Today, we move onto the final pieces that need to be sewn for the suit: the hood/cowl to be worn underneath the helmet and the neck part, which is visible when Daredevil takes off his helmet and hood.
First of all, I'll be tackling the neck!
The pattern for this actually took more figuring out than I expected; it's kind of like the collar on the undershirt: it seems like such a small and simple piece but then you have to figure out the curves and how it's going to sit on the body, etc. then how all the pieces will fit together...
As far as I can tell, the neck on the original suit is split into 4 sections, so for the sake of simplicity I made the front & back halves symmetrical, meaning I only had to make 2 patterns. Using my undershirt designs as a guide to keep everything lined up and proportional to the rest of the suit, I drew the following patterns - one for the front/back, another for the two sides and a final piece which sits as an extra layer just below the collarbone (between the neck and the red parts of the suit.
With my patterns complete, I could start transferring them onto fabric, finishing the edges, folding where necessary and sewing everything together. When it came to attaching the collarbone piece, I only sewed down the sides so that it would lift slightly and look more like a separate piece on the suit (if that makes sense 😅)
I made the back of the neck in two halves, with a 20mm overlap so that I could sew on some Velcro. (The inside of the throat part is also lined with jersey cotton because it's really soft and also breathable, so is really comfortable against my skin.)
I ran into some issues with attaching the neck to the undershirt, in that it made suiting up a lot more complicated so after taking a small break to cool down and re-assess the situation, I decided that keeping it separate was the best solution. To do this, I had to remove the curved piece that sits below the collarbone and remake it with a much larger border around the bottom and side - so that there wouldn't be any visible gaps. I also added a cotton border around the bottom of the neck for the very same reasons.
Finally, I had the neck taken in by around 20mm at the back to make it less baggy (but still with plenty of breathing room!)
Finally, I had the neck taken in by around 20mm at the back to make it less baggy (but still with plenty of breathing room!)
And now, onto the second part of today's update!
Using the red hoodie that I used to help pattern the torso of the suit, I discovered that pulling the sides of the hood around my neck created a shape remarkably similar to Daredevil's hood, like so:
My hoodie's hood is constructed from a pair of mirrored side pieces and a single strip running up the back. To make the Daredevil hood sit further back on my face, I ignored the back strip and just traced the side piece onto paper to give myself a basic pattern.
In many ways, this is more complex than the vest or the undershirt (which also used this hoodie as a base template) and since some alteration of the basic hood shape was required to close match Daredevil's suit, I created a simple mock-up out of cotton to help perfect the fit and overall proportions. I then added an extra 2 inches to the bottom of the hood so that it would overlap the neck piece better, before cutting a section out from the front to frame my cheeks and finally adding all of the panel lines to match the original suit.
In many ways, this is more complex than the vest or the undershirt (which also used this hoodie as a base template) and since some alteration of the basic hood shape was required to close match Daredevil's suit, I created a simple mock-up out of cotton to help perfect the fit and overall proportions. I then added an extra 2 inches to the bottom of the hood so that it would overlap the neck piece better, before cutting a section out from the front to frame my cheeks and finally adding all of the panel lines to match the original suit.
With my patterns complete, I began the painstaking process of cutting out and finishing all 12 of the pieces before sewing them together. To maximise the suit's breathability, I made the top of the hood (the part that will be hidden by the helmet) out of cotton because there is NO WAY I wanted to wrap my entire head in waterproof canvas - this stuff does not breath, like, at all!
But anyway, the original hood has a seam running up the back, so I used this to add a 10-inch invisible zip to my suit's hood - making it much easier to slip the thing on!
To finish the piece up, I sewed a piece of black fabric measuring 85 x 40 mm onto the front to connect the two halves of the neck.
I originally planned to attach the hood to the neck with Velcro, but changed my mind for 2 reasons: 1) the Velcro would be visible when I'm not wearing the hood and look ugly; and 2) keeping the two pieces separate gives me maximum mobility around my head/neck. Instead, the hood just slips over the neck, with a 6 cm overlap so a gap between the two will never be visible no matter how extremely I move or twist my neck.
And that marks the end of the sewing for this suit! Everything else will be foam and hardware-based, which I'm kind of relieved about as it means I can take a break from the sewing machine for a while and focus on other crafting techniques. There are a couple of adjustments that I'd like to make to the hood, but after spending most of the past month just sewing non-stop, I really need to take a break and reset my mind by working on other things.
Once the entire cosplay is completed, I'll revisit the parts that need upgrading.
Stay tuned!
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