Shoes
I got lucky in this regard in that I needed a pair of good sneakers anyway, so I picked out some that I liked and would work for my cosplay. I got some grey Nikes, don't remember the exact make or anything. They're not screen accurate (he wears Adidas in the movie) but they're close enough that no one is gonna make a fuss over it.
Pants
Oddly, the pants are what gave me the (second) most trouble. It is unbelievably difficult to find a decent reference picture of Pietro's pants, and when I did figure out what they looked like, it really didn't help. I mean, they look sorta like jeans, but also like sweats/joggers, but also like... I don't even know. If you've figured out a way to get screen accurate Quicksilver pants, you're a more determined person than I am.
So, since it took me so long to actually figure out this nonsense, the pants ended up being the last thing I got. So it's their fault that I finished the costume a week before comicon. In the end, I got a pair of black, straight leg jeans from Target. I think I may have gone up a size from my usual so they wouldn't be skin-tight and would therefore look more masculine (since I'm too tiny to even think about getting men's jeans).
Wig
I bought the Jinx wig from Amphigory in Snow. Other people have used more grey-white wigs or ones with darker roots (or have given their wigs roots by dyeing them). I'm very happy with my choice.
Makeup
For my beard, I used StarBlend Cake Makeup's Pressed Powder makeup in black. I bought it at a local costume shop, so you can probably do the same, but it's also available on Amazon. I applied it with a stipple sponge, which gives it more texture than a normal makeup sponge, using pictures as reference.
The beard is the most important makeup for Quicksilver. Anything else is up to personal preference. You can do foundation to cover up acne and/or smooth your complexion (a good idea for photoshoots). If you choose to do that though, make sure to put it on before the beard or things could get awkward. I always put on some black mascara when cross-dressing for cosplay, just to make my eyes stand out. It's a personal preference and you by no means need to do it.
I highly recommend using a makeup setting spray to keep your makeup from smudging, especially if you've going to be at a con all day. I didn't set it last year and I spent the whole weekend paranoid about smudging my beard.
Shirt
I saved the shirt for last because it is by far the most complicated. Other Quicksilver cosplayers have gone for screenprinted versions of the shirt, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm extremely tiny, and based on others' pictures, I could tell that none of the premade options would fit me right. So I made my own, which was.... rather a project.
To start off, I got a light blue crewneck athletic shirt at the thrift store (after accidentally buying one that turned out to be purple. Not quite sure how that happened). I then lay the shirt out flat and, using a reference picture, used masking tape to plot out the shirt's designs.
I then went to Joann's and got my materials: thick white elastic for the sort of lightning bolt stripes, navy blue stretch knit for the arm sections, a lighter shade of dark blue for the abdomen (also stretch knit), and bright blue stretch knit for the shoulder stripes (I wanted to get some sort of band stuff like the elastic for this, but it didn't come in the color I needed).
Then comes the hard part. You're gonna want to have lots and lots of reference pictures from just about every angle for this. Use a stitch setting that lets things stretch. I'm forewarning you now, working with stretch knits is an absolute pain.
Start off with the abdomen. Using your masking tape layout, measure the size and shape you'll want the blue abdomen section to be. Cut it out. Remove the tape to get it out of the way and pin down the fabric, making sure the shirt is completely smooth underneath it. Fold the bottom edge up and inside the shirt so that it overlaps the already existing hem. Once it's pinned, machine sew it along the top, sides and bottom hem.
Replace the lightning stripe tape layout on top of what you've got. Adjust things as needed. Now pin down the white elastic in the pattern you've lain out. Machine sew it down, making sure ends overlap so there's no gaps.
Now for the first thing to be a real pain in the ass: the bright blue shoulder stripes. Take your fabric and cut strips twice as wide as you want them, but the length you'll need for encircling the armholes and creating the bridge stripe between the armholes and the collar. Fold each strip in half and pin them, folding in the raw edges, then machine sew them shut. You should have four strips total: one for each armhole, one for each "bridge".
Start with the "bridge" stripes, so that you'll be able to hide the raw ends under the armhole stripes. Line up the stripes with the collar and the armhole, pin, machine sew. Now use the longer strips for the armholes, using the armhole seams as guides, making sure to cover the raw ends of the "bridge" stripes and overlapping the armhole stripes' raw ends under the armpits so they're hidden. Pin and machine sew. At this point, everything should look like this:
Now for the really painful part. Because now we get to the sleeves. And guess what: tight athletic shirt sleeves do not fit onto the arm of a sewing machine, especially when you need to sew things at a diagonal. Which means.... hand sewing.
Put the shirt on and make sure your layouts for the sleeves sections are where you want them. You'll want your elbow to be about center in the navy section, with the white stripes just below the elbow point on the outside and about 2/3 of the way down your inner forearm, and the bright blue stripes on top to be a little about your elbow point and a few inches below your armpit.
Cut out your navy fabric using the layout and pin it in the shape and size of the sleeve. The narrow part of the shape should be the outside elbow and the wide underside is where the seam will be (I apologize for not having pictures of what this should be like, I had no idea I would be writing this post a year ago). You can machine sew this seam, just like any other sleeve.
Once you've got your little tube turn it right side out and pin it to the sleeve in the marked place, keeping the shirt fabric smooth underneath. Pretty much the same concept as the front piece but wrapped around the arm instead of all flat on front. Make sure your seam will be on the underside of the sleeve, just like the shirt's pre-existing seam. Hand stitch the top and bottom of the tube to the sleeve. Repeat on the other side.
Except for the fact that you've still got to hand sew, the rest is pretty simple. For the white stripes on the bottom part of the sleeve, use more of the white elastic you used for the lightning stripes and pretty much just line it up so it covers the raw edges of the navy tube. I recommend doing each sleeve in two strips so as to get the pointy effect. Pin and sew. For the bright blue stripes up top, do the same thing you did with the bright blue fabric when making the shoulder stripes. Four strips, two for each sleeve, just like the white stripes. Cover the raw edges of the navy tube. Pin and sew. In the end, it should look like this:
And there you have it! I really hope the instructions for the shirt weren't too confusing, but considering I was literally making up the whole thing as I went along when making it, I wouldn't be surprised if it only made sense in my own head. Anyway, I'm glad to say that despite all the pain the shirt caused me, Quicksilver turned out quite gorgeously and I am still incredibly proud of this cosplay a year later. And because no cosplay walk-thru is complete without a picture of the finished product, I will leave you with this:
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| Photo by: Derek Schlicker. ECCC 2016. |
Happy cosplaying!
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