Mercy Cosplay
(Overwatch)
Heyya Everyone!
In this post I will be walking through the various stages of how I went about creating my Mercy cosplay, from the video game Overwatch.
Undersuit:-
Since this is a fairly complex build, I decided to start with the easiest part - the suit Mercy wears under her armour.
I used my usual bodysuit pattern - McCall's M7217, to get the shape of her suit. The torso was made using a thick, opaque black jersey fabric, alongside a grey jersey fabric. If you look closely at the images of Mercy's costume, her back is more grey than black, so I cut the back panels of my pattern from the grey jersey, and the rest from the black fabric. This is optional, you can make the whole torso black, and then paint the grey on later, but I wanted to go with the easier route as I didn't have a lot of time for this costume. This was then sewn together as the pattern dictated, with the zip at the front.
I found a yellow ombre fabric which worked perfectly for this costume, and made the sleeves from this. Once the sleeves were attached to the torso, I painted on the black lines that she has around her forearm.
I was really lucky with the fabric for her leggings, as I found a brown/orange mix stretch fabric on eBay, with a similar textured pattern printed onto it.
Originally, I planned to use a pair of opaque brown patterned tights to mimic the look of her leggings, but when I came across this fabric, I knew it would give a much better effect.
My first plan was to make her bodysuit into a leotard, and have the leggings as a separate piece that would be worn under it, however this would make it tricky to get out of when I needed the loo at conventions - as their toilets are not known for being spacious. So I decided to go with the full bodysuit idea, and make the leg pieces out of this brown material.
I made the leg holes a bit higher cut on my hip, and then stitched the leg pieces into it.
This was the base of the bodysuit finished.
Next step was to add the details onto her sleeves and back.
Using some glossy white vinyl fabric, I made the white pieces she has on the outside of her upper arms, and after stitching this onto the sleeves, I used fabric paints and a fine brush to paint on the details.
All of the details on her back were hand painted on using fabric paints. I did want to make them out of Worbla and stitch them on, however due to my scoliosis I have a very deep curve in my lower back, so making the pieces to sit along my spine would not only be uncomfortable, but they wouldn't sit properly and it would look off - so I went with fabric paint, and just added a lot of shading to make it look as 3D as I could.
The last step for the suit was to make the loincloth-style, draping pieces of fabric she has on the front and back of her costume. I used the same yellow ombre fabric I used for the sleeves, cut it so it sat perfectly between my hip bones, and so that it stopped about 6 inches off the floor.
Originally, I planned to attach these pieces to the bottom of the chestplate with magnets, but as it's fabric, I wanted to make sure I could wash it easily, so attaching it to the suit was my best bet. I cut 2 long rectangles from the fabric, hemmed in the sides, and stitched the top to the hip area of my suit, just under the zip. The back piece was stitched just under where I painted the details on the back. All that was left was to add the details, which I made with worbla and painted silver, and attached to the fabric with fabric glue.
This was all the sewing finished, and the base of my suit done!
Chestplate:-
I made the chestplate the lazy way, as it is basically all one long piece. I used the mesh Worbla, and heated it over the torso of my tailors mannequin - NOT my tailors dummy, as this would make gaps and bumps due to the sizing dials, use a plain mannequin, trust me it's easier.
Once this was done, all I had to do was draw on the shape of her chestplate, then cut it out. Simple as! I used my heat gun to smooth down a few rough edges, then primed it with several layers of wood glue. After about 5 layers, I gave it a light sanding with fine grit sandpaper, then did another 5 layers of woodglue.
After this, it just needed a few coats of white gloss spray paint, and the details painted on with a fine brush and acrylic paint. I sealed mine with another layer of clear gloss, to make sure it was extra shiny.
On the inside of the chestplate, I added 4 D-rings, 2 just under the bust, and 2 by the hip. These would hold my webbing, and allow me to strap the chestplate in place.
I used the same technique to use make the pieces Mercy has resting on her hips. I heated Worbla into the right shape, added a D-ring to the inside at the top of each piece, primed them with woodglue and sanded them smooth. Then it just needed a few coats of the same white gloss spray paint and it was done.
Gun:-
Due to the size of her staff, I knew it would be tricky for me to be able to fit both her wings and her staff into a car for conventions, so I decided to make her gun first.
I used EVA foam in various thicknesses to make the shape of the gun, and used my dremel to sand down and curve the edges. I also used various tips for the dremel to add in little details, like the grooves and rivets.
Once the foam base was done, I coated it in wood glue, then used a spray primer to get it ready for painting. It was painted with acrylic paints, and sealed with a clear spray.
If you don't have time to make your Mercy gun, I have a few for sale on my Etsy store.