Jill Valentine Cosplay
(Battlesuit from Resident Evil 5)
Heyya Everyone!
In this post I will be walking through the various stages of how I went about creating my Jill Valentine battlesuit, from the Resident Evil 5 video game.
Suit:-
To start with, I used my trusty McCalls pattern M7217 - the Ultimate Bodysuit by Yaya Han. I altered this pattern when I first got it, so that it is longer on the torso, sleeves and legs, and it is now perfectly fitting to my body.
I made this costume using a one way stretch faux leather which I bought from eBay when I was in sixth form, as I hoped that one day I would eventually have the skills to be able to make it. So I bought it, put it in storage and hoped for the best. The fabric has a pattern running through it which looks like carbon fibre, giving a texture much like Jill's suit in the game. I bought the fabric in navy and black, as those are the main colours of her costume.
I made the torso of the suit with the pattern as normal using the navy fabric, and attached an invisible zip at the front.
Next I moved onto the sleeves. The top 1/4 of her sleeve, near her shoulder is half navy and half black, it then has a black ribbed fabric from her upper arm to just below the elbow, then the forearm is the same black and navy as the shoulder part.
To work out what needed to go where, I cut the sleeve piece as normal from the navy fabric, cut the side pieces off and then cut just under where my shoulder would be. I then used them to cut the same sized pieces from the black patterned fabric. These were tacked together.
The middle part was cut from a ribbed black knitted fabric I found in a local fabric shop. I cut this a bit larger than the pattern stated, as this part of her sleeve is baggy and bunches up when she moves her arms, this was then tacked to the top part.
The forearm section was cut the same as the shoulder, the centre from the navy, then using the black to make up the rest of the shape. And here I had the layout for the sleeve! I repeated this for the other side, and machined it together, ready to attach to the torso.
The legs were made in a similar way to the sleeves. I cut the legs out from the navy fabric as usual, then cut the top 1/4 off - where it would attach to the body. I left a 1/4 of the navy fabric, then cut away another 1/4 around where my knee would be. The final part was left navy. After these were all sewn together, this is what I was left with.
To give an idea of the length of the pieces, I am 5ft 9, and have a leg length of 34 inches. The top black panel was
Gloves:-
I made the gloves using the same navy fabric as the suit, and decided to make my own pattern, as I have often struggled with gloves, as I have long chubby fingers. I put my hand flat on a piece of paper with my fingers spread as far as I could and drew round them. I then drew another outline around the first, to give me a seam allowance. I cut 2 of these for the front side of the glove, then flipped it over and cut 2 for the back. These were then put right sides together and stitched. I made the cuff by measuring around my wrist, then adding an extra inch in length - that was the length, and I made it 4 inches wide. I folded the cuff in half and stitched it to the end of the glove, with right sides together, and my gloves were done!
If you have average sized hands, and would prefer to use a pattern to make your gloves I recommend Vogue pattern V8311 [option E - making the cuff with the same fabric instead of fur] - I've used this besfore to make gloves for clients, and it's a very simple pattern which works for most average hand sizes.
AutoInjector:-
After looking at numerous close up pictures of the autoinjector device on Jill's chest, I figured the best way to go about making it was to make the device out of Fimo clay, then make a mould of it, and cast it in various different coloured resins.
I found an oval shaped item in my workroom that was about 4" X 2.5", and built the shape of the device around it using the clay. I made sure the inside of the side knobs were hollow, so I could add in some wires later on.
I baked this in the oven at 60 oC for about 10 minutes, then took out the oval item, and turned the oven up to 130 oC for a further 20 minutes. I did this because I wasn't sure that the plastic item could cope at such a high temperature, but needed to ensure the clay held it's shape. Once this was baked, I left it to cool completely, ready for casting.
I hot glued the oval gem back into the device, and sealed up any gaps around it with watered down wood glue, to make sure it was airtight and no silicone would get stuck under it.
Next was time for casting, I built a wall around it on my Lego board with various bricks, then mixed up a batch of medium shore silicone, enough to cover it with about 5cm extra depth. All together it took about 200g of silicone. I left this overnight to cure, and de-moulded it the next day, and this is what I was left with.
To make the actual casting, I used two types of resin: water clear casting resin, and normal fast casting resin. You could use the clear resin to cast it all, but I find the clear resin harder to paint once it's cured - the fast cast resin cures to an opaque beige colour, which is really easy to paint and gives a better finish.
I mixed a small amount of red translucent resin dye into my clear resin as I mixed the two parts, and poured this into the part of the mould where the gem would be. This was left overnight to cure.