Throwback Monday? Ballerina Harley Quinn: Part 1! (Patreon)

I've never really talked about how I created my Ballerina Harley. In general, sewing is hard to explain for me. I've been doing it for 12 years now, so it's just kinda something I 'do'. It IS my favorite costume I've made though, and has been revised twice since it was originally made. It was also one of three costumes selected to be showcased at the Oakland Museum of California in their San Diego Comic Con exhibit, so it's definitely a huge part of my history as a cosplayer. So here goes an explanation to the best of my ability!

I made this costume for San Diego Comic Con 2013. I was obsessively playing Injustice: Gods Among Us, and had surprisingly fallen in love with Harley's character in the game and played as her almost exclusively. Although I had loved Harley in the original Batman cartoon (especially remembering her taking care of The Joker's hyenas and finding that pretty badass) it wasn't until Injustice that I really really loved Harley. Okay, combine that with my obsession with Angela Clayton's Royal Milk Tea cosplay, and you can see where this is going :

(This costume is phenomenal, and you can see her walkthrough of how she made it here: https://doxiequeen1.wordpress.com/royal-milk-tea-sakizo-artwork/)

Okay! So inspired by Sakizou artwork, Angela Clayton, and of course Harley herself!I wanted the costume to look rich, fanciful and elaborate, but at the time I was lazy so I wanted to get this effect in the easiest, fastest way possible. First smart choice was to pick complimenting fabrics!

The 'Dress'

Both fabrics are from Joanns. The red is a basic corduroy in wine, and the black is an upholstery fabric you can still gethere! I can't tell ya how many yards I grabbed, but it was a decent amount, since the bustle is made out of it.

These are the patterns I used:

I dunno why of all underbust patterns Simplicity 2172 is my go-to, but it just is! Used it for my Officer Vi cosplay too! The McCall's bustle is easily recognizable though :D

So the base of the jacket/dress is Simplicity 2171-- lined with just basic cotton in the same color. The diamonds are appliqued on with a satin stitch, and the pearls were added later in the last rendition and were hand-sewn on! Nowadays I would have boning in the lining to help keep the corset from having wrinkles, but at the time I didn't know that would be advantageous. Pretty much all of my costumes have plastic boning for this reason.

The main bodice has a heart trim around the edge that was just done with my sewing machine as a setting. The ruffle around the edges is just basic cotton in red, black, and white, all scrunched together to make one cute ruffle! It wasn't what I had in mind, hoping each ruffle layer would separate, but decided it was 'good enough' at the time and went with it.

Thebustlewas a monster of it's own. I used lace and a black and white trim on the edges of each layer. The layers are unlined, with the edges serged and folded under, but made just like the pattern entails.

In the last rendition, I added the extra layers of checkered and red fabrics, bows, and the top layer with the striped trim.

Under those pretty layers of ruffles, though, is a crapton of fluff:

I was gifted a trashbag full of black ruffle trim, made by a professional seamstress that had a machine specifically for ruffles. I know if I were to make all these ruffles myself, it would take a million years and I would hate my life, so THANK GOD for my friend Nia. The layer of skirt the ruffles are sewn to is the same size at the outer layer, with five layers of ruffles sewn to the underside to create volume.

Mybowsare all simple 'fake' bows-- just rectangles of fabric, kinda like a pillow case, that are then scrunched together by a strip of finished fabric. Here's a simple tutorial kinda explaining what I did: http://www.thethings-we-do.com/diy-fake-bow-tie/

Thesleevesthe second time around took me twelve hours to make! The first time I made them, it was a similar process, except that I made the inner color out of flimsy cotton, so the sleeves didn't 'poof' the way I wanted them to! The sleeves shown here is the better of the two-- the red inner color was really flimsy.

This is a simplified way of making these sleeves though-- let me know if you have any questions!: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/233131718189202344/

The reason my second rendition took so long is because you see that quilted pattern/lattice look on the prominent color? I did that all myself. You can barely see it in any of the photos, but I actually stitched all of the diamonds into each strip, then glued on little rhinestones to emphasize it. The white ribbon was handsewn on before I sewed it all together. Despite knowing the power of hot glue, I did sew a majority of this costume. An exception would be a few parts of the bustle where I added bows. I got lazy and glued those on :P

Thebrais actually separate from the dress. It was a bra I got on sale from Target with a slight push-up-- I'm VERY sad that Target doesn't sell this bra anymore, because it would be kinda funny to show you how many cosplays I've used this bra design for :(

I used black and red cotton, probably the same fabric as the lining in the dress/jacket thing, with black and gray bias tape for the stripes (you can this near the zippers in your craft stores! I use it for everything!)! I draped it on the bra and handsewed it on while it was on a mannequin. It was my first time doing this, and I remember it being a pain in the ass. Now when I do this, I generally use stretch fabrics to avoid the annoyance of trying to perfectly tailor to a curved edge. The trim on the bra is three different trims, all handsewn on. Nowadays I'd probably be lazy and just glue it >_> Seriously back then I sewed everything because I didn't really think gluing was an option.

I'm gonna split this costume into two parts, with the next section being all the accessories!! I'll be wearing this costume at least one more time this year, but I think at this point I find it quite perfect and won't be making any changes to it :D