Here is my Morrigan The Raven costume!  This is not an anime thing in case there is a character out there somewhere with the same name!  I had the inspiration for the winged cape and then did a little research and discovered the Celtic Goddess of War who took the form of a raven.  It was mostly complete by the time I saw Snow White and The Huntsman but I must have had some subconscious inspiration from the evil queen in commercials or something.  

Everything is made by me.  The only pattern I used was for the corset in a great wet-looking, black brocade.  The top is a halloween polyester knit for which I could find no other use.  The skirt is 8 layers of ruffled tulle, netting and chiffon which I cut hign in the front and floor length in the back.  

For the cape I used an interesting fabric that I found on sale.  I think its a metallic organza loosely attached to a black cotton back. It worked out perfectly for the feathery texture I was going for.  I made each feather by sewing long strips of the metallic stuff and black chiffon together with one line of stitching.  Then I cut the long strips into 6-8″ pieces and shaped them into feathers by snipping into the edges and then going to town fraying them with a dog slicker brush.  I am still finding the debris from this process all over my house.  I attached them to the cape with fabric glue after realizing that the seams showed too obviously when I sewed them.  I added strips of heavy weight interfacing to the “fingers” of the wings so they would remain stiff when I lifted the wings but still hang nicely at my side.  I also added thin dowels on the outer edge of the cape so the wingspan would be fully extended beyond where I could reach.  

I made the collar with a lot of trial and error and interfacing and finally some boning to keep it stiff.  I glued real, very long coque feathers to extend over the shoulders and down the back.  Then I used coque feather trim to line all around the inside and outside of the stand-up collar.  I added some sequins and rhinestones around the neck, but wish I hadn’t ’cause honestly what goddess wears rhinestones and sequines?  Live and learn.  The collar is fastened with an invisible snap and it just laid perfectly over the cape underneath which I could easily remove when it got hot on the dance floor, while still keeping the dramatic collar on.

I also added some red contacts and feathered eyelashes to complete the look.  I hope you like it!

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