My first major cosplay! - The Rocketeer

     The Rocketeer was one of my faaaavourite movies as a kid. I've always felt that he was an underrated character. I loved that he could fly and, just as awesome - the art deco style of his costume (yaaay! 1930s and 40s)! For some reason I got it in my head that this would be a fairly simple build, despite the fact that I have never really constructed any type of helmet before. I've sewn a bit and thrown together simpler costumes with clothes and other items from the thrift store, but not a scratch build.

     SO! I did what you should do when starting any new cosplay project - research and reference pictures!!! I re-watched the movie, pulled out my comic books, looked at other peoples costumes, and Googled aloooot. Other helpful sites: YouTube, Cosplay.com, Instructables, Replica Prop Forum again, just a simple search will bring up some great resources.

The Basics

     I bought the pants new for about $20 as I couldn't find a decent fitting pair at my usual thrift stores.  The boots were an EXTREMELY lucky find at a Value Village (second hand store in Canada), like, a week or so before the Con. To be perfectly honest I had already bought a pair online that were similar-ish to his but as soon as I saw those ones I HAD to buy them.  I'll use the other boots for something else ;)

     The jacket was, again, something I hadn't really taken into consideration on how I was going to do it when I decided upon this cosplay.  Fortunately, I have a very creative boyfriend (whose also into cosplay) who has a sewing machine. The basic leather jacket was something I found at Value Village. I figured I could keep looking for another leather jacket in the same colour, cut out the back, and make the front flap.  But, as the weeks went on, drawing closer to the Con, I didn't think I would ever find another jacket.  So we started looking at fabric stores that sell leather or vinyl. We couldn't find anything locally so I searched online only to discover a wonderful website called Discounted Designer Fabrics.  You can order FREE samples from them before laying down any money, which is great when you're trying to match a material AND colour. As you can see I found a pretty close match.

     So I ordered the fabric, it came in, and my lovely boyfriend made a pattern out of some newspaper and sewed me up a front flap.  I bought some snap buttons to use as a means of attaching the flap but the vinyl was too heavy/thick to keep it on the jacket so we ended up putting some velcro on both sides to keep it on.

     The gloves I bought new ($6!) at a store that was going out of business and the ignition buttons I made out of some craft foam, pen caps, some Mod Podge to seal, and silver paint.

Next up! The rocket pack.....