DC Heroes: DIY Raven Cosplay

Raven Cosplay Tutorial

Raven, otherwise known as Rachel Roth, is a prominent member of the Teen Titans, and an extremely powerful telekentic. She’s the daughter of a demon overlord and a human woman, and managed to find solace with her friends in the Teen Titans.

With Halloween around the corner, Costume SuperCenter teamed up with cosplayer Uncanny Megan to create a step by step tutorial so that you can cosplay as Raven yourself! Halloween is a dark and brooding holiday, so why not become a dark and brooding character! You can also check out our great selection of other superhero costumes.

Raven

This tutorial will help walk you through the steps of making a Raven costume. It will highlight all the construction steps and include links to anything else you might need!

Originally, we were going to walk you through the process of making your own cape, but while picking some things up at Walmart, we noticed the perfect $2 pattern and could resist. That being said, for this tutorial, we’ll be using Simplicity W0120!

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The cape can be made with your choice of material or color, but for we went with dark blue spandex on the outside, and purple and black knit on the inside. To find out how much material you need for your size, see the back side of the pattern packaging!

The first step is determining which pattern pieces you’ll need and cutting them out according to your size.

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Once you’ve laid your fabric out nicely (watch for wrinkles!) it’s time to start pinning and cutting your pattern pieces. The only piece we’ll be changing is the hood, so hold off on cutting that out for now.

We used dark blue for the entire outside of the cape, but for the lining, we used purple for the main part and black for the yoke pieces and hood, since purple lining on a purple wig will look strange.

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After cutting all your pieces out (minus the hood), it’s time to start pinning them together and attaching them according to the pattern’s instructions!

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We used a serger for this, but if you don’t have one, a simple zigzag stitch on a sewing machine will work just as well! (If you aren’t using stretch material, a plain straight stitch will be fine) If, however, you are using a serger, we highly recommend using a stretch thread! It really makes such a difference while sewing stretch materials.

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Once you’ve sewn together your cape pieces and lining pieces, it’s time for the hood! Raven has a dip in the front of her hood, so we’ll be altering the pattern slightly. Once you’ve pinned your pattern piece down, make sure to add a point to the front while cutting.

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In order to make sure both pieces match, use your actual hood piece to cut out the lining.

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Now it’s time to attach the all the pieces! First, take your main cape part and the lining and pin them together, right side in, leaving the top part open. Make sure all the sides and seams line up nicely before sewing them together.

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Once you’ve done this, repeat this step but with the hood, leaving the bottom open!
After all your pieces are sewn, flip them right side out and attach the hood to the cape. There’s a small piece at the back of the cape that needs to be sewn together prior to attaching the hood, but once that is done, you’re good to go.

The hood and cape didn’t quite match up in length, so we added some pleating to the back to make them fit together.

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Now that the cape is finished, it’s time for the bodysuit! While you could just buy a leotard online, we wanted to have that wet look material, so we decided to alter a catsuit from Costume Supercenter. There are tons of options, but we chose to go with a suit with a black zipper, rather than silver. Click here to purchase the same suit!

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This step is really simple, all we’re doing is cutting off the legs and hemming the new leg holes. Just put the catsuit on and mark where you want your new leg holes to sit. (You only need to mark one leg and then you can cut the other to match) It’s easiest to just trace the line of your underwear.

Once you’re all marked, take the suit off and cut off the leg. After this, flip the costume in half and carefully cut the other side to match.

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Try your catsuit (now leotard, haha) on one more time to make sure the new leg holes match up and then it’s time to hem them! Just fold the edge over, pin it down, and sew. You’ll want to do a zigzag stitch for this so you’ll be able to move without popping the threads.

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Before we step away from the sewing machine, there’s one last thing to sew together — a pair of socks! In the new Teen Titans Go, Raven’s boots look more like little shoes and socks, so that’s what we went for!

Trace your foot on a piece of fabric and add a little extra height to cover your ankle. You’ll need to cut four of the color you want the outside to be and four of whatever you’re going to use for the lining. Cut the lining just slightly shorter than the outside fabric. Since these are socks, they do need to be stretch material.

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Line up the top of each piece and sew them together. Afterwards, flip them right side out and line them up (right side in) with the other side of each sock and sew. Because the lining is slightly shorter than the outside, this will create a nice seamless look.

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Uncanny Megan found the cutest pair of mary janes to go with the silly socks while she was out shopping. If you’re interested in a similar shoe, Costume Supercenter has the perfect pair!

Now it’s time for Raven’s accessories!

To make her gemstones. Use a pack of mason jars and some plastic buttons around the same diameter from a local craft store.

Once you’ve picked your materials, it’s time to apply a couple coats of paint! For these in particular, we used spray paint. (But that doesn’t mean you can’t use something else).

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After letting them dry, it’s time to attach them together! For these, we just sat the red pieces inside of the mason jar lid, and applied a layer of hot glue to hold them into place.

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For the belt, measure out how far apart you need your gemstones to be and then begin gluing the chain into place. Just put a dab of hot glue where you want the chain to sit, and then cover it with a piece of felt the same size as the lid.

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After all your pieces are attached, it’s time to add the clasp! You can find these at any craft store. Using some small pliers, open up your chain, slide the clasp on, and close the chain back up. You can even put a little glue for safety.

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Her broach and hand gemstones are made in a similar fashion, but this time you’ll need to add some fluff in before the felt. This way, you you attach your pins, they’ll be sticking out enough to actually pin onto things. We added a few pieces of fleece into it before gluing in the felt.

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After attaching the felt, simply glue your pin of choice to the back of the gemstone! We chose to glue two bar pins to each one.

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Now that that’s done, all that’s left is the wig and her forehead diamond!

You can find a variety of purple wigs on websites like eBay and Amazon, as well as wig websites, but if you aren’t wanting to do a lot of hunting, Costume Supercenter offers a cute purple wig!

As for the diamond, use a pack or glitter foam stars to make a few diamonds. You can find these at Walmart in the craft section!

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And that’s it! Everything you need to know to make your very own Raven costume!

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If you’re looking for more DC Comics related costumes, check out the ones at Costume SuperCenter! And be sure to like Uncanny Megan on Facebook, follow her on Instagram, subscribe to her channel on YouTube and follow her on Twitter!

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