Comment on Batgirl Revived by dangerousladies
This is a really great piece of work. A couple of questions, how did you get the cape to do that effect is is being suspended from off camera or is it actually waving in the wind? And What did you build the belt from plastic, rubber or leather? 
Thank you!
The cape was flipped up by the photographer's assistant, who then exited the shot. The wind helped, though.
The cape was flipped up by the photographer's assistant, who then exited the shot. The wind helped, though.
The belt and pouches were made entirely by me out of vinyl/pleather.
You know the problem with these capes is that they're actually two capes, each of a different colour, sandwiched and sewn together, which means they're heavy, so it's impressive to see this sort of effect.
Unfortunately I've had little luck finding accessories for costumes that look the way I want, so I find I also need to build them from scratch which is not easy, so this is impressive work.
It's actually not that impressive, to be honest. If the material is light enough, a double-sided cape is no different from a single-layered cape, and is actually remarkably less effort to make, considering that one doesn't need to hem all of the edges. Even if the material is heavier, if it's cut on a proper circle, it'll have enough wingspan to billow/fly with relative ease regardless. Even our solid-coloured capes tend to be made with two layers just to speed up the process of making it.
I appreciate your kind words, however We make all of our costumes; the market just can't offer the things we want for the same budget that we could produce it ourselves with.
We make all of our costumes; the market just can't offer the things we want for the same budget that we could produce it ourselves with.I also make most of my components myself, it's not a case of the market not offering parts at a sensible price, it's a case of them not offering parts at all! I often find that the size and shape of the part I need isn't available so I just build one.
This is an annoying question and I'm sorry if it's a headache to answer but how is a two layered cape faster and less effort to make? It's just that I'll be working on one sometime later this year and I'm always on the lookout to learn new methods.
This is an annoying question and I'm sorry if it's a headache to answer but how is a two layered cape faster and less effort to make? It's just that I'll be working on one sometime later this year and I'm always on the lookout to learn new methods.
Well, when I was talking about the market not offering things at our budget, I mean we won't privately commission them because we could just do the labour ourselves for much cheaper. Their prices are perfectly sensible, we just can't justify paying them when we have the skills to do it ourselves (or learn to do it ourselves.) There are private commissioners for just about everything (especially in the superhero costuming community) so it's never a matter of not being able to find them.
Two-layered capes are a breeze. Cut the shape of your cape out twice, once in the inner colour and once in the outer colour. Sew around all the edges, leaving a gap at the neck so you can turn it right-side-out. Press all seams so they're extended properly and then top-stitch. Close up gap either by hand or by ironing over the edges to match and then top stitching. Obviously there'll be little bits of variation depending on what shape the cape is, how big it is, how it attaches, etc, but most two-layer capes take me about 2-3 hours at most and cost less than $30 in materials.
I'm going to be honest with you, I'm relatively new to cosplaying and I see all these amazing pieces of work but know almost no-one whom I can commission to build things for me and the few I have met have done very poor work so I've been forced to learn for myself.
I have a Batman project I'm working on which won't be finished for a long, long time, but when it is I'll let you know, it'd be interesting to get some professional feedback. I'll put your advice to good use when making the cape, thank you.