I started my Falcon costume idea around 6 months ago. I wanted to do an African-American superhero and Falcon was the first that came to mind. Since I love the Avengers and the next Captain America movie is coming out, I wanted to make a Falcon costume since Anthony Mackie will be portraying him in the film. (YAY!) I started collecting the costume, bit by bit. Gloves here, red jeggings there and I needed red feathered wings. I already have a couple pairs of white boots and a pair in red that could have been used as well.
I do not have the patience and skill yet to make them, so I bought them online. Cheap!!! They weren't too big, but they were just wide enough for what I wanted.
Since you cannot buy a Falcon costume yet, I knew I had to design one myself. I went to Michael's to get materials for the red on the top and for the eye mask. This is just a first attempt, so I figured I wouldn't stress about trying to make it perfect.
I looked at back comics, pictures of toys and artwork for inspiration for my costume. They have a few different versions of his costume on action figures and in comics.
I did some rough sketching of this design and used sticky felt. I wanted to test this with felt before I try to update this costume with actual red fabric. The bottom of the top came out better than I expected.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the big "V" or the red feathers on the white background. I figured the "V" would be easier.
The felt wasn't too sticky and I thought I would either stitch this on to the shirt or use the hot glue gun.
I decided to use the hot glue gun, because it remembered how difficult it was to stitch through sticky felt. Now if it was regular felt, using a needle and thread would be fine.
For the eye mask, I didn't want a huge mask on the side of my face, especially in white. Being a foundation wearer, I knew it would be uncomfortable and covered in make-up by the end of the day. (Gross). So I made it on a smaller scale and it was easy to take on and off.
I started with a masquerade mask and glued white and yellow felt around it. Again, I know the visor should go down the side of the face, but I usually tend to make my masks and some headgear for my costume on a smaller scale.
I have more ideas for the boots, but I just decided to wear my white platform boots. In the future, I am going to make white fringe boot tops to wear with the red boots I own for this costume.
I wore this today at Wondercon. Some people recognized this character, others (some wearing Captain America shirts) did not. (HAHA!). I plan on revamping and tweaking this costume in the future. I may add a corset top, skirt or shorts, but I tend to like the pants the best.