Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl, aka Doreen Green, has been my favorite superhero since I was a kid!  She has the proportional strength of a squirrel, a squirrel tail, and the ability to talk to squirrels (like her sidekick, Tippy Toe!)  I wanted to recreate her costume from issue #1 of the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic series, because I felt like it's the most iconic one, and also the most feasible to recreate.

For the leotard I just traced my torso onto the fabric to make sure it would fit!  Since I chose a very stretchy velvet, I wasn't worried about it being too tight anywhere.  I made this outfit in 2020, and even though my hips are a bit wider now it still fits me just fine!

Instead of making the jacket from scratch I decided to upcycle a thrifted one, and add sherpa to get the fur-lined effect that hers does in the comics.  I cropped the jacket body and the sleeves, and trimmed the lapels into the signature curved shape.

Getting the tail to still be structurally sound as well as a relatively accurate size was a bit of a challenge, and I ended up using a pool noodle as a support!  It was super light weight and slightly flexible, so it worked perfectly to keep the rigidity of the tail.  I added straps so I could wear it like a backpack, and it attaches to the butt of the leotard with a large snap.

The utility belt was a fun challenge, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!  Squirrel Girl carries trading cards of supervillains made by Deadpool, which I scanned and printed from the comics to carry with me, so I had to make sure the cards would fit.  The pouches were fun to see come together, since I went with a really boxy shape for them.  I used my snap press to attach the closures.

I'm so incredibly pleased with this costume!  I feel like if I ever encountered any fellow Squirrel Girl fans in the wild they would definitely recognize me.  The leotard and jacket are super comfortable, and I think the tail turned out pretty realistic!  The bright yellow in the utility belt really takes the cake though, I think it accentuates the comic book-y-ness of the ensemble!

Even though I made this outfit a long time ago, I'm still very proud of myself!  The leotard still fits and doesn't need any updates, which I think is very impressive for 12 year old me who didn't own a serger yet.  I plan on adding actual backpack straps to the tail at some point, since the velvet ones I put on initially tend to cut off circulation after a while.  I'm also going to recreate the utility belt in leather for some more durability and maybe a place to put my phone!  But overall, I think this was entirely sucessful.