Cosplay Making: Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon 2

I decided a little while ago that I would love to be Astrid from the popular movie How To Train Your Dragon. However, her outfit was never really something I found appealing…until the sequel came along! Astrid in the second movie is cute and funny, and she also has a kick ass viking look. I fell in love as soon as I saw the screenshots. It also helps that my friend looks just like Hiccup, so voila! The How To Train Your Dragon 2 group came into existence.

Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon 2 (my cosplay)

Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon 2 (Friend's Cosplay)

As you can see, these costumes are not going to be simple. I'm sure a lot of leather, fur, worbla and other ridiculous materials will be used. I already got some pieces of both costumes done, I am in the process of striping and dying pieces of Astrid's shirt, because as you can see, her shirt has stripes of different colors of maroon. I bought the perfect maroon stretchy fabric at a yard sale (like 10 yards for a dollar, honestly go read my Cosplay on a Budget blog ), I cut it into thick strips and put some of the pieces in tea to soak for 48 hours.
Side Note: Dying some fabric in tea can give it an aged look, turn it a few shades darker, and all around make it look more awesome. I use it all the time for costumes. I used it for my Tiny Tina costume (Check It Out!) As well as some others.
I figured for a hard core viking like Astrid, making the costume look as rough and tumble as possible would be the best idea. Of course I don't want it to look like no effort was involved but I do want it to look like she just made it herself. Its hard to explain, because it will be good but…oh well….lets just go with accurate. I want it to look accurate to the time period, environment, and character.
I also have the pants done for Hiccup. His pants are a dark brown/sage green color. I happened to find the perfect color and fabric and I got started immediately. I have not added any of the leather pieces or straps to the pants yet, I need to find a good deal on leather before I can do any of that.
Also, guess what, Hiccup has one leg. The challenge of figuring this out will push me I am sure, but I think I can handle it. I have a few ideas of how to go about it, but I have to see what will work first. I want it to look like he has no leg there, but I will have to test out some theories.
Anyway, I will keep you up to date on my progress with Astrid, Hiccup, Zarina, Nora, and whoever else I will work on. I love to bite off more than I can chew, and then surprise myself in the end. Thanks for reading.
Sparkle on
Rennie