Repo: The Genetic Opera Amber Sweet Zydrate anatomy Cage Skirt Tutorial

Repo: The Genetic Opera Amber Sweet Zydrate anatomy Cage Skirt Tutorial

This tutorial is going to be one of a series that focus on the making of the costume for the character Amber Sweet from the movie Repo: The Genetic opera.  We are also only focusing on the outfit worn during zydrate anatomy.  There are a lot of pieces for the entire costume and in the next tutorials I will discuss what items are easily bought and where you might find them, as well as how to make several of the pieces at a cheaper price than buying them. 

This is guide to how to make the cage skirt that Amber wears in the movie

What you will need:

Metal D-rings.  I used seven two inch D-rings for the entire skirt. Price: 0.23 each

Metal D-Rings

Black elastic of varying widths. I used 2 inch, 1.5 inch, and 1 inch. I will explain later how to get the correct measurements for these three different widths. Price varies: under $1.00 per foot.

Elastic straps

Black thread.  I used Coats and Clarks Dual Duty XP Heavy thread. Price: $1.14 

Chenille hand needle: I used DMC brand chenille needles. Price: $1.29

Fabric Glue. I used Beacon Adhesives Fabric Tac. Price: $8.36 for 4 oz bottle.

Black Zipper. I used Clarks and Coats 9 inch invisible zipper. Price: $1.51

Let’s Begin…

The first thing is to measure your waist to try and calculate how much elastic will be needed. Also measure from waist down leg to figure out how long the skirt will be, depending how tall or short one is the skirt will look better at different lengths.  There are going to be three rows of elastic that go horizontally.  I used the 1.5-inch elastic for these strips.  Just take your waist measurement and multiply by 3 to figure out how much elastic is needed.  I used 2-inch width elastic for the wide vertical straps and 1 inch elastic for the thin vertical straps.  Cut the 1.5-inch elastic into three equal lengths (waist length measurement).  Cut the 2-inch elastic into equal length strips (Skirt length measurement). Cut the 1-inch elastic into the same length (skirt length measurement).  The measurements are probably the hardest part of the skirt.  If you have graph paper it can help to draw a sketch of the skirt with the dimensions labeled.  You will have to figure out, based on the waist measurement how much space you are going to leave between straps and how many straps you will need.  If you figure you need 6 straps for the skirt, then multiply the length of the skirt by 6 to get how much elastic of that size you need.  Do this for the 1-inch and 2 inch elastic.  I laid out the three horizontal strips on the floor and then over top I laid alternating thick and thin vertical straps.  I spaced them so they looked even, but they don’t have to be perfect.  After I had everything laid out and spaced the way I liked it I used the fabric tac to glue the straps together where they overlapped.  The fabric glue is just to hold everything in place for a while, but the thread and chenille needles will be needed to stitch the pieces together later if you don’t want the skirt to fall apart.  For the D-rings I just folded over some of the elastic and glued them in place before stitching them together as well.  The stitching can be hard because the elastic is thick, which is why I choose chenille needles (they are for thicker fabrics).  After everything was stitched into place on top of the fabric glue, I glued the zipper to the last strap on the skirt, stitched that in place, then glued to the first strap to the zipper and stitched that as well.  My stitches were not perfect but it really doesn’t show up on the black elastic with black thread so don’t feel like they all have to be even, because honestly no one should be looking that closely at your skirt.  This part of the costume is the most time consuming but the finished product looks almost exactly like the skirt in the movie.  The skirt used in the movie was a Catherine Coatney cage skirt, but I could not find one anywhere online or otherwise.  Plus the homemade version is probably cheaper.  The next tutorial I post will be about the remaining pieces of the costume and where you may find them, or at least a good representation of them at a cheaper price. Enjoy your cage skirts girls and boys!