Hello everyone, this is my reference page and also progress page for my Dani Phantom costume. So far, since I'm just in the planning stages, this is going to be mostly reference images from her one appearance in the series so far, "Kindred Spirits". I took a TON of screen captures of the episode, but I've pulled just a few solid ones to start.
To start, here are two full body shots.
Now for more detail shots, starting with her head. Her hair is my biggest concern at the moment. Her costume is, compared to some, relatively simple. Although Danny's would be even easier sigh, but I'm determined! Dani and Danny both have this poofy swoopy thing going with their bangs. Dani also has a ponytail. And, though their hair looks more silvery-grey in the show, the opening theme describes Danny as waking up with "snow white hair and glowing green eyes." So I think I'm going to go with a white wig (probably would be easier to find/make/alter than silver anyway).
UPDATE! There is a segment on Nickelodeon that airs during some commercials where this pile of clay forms a 3-dimensional Danny Phantom and glows in the dark. I took screen caps of it because it shows really well how his big swoopy bangs look in real space! It gives me a little better idea of how I want my wig to end up looking.
Finally, some shots of her costume. I'm debating if it should be a metallic silver, or a matte silver. I can get a metallic silver fabric that is thin with some nice drape at work, but there's not a real equivalent fabric in black (it's a black warp lame according to the bolt end). However if I go the other way, according to my order book at Hobby Lobby where I work, at some point soon we will be carrying a silver broadcloth. If it comes soon enough (crosses fingers), I can just go with nice cheap $1.87 per yard broadcloth for the whole costume, be comfortable, and be not-so-broke.
Unlike Danny's costume, which is all black with silver gloves/boots/belt, Dani's is in two pieces and her top is half black, half silver. She has the same "DP" emblem but it seems to be a little darker. Danny's gloves are both silver, Dani's are one black and one silver.
This is going to be a little harder, her pants have an angled silver section and it seems like they run right into her shoes. Danny's got boots, with his pants going right into the boots, but it seems like Dani either has boots or just plain shoes with her pants covering all the way to the ankle. I need to find silver shoes, or a good way to cover the shoes with the same silver material I use in the rest of the costume.
Once I start making the costume, this is where I will put pictures of the in progress shots!
To start, I found a wig that, while it may not be the final one, at least it's something to play around with. It's a Rubies brand wig, so the quality isn't the best but it wasn't expensive and I can play around with making that swoopy bang on this before I invest in something halfway decent to use for my final wig! :) Looking again at my reference shots, I think I can use most of the wig hair for the bangs (they need it!) and then use extensions to create a ponytail that just juts out from the back of her head. Which might be cool, if I can detach it, later on I can make a Danny costume and use the same wig for Danny and Dani! Yes, I know I'm weird.
Don't mind the bad background and how awful I look, this is how the wig looks right out of the bag, pre styling.
UPDATE: It's not nearly done yet, but I have made some headway on a prop for my costume, a Fenton Thermos purse! I needed something to hold stuff like my wallet and keys so I'm making a Fenton Thermos that will have a belt strap (kind of like when Danny has the Thermos slung over his shoulder, except mine will be on a low slung belt). I've got the webbing and buckle to make the belt but I've got to finish the painting first. The main part is about half done, the main paint job is done but now I have to sit down and trace out the details (the lines and stuff). Here is a reference shot of the Thermos (from "The Ultimate Enemy", that one's got evil Dan in there!), and a shot of my Thermos so far (except the lid doesn't look like that, I ripped off that little handle and am remaking it).
I haven't started sewing yet (I know, I'm a procrastinator and I need to get moving!), but I did go and invest in a sewing machine of my own! No more fighting with my mom's Singer, I have a nice new awesome Brother LS-2125i to play with!
This isn't exactly part of the costume, but in the episode "Micro-Management", when Danny and Dash are shrunk by the Fenton Crammer, Danny starts reverting back to his non-ghost form little by little, and at one point he's wearing bascially his everyday shirt but instead of the red/white it's black/white with his logo. So, being the not-so-subtle geek that I am, I made one for myself!! I guess they had this for sale at the Nickelodeon online store at one time but I can't find it there at all, and besides, I like making my own stuff...even if I make myself lots of problems.
I bought a white, a red, and a black plain t-shirt from Hobby Lobby, all in the same size. (I know you're thinking, where does the red come in? I'll get to that!) I removed the collars from the white and black shirts (I haven't done the red yet, I had to but that a week later because we were out of my size). I then stitched the white collar on the black shirt (by HAND which was really rough and didn't come out even so I ripped it out and redid it when I got the sewing machine). I bought some ribbed knit fabric and added that to the sleeves. Then I painted the logo on with fabric paint (I made a template using a really good closeup of the logo that I captured from the episode "Kindred Spirits", made into a negative image, printed out on cardstock, and cut out the logo. Next time I'm laminating the template though, I had to cut the cardstock off the shirt!). I used a paintbrush and several thin layers to build up the logo (trust me when I say you don't want to just squeeze out dimensional fabric paint nice and thick...I have done that before and ended up with a shirt that could have deflected a bullet!)
I don't know if I'll take the time right now, but down the road (maybe after Acen), I'm going to put the red collar on the white shirt and make Danny's everyday shirt with it. Then I'll add the black collar to the red shirt but I don't know what I'll do with that one yet. Oh yeah and ignore my messy hair and messy room, I couldn't wait to show this off but it has been a long day at work and I'm exhausted!
What I did was, took a sheet of Stable Magic and traced my hand with pencil. Then I padded out that outline around the fingers and then widened the wrist and added the triangle that's in Dani's glove (see reference image way above). I pinned it to the fabric and then for the first time, put the darning plate on my machine (which covers the feed dogs and lets you move the fabric freehand), stuck in the ballpoint needles I just bought (it fit, it worked, yay! I was a little nervous because those packages say works in MOST machines), and then stitched using a plain ol' straight stitch along that pencil line. Once I finished, I removed the Stable Magic (it tore away easily along the stitching, like Stitch 'n Tear, but this stuff can go through your printer or be drawn on in ordinary pencil!), trimmed away excess fabric, and then hemmed the bottom edge of the opening. Turn it inside out and voila! A pair of super hero gloves!!
Ignore my horrendous backgrounds here, it's late and I just couldn't wait to get pictures posted. I'm way excited, can you tell? Of course now comes the hard part...gloves I have done before. But that top....oh man am I nervous about screwing THAT up!
Yes, a nice long session today has produced some real visible progress and I'm beyond happy with it!! I was really nervous, I've been going over in my head for over a week how I was going to cut out the pattern pieces and reading the pattern directions over and over to get ready for this part. Well, I cut out the pieces for the top, and I'm already partway done with it. What's left to do? Set in the zipper (planned for Friday after work), the side seams, the sleeves, and hemming the bottom. Then it's on to the pants.
I was really worried about what you see in that second photo - the fact that her top is two tone. What I ended up doing was cutting the front and back out of BOTH colors of fabric (which was NOT easy let me tell you -- knit fabric likes to curl and wiggle and NOT DO WHAT I WANT IT TO!). I pinned the two pieces together and then stitched that angle line on each piece (I laid a measuring tape on the fabric where I wanted that stitching line to be, put pins along either side of the tape and then stitched between the pins which happened to be just the right distance apart for the presser foot to slide between!). I then trimmed off the fabric that wasn't needed. Later I'm going to pipe some fabric glue along the fabric raw edge (even though it's knit and won't ravel).
The logo is I think the part I am most proud of. How did I do it? Well I found this AMAZING stuff in a sewing catalog I get, it's called Stable Magic, and I got it from Home Sew, Inc. It's a water soluble interfacing and embroidery stablizer that comes in letter size sheets and you can draw on it OR put it in a computer printer! I just sized a screenshot of Danny's logo from "Kindred Spirits" to the size I needed (once I had the two colors pieced together I measured the black side and figured out what size would be proportionally right), and then printed it mirror image on the Stable Magic. Then I pinned the white fabric that I snipped off the front side over the black and on the back, I pinned down the Stable Magic sheet. I worked from the backside, using clear thread and the darning plate so I could sew freehand and traced the logo shape. I trimmed down the Stable Magic and on the front, cut the fabric away very close to the stitching. After I stopped sewing for the evening (I did the shoulder seams, the bias tape around the zipper opening on the back, and the collar), I laid the top on my plastic-wrap covered table in my room and added the finishing touch -- GLOW PAINT!! I piped on a little bead of glow-in-the-dark fabric paint around the logo, which seals that raw fabric edge and at the same time, in the dark the logo shows up really really cool! I just wish I could get a picture of it but my camera will not cooperate.
UPDATE: Added the zipper! Added the sleeves! Yay! The zipper was beyond annoying, and I'm still not happy with how it turned out (I can see me buying more fabric and completely remaking this costume this summer.....ah well I'm having fun so what does it matter?). But with Acen less than two weeks away I don't have time to fuss. I set in the sleeves, they're a little tight, I think I need to find me a class in sleeves because I always stink at them. Now all I have to do is hem the sleeves (which I'll be doing by hand) and hem the bottom. Then I can start cutting out the pants. Phew! But hey, it looks like Dani's costume, it's pretty comfortable, and it looks COOOL!!! So I threw it on (with my jeans from work, heh) and grabbed my gloves and made my mom take a couple pictures. :D
Almost forgot to update this in my excitement over finishing, and Acen, but here are some more shots! First off, the finished costume! I still want to restyle the wig, but the costume did come out great! :)
The part of the costume I'm most proud of is my amazing Fenton Thermos purse! So here are some amazing closeup shots of the finished product. This took a lot of time, mostly because of the many painting sessions required, but I love how it came out. I worked hard on the tiny details, including the great logo on the buckle (a shrinky dink, I made three and the other two became my earrings!)
Last Updated June 3rd, 2007 by KnitChick