Costuming Diana Prince from Wonder Woman

Since seeing the first Wonder Woman preview of Diana Prince in the gala scene, I was stunned by the blue silk dress with the sword “hiding” down her back.  Goddess, warrior, and a lady.  I didn’t commit to costuming this gorgeous version of Wonder Woman until I saw the film…and well, I hit the fabric store and Amazon the next day without looking back.

 

 

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First order of business was the luxurious fabric.  Finding the perfect color was easy, it is royal blue with both lighter and darker sheen, depending on lighting.  But I needed to decide if I would buy polyester (lower left) or silk (lower right) with a price difference of about $12/yard.  Yeah, already in over my head.  After a quick Facebook poll among my friends and some internal struggle, I went with the silk charmeuse and paid about $23/yard for about 7 yards.  And yes, I poured a “what the hell did I just do?” glass of wine when I got home.

 

 

Second, was the sword.  THE sword.  Usually when I costume with weaponry, I buy the cheap plastic replicas and then sand them down and repaint them.  In this case, I did exactly that.  I purchased a plastic Rubie’s Costume Wonder Woman Movie Sword from Amazon and shoved it in the back of a random dress for good measure.  It fit!

 

 

But it wasn’t exactly comfortable.  I could walk with it but wouldn’t be able to sit or do much else.  So I cut 2/3 of the blade off so it wouldn’t damage that expensive silk or poke me in the butt.  I sanded it, repainted it, and added fabric to the base so it wouldn’t scratch my skin or the dress where it was cut.  Before starting the dress, I also ordered Batman v Superman Wonder Woman Boots on Amazon.  Most of the boots are hidden by the dress, but you can see the wedges even when she’s only standing in place.  If you’re ordering these boots, get a size smaller.  I wear a 9.5-10 and originally ordered size 10 (there are no half sizes) and sent them back in exchange for size 9, which ended up being quite comfortable.

 

 

Here’s where it got complicated, intimidating, frustrating, and humbling…I let the fabric sit around for months because I just didn’t know how to get started.  There are no patterns out there, and I’m not *that* good of a sewist.  Because DragonCon was rapidly approaching and I had no idea what I was doing, I decided to make a Village Amazon in case I couldn’t get it together in time (spoiler: I did finish it, my niece wore my back-up Village Amazon, and everything worked out just fine).

 

 

A week or so before DragonCon, where I had committed to wear this costume, Hurricane Harvey began bearing down on Texas and flooding Houston (read my survivor’s story here).  I had about a week of down time on my hands unable to leave the neighborhood, and I needed something to occupy my mind.  So I pulled out my box of patterns and found a couple really old/outdated/unstylish patterns that *could* be spliced to make what I call a “Frankendress.”  For the bodice, I used Simplicity 6457 (view D without the shoulder straps, so a little improvisation was necessary).

 

 

And for the skirt, I used New Look Pattern 6628 Blouses, Skirts and Tops (view C, and modified it from a long wraparound pencil skirt to an even longer dress skirt).  I added more darts to the skirt and sewed it to the bodice.  I then sewed the bodice to a strapless bra (with the removable straps attached), essentially putting the entire load of the dress on the bra.  Thankfully, silk is lightweight.

 

 

After I attached the bra, I added the remainder of the fabric, minus a long triangular strip saved for the sleeve, and a hidden zipper to the back closure.  These two long rectangles of fabric (probably ~3 yards long by ~1 yard wide) were then draped, pinned, draped, pinned, draped, and finally sewn in place as best as I could to get mine to match hers.  I had A LOT of espresso that day and was hyper-focused, so I didn’t take many photos of the draping.

 

 

Not shown is silk lining also sewn into the bra, a circular bra cover that I made from scraps to hide the clasp, and tied some of the draping in a knot that completely hid the bra (and hold sword in place…win, win).

 

 

The final step was gathering the shoulders and adding the sleeve to my left shoulder.  I realize Diana’s dress drug on the floor, but I made sure that mine didn’t…because I’m ridiculously uncoordinated and this fabric was expensive (to me).

 

 

I’m very pleased with how this dress turned out, and I was very proud to wear it at DragonCon last month.  I missed an Amazon group photoshoot on Friday morning because I was just so exhausted from the hurricane and long drive to Atlanta from Houston that I purposefully slept in for the first time in weeks.  But my friend Anna of Darkstar Photography and Costuming was able to squeeze in a few shots of me in the dress (below), and I’m so grateful to her for it.  More of her photography and costuming can be found on her Facebook page.

 

 

For the Village Amazon that I made as a back-up that my niece wore at DragonCon, you can find the build here: Costuming a Village Amazon from Wonder Woman.  Isn’t she cute?!

 

 

Other Wonder Woman costumes on the blog:

Costuming Themysciran Senators from Wonder Woman: More Photos

Costuming Themysciran Senators from Wonder Woman: Accessories

Costuming Themysciran Senators from Wonder Woman: Corset, Skirt, & Cape

Costuming a Village Amazon from Wonder Woman

Costuming Diana Prince from Wonder Woman

Costuming Wonder Woman Fan Art (Pinspired)