I’ve recently opened an Etsy shop and have stocked it with a collection of my favorite base patterns for creating custom concept pieces. Among many individual patterns, I’ve also created a bundle of 9 patterns that can be modified and used to create any character.

To show how these patterns can be used, I decided to create an original concept character using this set of patterns and customizing them. For this project, I selected Captain Britain and will walk through each pattern and how they are used to build the costume.

So, here we go!

I began by selecting some reference art I liked and wanted to use as my inspiration for the design. These are the two main pieces I settled on.

I wanted to go with a muted, very tactical/military style and almost period (WWII-era). With the concept in mind, I began with the cowl.

Part 1: Cowl

Using my 2-pc cowl pattern, I created the hood first.

The hood was made by lining a thin red faux leather with headliner foam. The hood was assembled and finished with a back zipper and edging around the bottom and face opening.

I have a tutorial video that walks through creating the 2-pc cowl in its base form. However, the pattern is the base shape, and for this build, I needed to customize it to create the Union Jack-inspired color blocking.

I cut the base helmet out of headliner foam to create the lining. Then, I drew the new design onto the paper pattern and cut it apart. The next step was to put the blue background color on the top of both sides of the helmet. To do this, I cut the pieces from a metallic blue faux leather and used Super77 to spray mount the blue to the headliner foam base.

The stripes went on next. The red for the helmet is a SOOD Cordura. I cut strips out of the red and then made piping out of a sterling silver stretch material. The stripes were then sewn in place.

Then, the lower red section was added - the piping was applied to the red piece, and the whole thing was spray mounted with Super77 and stitched down. Once that was done and the eye holes trimmed, the piping around the helmet's upper part was added, and the helmet was assembled.

I used the same red faux leather that the hood was made of to finish the edges around the bottom of the helmet and the eye holes.

Part 2: Torso

With the head complete, I moved on to the torso. For this piece, I used my basic hero vest pattern.

I began by taking the bas front and re-drawing the detail lines for the Union Jack motif. Once happy with the overall design, I created the foundation for the front. This was done by cutting the entire front from muslin and laminating it to my metallic blue with Super 77.

I was then ready to sew in the darts that give the front of the vest its shape and get started detailing.

With the design sorted and the base ready, it was time to start building up the details. The chest was first. Using my pattern, I traced out the chest pad on headliner foam and covered the lower section (below the red stripes with blue and the upper section (which will connect with the shoulders and blend into the cowl) with red.

The lower edge of the chest pad was edged with navy blue Supplex (a thin nylon fabric), and the chest was sewn in place on the base vest. At this point, I also added some ribbing detail to the upper red sections.

The rest of the front was detailed next. I created ribbing sections for the abs and ribs by covering headliner foam with the navy blue Supplex and stitching the details. These pieces were then edged with metallic blue and sewn in place. At the same time, the red side stripes were made out of red Cordura, edged with silver and attached to incorporate the blue accents.

At this point, it was time to add the main red piece to the front. Red Cordura was backed with headliner foam and edged with silver to complete the front of the vest.

The shoulder pieces and back were then completed using the same methods as the front.

The shoulders were then attached, and the rest of the edges were finished in metallic blue and red faux leather. The side zippers were installed, and the vest assembly was complete.

Part 3: Shoulders

To build the upper arms, I turned to the pauldron variants in the pattern collection.

Three variations in the pattern pack are meant to be mixed and matched as needed. For Captain Britain, I’m using parts of all 3.

I began with the shoulder bell from variant 1 (far left) but wanted the bicep area to be larger and more detailed. So, I adapted the bicep from variant 2 (center) and added details.

First, I cut the base bicep from the second pattern out of headliner foam and spray-mounted it to the blue metallic. I then created the detail I wanted with headliner foam and Supplex with ribbing details. Similarly to the vest details, these were edged in metallic blue and sewn down.

Then, I built the shoulder bell out of red Cordura backed with headliner foam and edged it in red and silver. The shoulder and bicep were then joined to create the upper arm.

Next, I wanted to create a version of the one shoulder pad he has in the reference images.

For this piece, I turned to variant 3 (far right above). I took the pattern and revised several seams to develop a design that I felt worked well with the angles in the vest and the Union Jack motif.

The upper part of the pad was made in red Cordura, backed with headliner foam, and had some small silver details. The lower section of the pad was made of ivory ripstop with a slight honeycomb pattern. This material will also feature in other accessories and be the material for the pants.

I’m also using dark brown faux leather to edge all accessories. I want to tie all these pieces together and make them stand out from the rest of the suit.

Next, I added some padding detail to the ivory section using a medium brown thread to add some depth. I also created the ‘tabs’ for the strap and the bicep strap to hold the pad to the arm.

I decided to use bespoke buckles for this costume rather than try to buy actual buckles. These buckles were created for another project but are easy to cast in lightweight resin and, since they don’t need to function, are the perfect alternative. Also, I can get precisely the color and finish I want.

Part 4: Gauntlets

The next pieces were the fitted gauntlets.

I took the base pattern from the collection and sketched the new design lines I wanted.

I then cut the base pieces from headliner foam and began building up the details on top, starting with the faux leather areas that would make up the outside of the forearm and adding the ribbing detail.

Then, the Cordura was added to cover the rest of the main pieces. The Cordura featured piping in the same dark brown used to edge some other parts. Then, the base gauntlet was completely assembled.

The detail bands were cut from 2mm EVA foam and covered with Cordura. These pieces were edged in dark brown and sewn down to the main gauntlets.

Then, an elbow band was cut out of the medium brown faux leather, backed with headliner foam and ribbed. This piece was sewn to the top of the gauntlet, and the entire piece was bound in dark faux leather.

Lastly, the elbow pad was assembled by covering 2mm EVA foam with Cordura, sewing the pieces together and edging them with dark brown faux leather.

The elbow pads were attached to the gauntlets with snaps, and the gauntlets were closed up the inside of the arm with Velcro.

Part 5: Harness

Continuing with accessories, I moved on to the harness next.

The first step on the harness was to build the straps. The base straps were cut from 2mm EVA foam, spray-mounted to the tan Cordura, and edged with dark brown faux leather. The details for the upper straps were cut from medium brown faux leather and sewn down.

I’m also using the buckle molds initially made for the Spiderman Nightmonkey suit to create the hardware for this costume. So, two of those buckles were cast, painted and added to the upper straps.

I then moved on to the back plate. The back plate on the pattern was too big, so I adjusted it simply by cutting off the top ‘tab’ and shortening the bottom to where I wanted it to be.

I then traced out the Union Jack motif I wanted and began cutting the parts from 2mm EVA foam. The base and inner stripes were created in foam layers and covered with Cordura. The Cordura was stitched down around the stripes using a cording foot to ensure the edges stayed nice and sharp.

I then cut the center stripe piece from 2mm foam, covered it in dark brown faux leather and stitched it in place. The entire back plate was edged in dark brown, and the straps were attached.

Having tried all the pieces together, I decided to majorly change the vest. I wanted to give it a more vintage look and break up the large swath of red on the front, so I moved the zipper to the front.

I began by cutting the vest straight down the center front. I then created an additional ribbed collar detail that would pull the vest up around the neck and give it a bomber-jacket-style feel. The edges were bound all the way around the collar with the dark brown faux leather, and an antique brass zipper was set in.

At the same time, I created the chin cup and strap for the helmet. The chin cup is made of 2mm foam covered with red Cordura and padded with headliner foam. I also resin-cast small decorative buckles and added them to the sides of the strap. The strap connects to the helmet on ivory ‘ear’ plates with antique nickel snaps.

Part 6: Pants

With the upper body in good shape, I began building the lower body. I started with the codpiece and thighs from the pattern pack.

I want the entire costume to look ‘armored’ and accessorized but still have that vintage style. So, I decided to take some inspiration from the RAF Sidcot suit and add some extra detail.

I used the same ivory fabric that was used on the shoulder pad and helmet and wanted to carry the quilting detail over to tie all the components together. I layered the headliner foam behind the ivory fabric that was backed with muslin for the codpiece. I then quilted the entire piece and edged it with dark brown.

I wanted a little more detail for the thighs, so I mapped out the design I wanted on a paper copy of the pattern. The top and front/back sections were cut away. The center part of the piece was quilted, and the other sections were added back to the main piece with some dark brown piping.

The entire thigh piece was then edged in dark brown, and straps were made to complete the ribbing theme.

I then made a basic pair of pants with ivory material and used antique nickel snaps to attach the thighs and codpiece.

Part 7: Boots

The last of the major pieces to assemble were the boots. I used the fitted boots pattern from the pack.

The boots were made directly from the pattern with only one simple detail added (which I’ll cover in a moment). The boots are being made to match the same style, materials, and color blocking as the gauntlets.

To build these boots, I start by cutting out the lower fronts and back in headliner foam and then using Super77 to adhere the foam to the back of the fabrics. In this case, the front is made of medium brown faux leather, and the back is tan Cordura.

The center fronts were sewn together, and the ribbing detail was added. I then created dark brown leather piping to run down the side seams and attached the lower backs to the lower fronts.

Next, the upper piece was cut out of tan Cordura and backed with headliner foam. Piping was also added to this piece, and it was attached to the lower part of the boot.

The only modification I made to the original pattern was adding a detail band around the top of the boot shaft. That piece was traced off the pattern and made out of tan Cordura backed with 2mm EVA foam. I then bound the lower edge of the detail piece with the same thin brown faux leather used for the piping and stitched it down to the boot.

Then, the top edge of the boot and the bottom edges around the foot were bound in that same dark brown. The last step was to build the knee pad and strap. These pieces were made using the same method as the elbow pads and straps for the gauntlet.

The back edges were bound in tan Cordura, and the zippers were added. Here are the completed boots on top of the base shoes used with the costume.

The last pieces to build were the belt and pouches. Jordan’s Ironic Armory 3d printed the belt buckle, and the belt itself was constructed using the same method as the harness straps.

Once those last pieces were complete, all of the pieces were weathered with an airbrush to finish the head-to-toe look.

Captain Britain Original Concept