Bringing Mira Nova to Life

It's time for Salt Lake Comic Con FanX, and this Friday I will be debuting a new cosplay, Mira Nova from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.  If you read my most recent post at The Geeky Mormon you'll learn more about the show and the character.  I want to focus this post specifically on building my cosplay for this character, which, admittedly, was one of the most difficult and ambitious projects I have ever undertaken.

I wanted to make the princess dress that Mira wears in the episodes "First Missions" and "It's a Zoo Out There."  It looks like a simple gown, but bringing together all of the different pieces was not easy.

Disney

Probably the least complicated part was building the gun.  I found a sci-fi looking water pistol at the DI and painted it.  I first gave it several coats of red spray paint.

This was followed by silver and orange acrylic paint for the details of the gun.

I ordered the tights and shirt under the dress from Amazon and Walmart.  I got a cheap sequin tiara at JoAnn's, face paint from Michael's, and a wig from a Halloween store.

The actual gown, of course, was the hard part.  I made a mock-up out of muslin and then cut up the different parts to use as a pattern when I cut the actual fabric.  I got the fabric around President's day: silver material for the collar and hot pink for the stomacher from Hancock's, pale pink crepe for the gown as well as interfacing for the collar from Walmart (because I'm cheap like that). I spent most of the last three weeks cutting, re-cutting, sewing, and re-sewing.

The stomacher I made as a separate piece and sewed one side with the hot pink material.

I sewed the skirt separate from the bodice and attached it after I had sewn on the zipper on the back. Then I attached the stomacher to the front side of the bodice, sewing through the front on top of the seam.  It took several tries to get the bodice sewn to the right part of the bodice.  When this was finally finished, I sewed the collar on.  The collar is two long pieces of silver fabric wrapped around stiff interfacing.  After being sewn on, I turned the sides of the collar up so they would stick up.

Trying on the dress

In the cartoon, Mira's dress has a gold pendant on the collar.  For my gown, I got a gold pendant from Hobby Lobby and sewed it onto the top of the stomacher near where it meets the bodice.  Like everything I sew, this outfit didn't turn out perfect--the waist is too big and it's kind of tricky to take off.  But it's wearable. I feel good wearing it.

The most aggressive problem I had for the entire costume was the shoes.  Mira has silver boots for her ensemble.  Owing to time and costs, I was unable to find silver boots for my own dress.  I did, however, make covers to go over my calves out of silver fabric I found on sale at JoAnn's.  I got white shoes and white socks for my feet. 

I did the makeup test yesterday.  The face paint actually wasn't that difficult, the trick being to make sure it goes on evenly across the face.  This is my first time cosplaying a character with face paint.  Or a wig.  This costume requires both.  But the results are amazing.

I really like this shot of me without the tiara.

Full view of the gown and the "boots" taken with the cruddy camera phone.

I suppose I could always build another version of the dress if I want to, someday when I have the money and time.  But for now, who says I shouldn't wear it because it didn't turn out perfect?  It's not so much about showing off my skills as it is showing off the character--showing off that I love Mira and how you don't have to have your face plastered on merchandise to be an inspiration to someone else.

  

I'm looking forward to being Mira Nova on Friday and seeing how many people recognize her!