Construction of Scarlet Witch

Costume: Scarlet Witch
Convention: Long Beach Comic Con 2011
Estimated production cost: $150-$200
Actual production cost: $100

For LBCC, I dressed as Scarlet Witch from xmen. While I love to hand make all my costumes, sometimes its just easier to piece things together. Which can save time and also can be cheaper in some cases.

I first had to pick what version of Scarlet Witch I was doing. After refreshing my memory on her back story, alternate universes and what not, I went with a very traditional version of her.
Then I thought about what would be the easiest construction of this costume? and made a list of items I would need.

Wig

• Luckly for me my friend Panda had already done a Scarlet Witch costume and had previously gave me a few of her wigs. so the wig was out of the way and shaved off a good $30-$60 of the production cost.
• For wigs, I usually check cosplay sites and then if I can't find what I'm looking for I'll look at more expensive wig sites.

Cape

• Having a ton of extra fabric around the house, I did a very simple (and I admit, not very well constructed) cape out of a back drop fabric I had. By the time I reached the cape in the costume process I was a few days away from Con and had to think fast. I took the fabric and measured the length from my shoulders to the floor then cut the fabric accordingly. I hemmed all the edges and pinned it to my top. It didn't look bad, but it didn't look amazing either. *Shrug*

Head Piece

• The head piece was tricky. I wanted to find something that was already in the general head form. I went to a craft store and looked around. They had some plastic masks for masqurade parties that you could decorate yourself. I snagged a large one of those and drew out the head piece on the top of it. Then cut it with a electric saw. Note: Wear glasses or even a mask if you try this, piece of hot plastic hurt. After cutting it I took a file to the edges to smooth it out. Then took a faux vinyl fabric and covered the head piece with it. I lined the back with black felt so it wouldn't stick to or hurt my face. Under the felt I added an elastic string so it would be wearable.

Corset or suit

• I looked at my options. I could do a red swim suit or a corset and underwear. I went with the corset. I order it from The Fashion Corset Shop since making a corset is an extremely hard thing to do and I applaud anyone who can. Some of their corsets aren't made for large breasts, so I used some double sided tape to keep those babies in there. I admit, they were really popping out. My bad.
• The red underwear I bought at a lingerie store, I just brought the corset with me to make sure they matched.

Makeup

• I chose a very red lipstick and a some what dramatic eye. I used red eye shadow that I bought at Hot Topic years a go, they may or may not still carry it. And heavy black liquid eyeliner.

Gloves

• Bought at Party City for my Molotov Cocktease costume from SDCC. Shaving off another $10 off the production cost.
• Can be found online, usually sold by Leg Avenue

Nylons

• as a large hipped lady, I often have a hard time finding colored nylons in my size. But, I did some hunting and I found We Love Colors which offers great nylons in all sorts of colors and in plus sizes. They were very comfortable.

Boots

• for my boots I wanted something flat. walking around con all day in heels can be horrible. So I hunted down some cute red scrunch boots from Ami Club. If you want some ridiculous boots, boy they got them.

Final Result: