Teen Titans! Among the most popular of the Titans is Starfire, also known as Koriand’r, born of the planet Tamaran in the Vegan system. Her ability to convert the naturally occurring ultraviolet radiation into energy makes her extremely powerful, enough so that she’s even able to take on Wonder Woman for a short period of time. Known to earth by her secret identity, Kory Anders, she works as a model when she’s not busy saving the world. She’s incredibly popular as a character, so before you pick another DC Comics character to dress as this year, check out this tutorial!
As one of the most popular choices for cosplayers, Costume SuperCenter teamed up with one of our favorite cosplayers, Uncanny Megan (who you might remember from other DC Comics cosplay tutorials of Raven and Harley Quinn) to put together this awesome step-by-step guide so you can make your own version of Starfire’s look this year!
Starfire Cosplay Tutorial
This tutorial will walk you through how to make a Starfire costume! While she has had many outfits through the years, this tutorial will be for her look from the original Teen Titans cartoon/Teen Titans GO. All pattern pieces for this costume were made by hand, so have some newspaper ready!!
Materials I Used:
- Purple spandex
- Metallic silver spandex
- Fleece, any color
- One short zipper, grey
- Plastic “make-your-own” buttons
- Craft foam
- EVA foam
- Chunky flip flops
- Purple and silver thread
- Glue gun and sticks
- Newspaper
Step 1: Starfire’s Shirt
I started off by drawing up a shirt pattern on some newspaper. You can do this by either measuring your bust and back or modifying an existing pattern piece. If you plan to modify, I suggest McCall’s M7269 bodysuit pattern! The top half of the black and red pattern is almost perfect.
Once I had the shirt pattern all figured out, I pinned down the pieces on a fold and cut them out. Cutting on the fold is important if you want to avoid unwanted seams!
Next I pinned and sewed together the pieces, starting with both shoulders and only one side. The one side is important because you’ll need the other open to make the next step a littler easier! Make sure to place the pieces right side in, in our case, that would be the shiny side.
For spandex and other stretch materials, a serger helps, but isn’t required! A regular zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine should do the job just fine! I did both, just to be extra safe.
Now it’s time to add the trim to the bottom of Starfire’s shirt! The thickness of the trim is up to you, I made our about one inch. Once the thickness of the trim had been decided, I cut a strip to match the length of the bottom of the shirt but double the size of the width that I wanted. This way, I can fold the trim in half and avoid any showing stitches!
Sitting the trim down against the bottom of the shirt, I pinned it down and sewed it on. You should be able to fold the piece downward and have a nice seamline. The open ends of the trim should match up with the side of the shirt that you didn’t sew shut.
Once the trim is on, it’s time to close up that open side! Facing the fabric right side in, just like before, I matched up the seams and sewed the second side up. It’s very important to make sure the silver and purple parts match up where they touch.
All that’s left to do on the shirt is to hem the neck and sleeve holes. This part is a lot simpler than I made it look, promise! All that really needs to be done to hem these areas is just to fold the fabric over and sew. Since I tend to go the extra mile, our hems are folded over twice to avoid any raw edges of the fabric showing. Just like with the rest of the shirt, a zig-zag stitch should be used here, this way the costume can easily stretch with you!
Step 2: Starfire’s Collar Piece
I spent a while playing around with different shapes and sizes on newspaper before ending up with a pattern piece that looked like the real deal! The neck hole wasn’t quite right, but I decided to wait and see how the fabric would sit before cutting it any larger.
For this part, you’ll need both the metallic spandex and the fleece! I cut out two pieces of the spandex and one piece of the fleece. You can also end up with four and two pieces if you pattern doesn’t attach in the middle, the only reason ours does is because it was easier to cut it out that way!
After the pieces were all cut out, I placed each pair right side in and sewed the shoulder pieces shut. After that was finished, I took our three circles and pinned them as follows: spandex pieces right side in, against each other, fleece piece on top.
Once the pieces were all pinned, I sewed them together and then, using the open neck hole, turned them right-side out. Using pins and a lot of patience, I carefully pinned down the edges of the collar piece so they would sit flat and sewed them down. For this, I used a straight stitch because it looks more appealing with what we’re doing and this part of the costume doesn’t need to stretch.
The next part is a little bit trickier. Trying to mimic the lines on Starfire’s collar, I pinned the fabric down flat and used a toy box to help us judge how far the fabric needed to sit. Then, very meticulously, I sewed a straight line around the middle of the collar piece. The fleece in the middle will help give this piece some volume so it will look like more than just a flat piece of fabric.
After all the top-stitching was finished, I cut open the middle of one of the sides and cut a nice neck hole into our piece.
Similar to the trim on the shirt, the next step is the collar. I cut a piece of fabric the length of our neck hole and double the width of what I wanted it to be. Folding the piece in half, right side out, I pinned it down to the neck hole and carefully sewed it into place. Pieces around a curve like this will try to bunch up or wrinkle if you don’t pay enough attention while you’re guiding it through the machine.
Finally, it’s time for the only zipper in this costume! If you don’t know how to attach a zipper, it’s not as hard as it seems! You just place each side face down, pin, and sew! Then, I you flip the zipper over, you have a nice clean line with no showing stitches. With this piece, try and make sure any seam-lines and stitches match up before beginning to sew. (Ours ended up a little wonky 😉)
Zippers require a special sewing machine foot called a zipper foot. If you’re sewing machine didn’t come with one of these, they’re very easy to find in stores or online! This foot makes it so you can easily sew right alongside the teeth of the zipper. If you’re using an invisible zipper, they make an invisible zipper foot as well!
Step 3: Starfire’s Skirt
This piece is quick and easy! Using our hip measurements, I drew up a generic skirt shape on newspaper and separated it into what would be the main part of the skirt and what would be the belt. The purple part of the skirt was cut out as is, but the silver part was cut out on a fold to double it so I wouldn’t have to have showing stitches on the top. (You can also double up the purple part of the skirt to avoid stitches on the bottom, but I forgot until after the first half of the skirt was cut out. Whoops!)
Before folding the silver pieces in half, I placed them right side in and sewed them together. This prevents any seams or stitches popping out of the inside of the costume to say hello. After that I could easily fold the pieces in half and move onto the next step! And, of course, make sure to switch back to a zig-zag stitch before sewing since the rest of the costume will be needing to stretch.
Taking the two purple pieces, I placed them right side in and sewed them together. After finishing that part, I took the silver belt part and pinned it down to our new purple piece, matching the side seams up, and sewed them together.
The final part of the skirt was hemming the bottom. Just like with the neck and sleeve holes on the shirt, I folded our raw edge over twice and zig-zag stitched it into place.
Step 4: Starfire’s Gauntlets
Since I decided to save the boots for last, the next step is all of Starfire’s accessories! First up is the gauntlets!
I had a bit of fun playing around with shapes and sizes for the gauntlets. First tracing an arm shape onto newspaper and then cutting that piece of to draw up a more appropriate piece using it as a base. I wanted only a single seam at the bottom of the arm, so the final pattern was only one piece.
Once I had our gauntlet shape all figured out, I cut out the pattern piece and then cut two pieces of fleece and then two slightly oversized pieces of silver spandex. The spandex being cut slightly larger at the top and the bottom will come in handy for the next step.
Placing the spandex and fleece pieces together with the spandex facing right side out, I began to fold the excess spandex over the top and bottom of the fleece. To help with wrinkles, I cut small slits into the curved parts of the spandex. Then, using a zig-zag stitch, I sewed the pieces together along the edge of the top and bottom.
The final step for the gauntlets was sewing the insides together. Folding them in half, right side in, I pinned down and sewed them shut.
Step 5: Starfire’s Armbands
Starfire’s next accessory is her upper armband. This part is super simple! I took a strip of the silver spandex, two width of our upper arm, and cut it double the thickness of what I wanted it to be. Folding it over, right side in, I sewed the lengthwise halves together.
Once that was done, I flipped the tube inside-out, or in this case, it’s really right side out, placed the seam-line in the center, and pinned and sewed the edges together. And that’s it! The armband is done!
Step 6: Starfire’s Gems and Belt Buckle
The last part of all of Starfire’s little extra pieces are three green gems and her belt buckle. I walked all over the craft store scouting for something that would work and stumbled across some “make-your-own” buttons used for school crafts. The pack came with four buttons, which was perfect for what I needed to do!
I opened the buttons and painted the insides with some metallic green acrylic paint. Looking back, I would recommend using spray paint instead, because the acrylic paint really did not want to stick to the plastic. Once the paint had finally dried, I closed up the buttons and pinned them to the costume using the pins that were already attached the the buttons!
The belt buckle was an even simpler process! Originally I were just going to cover the button with the silver spandex, but realized it would be just as effective and probably even prettier to cut out a circle of fabric and place it inside the button instead. To be safe and make sure the button stayed closed, I also lined the back with a little hot glue.
Step 7: Starfire’s Boots
The last part of the costume I worked on was the boots! There’s several ways to go about doing this, but I decided to go ahead and try to make them 100% on our own. There’s quite a few other ways to go about making these than what I chose, so we’ll be outlining them throughout the rest of the tutorial as well! If you’d rather not make any boots at all, you can easily buy a pair in the right color or use leather paint or Plastidip to recolor a pair.
The main part of the boots was made out of fabric, the basis for our pair will be essentially a pair of spandex booties with a base glued on. If you would like to build your boot around a shoe instead, please see YuffieBunny’s Psylocke tutorial from last year!
For our boots, I made a bootie pattern out of newspaper. It’s essentially just a tube with a rounded end for a foot. Part of this pattern piece will be cut off the be the top silver part of her boot as well. You’ll end up with one purple piece, one fleece piece, and one double sized silver piece for each boot.
The first step to sewing these pieces together, was folding the silver piece over the fleece piece. This helps give the top of the boot some volume, while also avoiding showing stitches. One the pieces were placed together correctly, I laid them down and pinned them to the top of the main part of the boot.
After sewing the pieces together, I ran a slightly smaller piece of elastic through the silver part to help the boot stay up on the thigh and, facing the boot right side in, pinned and sewed the side seam together.
If you’d rather not make a base for your boot, you can easily wear the booties as is, with a shoe inside, or even buy a pair of clear heels to wear on the outside! Really, you could wear any shoe you wanted on the outside, the choice is yours!
I chose to build the base of our boots out of a pair of lifted flip-flops. I picked these up at Walmart for super cheap!
In order to make them slightly taller, I cut two pieces of thick EVA foam to match the soles and glued them together. I also cut off the straps since I won’t be needing them!
Next up is adding some craft foam to the sides to life the bas a little higher than the foot. One sheet of craft foam should be enough for each shoe. I cut our sheets into four even strips for each base.
Taping the ends of two pieces together, I glued them on the base, right along the edge. Where the pieces met again, I cut them and taped them as well. After gluing the first set of foam on, I flipped the shoe over and filled any gaps with hot glue.
Using a marker, I traced along the inside of the base, marking where I needed to cut the foam down for where the shoe dips. Once it was all marked, I cut it to match!
Doing the same exact steps again, I covered the base in a second layer of craft foam to make it sturdier. After that, I took a strip of the silver spandex, slightly wider than the foam, and lightly pinned it to the shoe.
Once the fabric was tightly pinned around the base, I started gluing to fabric down to the sole and the inside, switching back and forth from what part I were gluing to keep it tight. Watch your fingers, the glue gets hot!
The next part is tricky, so please be careful or burning yourself! I put on a pair of flip flops and slid the spandex bootie over it. Covering the inside of the base with hot glue, I then stuck our foot in and began to also glue the sides into place. This took a lot of time and patience!
If you don’t want to do all this work, but want to do something similar, you can also buy a pair of flip flops, cut the straps off and glue the shoe straight to the bottom of your footie, just like I did with the base I made.
The last step I took was cutting a small piece of leftover fleece in the shape of the sole (but slightly smaller) for each boot. After cutting it out, I glued it onto the bottom of our boot and used hot glue to help give us a little bit of traction while I walk. This isn’t necessary, but it’s very helpful and keeps you from sliding!
Step 8: Starfire Makeup and Hair
Once all the pieces have been made, all that’s left is a wig! There are tons of places to find wigs online or even in stores, especially around Halloween. It all depends on your preference of style and color! Be sure to check out Costume SuperCenter’s sweet selection of red wigs as well!
If you choose to paint your skin as well, I suggest trying out Mehron Paradise Face & Body Paint! It comes in a variety of colors and lasts all day. Using a zentai/morph suit for a majority of you showing skin works as well!
You can also check out this Starfire Cosplay Makeup Tutorial for inspiration to complete your own DIY Starfire costume cosplay.
And that’s it! Everything you need to know to make your very own Starfire costume!
Photographer credit: G. Michael Johnson
Follow Uncanny Megan on all her social channels, she’s a blast! You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And while you’re at it, follow Costume SuperCenter on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
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