how i created my winter soldier cosplay

Well, Punxsutawney Phil unfortunately predicted six more weeks of winter! But on the bright side, I think it’s in perfect timing with my announcement of my Winter Soldier cosplay this past week 🥰 I wanted to share with you all a little bit more about my journey with making this cosplay! It is the first cosplay I ever made just by finding articles of clothing that I thought would replicate the character…and also my first cosplay that I built something for—the arm!

THE OUTFIT

When I started to create this Female Winter Soldier cosplay, I didn’t want to just buy a costume like I’ve done in the past. I really wanted to put more aspects of myself into this one and also picture how a Female Bucky Barnes would dress. I had kind of a general idea of what I was picturing for an outfit, and decided to start looking on Amazon for pieces that fit the aesthetic. Obviously I wanted the left arm to be exposed, as that would be the statement piece: the metal arm. So with that knowledge, I knew I wanted to have a one-sleeve piece for the right arm. I also had a reference picture of Bucky that I was looking at while shopping, which greatly helped the rest of the outfit shopping process!

​I wanted a way to kind of replicate that strap-vest he wears, but didn’t want to just buy a utility vest, so I ended up finding a body harness that went well with the costume idea! I knew I already had a black crop top in my closet, so with the arm sleeve and the body harness I knew the top was complete. Also thinking of the tactical work that Bucky would be doing led me to really thinking about what to add for the bottom half of the costume. Both from the reference picture, and from outfits that other female Marvel characters have worn, I knew I wanted to find black cargo pants for this piece. And you guys, oh my god…they are SO comfy! The ones I found are actually almost like sweatpants (they have a stretchy waistline and soft fabric) and have really deep pockets, which will be sooo so useful if I ever wear this to a convention. But as Yelena shared with her words of vest wisdom, you can never have too many pockets. So I ended up adding more by getting a utility belt (which was actually a police utility belt) and thigh holsters! I also bought some black knee pads to match the ones that Bucky wears in the reference picture. And lastly, I had black combat boots in my closet that I have used for many other cosplays that I ended up adding to this to finalize the costume look.

I did want to have a couple of props, but wasn’t looking to get too crazy with anything. I own a Captain America shield, which I knew would be great for those rooftop picture moments. I really wanted to get the Bucky Barnes mask and actually found a great shop on Etsy of someone who 3D prints them based on your face size! The mask fits so well and is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I was so happy when I got the box in the mail and was able to put it on for the first time! Then I tried to think of a few staple weapons that Bucky would have on hand. I know the knife flip/combat scene is a very popular one, so I ended up finding a rubber knife prop on Amazon that I ordered, as well as a rubber hand gun that I thought would fit well with the thigh holsters. They both are a great size and I love the look of them to match the rest of the cosplay!
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If you are interested in purchasing any of the pieces that I have used for my Bucky cosplay, I have listed everything on my Amazon Storefront (link below!). I do want to clarify that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This just means that if you purchase anything off of my Amazon Storefront using the link below, I get a small percentage commission from the purchase made from qualifying items!

Click HERE to go to my storefront!

THE ARM

Next up: The arm. As you all know from my previous blog posts and YouTube videos, one of my goals for this year is to make more cosplay pieces for myself! And that could be in any way, shape, or form. Sewing, EVA foam, hot gluing, you name it! I have never made a cosplay piece before and really had NO idea where to start on this one. So I ended up watching a handful of YouTube tutorials from people who have made their own Winter Soldier arms before! I noticed right away that the common theme here was EVA foam and contact cement to construct the arm together—probably because foam is super easy to move around, and you still want your arm to be mobile, unlike if you were to 3D print something with hard plastic. So it made sense!
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I ended up finding this AMAZING tutorial by @universeofemily. Her explanation made it easy to follow along, and the way that she did the arm was in a way that I felt like I could handle as a beginner to cosplay prop making. So her tutorial specifically was what I used to follow along while I was making the arm! She also provided free printable templates for the pattern pieces for the arm that you could use, but I ended up just taking my own measurements for my arm in order to make it more custom made to myself.

Her tutorial used seran wrap and duct tape to wrap around your arm, then you cut it off yourself, trace pattern pieces, and stencil them on to EVA foam. Then you glue the pieces all together with contact cement, and then repeat the step with the seran wrap and duct tape on the arm mold in order to draw on the pattern pieces. Then after gluing everything on, you spray it with some Plastidip as a base layer, and then get some Rustoleum Silver spray paint to get that metal arm color before finishing it off with the red star. (I’m making it sound way easier than it actually was. This took a LOT of time and work, but I am so proud of how the arm came out! And Emily’s tutorial was super super helpful, so be sure to give it a watch if you’re thinking of making your own version!). The only thing I did differently than she suggested in the video was instead of sewing an undersleeve, I ended up just buying a silver glove to put underneath the arm. Same concept, just no under shirt!
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I also have a list on my Amazon Storefront of the materials that I used for the arm! As stated above in the outfit section, I do earn from qualifying purchases. I’ve linked the list below if any of you are hoping to check it out!

Click HERE to check out the arm materials!

MAKEUP AND HAIR

Lastly, to finish off this Female Winter Soldier look, I wanted to get that classic Bucky black eyeshadow! I know in the movie, his is more smudged and racoon-esque, but I wanted to make mine a little sharper looking. I ended up finding a really quick and easy black smokey eye tutorial on YouTube that just used black eyeliner to tightline my upper and lower lash lines (as well as serve as a base for the eyeshadow), black eyeshadow for the lid, and brown eyeshadow for the crease. I also added a winged liner and popped on some false lashes to make my eyes pop a little bit more!

As for the hair, I had two ideas that I ended up running by my subscribers on Instagram. The first was just having my hair down and curled, and the second was more of a side braid look. We all came to the consensus that the hair down should be the winner. I think if my hair braided was a little bit longer than it is, it would have looked a little better! But I loved the big hair with the mask and the eyeshadow. It really pulled everything together.
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And with that, I had a finished cosplay! The finalized Female Winter Soldier look. Bucky has been such a huge comfort character of mine since Captain America: The Winter Soldier first came out, and I am so so happy that I finally get to bring this cosplay to life. It has been a dream cosplay of mine for quite a while now, and I am so so happy with it. I can’t wait to film some skits with the new-and-improved arm, and hopefully take some photos with it soon, too!