Jill Valentine - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis



Cost: $96
Time to Make: 20 hours
Timeline of Construction: April - May 2009


Pictures




Information

Since I've become a huge fan of the Resident Evil games, especially after Cosplaying Ashley, I wanted to try to Cosplay another character for Anime North 2009. In the last couple of months before the con I was brainstorming characters with outfits that weren't too complicated so I didn't have to work on a really complex outfit (I was still enjoying a break after making my Lisa costume as that costume had been pretty time consuming). I was originally considering Cosplaying Jill in her Resident Evil 1 S.T.A.R.S. outfit, but I thought it might be fun to make her RE3 outfit instead since it's a nicer outfit for the spring/summer time and I wanted to go all out and make the harness.

There have been several versions of this outfit. There is the original version from RE3; the Umbrella Chronicles remake with a few design changes and of course, the Resident Evil Apocalypse movie version worn by Sienna Guillory. I picked the original RE3 version because I liked the deeper blue colour for the top.

Making this outfit actually turned out to be more complicated than I expected. I had a lot of trouble making the harness. I decided to make the tube top without a zipper so I used a spandex material. I tried my best to get the details right including the placement and number of darts. I so fail at putting in darts. XD I don't have a picture of it, but I noticed the back of the top is closed with buttons. I didn't make them functional, but I did buy buttons that I covered and I sewed onto the back. The top did slip quite a bit and I used body tape to keep it up.

I cheated with the white sweatshirt. I managed to find it at a second-hand store so it took no effort. It can be surprisingly difficult to find a sweatshirt that's lightweight. Thankfully the one that I found worked perfectly and didn't hang very low around my waist. I used a pattern for the skirt, which I’m not all that happy with, because it flared out at the bottom. I was going for more of a pencil skirt look as I wanted it to be sleek. Thankfully it's not that obvious in photos. XD The trim on the bottom was a silver satin ribbon material. I just sewed it on. I was a little worried that the satin would reflect oddly in photos but it looked all right.

The boots were a lucky find on eBay. I looked for a couple of months both in stores and online for boots to use and just when I was giving up hope, I managed to find the pair that I bought. They aren't totally accurate because of the extra buckles but the style was perfect. They are a tad big on me and wrinkle a bit but I'm just thrilled that I found boots at all. XD I wore black socks that I owned under the boots and that completed the footwear portion of this costume.

Of course, I've neglected to write about the wig and harness. Ugh. The most difficult parts of this costume. I searched for quite a long time for a decent wig to use. I'm rather picky about finding appropriate wigs when it's obvious the character has a skin part. It was a sticking factor for my Lisa costume as well. I eventually found one on eBay that I liked and it was rather pricey (about $70) but the style was pretty close. When it arrived, though, the skin part was meant for someone with dark skin so it looked laughable on me. Thankfully the seller was understanding and let me do a wig exchange (for another wig not for this costume). At this point I was freaking out a bit because it was just a couple of weeks before the con and my wig had fallen through. Thankfully my friend Heki totally saved me by offering to sell me a wig that she had. She even offered to style it for me. I really can't thank her enough. <3 I picked up the wig from her at the con. It actually turned out to sit a little weirdly on me and after the con Pan cut it slightly so it suited me a little more. I love the wig now. It was significantly cheaper and because it was care of my friend, it means so much to me. :3

The final annoying thing about this costume was the harness. It was made from webbing with several different types of connectors that were sewn together. My father hammered in all of the grommets on the belt. Webbing is a terrible material to work with if you're hammering grommets. (>.<);; The shoulder pads were made from fabric with a couple of layers of felt inside them for cushioning. I think I should have added a few more layers to make them stand out a little more. The harness was really hard to get to the right length. I don't have pictures of the back but there was a silver ring connector along with sliding connectors and it was agonizing taking it on and off as I sewed everything in place to get the right fit. In the end I think I'm still not happy with it because the belt sits a little high on my waist. The annoying part is that with the material of the tube top, the belt has nothing to hold it in place and slips around a lot.

I cheated with the pouches on my belt. One was a cell phone case (the same one that I'm always using for my Sasuke costume) and the other two pouches Jill wears on the back of her belt were camera cases my brother gave to me. Not 100% accurate but they worked well enough. This costume is super fidgety. Before photos I have to make sure my harness hadn't ridden up, my tube top was sitting right (and wasn't all wrinkly around the waist) and that the boots weren't all wrinkled as well. XD

I'm not all that happy with how the costume turned out and I don't think I make that great of a Jill. I probably could have done a much better job but I'm saving all my passion for my Rebecca costume so hopefully that will be a much better representation of my love for Resident Evil. I was able to get some nice shots care of SolarTempest from the 2009 Toronto Centre Island Cosplay Picnic. We had to be a bit covert while doing photos because we took them around a kids amusement park and I used my gun as a prop for maybe a minute. (^^);;

I will probably wear this costume at least one more time hopefully for a downtown shoot maybe near City Hall since TO is where the Resident Evil Apocalypse movie was filmed. TO City Hall is Raccoon City Hall. Granted, I did make the game version and not the movie version of this costume but posing in that area would still be fun. XD I would also love to do some creepy night shots since day shots don't really do RE justice. For what it's worth, I was quite pumped while making this costume. I was recognized quite a few times at AN and it was a lot of fun to wear. Even a random passerby who was asking the Cosplayers at the picnic what was going on recognized me as Jill. XD

I re-wore this costume to Polaris 2011 and I actually found that it's growing on me. I wasn't able to get the perfect fit on all aspects of the costume, but it's pretty comfy and I worked hard on it so I feel proud of my work.

Events/Conventions this costume was worn to
Anime North 2009 (Saturday), Toronto Centre Island Cosplay Picnic 2009 (Saturday, July 13th, 2009) & Polaris 2011 (Saturday)

Photo Credits
SolarTempest


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