Harley Quinn | 2020

Harley Quinn – Confetti | Birds of Prey

Made for : Auckland Armageddon Expo 2020

Awards : Judges Choice – Auckland Armageddon Expo 2020

Background : Saw Birds of Prey earlier in the year and decided to make all her outfits. Only entered it in the contest at Armageddon because closer to the time they kept posting saying they were looking for entrants and I though that mean that they had few entries and I didn’t want to see my beloved contest flop.

Things used :

Wig : The wig began life as a short curly Wig is Fashion wig. I first tried straightening the wig and putting it in pigtails, but the pigtails were too short and the parting in the back left exposed wefts which I didn’t like the look of.

I then watched some wig styling pros who specialized in turning non-ponytail wigs in to ponytails. That’s when I came across Alison Tabbitha and her hot glue method. Basically, I had to section the wig where I desired a fringe and the two pigtails and then had to cut majority of the wefts out. Into a fabric softener bath first to try and bring some life back in the dead ends and off we goooooo. It was terrifying. It looked as though I’d done goofed right up until the last moment.

The wefts I’d cut were then glued back to the wig cap which was stretched over a wig head form, in the desired pigtail position. Once glue was all set and no longer hot, I painted the roots and pink and blue bits with watered down acrylic paints.

Tattoos : These were drawn by me yonks ago on photoshop. Just had to alter them slightly for her updated Birds of Prey look.

Jewelry : Rings – Hot Topic. Necklaces – Ali Express.

Jacket : I patterned this myself and I’m super proud of it. I traced an existing biker jacket I had in my closet on to some scrap fabric. I altered seams in the front and back to match Harley’s one exactly. I also had to make a tiny non- functioning pocket flap, functioning lapel shoulder thingys, a belt and belt loops which I all just sorted made by eye. After I’d traced the jacket, I made it from some scrap fabric
to see if it worked. It did. So I then transferred my pattern to some vinyl. This stuff was wonderful to cut but super shit to sew. Things were going great when it was all flat seams but as soon as it started getting 3 dimensional it no longer cooperated.

The first problem I ran in to was the collar. It worked fine on the fabric mock up because fabric has give in it. The vinyl had no give so it wouldn’t contort around the neck curve and it ended up being short by two inches. That was fine, I just made the next collar longer by the same amount. Next was doing the top stitching of the collar. It was going fine for a bit then all of a sudden it reached a point where it went all nah g on me and broke 4 needles in a row so I decided it didn’t need top stitching there and honestly you wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t said anything. It was purely for ✨ aesthetic ✨

The sleeves I made by gluing a whole bunch of 12 inch, individually cut, tinsel strips and bits of sliced caution tape row by row to a sleeve that I had cut from black mesh. I had left a gap of about an inch from the seam to give me a seam allowance that theoretically would make it easier to sew. Didn’t matter. Was still difficult. Then the sleeves were sewn together and sewn to the jacket.

Togs (?) : Originally I had just brought the ones from Hot Topic but I ended up being far too boobylicious for them and it looked super rude. So I unpicked the clips from the side. Brought some old togs from the opshop that had a clip in the back I needed as well as some boob cups and using the Hot Topic one as a guide, I drafted a new pattern which would cover my boobs entirely.

I wasn’t happy with the first fabric I chose as I’ve found it almost impossible to find hot pink crushed velvet in New Zealand. So I settled for a purple pink. I made it, it fit but i knew the colour would bother me. So then I brought some white crushed velvet, dyed it hot pink using a polyester dye and made the whole thing again.

Shorts : Started with a pair of vintage jeans that I cut to short length. Distressed them using scissors, tweezers and sandpaper. Painted lines and stars using fabric paint. Realized the red wasn’t bright enough so went over them using fluorescent paint. Went over the stripes with some glue to give it the wet look that hers have.

Suspenders : These were made by sewing some neon elastic to some net to create the double strap
she’s got going on. Then dog clips in the front were attached along with an actual suspender clip in the back. I made the diamond in the back from felt and glued some metallic silver fabric over the top of it.

Socks : Hot Topic.

Shoes : Honestly, this is the part that made me considering entering this in the comp at all. I was too poor to be able to afford the ones online so I was like could I make them?

I had a pair of old red heels I’d brought years ago for another entirely separate Harley costume that I decided to use. I began by slicing them into the shape that’s visible beneath the boot mesh. I then covered these bits in a white fabric because they needed to be white.

Once the glue for the white bits had dried, I tried the shoe on, covered my foot and ankle in
glad wrap and then in duct tape. I drew on this the shape and seams of the boot I then wanted to created and cut it off. Thus, forming a pattern. Used pattern to create new boot bits. Sewed on black
ribbon and hi-vis fabric from my mum’s shirt to add the details. Added zips and webbing and stapled them to the shoe base. Heel was covered in tinfoil and pleather. And then using shoe glue, I covered the join of the boot cover where it had been stapled too with some more pleather.

Hammer : This is probably the oldest part of this costume. I made it in 2017(?) For my
Suicide Squad costume. Thankfully it’s the same hammer in Birds of Prey although theirs is a little smaller.

I used a bit of the dowel for the handle which was painted blue and then weathered with black paint. I wrapped some pleather around either end for the grip and the connector bit. The head of the hammer is made from one of mum’s old yoga mats. I cut a cylinder, glued it together with Ados glue and stuffed it with teddy bear innards. I then attacked the foam with a craft knife for “battle damaged”. The hammer was then primed with a layer of spray Ados glue and was ready for painting. It was painted with acrylics and weather using watered down black and browns. Everything was then sealed with a clear coat.