Last week on my Instagram story, I told you guys all about how I decided to make a Maleficent cosplay in only one day.
Well… I guess technically it was a full 48 hours, but the work that went into it was definitely under 24 hours. Singer Sewing Company was hosting a competition for the most unique and creative Maleficent cosplay.
I saw this post sometime on November 13th, 2019. The competition ended on November 15th.
If you knew me in real life, one of the first things you would learn about me is that I work great under pressure. In fact, I feel confident in saying that most of my best work derives from an unhealthy combination of coffee and procrastination.
That’s why I felt no qualms in slapping together this cosplay in order to win one of their sewing machines. The competition called for a unique cosplay so I thought,
Why don’t I make this cosplay out of scraps in my cosplay closet?
So that’s exactly what I did! I didn’t leave the house at all to create this piece (I mean… I rarely do, anyway). All the items are materials that were leftover from other cosplay projects. A true #recycledcosplay.
Here’s how I made my Maleficent cosplay in ONE day:
Step 1: Choosing the Design
I knew right off the bat that I wanted to do something based on this design. Because it needed to be somewhat creative, however, I dug through my discarded cosplay supplies to find something I could use.
I ended up finding a roll of chicken wire for a cosplan that has yet to come to fruition. I even found these big giant leaves that I had hastily made for a Poison Ivy cosplay back in 2017 that never came to be.
My idea was to make a wire skirt, paint the leaves black to look like feathers, and drape them over the wire for a trendy, yet recognizable, Maleficent cosplay.
Step 2. Gathering the Materials
I was so surprised by the number of random craft supplies I had. If I felt like a random item could work for this #recycledcosplay, it was added to my Maleficient getup. Although I spent significant time painting and weathering the giant leaves and finagling with the wire skirt, I ended up not using it because I didn’t have enough time.
At this point, I decided to just go with the screen-accurate concept from Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Here’s a list of all the arbitrary materials I gathered from my closet:
- Black bodysuit (previously used for Black Canary)
- 6mm foam (leftover scraps from my Iron Man)
- Pre-shaped craft foam leaves (from a never-seen-before Ivy)
- Green nail polish (that I’ve probably had for literally 10 years)
- Tulle (from a never-seen-before Yellow Ranger concept)
- Pink flowers (leftover from my JK Rowling)
- Thermoplastic teeth (leftover from my Venom makeup)
- Cotton balls and faux leaves (from your guess is as good as mine)
- PVC Pipe, tape, saran wrap, and brown spray paint (leftover scraps from my Jackie Frost)
- Clear Christmas ornament and LED light (leftover scraps from my Sub-Zero)
- 2-year-old black spray paint, a little bit of leftover Plastidip, and black acrylic paint (from who knows which cosplay, but I’m glad a got to dispose of 2 cans of paint!)
- Black material (no idea why I had it)
- An old, thin belt (from high school)
- Old tablecloth
- 2-year-old Spirit Gum
Step 3. Coffee and Crunch Time
You can see me putting this cosplay together on my IG stories under the WIP highlight.
I started by making the headpiece. I cut out patterns on the 6mm EVA foam and glued it together with contact cement. Then I marked designs into the horns with my wood burner. I ended up painting and gluing the leaves and black tablecloth to the headpiece to give it more of a 3-dimensional look.
For the bodysuit, I etched out a design in the stomach area that looked similar to the cuts in the Maleficent costume. I cut it out using sewing scissors. I had to be very, very careful. When I put it on, I glued the dangling pieces of fabric with my old Spirit Gum so that it appeared to be one full piece.
For the skirt, all I did was hot glue the old black fabric to an old belt. I played around with the way it draped and then started cutting into it. It could probably use a more delicate touch, but for the time being, it worked out pretty good.
The staff was my favorite part. And honestly, the thought of making this is what drove me to make the Maleficent cosplay in the first place. Not the sewing machine, but the fact that I could add another cool prop to my collection.
I cut down PVC pipe using a saw and then set to work sanding it down. This helps so that the spray paint will stick to the plastic. As an added measure, I also twisted tape and Saran wrap along the entire pole. This helped sell the illusion that the staff was a tree branch (instead of what it actually is… a bunch of garbage). Then I went crazy and started spray painting the entire thing with old tan paint.
While I waited for that to dry, I fished out the clear Chrismas ornament and green and glittery nail polish. You can watch the full tutorial here for how I made the top glowy part of her staff. When the paint was dry, I glue dthe bottom half of the ornament to the top of the pipe with contact cement and hot glue.
Step 4. The Finishing Touches on My Maleficent Cosplay
To give you an idea of how all of this actually played out: on the 15th at 2 p.m. I still had to cut out the bodysuit and embellish the headpiece. I was still wanting to do the wire feathered skirt. The giant pieces of foam were still drying in my bathtub.
By 5 p.m. I was adding cotton balls, teeth, and flowers to my staff and weathering it with black acrylic paint. It was around the same time that I realized that the wired skirt was a lost cause. Keep in mind that I still had to do Maleficent makeup and do a photoshoot by 11 pm EST. No amount of coffee was working for me.
My plan was to have my boyfriend take pictures of me outside, but I didn’t want to find a place and then drag him outside at 9 p.m when my makeup was finally done. So this was the end result, complete with a collective sigh of relief.
I didn’t end up winning the contest, but I was able to prove to myself (once again!) that procrastination, coffee, and I are like peas in a pod.
Have you ever made a cosplay out of scraps? Should we like… start a hashtag trend and call it #recycledcosplay? If you end up doing this unofficial cosplay challenge, please leave a comment below and tag me on Instagram so I can see!
