How I Made My Viking Pocahontas Cosplay

​This was such a fun cosplay to make and I am honored to be a part of a wonderful group for Edmonton Expo this coming weekend. I posted my shield tutorial a while ago and the other princesses in the group followed my tutorial so we could have matching shields! It was so amazing to see everyone come together! I will have group photos to share soon. For now, check out how I made this cosplay!

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​I was intimidated to start the dress because I'm still new to sewing, and not very great yet! So I procrastinated and procrastinated until I had nothing better to do and just jumped right in. Trying to be frugal, I got my material from Value Village. I got a brown sheet and a teal sheet. 

I used the base pattern from my Yin cosplay for the bodice of the dress and modified it to accommodate the sleeve.

Because I had tons of material, I just used my final material to try some mock ups. This way, if it worked out, I wouldn't have to test my luck and re-try it! The sleeve ended up taking me three mock ups to finally get *kinda* right. I still need some practice in the future.

I took some body measurements to get the right skirt size and cut two panels to sew on. I sewed it all together really weird so I'm not going to give you a step by step. 

I cut out the back to work as a corset tie up.  I didn't cut it properly to allow for seam allowance, so I had to add a fake hem, which made it look really clean once I added the grommets. I sewed a modesty panel together, which was fabric sewn around craft foam to keep it semi-stiff. I laced it up with a brown shoe lace.

​For the fringe, I used up some material I had from my Nidalee cosplay and painted it darker and stiffer with a brown fabric paint. I cut it into tiny strips of fringe and sewed it to the trim. I found some perfect blue beads and glued them along the fringe. I did a four strand braid with yarn for the teal details, which also adds some texture to the dress.

I originally had a blue band on the sleeve as per my design, but then I had to modify it a bit. I didn't have time or money to buy some body paint for my opposite arm, plus I didn't want the paint rubbing off and ruining my dress, so I decided to add her iconic red arm band directly to the dress. I used some scrap red fabric I had for the base band, and then used fabric paint to add the points.

I added some small loops inside the dress to hold everything in place through my bra straps. It helps hold up the heavy sleeve, and helps the fringe from flopping over my opposite boob.

​Whenever I got frustrated with the dress, or just wanted a break from the thing, I would work on accessories. The first one I tackled was the raccoon tails I would hang from my belt (yes, super morbid). I wanted to make them since I had experience making yarn tails, but two attempts later and it wasn't working how I wanted. You can see my failed attempts below. So Shelley picked up a few tails for me that I attached to my cosplay day-of.

The belt itself was pretty easy. I made a strip of fabric and sewed it....

And then I found a belt in the bottom of my cosplay supplies that worked really well, so I glued the two belts together to attach in the back.

I made some simple boot covers that was just teal trim and fringe with beads, with an extra layer of teal to tuck into the top of my boot.

​I was dead set on having a war club with this cosplay in a specific style. There was no tutorials anywhere for what I wanted, so I had to just go for it. I bought a styrofoam ball as my base and glued some pink foam to the side for the base shape I wanted.

To build up the root and vine details around the rock, I used tin foil and masking tape to make round shapes and bumps. I covered them in small layers of tape to smooth it out before doing two layers of paper machè. I then coated it multiple times in wood glue to further smooth it out and harden the layers.

My base paint was too dark and reddish. I also had no idea how to paint rock texture. So I improvised the whole thing. I originally wanted a cartoonish texture that would show wood grain and texture, but after doing a second layer of lighter paint that showed some highlights and shadows, I ended up liking the final look. Add a splat of blood, and voila!

​The wig was one of the last things I worked on. The shape wasn't the best and it came with bangs. It was a bad purchase on my part for this cosplay. Ideally, I should have gotten a dark brown wig, instead of black, that didn't have bangs.

It wasn't very thick either, so I could only add a couple braids and dreadlocks. I wrapped and glued some teal yarn around the base for a pop of color. I pulled the bangs back in a braid to keep the hair out of my face and to hide the fact that it has bangs at all. I added another braided strand of yarn across my forehead and secured it under the layers of hair.

I made some tiny foam feathers I painted multi colors (yes, meant to imply hummingbird wings) and added some split rings for easy attachment. I made a string of beads and feathers for the one side of my hair, and then pinched the rest randomly around the braids and dreads to peak out on the other side.

I also made a few final mods back in Edmonton when I was reunited with my shield. I added some black trim and a pocket for my phone.

Here's a break down of the entire costume from my cosplanner app. Don't forget to check out my shield tutorial as well!

​And that wraps up this cosplay! If you want a more in depth tutorial of anything I made for this cosplay, please ask in the comments below, or send me an email. I can't wait to see photos from this group with everyone together!