A tutorial guide on how to make a Poison Ivy Cosplay costume.
Sadly, at the time I created my cosplay I didn’t really think about recording the steps I took to make it and I didn’t actually use a reference photo either, I kind of just stuck some stuff together from what I had lying around to make her, but here is the best I can piece together for you, hopefully it makes sense!
As mentioned, I haven't used a reference photo so it's not an accurate costume to anything you'll find online, I took inspiration from a number of sources such as the graphic novels, tv and films. I think it's quite fun to make a unique take on a character!
Outfit elements breakdown:
Artificial ivy leaves (I got mine from The Range from their flower dept, but there are loads on Amazon or eBay for bulk buying)
Green Dance Leotard
2m green material in two different green tones
A pair of green footless dance tights
2m of artificial vine w/ mini leaves
A cheap, long, curly red wig from Amazon
Tropical flower for hair and a large red flower as a prop
Tools used:
Hot glue gun & glue sticks
Sewing machine
Needle and thread for hand stitching
Safety pins(!!)
Fabric chalk
Difficulty rating: Beginner (because I'm a beginner myself!)
How To:
Making the Skirt
(if you don't wish to make the skirt, skip ahead to the bodice below)
I used two different coloured fabrics to make the skirt, I wanted to create pick-ups/bustle type of effect for the skirt. I added the skirt to the costume because personally I wasn't comfortable with the idea of only walking around a Con in a leotard and dance tights (not that there is anything wrong with that I might add, but I'm not that confident myself, if you are then go for it!!)
Measure up yourself from waist to floor, hips to floor and your waist/hip measurements too - feel free to adjust, I opted for a full length skirt. As I'm quite a tall lass, I used about 1m (w) x 2m (l) for the base skirt and then the second lighter green section was approx. 1m x 1m.
I then dawned my leotard (super-villian style), marked out with chalk roughly where I wanted the skirt to sit, and then safety pinned each end of the fabric in place (life is hard without a dressmakers dummy!!). After you're happy with the base layer skirt positioning, carefully remove the leotard and pinned base layer of the skirt.
From here, I then added pinned the second layer of the skirt over where the base layer was - be careful not to pin to the leotard itself! Once you've pinned your second layer to the base layer of the skirt, ensure you've got a good mark of where the skirt will eventually sit and remove the two pieces from the leotard.
Machine sew the skirt pieces together with a zig-zag stitch (this was because I was using stretchy fabrics) across the top not forgetting to include a hem allowance of around 1 1/2cm, reverse stitch at each end to secure. Now comes a pretty tricky part - I am sure there is a better way to do this than I did so feel free to improvise here! You'll want the skirt to be 'flipped', e.g. leotard the 'right' way round > second layer of skirt > base layer of skirt (this is so the stitching won't be visible on the outside when being worn) and pin the skirt to the leotard all the way along the hem, taking care to ensure it lines up with your chalk markings. Machine sew the skirt to the leotard - this is the difficult part due to all the material getting in the way! Remove the pins and voila - the skirt should be neatly attached to the leotard in a sort of "flap". *if you have the time and patience, then by all means, you can hand-stitch the skirt on too
Next you can do the pick-ups in the skirt, I did a few near the hips to add more of a flare and joined the base skirt to the second skirt to create a looped effect. Just be careful when you're walking around as you'll most likely get hooked on something, I did!
Making the Bodice
If you haven't got a dressmakers dummy fear not, get into your leotard (with skirt previously attached if you're doing the skirt part), then use fabric chalk and a mirror, mark out the area you want to cover with ivy, or you can do this on a dress-form, or rope in a helper.
I used branches of ivy from a flower decoration so I had to cut off the leaves into singles before I could use it, you can buy in bulk offline (I would recommend but was short on time) or you could always make the leaves yourself.
After you've prepped your ivy, get your hot glue gun at the ready! I found it easiest (and safest) to glue the leaves on whilst not wearing it, otherwise you'll risk burning yourself. Lay out some newspaper to protect the surface you're working on and away you go. It's actually a very quick process :)
I found the nicest pattern was to have the pointiest part of the ivy leaf facing upwards (see photo at the top of page) and I worked from the top of the costume down - this way it means you cover up the previous leaf's glued stem and it's a nice and neat way to glue. Of course, you can change the direction of the leaves to however you like but this is just the way I preferred.
Making the Arm Sleeves
As you can probably tell by now, I make a lot of stuff up as I go along, this is just my (very novice) way of doing things. So, with the left overs of the fabric I used for the skirt, I created my arm sleeves. Firstly, get your arm measurements, you'll want to measure your wrist, top of your arm as well as the length (measure the length with your elbow bent to account for movement). I then made a very primitive pattern in a V-shape, then zig-zag stitch together, turn it inside out and if you wish, you can cut in the zig-zags at the top and bottom of the sleeve to create a leaf-y effect - not the neatest, but I wanted a rougher style!
Next, I attached the artificial vines on the straps of the leotard via and machine stitched into place and then wrapped around my arms until a nice length around my arm and at the very end made a thumb loop (hot glued together) and there you have it. A very basic, very simple Poison Ivy costume!
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