp look.

I took constant measurements along the way to make sure the hood stayed at the same length needed to fit to the vest. This is important because you don't want the hood to be too long or too short once attached.

The real costume also has a collar on the inside of the hood so when the hood is down, you can see the collar of the outer vest. To achieve this look, I pretty much designed the vest to be like the other inner vest with a collar. The added leather piece on the mesh on the top as enough space to sew the hood right on. To create a clean look and seam, I lined up the bottom edge of the hood with the bottom edge of the leather piece on the vest. With right sides facing each other, I sewed the hood into place (make sure you pin and double check everything is lined up and you are sewing it all on correctly). Once it is secure, I think turned the hood upright as if the wearer is wearing the hood and added another seam just above the stitching you just did, about 1/4" above. This will enclose the raw edging of the hood as well as create a clean seam for when the hood is worn down, you can see the collar and no raw edges.

Make sure you go back and add in the rivets where they are needed/shown. I also added some bias tape along the front (where the zipper will be installed) and around the collar. I then added the heavy jacket zipper to the vest. I apologize for the lack of pictures for this part of the project. Every time I got something new sewn on, I would toss it onto the dress form to make sure it was still fitting to the measurements. I did have some issues with my machine not wanting to sew the stretch fabric nicely which is why I recommend the non stretch faux leather for this project.

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Gloves

I had stated above in the supply post that I didn't get the screen accurate gloves since my friend didn't want to pay for them. I instead got some all black gloves from Walmart that looked similar. I didn't take any photos but you should know how my process works by now. I make a template out of paper, copied to fabric, cut, painted, dried and then hand-stitched the faux leather onto the glove. If I had more time, I would have deconstructed the glove to allow my machine to sew the faux leather on, but due to timing, I didn't. I turned in the cuff of the glove and now you have gloves.

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Quiver Straps

Now that you have both vests completed and the quiver, you can now start on the straps. I didn't take any photos since I made this the morning before shipping it to my friend.

With both vests on the dress form zipped up and ready, I wrapped the whole things in plastic wrap again. I then used small strips of duct tape and created the basic outline of where the straps need to go. I make sure to put the tape over the piece of leather on the vest that will hold the strap in place. In some of the screen shots of the show, I noticed that the straps are not actually attached to the quiver, but to another piece that is then attached to the quiver. I decided to make this a small rectangle shape.

I covered a piece of 6mm craft from with black neoprene and sewed the straps to it. (I sewed the straps to one side of the neoprene, then sewed the other piece to it and stuffed the craft foam inside and sewed the piece closed.

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The straps are not straight pieces of fabric to allow for more comfort and cleaner edges. To create the straps, I made each strap into two pieces. I found that the buckle sits at the top of the pecs piece of the vest so I cut the fabric there. I first started with a 1.5" wide neoprene and then wrapped the black leather around it and sewed along the edge. (The leather is about 2 - 2.5" wide to allow for plenty of space to wrap around the neoprene.) I then attached the leather straps to the rectangle piece in the back. Once that was secure, I put it all back on the dress form, fed the bottom half of the strap through the leather piece and determined where the strap needed to be sewn to hold the buckle pieces in place. Then sew the buckles on.

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Once that is all completed and looks good, I took another piece of neoprene that is more narrow than the strap and wrapped it in leather. The leather should be painted to make sure you paint and dry the leather first. I then started to sew on the bandolier loops. I was now in a rush and some of them came out a bit too close to each other so I highly recommend taking your time and making sure you are giving each loop the space it needs beside the other loops.

To attach the quiver, I used the industrial strength velcro and added them to the back of the quiver and to the rectangle. Play around with the placement before sticking the velcro on. If I have thought about this before I sewed everything together, I would have stuck the velcro on and THEN sewn the velcro in place for added security. Do whatever feels more comfortable for you.

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This is where I have stopped. I needed to get the costume into the mail (overnighted to be exact). But while I still have the paint mixed, I am going to continue to work on this costume and send the last few items to my friend.

I still need to complete the two thigh holsters for the arrow tips, the boot cuffs, and the two wrist armor pieces. I would also like to redo the bandolier loops on his straps.

I hope this build is helpful for you. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to better describe what I did.
 
Great looking costume, sure he is going to like it.

If and when I get back into sewing, I'll have to give your alligator clips a try.
In the past I held everything together with masking tape.
 
Hey, thanks man! I haven't heard back from him, but I did see his pictures from the convention and it looked like he had a blast in the costume. He even got to meet Stephen Amell while wearing it so that is super awesome!

Those clips are a life saver! I never thought about using masking tape to hold everything together but that's a pretty good idea too!
 
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