Sigyn Cosplay
This was my first ever cosplay, and also the first costume where I made my own pattern for parts of it. Made in August 2016, it was based on a drawing made by Nanihoo, an artist on tumblr who, at the time, was putting out a fair amount of fanart for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including their take on the Norse goddess Sigyn. Sadly, the drawing seems to have been lost or deleted, and I don’t feel comfortable reposting the copy I have, but some of the other Sigyn art is still up on their tumblr.
With this costume, I experimented with jewelry making, beading, fake armor, and my first attempts at making a corset. I was still really new to making costumes at the time, so a lot of it is fairly rough, and in the detail explanations below, I’ll touch a little on what I would change or do differently if I made this costume again.
Corset
As the ‘showstopper’ piece for this costume, I spent a fair bit of time on this corset, especially the embroidery on the front. It features a gold rose, with chains going out like vines, and a charm at the bottom, all of which was as close to the concept picture I had. The pattern is from Simplicity 1095, though I switched it from lacing in the front to lacing in the back. The fabric is actually green upholstery fabric with gold flowers, which gave me the stiffness I wanted for this garment.
While I’m very pleased with the way the beading and embroidery came out, there are a number of things I’d change about this corset. For one, the black lining in the front isn’t sewn on very well, and the edges have frayed, which could have been easily fixed. It also never fit very well, which wasn’t helped by my decision to use cheap plastic boning instead of steel boning. The plastic warped in a number of places, and needs to be replaced for this piece to be usable.
Vest, Cloak, and Belt
The vest is a small pleated garment, which I again used Simplicity 1095 to make. It’s made out of green fabric that compliments the corset, and overlaps the corset a bit in the back.
The cloak goes down to just above the knee, and is attached to one shoulder of the vest. It has to be carefully pinned, since it’s pretty much a rectangular piece of fabric, which is something I would change if I were to make this costume again.
The belt is a thin strip of green fabric that is positioned at the bottom of the corset, and only serves a decorative purpose.
Armor
For this costume, I had to make two pieces of fake armor, each of which went on the upper arm. For this, I used simple craft foam, which I coated in Modge Podge to harden, and then painted with different shades of gold paint. While I’m over all pleased with the design, the paint has started to crack, and would have benefited from a lot more careful research about how to make armor like this.
Makeup and Jewelry
The makeup for this costume is pretty simple; I went for a very natural look, but added small freckles across my face, to fit with the artist’s depiction of the character. I also wore a red wig, which was braided back, and had gold chains pinned in to reflect the details in the rest of the costume.
This costume featured very little jewelry, and the only notable piece is the brooch I used to pin the cloak in place. It’s gold and an antique, though I am unsure about exactly how old it is.
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much to Mrs. Sophia Caramagno, who helped out so much on this project, and taught me how to drape patterns. Also thank you to my mom and Tristan Colson for taking the dramatic photos!