Oswin Oswald Cosplay Tutorial

It's been too long since I posted a costume tutorial! 

When I first watched "Asylum of the Daleks," I really liked Oswin's outfit. I thought her tool belt was very cool, and I liked the sassy red dress she wore. 

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Her character wasn't my all time favorite (Rose and the Ponds win that honor,) but her story was so tragic and interesting and Oswin was an interesting character. 

I found a dress at Goodwill that I wanted to use as my base. The basic structure was similar, although the dress was too low cut in front and the skirt was too long.

I started by disassembling the twist in the front and attempting to reconstruct it to look more like Oswin's wrapped neckline.

I went through several different potential necklines before I was satisfied.

Halfway through this project, I got a real dress form (!) and my project became a lot easier... and the flaws of my pinned neckline became a lot more obvious:

I played with it some more, and ultimately settled on this:

It isn't perfect, but it looks enough like Oswin's neckline to be recognizable.

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My dress form has a hem gauge, and I used this tool for the first time on this costume.

The finished dress:

When I started the cosplay, I was initially very nervous about making the tool belt.

picture taken of an image in Doctor Who: The Vault

The belt has so many pieces on it, and is absolutely indispensable for recognizing the character.

I found that making the bodice of the dress was incredibly frustrating, and I kept stopping and starting this project. During one pause, I took a trip to Goodwill and found a bunch of miscellaneous black and gray objects. Inspiration struck and I knew how to make my belt!

I took this black phone case piece and painted it with silver paint.

The design was loosely based on one of Oswin's tools:

The Vault

All done:

I also found this faux leather case which I believe was for a GPS.

The inspiration for this piece:

The Vault

I painted the case with black, gold, and gray paints.

I found this battery case:

This whisk:

This Sudoku game (which still works):

And I found two old film canisters around the house, which I painted silver:

I also found an old gray phone case.

The inspiration for it's paint job:

The Vault

I painted it with gray and gold paint.

I found an over-sized belt at the same Goodwill trip.

The gray phone case already had a slit along one side, but I lengthened the slit on the other side so I could slide it onto the belt.

Ta-da:

To attach the black case, I cut a strip of duct tape.

I cut slits along the sides,

Then folded in the sides to make a strap.

I taped it to the inside of the case.

Onto the belt it went:

I cut slits into the back of the Garmin case.

I made another duct tape handle for the Sudoku game.

The battery case has a built in clip.

To attach the film canisters, I cut a strip of faux leather from an old craft project.

I painted it black.

I hot glued the ends down onto the wrong side of the fabric.

I hot glued it around the canister with the right side facing out.

Then I hot glued the canister to the belt.

I found an old, cheap necklace chain in my beading drawer.

Using needle nose pliers, I attached it to the whisk.

I figured out where I wanted the whisk to go, then glued down the end of the chain.

I made another faux leather strap.

I glued it to the belt, getting as close to the whisk as I possibly could without gluing the whisk itself or anymore of the chain.

I wanted to add some rivets, so I cut apart an old string of Mardi Gras beads.

I cut the tread as close to the bead as possible.

I glued two beads on either side of the whisk's strap.

I also added beads to the sides of the two canisters.

The finished belt:

I was very, very pleased with how my belt turned out. It's one of my favorite things that I've ever made.

Oswin has high top red sneakers with a hidden wedge heel. I looked for red wedge sneakers on eBay and found a Chinese seller that had something similar and inexpensive. The shoes were true to size and are surprisingly comfortable, though I doubt they'd hold up to consistent daily wear.

As for Oswin's hair, I have a wig that I ordered on eBay. It looks more like Clara's hair than Oswin's, and that is my primary use for it, but as they are both technically the same character I don't think it matters. It's called a "Sasha Blaus Attack on Titan" wig, I think. It's also designed to look realistic in a ponytail, which is nice, since Clara does a lot with her hair.

Not a bad likeness, especially if I sweep the bangs to the side.

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In terms of accessories, Oswin technically has a watch and a ring (which you can see in the above picture.) I don't have pieces for either of these accessories as they're minor details and not absolutely necessary to be recognizable. Oswin also has different accessories throughout the episode, including a rose (and possibly earrings):

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an apron:

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and a Dalek:

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My finished costume:

I hope this was helpful to aspiring Oswin cosplayers! Best of luck to you with your costumes. 💋