I need help making a Robin costume
- Thread starter Eric Sigh
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Okay, so I'm having no problem finding long sleeve underarmour shirts. The only thing is, underarmour has this thing where they like to put their logo in the worst possible places. Men's UA Gameday ColdGear® Longsleeve Compression Mock | 1221708 | Under Armour US
Also, I cant seem to find any underarmour pants.
This is the closest I can find, and it would be near perfect if the patterns were what I needed, and I could just color the fabric differently. http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/mens-hockey-fitted-pant/pid1222421-001
Not really. There are different types of spandex though, with different levels of nylon and spandex, and different thicknesses. So you have a choice between a thinner, stretchier material, or a thicker, more durrable type. Here's a few examples.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"Milliskin" It's really thin, really stretchy, and probably the least durable.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"Regular" It contains less spandex, so it's not as stretchy, but it's thicker, more durable.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"Moleskin" Again, less spandex, but much thicker. Less stretch, more durability.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"High Performance" The thickest, and contains far less spandex. The most durable. This is the stuff they make biking shorts and stuff out of.
In my experience, the thicker the spandex is, the better it looks. It's more durable, but a big downside is the lack of stretchiness. It really depends on your level of expertise with sewing spandex. If you're a beginner, the thinner and stretchier materials is what you should go with. It leaves more room for error. The thicker/ less stretchy the material, the less room there is for error, but in the end it will look much better.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"Milliskin" It's really thin, really stretchy, and probably the least durable.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"Regular" It contains less spandex, so it's not as stretchy, but it's thicker, more durable.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"Moleskin" Again, less spandex, but much thicker. Less stretch, more durability.
Spandex World Inc. spandex fabric, lycra stretch fabric
"High Performance" The thickest, and contains far less spandex. The most durable. This is the stuff they make biking shorts and stuff out of.
In my experience, the thicker the spandex is, the better it looks. It's more durable, but a big downside is the lack of stretchiness. It really depends on your level of expertise with sewing spandex. If you're a beginner, the thinner and stretchier materials is what you should go with. It leaves more room for error. The thicker/ less stretchy the material, the less room there is for error, but in the end it will look much better.
For compression pants, you're probably better off searching Dick's Sporting Goods site. They have a wider selection, with more patterns/colors in stock.
Riceball
Master Member
You don't necessarily need UnderArmour branded shirts and pants, just compression shirts and pants. I just used UnderArmour because they've sort of become the BandAid & Xerox of compression clothing, sort of a general term for all compression clothing. Anyway, do a Google search for compression shirts and pants and you'll get lots of hits, one alternative to UnderArmour is a Nike shirt that has the logo on the chest and couple on the bottom where they'll either be covered by the pants or the belt. Nike Store. Nike Pro Combat Core Compression Men's Shirt And they have pants that should match with a little logo on the side of the thigh where it would be covered by the red overlay. Nike Store. Nike Filament Men's Running Tights
Those are just a couple of suggestions, feel free to look for something that might be more in your budget or just seems better to you.
Oh wow, thanks a bunch you guys, that's all actually really helpful. As for sewing it, I've got someone who is experienced and will do it for me, so that's not too much of a problem. However, I'm starting to realize how hard this is actually going to be.
YOUNG JUSTICE: Tim Drake by *philbourassa on deviantART
If you look at his suit, the top part looks red with black overlays, while the bottom part looks black with red overlays. But it's all still one suit, and it overlaps at the crotch area. Either that or a full red suit with the black wrapping all the way around it. I'm starting to think I should go with a more comic book style Tim Drake, since this is my first costume and all.
Riceball
Master Member
You could still do the top as red over black as long your seamstress is decently skilled. All that would really need to be done is to simply sew the red right on top of the black undershirt or, to make things a little lighter and possibly simpler to make, cut off the sleeves of the undershirt or get a short sleeved undershirt to sew the red on top of.
For the heck of it, I decided to make a couple of quick mockups of the top in Photoshop, minus the belt and the extension at the bottom. One is using leather the other is Cordura nylon.
Mind you, these were quick and, admittedly, crude mockups, they're more of a proof of concept to help visualize what they would look like rather than an accurate representation of them in the two materials.
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IndyFanChuck
Sr Member
If I might suggest that you research the Brotherhood of the Bat Fourm, we have many members who've done Robin costumes and you could draw from their ideas.
Also, the Fourm is awesome. Hahaha. ;-)
Also, the Fourm is awesome. Hahaha. ;-)
Haha, I was literally just on there a little while ago. Redirected from a batgirl costume. Great site.
You could still do the top as red over black as long your seamstress is decently skilled. All that would really need to be done is to simply sew the red right on top of the black undershirt or, to make things a little lighter and possibly simpler to make, cut off the sleeves of the undershirt or get a short sleeved undershirt to sew the red on top of.
For the heck of it, I decided to make a couple of quick mockups of the top in Photoshop, minus the belt and the extension at the bottom. One is using leather the other is Cordura nylon.
Mind you, these were quick and, admittedly, crude mockups, they're more of a proof of concept to help visualize what they would look like rather than an accurate representation of them in the two materials.
I'm thinking that would definitely work, it still just leaves me with all of the connections. It's obviously a one piece in all of the artwork, but I'm thinking two pieces would be much simpler, and a lot more practical to do, since his suit is either red with an entire black pattern covering it, or black with the entire red pattern covering it. Both of your suggestions on how to do the top seem incredibly doable thought, so thank you for that.
And the pictures are great. They really do make things easier to think about.
Oh, now another couple of quick questions:
Should I make it zip up in the middle?
And what exactly are those yellow bars that are on his chest? I've never been able to wrap my head around what purpose they'd serve. How should I go about making it so it looks like they actually do something? Should I make them buckles or straps or what?
Should I make it zip up in the middle?
And what exactly are those yellow bars that are on his chest? I've never been able to wrap my head around what purpose they'd serve. How should I go about making it so it looks like they actually do something? Should I make them buckles or straps or what?
Riceball
Master Member
Glad to be of help, if I could only make costumes as easily as I can do them in Photoshop I'd have some pretty awesome costumes. Oh well. Anyway, this costume is easy to do in two pieces and still have it look like one because the belt and the pouches will hide where the pants and top meet and so long as the top and bottom are from the same brand and same line within the brand you shouldn't really be able to tell that it's not one piece.
If I do that, where would the belt go?
In the shirt or in the pants?
If it went in the shirt would I have to get a shirt that's a bit longer?
Riceball
Master Member
I'd make it zip, there's clearly a line in the middle of the top which seems to suggest that it represents a zipper. The yellow bars I think are straps of some sort, I think they're supposed to be there as a means of keeping the top closed. I think in the original Robin costume his top wasn't supposed to have zippers and was held closed with laces, that's the way they did it with Burt Ward's costume from the 60s although his laces were non-functional and there just for looks.
Looking at various pics of Robin it seems that over time artists cut down on the number of straps/laces so that now they'd probably be just there for decoration although in the case of the YJ Tim Drake Robin they'd probably be functional but not necessary. By that I mean they'd probably serve the same function as similar straps do on certain tactical vests, you zip the vest up but you still have the straps going across the zippers, possibly to help the vest fit tighter. For your costume, I'd make them as a strap that could be removable using snaps or velcro or you can have them sewn down on side and a snap or velcro on the other. I wouldn't worry too much about what to make them from until you've had the material for the red parts in hand, that way you can get small pieces of yellow material to compare against the red and figure what material looks the best with it.
Alright, well I'll keep that in mind.
As for the fabric, I really like the look of both of them, but I'm thinking that I'd probably better go with the second one, since leather would probably hard for me to both obtain and put together into a costume.
And I'm thinking about your options as to how to put it together.
I can either use the black shirt as the base, cut off the sleeves, and then put the red pattern over it, like you said, or I can use the red shirt as the base and just do the opposite, put the black pattern on top of it.
Riceball
Master Member
Looking at the pic, it could go either way but I think that maybe the pants might better, that way you can tuck the shirt in so you don't have to worry about it rising although that can be easily fixed by adding snaps or velcro to the bottom of the shirt. Thinking of it, I change my mind, I think a slightly longer shirt might be better, that way the red part at the bottom of the shirt won't have to dangle below the shirt and then have to be secured to the pants, I'm thinking that if it hung down like a bib it might pucker.
What you might want to do is get some cheap material or buy a cheap shirt and pants and experiment. Buy or make your belt and then play around with the clothes to see which seems to work the best. You don't need to make the test costume remotely like the final product or even use compression clothing, you could probably just take some duct tape and pull the fabric to make it tighter to simulate how the final costume will wear.
Alright, sounds like a good way to start out. That's what I'll be doing this weekend then.
Riceball
Master Member
A nice pleather would also work but I've read that pleather doesn't breathe that well so nylon might not be a bad way to go if cost is an issue. Like I said early on, I imagine a nylon like the ones used in the various Avengers costumes, in particular Hawkeye and Black Widow; something with a nice texture to it.
Something else I thought of, I don't know if this might make the costume a bit too complicated for your seamstress but instead of just flat seams where the red and black meet I'm think a raised seam/piping of red or black might look pretty cool depending on which color is the overlay.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
A nice pleather would also work but I've read that pleather doesn't breathe that well so nylon might not be a bad way to go if cost is an issue. Like I said early on, I imagine a nylon like the ones used in the various Avengers costumes, in particular Hawkeye and Black Widow; something with a nice texture to it.
Something else I thought of, I don't know if this might make the costume a bit too complicated for your seamstress but instead of just flat seams where the red and black meet I'm think a raised seam/piping of red or black might look pretty cool depending on which color is the overlay.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
What do you think a mix of both would be like?
As in, what if I did a red base shirt out of nylon, and then the black parts out of the pleather?
I honestly don't know how that would look, I'm just throwing around ideas.
And I actually really like the way that piping looks. I'm thinking I'll definitely do that.
Riceball
Master Member
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