My Wolverine costume build - yellow suit from Deadpool & Wolverine

[JPH]

I just thought of something else for the mask - I could still make the surface out of foam, but make a 3D printed framework underneath (reinforced after printing for strength). That way, it'd still be lightweight, but it would be even easier to get the shape right than trying to bend wire/rod. It'd make creating the rest of the mask easier too, especially the face.

If you can find a good pepakura file for the black wings on the mask, and the mask itself, your foam will want to hold shape.

I'd use 3d printing for a template, and maybe cast out of something more flexible and forgiving. My worry are those black wings on the mask catching on something and SNAP!.

I dont own stock in Task 16, but I think it would make great wings, it has a short pot life, so you can slush cast it.

The claws depend on where you want to take them.
If the place understands it is a costume, Id just make them aluminum. But any place with a weapons policy makes it tough to have claws that are rigid enough to stay straight but wont get rejected weapon screeners.

I remember someone made claws that come up and retract with just a flick of the wrist, I will see if I can find it, but prolly alot easier if you just have a set of fixed claws (Nerf Claws, metal claws, whatever) that you can just take out or hide when you want to. Time is an issue.

 

[Bloop]

Progress: I covered one kneepad with fabric. I used spay adhesive, which was workable so that I could readjust as I went. Not quite as crisp as I'd like, but I feel it's more than passible at this point. I still plan on working with it more, plus shading and weathering will help enhance the detail. The fabric is fairly thick, so there's a limit on how sharp I can make the edges. I still have to add the blue sections of the pads, plus the rivets.

Instead of making a test version with scrap fabric, I taped together all the pattern pieces on my dummy to make sure they all lined up and that I didn't miss any parts. I was also able to make minor adjustments to the a few of the patterns.

Next, I jumped right in with the real material (well, as real as you can consider shower curtains as proper clothing material). Intially, I was having some problems, as the material tends to fray/shred apart after cutting it. But that was fixed (I hope) by running a zig-zag stitch along the outside of each piece I cut.

Since then, the fabric has been pretty easy to work with. I can iron it (which is necessary for creating the pieces from patterns), and it runs through the sewing machine pretty easily. Though I did have a brief problem with the material getting caught in the machine, due to some frayed edges, but I just need to be more careful and cut off any shreded edges before running the fabric through.

Here's the first few pieces all sewed togeter, with the kneepad pinned into place temporarily:

Still a long way to go, but I'm pleased with how things are going, especially since the shower curtains seem to be working. I might need to add foam to some areas, like a few seams, and maybe take out and re-sew a little of the stiching. Shading and weathering are going to help the look of this a lot too.

 

[Bloop]

More work done on the first leg/side of the pants. One more panel needed to connect the front and back, so that should give me a good idea of how it'll fit. Hopefully an ironing will help smooth things out too. Lots more to do, and my sewing could be better, but I think it's going pretty well so far. One good thing about making a Wolverine costume is if I screw up something too bad, I could always just make it "battle damaged."

Side panel with bias tape piping attached:

One side nearing completion:

I've been trying to match how all the seams and the stichting are done. I have rather limited sewing experience, so I feel like I'm learning a lot as I go.

I might need to redo the kneepad with some stronger glue, as it's lost a little more definition. Hopefull, I can get the leg completed tomorrow.

 

[Bloop]

I didn't finish the first leg yesterday, but I'm getting closer. I probable could've gotten it done if I hadn't worked on fixing a few seams that I wasn't happy with. I figured I should fix them now because it'd be a lot harder to do later.

I also noticed that I messed up on a couple of the panels - the two yellow pieces that surround the smaller "L" shaped blue piece should've been cut so that the fabric pattern runs straight up-and-down. I accidentally cut them out so the pattern runs at an angle when they were sewed in place. It's not that obvious unless you look close so I'm not sure if it'll bother me enough to fix It's impossible to have all the diamond pattern line up completely straight anyway (well, at least impossible for me) so as long as I match it on the other leg, it should look okay.

Back section with fake "pocket" before attaching to the rest of the leg:

Progress of the leg ‐ the second pic has all the pieces sewn so that it can finally be attached, front to back (far left side attaches to far right). It's still missing the bottom parts (shin & calf) with faux leather (kneepad not shown). It also still needs the extra detail pieces like the front "zipper cover' (though there's no front zipper) and the extra strap-like pieces that run horizontal around the back of the knee to the knee pad.

The pics were taken in daylight, which shows how the colors differ from how they look under warm light bulbs in some of the other pics.

 

[Bloop]

Update: I had planned on finishing one side of the pants entirely before moving on to the other, but I'm still figuring out exactly how I'm going to do the kneepads. The original costume looks like the kneepads are sewn into the pants, which is what I planned on doing, but mine are hard to sew onto the pants. They're pretty stiff, so that combined with the fact that I sewed the pant leg together above the knee already - which needed to happen in order to fit the kneepad in place properly - makes it pretty much impossible to sew it by machine.

Here's the pants so far - the right side is completely sewn, except for the kneepad and the areas below it (still needs yellow fabric below the black faux leather, plus the backside for the black faux leather). The left leg is obviously incomplete, still needing parts of the outer leg and back side. It's not attached to the right side yet.
I redid some more of the seams on the right side as well.

I re-did the kneepad fabric, using different spray adhesive and trying to get a sharper appearance. It definitely improved the appearance, but I found I needed to sew around most of the foam pads too.



More pants pics. The kneepad straps behind the knee are still unsewn since I need to match their positions to the kneepad after it gets sewn in:

 

[StolenBlackMesa]

Looks freakin great! How’s the stretch on that shower curtain fabric??

 

[Bloop]

Looks freakin great! How’s the stretch on that shower curtain fabric??

About as much as you might expect from a fabric shower curtain, which is to say, not a lot, but it has some. It should be enough that I can actually walk around in them and not look like Frankenstein's monster.

I'm planning on adjusting the kneepad before I go any further. I noticed the bottom of it needs another seam, plus the stiffness of it around the perimeter is making it difficult to attach and stretch with the pants correctly. I also had sewed in the black fake leather that I bought to use for the boots, which is also stiff. I have a black faux leather pillowcase that is a lot softer that I'm going to cannibalize for those parts instead, which will flex better with the yellow fabric. I'll post pics after I work on all that.

 

[Bloop]

Update: First leg completed

I may add a little padding in spots in order to have it lay better, but everything is sewn up. When everything is done, I'll add shading/weathering, but that's probably going to wait until after I finish the shirt, boots and gloves, again, in case I run short on time.

It took me awhile to figure out how to sew the bottom half of the leg. I wanted to sew it all on a sewing machine, but it wasn't really possible with the kneepad. I ended up sewing as much as I could on the machine, then switched over to hand sewing the rest of the pad in place. At that point, I was able to turn the pant leg inside-out and sew the shin/calf section on the machine. I had originally tried to sew the "straps" with the machine, but I had to pull out the stiching and resew it by hand in order to get to positioning right.

As I mentioned in my last post, the stiffness of the kneepad was making things more difficult, so I cut off the surrounding back material it was glued to. I reshaped the bottom of the pad as well (the fabric shape, I should say).



Here's the black faux leather pillowcase I cut up for the bottom of the pants leg. I originally made it too small (vertically), so I had to redo it. I also noticed the leather-like surface of the fabric will peel off if it gets damaged, so I sprayed it with Krylon Clear Matte spary paint - I'm hoping it helps protect it. So far, so good.

 

[Bloop]

Update: Getting close to finishing the pants. I wanted to wait until they were completed, but I figured I should just post the progress. It's still going well, with a few seams rexone here and there. Even though I'm using the same patterns for the left side (flipped over), there's still some wiggle room which means I have to make sure the left side lines up with the right by measuring it all.

I'm a little worried l the pants might be too tight once I sew the two sides together - I've been able to try the one leg on and hold the top in place - but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

In anticipation of finishing the pants, I made another duck tape dummy, this time of my torso:

It'd be beneficial to have arms too at some point, but I don't really need them for the top of the costume, since I'm not making the long sleeves.. Plus, it was very difficult to tape up my torso all by myself - I don't recommend it. I have abrasions around my arms from trying to move my arms while encased in tight tape, plus the back was impossible to complete alone. I ended up leaving a lot of the back untaped and finishing it after cutting it off. Luckily, I had enough of a framework to be able to fill in the gaps and still have it representative of my physical dimensions.

 

[motorhead]

wow impressive build so far!!! keep it up!!

 

[Bloop]

Pants (mostly) finished:

I still have to sew in the straps behind the knees, and make some adjustments and repairs here and there, particularly the fit in some spots. The crotch and seat need to be taken in a bit - I was worried about it being too tight, that I sewed it as loose as I could.
I originally thought I would just do an elestic/drawstring waist, but the material isn't really stretchy enough, so I put a front zipper in. I left the pants high wasted (though the top hasn't been hemmed yet) because the top of the costume appears to be loose around the waist/belt (just some hooks to hold the top and bottom together), so I didn't want anything showing that shouldn't.
It needs to be ironed, but I also plan on adding interfacing or some light padding to some spots so it lays better

A few in-progress shots:

 

[Bloop]

Pants finally finished. A few adjustments still needed, but they can wait. I need to move on to the rest of the costume. Hopefully, the rest will go faster, since there won't be nearly as much sewing needed. I could've been finished sooner, but I kept trying to improve things, which lead to seams needing to be ripped out and resewn, and even having to redo a whole rear panel due to mistakes I made.

Hand sewing in the straps on the backs of the knees was brutal. It took hours - practically a whole day of work. Far from perfect, but it's done. Pants still lack a button or snap for the waist. I might go with suspenders to keep everything snugged up.

I did tailor the pants to fit better, which definitely improved both the fit and the look - it smoothed out a lot of areas that needed it. I also put some foam above the knees (from an old mattress pad) to get them to lay better.

The navy blue parts look black in the photos, but they look more blue in person. The blueness still depends on the lighting. I tried varoius method to lighten the fabric, but nothing worked well, so I may have to just live with it.

I found a rivet-type model on thingiverse to use for the all the riveted spots. I estimated the head size at 7mm and printed them on my FDM 3d printer.
Pic of the top & bottom parts snapped together. Just need to paint them silver and pop them in (might use rub n buff, since I have it).

 

[Bloop]

Moving on to the top, drawing out the shapes. Here's the under shirt neck by itself:

Most of the front done - I just did half since I just need to mirror it for the other side. The neck gets a little cluttered since I laid out the under shirt and the top layer together.

 

[renaissance_man]

Zero interest in the film, but this just appeared in my YouTube feed.
Thought it would be helpful.

 

[Bloop]

Zero interest in the film, but this just appeared in my YouTube feed.
Thought it would be helpful.

Thanks, this is really helpful! There's a lot of details I couldn't see in the various other stills and screenshots that I've been referring to. It's also confirmed a lot of details that I pulled from blurry photos, so I feel pretty good about that. I didn't watch the whole video, but I did see where they confirmed that there's foam around the knees in order to have the pants lay better, which is what I did (mine still needs a little more).

It's interesting that the color of the blue fabric is definitely different than the boots, pauldrons, and gauntlets, which are more teal than the fabric is. I wasn't 100% sure before seeing this, since the color grading of the movie can thow things off. I'm not sure how much I'll try to get the colors right, since all my colors are going to be a little off anyway due to fabric and material availability.

 

[Bloop]

I finished the kayout of the top and started doing the foam parts. I didn't see the "Tested" video until now, but luckily, I think my construction is on the right track.




I used an old soldering iron to make the recessed lines in the foam. I need to wrap a lot of the foam sections in fabric before combining everything together.

I'm debating whether to make the pauldrins at all - I may just do the costume with the sleeves torn off. And if I do that version, I may try to paint and wearher the costume to look like it does onscreen, with all the blood, dirt, bullet holes and cuts from blades. I still haven't decided.

 

[Deadpaul5150]

Dude this is looking so sick!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bloop]

Thanks Deadpaul!
I took some screencaps of the Tested video of some details that sgould help me out. I plan of modeling the belt buckle and 3D printing it - there are some for sale online, but I haven't seen any that are really accurate, especially seeing the clear closeups from the video.



Nice clearvshors of the boots - I see now it appears to be all leather (or faux leather), with the screen printed pattern on parts of it. I think I'm still going to use the black fabric shower curtain for those center sections, though - partly because it still needs to be soft (the stretch faux leather I used on the pants isn't durable enough) and I want to use up the fabric I bought. I could model and 3D print a paint pattern roller for those spots, and paint the thicker fake leather I bought, but that's going to take more time than I want.

 

[Bloop]

I got some of the top pieces wrapped. I apply hot glue to the seams and edges, working the fabric into them. The chest piece still has extra fabric on the sides. I also used the fake black leather I bought for the boots as the under part for the black trim line.
I also had to redo the foam chest pieces - my originals were too wide, particularly the recessed detail lines running vertically along the pecs.




I also bought some Testors yellow fabric spray paint. It worked to lighten the fabric, but it also makes the fabric stiffer, less flexible, so I'm not sure if I'll use it. I just tried misting it on, but the can sputters, which seems like it's a known problem with fabric spray paints (Tulip band spray as well). I do think the blue needs lightening, so I may buy some blue fabric spray paint. I tried Tulip fabric paint (the regular, brush-on kind), but it doesn't have a lot of pigment in it, so it requires a lot of coats to get the desired color. I bout some Rust-oleum spary paint to use for the gauntlets and boots, which I tested on the blue fabric before I went to work today, so I'll see how that worked. Since the blue fabric is used a lot less than the yellow, it might be okay to have it be stiffer, and the spay paint might work just as well as fabric paint. I'll post pucs of it later.

Here's the yellow fabric spray paint test I did next to the pants, in different lighting. The fabric paint also makes the fabric look more matte, which I'm not sure if I like better.

 

[Bloop]

Paint test: Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint + Primer Premium Ultra Matte. Color is "Evening Navy," sprayed onto black fake leather and navy blue fabric:



Here's a shot of the screen-used costume from the "Tested" video for a comparison:



I'm realizing the blue of the costume really is more teal than I originally thought. The paint I used still might be too blue, but it's definitely closer to the real costume, so I think it'll work. The fake leather in the left picture looks lighter that it does IRL due to the shine. I haven't it tested it on the blue fake leather I bought for the boots, but considering how it looks on the black fake leather, it should be fine. The left pic is under bluer lights too.

I think the fabric looks better painted. It's definitely stiffer than the normal, unpainted fabric, but it's still flexible. It still is a bit darker than the screen costume, but, again, it's definitely closer.