Shadowhunter Cosplay Madness!

by Becca C. Smith

About a year ago, F.M. and I decided to cosplay as Shadowhunters from one of our favorite book series: The Mortal Instruments.
 
As long as we plastered on the temporary Rune tattoos, we figured our clothing just had to be black, tight, and at least one item made of leather lol!
 
But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to design something original, something we could both wear.
 
I had found the fabric I wanted to use when F.M. and I had been wandering the downtown Fabric District. It was black (of course) and it had a faux, crackly leather look to it, though it was made from a light cotton. Considering we planned on wearing our cosplay at SDCC in 90 degree heat, light cotton sounded like heaven compared to using vinyl or real leather.
 
Now I had to figure out what I was going to make for us, so I looked through all my patterns searching for some kind of inspiration.
 
I finally found what I was looking for: a combination of three different patterns. I used the New Look pattern for princess sleeves, the Simplicity pattern for a bolero jacket base and the Butterick pattern for a large hood.

​I wasn’t sure if it would work, so I tried it out on some old fabric I had lying around. I was actually surprised at how it all fit together so easily!
 
To make the jackets officially Shadowhunter jackets, I picked a different Rune for both of us. Cutting the Runes out in gray vinyl, I sewed them to the back of the boleros.
 
The rest was easy, I made us two faux leather tank tops and a pair of cargo capris made out of the same faux, crackly leather cotton material. Voila! We were officially ready for Comic Con!