My Buddy Elf Costume 2.0

Crocoboxer

New Member
Back in Feb. of 2011, I posted a thread presenting my Buddy Elf costume.

Due to my resemblance to Will Ferrell, and the love people have for the character, whenever I wore the costume the response was overwhelming and a lot of fun. But the coat was made of wool felt, which is not exactly a durable fabric. And after wearing the costume over 20 times, it was beginning to wear out. It was time to make a new one.

My wife Stacie and I decided to upgrade the costume in every area to make it more accurate to the original. Stacie made the coat, hat and shoe covers all by herself.

For the coat, we found an amazing boiled wool fabric in England. We ordered the last of what they had and they can't get anymore, so the pressure was on! The fabric is more accurate and stretches (unlike wool felt) and has a better feel. Stacie sewed a lining in as well, which it did not have previously. She even went so far as to add seams in the back to match the movie suit.

The new coat is about five inches longer and the new fabric does not cling to me as the wool felt did. It also flails out more at the bottom, as it should. I look less top heavy as a result, even though I'm actually about 10 pounds heavier than in 2010. And, most importantly, the costume is more accurate.

We knew that we wanted to use real embroidery for the trim designs. My first coat's trim designs were hand painted. Stacie created the designs in the computer based on the movie poster, photos of the original screen-used costume on Prop Store and still frames from the BluRay. The original is hand-embroided and features green and gold thread. We had to change the colors slightly because the correct color green was not showing up well in person. So we went with a lighter green and hand embroidery was out of the question due to the time required. We were also surprised to find that the trim designs do not go all the way around to the back of the coat (more visible here on Papa Elf's coat).

The belt is new with improved accuracy with no more eyelets. I still need to upgrade the buckle to a square buckle.

The shoes are all new. Stacie cut and sewed new covers and used cotton batting to maintain the shape. They are not 100% accurate, but they are much closer.

The tights are the same as 2010 but will be upgraded soon. Will Ferrell does not actually wear spandex tights in the movie but rather some kind of fabric leggings (Wool? Cotton?) which are held up with suspenders. You can see these best in the behind the scenes documentary on the BluRay. We should have these upgraded soon but finding the right fabric is proving a challenge and we will probably have to dye some white boiled wool to yellow.

The hat is new as well and has been modified to sit back on my head farther (as in the movie) rather than straight up. We will be upgrading the wig very soon.

I'll post new pics when we complete the upgrades.

Original vs. Buddy 2.0
BuddyComparison.jpg


Embroidery close-up
Embroidery.jpg


With my wife Stacie in her Jovie costume - which she also made.
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Story time!
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All photos by Bryan Humphrey.
 
Great work, the costumes are fantastic and you really capture the character's expression with the "story time" photo. :cool:thumbsup
 
Hi, I love the costume! Did you make a pattern for the embroidery? If you found it somewhere, can you please share the link? You mentioned that the hand embroidery was out of the question; what did you use in the revised pattern? I am willing to give the hand work a shot, but am at a loss for the pattern. Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Are you still on this site? I've been trying to find the most authentic Buddy the Elf costume and found you here. I noticed there hasn't been a posting since around 2014. I have some questions if you are around.
 
Seeing you recreate the escalator scene at Convergence will always be one of my fondest memories. R.I.P. RadiShTree Hotel. :(
 

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