LadyDeadpool
New Member
Hey all. I've been a lurker here for a while and thought I'd start a thread for my latest Lady Sif build. I'm a member of the MMCC and I appreciate feedback/advice from others so I'm attracted to the possibility of that here. 
I'm kind of known to many friends for cosplaying comic Lady Sif, and I've been wanting to build the movie version for some time now. I personally don't care much for the Dark World version of Sif, and though less functional then the Dark World armor, I find the Thor version far more complicated and pretty.
After a little nudge from some of my dear friends, I've decided to give it a go (gulp). My goal is to get it done for c2e2 this coming march (2016)....I'm currently 60% done and templating armor. So here goes.
In case you are unfamiliar with the Thor version of Sif.
I've opted to go for the "hair down" verison due to my strange hairline not liking pulled-up wigs. Besides, it's more fun to go kill things with your hair all flowing in the breeze, right?
I like to think of myself as a progressive cosplayer, because I like to take the costume design and remake it as practical and historical accurate as possible while still looking like the original. I think it has to do with my marital arts and historical background. I've made a few changes to Sif's costume from the film, either for historical reasons or $$$$ (or lack of) or for 'making it better' reasons.
So to start. I always work from the base up, it's just easier for me (plus then your armor always fits correctly in the end! ) I decided this costume would be three layers. A cotton tunic, a leather jerkin, and the armor. My tunic is basically a medieval gown pattern, cut down to about mid thigh length. There are no sleeves, and I've added a layered collar to the tunic. It has a invisible zipper up the back. Please note that zippers are not much use if you forget to extend them passed your hips.... just sayin'
Second photo is from much farther on in the build, but good shot of my pretty collar, which has since been hidden from the world.
Sif has these "cap sleeves" on her tunic which you can see here:
The hardest part about prepping for this build was finding decent photos, so you'll see a lot of them re-used here. The silver sleeve you see in these photos is attached to the tunic, and after LONG hours of searching, I have decided it is Large Bubble Spider Mesh in silver, which is sold by the same company that makes the brass mess that is used for Sif's chainmail. That was a long ordeal, so you're welcome any future Sif builders who needed to know that.
Unfortunately, it's $$. While I did purchase spidermesh for the chainmail, I could not justify spending the extra amount on something I would use so little of, and I already had another solution that I liked better.
I always wear hematite for personal reasons, and they do make a silver-ish coat for hematite, so I went that direction and used hematite beads for my sleeves. Much cheaper, and they can be acquired on the Amazon for less hassle then spidermesh.
You can see its not the same as Sif's....but I like it. It's mine and it looks cool and it makes me happy.
I will apologize for my very bad photo quality. I had the bad luck to break both of my cameras at the same time recently and all I have at the moment is my phone camera.
So that's the tunic. It was easy to make. It's double layered cotton in a burgundy/wine color. Nothing fancy.
Next we have the jerkin, which was a lot more work, but I think it turned out very well. I'll include the gauntlets in this section too.
Sif's was a lot of guess work because there are very very few pictures of her behind, or from the side, and none at all that are of good quality. A lot of what you see me do here is educated guess work/historically based.
All I can say is THANK GOD FOR STUNT DOUBLES. Because that picture of Sif on the Destroyer is her stunt double, and the best picture I've found of the side of her costume yet.
What I did was a front lacing leather tunic with five tabs that hang down to mid thigh. One larger one in the back and two on either side, such as can be witnessed in the pictures above. I have yet to add the collar (I am waiting to see where the armor fits). I also opted out of using spidermesh to line the bottom of the tabs as can been seen in set picture with the hat.
I did template out the top of the jerkin first with duck canvas before cutting my leather. Measure twice, cut once that sort of thing. The center pieces, center photo, are between 2-6 layers of leather. I ended up having to hand sew a lot of this because the leather was too thick.
Here you can see the final version of the center front, and my first test fitting (in all it's glamour). It laces up with grommets on either side, though I have found I can keep one side laced and get in and out just fine. I've since added strips to the front to cover more of the bust line to keep more in line with the original costume. The last photo is the jerkin on my dress dummy, Pokey, while sewing the tabs on by hand. I use clothes pins a lot for leather.
As mentioned, I decided not to use spidermesh for the ends of the tabs like on Sif's. ($$$) Instead I 'borrowed' a page from Loki and used brass zippers to edge the tabs. I like how they turned out, and they blend in well with the boots I've since acquired as the boots have a fake brass zipper (zipper head since removed) up the back.
Anyway, I've run out of space to post pictures on this post, and I should get back to work on costumes....so I'll update again later starting with pictures.
I'm kind of known to many friends for cosplaying comic Lady Sif, and I've been wanting to build the movie version for some time now. I personally don't care much for the Dark World version of Sif, and though less functional then the Dark World armor, I find the Thor version far more complicated and pretty.
After a little nudge from some of my dear friends, I've decided to give it a go (gulp). My goal is to get it done for c2e2 this coming march (2016)....I'm currently 60% done and templating armor. So here goes.
In case you are unfamiliar with the Thor version of Sif.
I've opted to go for the "hair down" verison due to my strange hairline not liking pulled-up wigs.
Besides, it's more fun to go kill things with your hair all flowing in the breeze, right?I like to think of myself as a progressive cosplayer, because I like to take the costume design and remake it as practical and historical accurate as possible while still looking like the original. I think it has to do with my marital arts and historical background. I've made a few changes to Sif's costume from the film, either for historical reasons or $$$$ (or lack of) or for 'making it better' reasons.
So to start. I always work from the base up, it's just easier for me (plus then your armor always fits correctly in the end!
) I decided this costume would be three layers. A cotton tunic, a leather jerkin, and the armor. My tunic is basically a medieval gown pattern, cut down to about mid thigh length. There are no sleeves, and I've added a layered collar to the tunic. It has a invisible zipper up the back. Please note that zippers are not much use if you forget to extend them passed your hips.... just sayin'Second photo is from much farther on in the build, but good shot of my pretty collar, which has since been hidden from the world.
Sif has these "cap sleeves" on her tunic which you can see here:
The hardest part about prepping for this build was finding decent photos, so you'll see a lot of them re-used here. The silver sleeve you see in these photos is attached to the tunic, and after LONG hours of searching, I have decided it is Large Bubble Spider Mesh in silver, which is sold by the same company that makes the brass mess that is used for Sif's chainmail. That was a long ordeal, so you're welcome any future Sif builders who needed to know that. Unfortunately, it's $$. While I did purchase spidermesh for the chainmail, I could not justify spending the extra amount on something I would use so little of, and I already had another solution that I liked better.
I always wear hematite for personal reasons, and they do make a silver-ish coat for hematite, so I went that direction and used hematite beads for my sleeves. Much cheaper, and they can be acquired on the Amazon for less hassle then spidermesh.
You can see its not the same as Sif's....but I like it. It's mine and it looks cool and it makes me happy. I will apologize for my very bad photo quality. I had the bad luck to break both of my cameras at the same time recently and all I have at the moment is my phone camera.
So that's the tunic. It was easy to make. It's double layered cotton in a burgundy/wine color. Nothing fancy.
Next we have the jerkin, which was a lot more work, but I think it turned out very well. I'll include the gauntlets in this section too.
Sif's was a lot of guess work because there are very very few pictures of her behind, or from the side, and none at all that are of good quality. A lot of what you see me do here is educated guess work/historically based.
All I can say is THANK GOD FOR STUNT DOUBLES. Because that picture of Sif on the Destroyer is her stunt double, and the best picture I've found of the side of her costume yet.
What I did was a front lacing leather tunic with five tabs that hang down to mid thigh. One larger one in the back and two on either side, such as can be witnessed in the pictures above. I have yet to add the collar (I am waiting to see where the armor fits). I also opted out of using spidermesh to line the bottom of the tabs as can been seen in set picture with the hat.
I did template out the top of the jerkin first with duck canvas before cutting my leather. Measure twice, cut once that sort of thing. The center pieces, center photo, are between 2-6 layers of leather. I ended up having to hand sew a lot of this because the leather was too thick.
Here you can see the final version of the center front, and my first test fitting (in all it's glamour). It laces up with grommets on either side, though I have found I can keep one side laced and get in and out just fine. I've since added strips to the front to cover more of the bust line to keep more in line with the original costume. The last photo is the jerkin on my dress dummy, Pokey, while sewing the tabs on by hand. I use clothes pins a lot for leather.
As mentioned, I decided not to use spidermesh for the ends of the tabs like on Sif's. ($$$) Instead I 'borrowed' a page from Loki and used brass zippers to edge the tabs. I like how they turned out, and they blend in well with the boots I've since acquired as the boots have a fake brass zipper (zipper head since removed) up the back.
Anyway, I've run out of space to post pictures on this post, and I should get back to work on costumes....so I'll update again later starting with pictures.
