So this is something that I definitely didn't expect to be starting anytime soon! Daredevil is by far my favourite superhero and I'm already (slowly) collecting pieces for the season 1 and 3 suits, but I wanted to work on something a little more hands on and before I knew it, I was researching his red suit.🤣
I'm going for the season 2-3 look for my costume, purely because I prefer the upgraded helmet and slightly baggier trousers to the suit from the season 1 finale. I'm really excited to get started with this project! It feels like so long since I worked on my last scratch-build, and I've never made my own patterns (or sewed a costume from scratch) so it's going to be a really steep - but fun! - learning curve.
The first step of course, is to start gathering as many reference pictures as possible. The MCU Wiki has a whole gallery dedicated to Daredevil's costume, so that was extremely helpful. I saved lots of photos showing off as many angles of the suit as possible - the more photos I have, the more accurate I can make my cosplay.
Next, I began drawing out my patterns! To give me a template to work from, I decided to trace around a hoodie and a pair of jeans that I really like the fit of. Charlie Cox said in an interview that he bulked up to around 172lbs for Daredevil and if you've seen any of my cosplay pictures you'll know that I don't even come close to having his physique.😅 HOWEVER, I've been hitting the gym recently so using these clothes as a base will give me something large enough to grow into, without being so baggy that they make the finished costume look ridiculous. (The last thing I want is to make this suit and then find that it doesn't even fit me in 2 months time!)
Like most superhero costumes in the MCU, Daredevil's suit essentially consists of a pair of trousers, a shirt and a vest to give as much freedom-of-movement as possible. With this in mind, here are the patterns that I drew up for the front and back of the vest. This took a lot of flicking through reference pictures, sketching out the various shapes and rubbing out/redrawing them until I was 100% happy with the design. I had to play with the proportions a little to suit my slimmer build but I'm hoping the changes aren't too noticeable.🤞
Next, the undershirt. Since the majority of this will be covered by the vest, I only needed to design the top of the shoulders and the sleeves. (The remainder will be made from a plain, breathable fabric - which also saves me the effort of having to line the inside of the vest.)
And finally, here are samples of the fabric that I'm going to use for this costume:
I know the original costume used printed spandex, but I really don't have the budget or the facilities for that sort of thing, so this is the next best thing. It's a heavyweight canvas/Cordura-type fabric so it has the perfect texture for Daredevil's suit, as well as being really strong (yet still surprisingly flexible!) Bonus: it also has a waterproof backing!!
Even after a lot of searching, this was the only fabric I could find that had the right 'tactical' texture, as well as the accurate maroon colour, and it looks even better in person! Sure, it may not be the same fabric that was used on the original costume, but it looks and feels exactly how I expected Daredevil's suit to be when watching the show. I just ordered all the fabric I'll need, so in a few days' time I'll be able to make a start on the torso!
It's fair to say I'm really excited for this one! 😉
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