The Great Gonzo - Replica, Suit, Chilli Pepper Shirt, and Tie

georgecosplay

Active Member
Hello folks,
It's that time again where I embark on an ambitious Muppet replica, this time however it'll be a little different, as the Replica is only part of what I am hoping to achieve.
Instead, I will be making and dressing my favourite Muppet of all time: The Great Gonzo.
I'm hoping to combine his yellow and black checkerboard suit with his iconic chilli pepper shirt and his circular patterned tie. I've attached a couple of reference images to show the pieces I'll be merging together to create what I hope will be a stylish outfit for Gonzo.
As well as this, of course, I will be creating my very own Gonzo using carved reticulated foam for his head and attaching this to the base of the body to allow for good movement when he's being operated. I won't be including his eyelid mechanism in this version but his head will be detachable via metal snaps so if in future I can figure that out for an upgrade then I'll be able to switch it out.
This week I will be drafting up a toile for his suit and shirt and I'll be posting updates as I do.
Stay tuned!
 

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Early doors still, but I have begun working on the toile, this will allow me to properly fit the suit to Gonzo and figure out my yardage, currently I’m working on the jacket and trousers and next week I’ll do the same for the shirt, it’s been an interesting challenge to get the right fit whilst also allowing for maximum movement and achieving the boxy fullness of the original costume.
Also, how cute are those shoes...
 

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As a mini project to accompany Gonzo, I’ve made his beloved Camilla over the past couple of days. Turns out she is a pretty easy build and can be made with materials you can pick up in local craft stores - win win!
 

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Toile complete, I can now move onto converting my patterns to card and cutting out my shirt in the final fabri, still waiting for that foam to carve his head but I‘m hoping that it’ll arrive by the end of next week.
 

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First carve for the head is complete and it’s great to see his characters begin to take shape, I’m happy with how it went and since it’s not going to be the final version I only spent an hour doing it, next up I’ll be getting to grips with the shading that gives him his distinct colouring.
This week I’ll be moving onto the construction of his chilli pepper shirt (I’ve included a photo of my custom designed print on the fabric to get it as close as possible, as well as his tie too).
 

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Making some decent progress now, almost finished the shirt and tie and his head is coming along, not sure whether to remake his head to try to fix his expression or if this version will do the job, I’ll decide that in due course, but it’s good to see him shaping up! The shirt and tie were a good challenge and I’m pleased with how the prints have turned out, now onto the trousers and suit jacket!
 

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Gonzo finally has some trousers! This has been one of the more challenging aspects of the project, and has taught me skills in traditional tailoring, including how to make a button fly and pockets, as well as pattern matching and the importance of using certain techniques to achieve the correct shape and fit.
I really wanted his suit to be essentially a shrunken down actual suit, which is why I decided to include pockets and a fly, despite the fact they don’t serve an actual purpose, I wanted to put an emphasis on learning how to do these aspects of his costume so that if in the future I want to upscale the methods to human size clothing I’ll know how to do so. The only thing left to do for the trousers now is to add belt loops and make a belt, and once that’s done, I can move onto the Jacket!
 

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Here’s some photos from the construction of my Jacket.
The Jacket is fully lined and features fake pockets to reduce bulkiness inside, I have used a mixture of classic tailoring techniques and soft tailoring techniques in order to achieve a good fit and to be mindful of the weight of Gonzo as he is being used for performance.
The Jacket is pattern matched and is designed to fit the exact measurements of Gonzo, this was an interesting process as he is such an unusual shape, he has no shoulders and is quite round in his body.
I’ll be uploading some final images soon.
 

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