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Thanks to Elemental, Stillvisions, Solartempest, Mackenzie and Dan for the amazing photos!

Costume Information

I've loved Robin's outfit and color-scheme since I was a kid. It's one of those outfits I've always wanted to make. When I started reading the Robin comics earlier this year, I decided to finally make a Robin costume.

For those of you unfamiliar with Robin in comics, there have been five Robins to date. I based my costume on the third and fourth Robins. Robin III is Tim Drake and Robin IV is Stephanie Brown. Yes, there was a girl wonder! Her time as Robin was unfortunately short, but she existed and she was awesome! I never really decided whether I wanted to make Tim Drake or Stephanie Brown, so I merged the two. I love them both~ I borrowed more from Steph, and I'd be cosplaying Steph if I could pull off blond hair. The art in the comics is really inconsistent (sometimes on the same page!), so I had a lot of freedom to play with the design.

I bought the green spandex for this costume first. Since it was sparkly, I decided to make the rest of the costume sparkly to match. I ended up using different kinds of bridal satin for the red, yellow and black parts of the costume. I had doubts about using satin, but it worked out wonderfully in the end.

I made the green undershirt and tights using a modified bodysuit pattern I had from an old costume. The first pair of tights I made ended up too tight so I ended up drafting a second pattern that worked much better.

Since I am terrible at making gloves and all the previous glove patterns I've made haven't worked so well, I drafted a new glove pattern by tracing my hand and adding a proper thumb. These gloves still weren't perfect, but they're the best gloves I've made by far.

I made the padded details on the green shirt sleeves and gloves by stitching green spandex to two layers of felt and then hand-sewing these pieces to the costume. In total, these green "details" took about ten hours to make and sew on.

I drafted the pattern for the red part of the costume from scratch. I made a mock of it and my friend Amanda helped me figure out the darts. I put a zipper down the back. I had some difficult with the top back part of this red dress and ended up re-drafting it again and again until I got it to sit properly. I also ended up re-making the collar when I realized it to was too tall to be hidden by the collar of the cape.

I made every part of this costume that isn't the boots and headband so that the colours would match. This means that I made the yellow "ribbon" that threads through the grommets. I also made a matching the Robin logo out of bridal satin, heat-and-bond and felt.

The belt was fun to make. The buckle is made out of layers of cardboard, foam and felt, as well as satin and hot glue. The rest of the belt is made out of interfaced twill, three layers of felt and satin. I love how the belt came out, though I still have no idea how Robin pulls grappling hooks out of it. XD

The cape... the cape was a nightmare to make! I had no idea how to pattern it, and after asking around on the internet, I ended up making up a pattern from scratch that involved 3/4 of a circle with a 42" radius. I made the cape and then fiddled with it for three weeks until it finally sat the way I wanted it to. Getting cape's lining not to bunch was way harder than I thought it would be. Making and attaching the collar also proved to be difficult. Overall, the cape took me well over 50 hours to make. I've made entire costumes in the time it took me to make the cape! That being said, I am happy with the way it came out. It sits like Tim's cape and is a lot of fun to wear. :3

Finally, I made my mask out of spandex, heat-and-bond and felt. I used spirit gum to attach it to my face.

I should also mention my props! I asked my friend Adrien to make me a shuriken "R" or a batarang prop. I also asked him for advice on how to make Robin's bo staff. He came over the following weekend with a surprise for me. Not only had he made me a shuriken "R", he had made me a batarang and a bo staff as well! Did I mention that Adrien made the staff so it breaks into four sections for easy transport? Did I mention that Adrien is made of awesome? I asked him for one prop for my costume and he made me all the props for my costume! *________* I was floored! I know I've already said this, but thank you so much, Adrien!

Overall, this costume was a challenge for me and a huge learning experience. I am ridiculously proud of how it came out! And, for the record, it's a blast to run around as the Girl Wonder! This is easily one of my favourite costumes!

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