Introduction: Princess Merida Costume

My cosplay/ costume of DIsney Pixars Princess Merida of Dunbroch!

I just love her independent and tom-boy-ish character. Her story is lovely and the more often I see the landscape the more I want to go back visit scotland!!
Her personalilty fits me to good to be true and so it was decided! My new cosplay.

Step 1:

Reference pics of Merida from Disney Pixars BRAVE!
I decided to do her main dress from the movie. Petrol canvas it is! There is so much more happening and meaning in this dress. Let's see how I can do ...

Step 2: The Dress

1) I used some cheap textile to do a preversion of the dress. This way i was able to get the sewing and fitting right and transporing the pattern onto the right fabric with less waste! Using a green-bluish canvas I bought about 3-3.5m.

2) pinning the right pieces together and letting me dear sewing machine doing her job!

3) here you can see an abstract from the torso - my next steps will be to bring it into the right and fitting shape, closing the ends of the textile and continue with the sleeves!
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I dyed my textiles and as you can see by the example of the sleeves, the color turned out to be really good!
I like >D
Here you can see how I am putting together the parts to be the medieval sleeves.
Still searching for the right textile to se as the undergarment ;_;
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I found some nice textiles for the lining and decor. To do the rushing you need to sew straight close to one side of the textile, twice and with a longest setting you got. Be sure to only double sew at one side of the line. This way you are able to pull on the threat from the other sides way. The fabric will automatically start rushing! Try it with some leftovers first, if you are a bit insecure.

There is sill so much to do! And yet, I am looking forward to it :D

Step 3: The Color

You may have noticed, that my fabric isn't quiet the right color for Meridas dress. Although it is called 'petrol' it is to green :(
But as much as you guys are focusing on perfection when it comes to cosplay I tried to dye my dress.

How to dye a fabric:
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For dying a fabric you need some textile color pouder which you can get in your fabric store or hobby shop.
You can only do this with cotton,canvas and fabric with a maximum share of 10% polyester!
Next to the color you need SALT (NOTE: read the instruction manual carefully!), a pot or something to dye your stuff in and something to slowly mix it!
Remember: the more water you add, the more salt you need to add and the less brither the fabric will be!
To dye your piece completely it will take around 20 minutes.
I highly recommend to test it first. this is the best way to get it done in a good way!
tipp: make notes of the messuring of the components (weight fabric, salt, water and time!!) This will help you to figure out just the right recipy!

Step 4: The Hair/Wig

After watching a few helpful tutorials on youtube on 'How to curl a wig' I tried it myself and curled my Merida wig even more- more nature,wild and chaotic. She is a tomboy after all and that is the look I am going for here XD
If you want to know my working steps-let me know so I can show you some nice tutorials!
..I love the wig!<3

Step 5: The Weapon

Bow&Arrow is Meridas weapon of choice! So I need to craft me..

- a few arrows with nice arrowheards and feathers
- a light weight bow - made out of PCV pipe and rubber banding.
the deco stuff is made the same way as the arrowheads. Just that i used styrofoam as a basement and covered it with Worblas.
TIPP: Great DIY tutorial
- a quiver ( cardboard pipe, leather, hotglue) - the picture shows you the pattern used on the quiver.
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In case you wondered how I did my arrows for my Merida Cosplay, here is a short and easy tutorial for you to redo the same!
Some simple steps to follow and no worries at all :D
Material and tools needed: scissor, Worblas, a pen, a heat gun or hair dryer, some round timber ,feathers and paint.
let's go! ;)

Step 6: The Cosplay

Myself as Princess Merida of Dunbroch.

Photo taken by the lovely SL-Pictures!!


All rights by Disney and Pixar.