Does it come in black? Part 2

"And then, quite separately, we place another order to a Chinese company for these."
"Put it together ourselves."
"Precisely."  – Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne

 

Recently I have lamented quite a little bit about my attention being split from side projects, and some of them having caused significant delays in creating the batsuit, but these things are not altogether without their own merits.



Things being what they are, and crazy being crazy, they are still moments in my impossible schedule where I manage to derive great pleasure from my somewhat less-than-philanthropic efforts.  Besides working on my very first commissioned costume piece, which was already featured in the previous posts, I've also found some time to help build a Halloween party location in Campbellville, as well as a haunted Halloween maze at the PhatBoys Halloween Bootique in Mississauga (pictures forthwith).



Secret Wishes Thigh-High Boot Tops



The flipside of course, is that the clock is still ticking, and I have only 15 days left to finish all the work necessary.  That is an extremely uncomfortable timeline, and I am immensely grateful for anything that would help speed up for simplify the work at this point.



So naturally when I saw that PhatBoys carries boot tops, I couldn't resist picking a pair up for myself. Afterall as great as my boots are, they are only 10 inches tall, and by no means do they cover my calf to the knee (as would be accurate to the Nolan costume).  So, these Secret Wishes "Thigh-High Boot Tops" seemed like a great idea at the time.

Comparision - Stock boot top vs. bare 10" boot

Little did I remember in my excitement at the time, that Secret Wishes is in fact a Rubie's Costumes brand, and well, I've already had to repair one item of theirs (namely the cowl) stemming from faulty manufacturing.

First of all, credit where credit is due:  PhatBoys carries a lot of amazing products, and, had I purchased these boot tops to be used for their original purpose (which is to turn a pair of ladies shoes into thigh-high boots for a day), I'm sure they would look great.  Not so much, when I'm trying to hack a single-purpose product for unintended use.



Modified boot tops - side view

Put side-by-side with the original boot, the general sentiment was, that "it looked like an old man's booties from the hospital".  I'm sure even Bruce in his old age would find this wholly unacceptable, not to mention the hordes of Batman fantatics out there that would run screaming like little girls.

So the wheels of deliberation, enginuity, and reverse engineering spins.  I present modification plans to my mother, and we spend a couple of hours hacking the piece to specifications, chopping off the top and bottom, and seaming the trunk back together, all the while complaining about the bad workmanship of "Made in China".

And voila.  No more old man's booties, the full glory of the 10 inch combat boots (or at least the shoe part of it), and the now- knee-high boot tops blend in exactly the way they should, looking like they could even pass for part of the shoe itself.  All I have to do is replace those scrapped inner gauntlet pieces for a stock sheet of 6mm EVA.

Hack win.



Modified boot tops - front view

Red Riding Hood - On Airdrop!

"I like this job.  I like it!" ‒ The Joker

 

Red Riding Hood cloak

There are some days when even a would-be playboy billionaire feels stretched too thin.  With October rolling in, time's ticking for my suit to be finished, and all the little sidetracks, delays, and other little messes start to creep up.  Progress is being made, but with all the slowdowns and details that need to be corrected, there's been little time to make any posts at all, not to mention my computer is still mid-reformat, which is kind of annoying.



Cloak neckline, closeup

That being said, the Red Riding Hood cloak that I had taken on as commission work has been completed and shipped as of last week, and is onroute to its new owner.  So, here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.  (I apologize that in the rush of getting it packaged and shipped, that I had not been able to secure a model to take better photos.  My hope is that my friend will be able to have some photos of her own to send back after she receives the item.)

Pulled back hood, side view

Some differences between this piece and the original movie prop:  Material selection wise, the costume makers for the movie chose a linen material, most likely for its light weight and its ability to be torn and frayed at the hem.  As I was not able to find a linen cloth with a nice red color (Fabricland has a rather limited selection... I'll exclude the expletives I feel due in that regard), we agreed to use panne velour (crushed velvet), and a cotton rope for the drawstring.  In the future I may need to source an online fabric supplier for my work, but for this item, the client and I are both happy with the velvet.

Folds, side view

Also, during tailoring we decided not to make any arm slits in the sides, as the costume makers did for the movie.  Couple of reasons for that:  Arm slits require a bit of excess slack to be sewn in from the capelet section, and being that it was cut from a circular pattern, that section is narrow enough as it is.  As well, the more seams that are cut into the fabric, sometimes with rougher use the item may get damaged quicker, so the panels were left alone.


Hood and drawstring

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the result.  More posts on the way soon!

Hem fanning