A Fish Called "Wanda"
One of the best things that happened this winter was that I found the Agent Carter Cosplay Community. Its full of people who love Peggy as much as I do, but there is a downside. They are terrible for finding out screen accurate items and where you can buy them. This has been hell on my wallet, BUT on the other hand I have loads of new Peggy in the works.
Meet Wanda.
Peggy goes undercover as Wanda in Season 2. I’ll leave the spoilers as to someone else, but suffice it to say that her outfit was easy to pull together. That, and once I did the costume, I could use her outfit as real life clothing forever more, which is great. I didn’t actually get the screen accurate shoes, but a dear friend had them and allowed me to borrow them. The rest I pulled together in a frantic day while trying to get my pin curls to set for the photo shoot. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of photos, but it went a little like this.
The actual version of this costume has a buttoned up top, but I find that these are difficult for me to find that fit well due to by bust. So I skipped the buttons and looked around for a shirt that was similar in style. I found this one in Penney’s (Primark to the non-Irish) for 13 quid, and figured what the heck, at that price how could I go wrong?
But of course the sleeves weren’t accurate. Peggy’s sleeve is puffy with a cuff. This was shockingly easy to fix. I put the shirt on and measured how long I wanted the sleeve to be. I then laid the shirt out flat and used a ruler to cut across 5/8” below the length I wanted the sleeve to be. You then get short sleeves and the extra sleeve. I laid down a wide stitch on the edge of the sleeve so that I could pull it in and make it a bit closer to the puffiness that Peggy’s has.
In order to make the cuff on the sleeves, I then cut 3 inch strips out of the extra sleeves so you have a 3 inch wide tube. For the cuff to be tighter than the rest of the sleeve, I made the tube about 1.5 inches smaller and took out the excess fabric. Then I folded the cuff in half and attached it to the sleeve.
Obviously, if I was going for 100% accuracy, this method wouldn't work as the sleeve was nowhere near as full as it should be, but for quick and easy, it worked great. And while Peggy’s shirt has the classic darts in it, I didn’t bother. I just tucked it into the skirt and went with it.
The skirt I made from scratch because of the specific detailing that Peggy has. She has a slit up the left leg, and a kick pleat in the back. Its straight, rather than pencil, and is a bit higher waisted than today’s styles. All of that means that it wasn’t going to be easy for me to find in a hurry here in Ireland.
I found a red gabardine and bought it. I happen to own an old Burda 8856 pattern already and rather than spend more money, I just altered this. It was pretty simple. I straightened out the lines of the pattern before it flared out, and added a waistband.
Because I was short on time, I just tested the pattern on the lining material and didn't bother to copy them across to paper (which I'm already regretting as I'll have to do this again for another skirt). They worked just fine as is for patterns for the actual fabric, and then it was conveniently already lined.
The kick pleat I improvised for the centre back seam and I simply didn’t finish the front seam on the left leg so it would be open. To be honest, that slit turned out a little higher than I intended, but it worked in the shoots and I'm closing it up again for actual wear so it was fine.
Then it was just down to styling. “Wanda” is only ever seen with this awful terrible wig with bangs. I hate it. Hate it with an absolute passion. So… I just did this instead:
I think I’ve made my point.
I doubt I’ll ever wear this again as a costume, but I had a great time shooting it. It may have made it into my “work clothes” rotation with different shoes and that is actually quite nice to have.
Meet Wanda.
Peggy goes undercover as Wanda in Season 2. I’ll leave the spoilers as to someone else, but suffice it to say that her outfit was easy to pull together. That, and once I did the costume, I could use her outfit as real life clothing forever more, which is great. I didn’t actually get the screen accurate shoes, but a dear friend had them and allowed me to borrow them. The rest I pulled together in a frantic day while trying to get my pin curls to set for the photo shoot. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of photos, but it went a little like this.
The actual version of this costume has a buttoned up top, but I find that these are difficult for me to find that fit well due to by bust. So I skipped the buttons and looked around for a shirt that was similar in style. I found this one in Penney’s (Primark to the non-Irish) for 13 quid, and figured what the heck, at that price how could I go wrong?
But of course the sleeves weren’t accurate. Peggy’s sleeve is puffy with a cuff. This was shockingly easy to fix. I put the shirt on and measured how long I wanted the sleeve to be. I then laid the shirt out flat and used a ruler to cut across 5/8” below the length I wanted the sleeve to be. You then get short sleeves and the extra sleeve. I laid down a wide stitch on the edge of the sleeve so that I could pull it in and make it a bit closer to the puffiness that Peggy’s has.
In order to make the cuff on the sleeves, I then cut 3 inch strips out of the extra sleeves so you have a 3 inch wide tube. For the cuff to be tighter than the rest of the sleeve, I made the tube about 1.5 inches smaller and took out the excess fabric. Then I folded the cuff in half and attached it to the sleeve.
Obviously, if I was going for 100% accuracy, this method wouldn't work as the sleeve was nowhere near as full as it should be, but for quick and easy, it worked great. And while Peggy’s shirt has the classic darts in it, I didn’t bother. I just tucked it into the skirt and went with it.
The skirt I made from scratch because of the specific detailing that Peggy has. She has a slit up the left leg, and a kick pleat in the back. Its straight, rather than pencil, and is a bit higher waisted than today’s styles. All of that means that it wasn’t going to be easy for me to find in a hurry here in Ireland.
I found a red gabardine and bought it. I happen to own an old Burda 8856 pattern already and rather than spend more money, I just altered this. It was pretty simple. I straightened out the lines of the pattern before it flared out, and added a waistband.
Because I was short on time, I just tested the pattern on the lining material and didn't bother to copy them across to paper (which I'm already regretting as I'll have to do this again for another skirt). They worked just fine as is for patterns for the actual fabric, and then it was conveniently already lined.
The kick pleat I improvised for the centre back seam and I simply didn’t finish the front seam on the left leg so it would be open. To be honest, that slit turned out a little higher than I intended, but it worked in the shoots and I'm closing it up again for actual wear so it was fine.
Then it was just down to styling. “Wanda” is only ever seen with this awful terrible wig with bangs. I hate it. Hate it with an absolute passion. So… I just did this instead:
 |
| Photo by George Germaine. |
I doubt I’ll ever wear this again as a costume, but I had a great time shooting it. It may have made it into my “work clothes” rotation with different shoes and that is actually quite nice to have.
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