Master Sword of Resurrection

The Master Sword of Resurrection From The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Tell me the truth… How proficient are you right now, wielding that sword on your back? Legend says that an ancient voice resonates inside it.

Can you hear it yet… hero?

I fell in love in with this design for the Master Sword and, given my history of plush swords, I knew I had to make this a thing.

Breath of the Wild had consumed a good chunk of my time since launch and, when I wasn’t playing, watching, or compiling my adventures through Hyrule in a comic log, I was working on making the Master Sword my own in plush form. This was arguably the most complicated design of a plush sword I have made so far, but it was definitely one of the more satisfying.

Scabbard

I started with making the scabbard as it was the first thing that caught my eye for this iteration of the Master Sword. The basic scabbard structure was an outer shell, an inner lining shell, and a few layers of heavy craft interfacing sandwiched in-between them.

I ended up using some leftover quilting fabric for the lining layer, since it was kind of hard to see from the outside anyway.

With the scabbard base completed, came the hard part of making and attaching all of the gold embellishments. The embellishments were hacked together by cutting the shapes out of heavy craft interfacing and then wrapping them in gold-ish fabric. My original intention was to glue/iron the fabric onto the interfacing, but my fabric choice ended up not taking glue (or ironing) very well :C

Quilting clips were a wonderful asset for keeping the gold-ish fabric folded over and in place.

A top-stitch was added along the borders to keep the embellishments looking crisp. Small silver studs were then poked through to add some extra detail.

(Almost) all of the completed gold embellishments!

The completed gold embellishments were then clipped in place, and painstakingly and slowly hand-sewn onto the scabbard.

Quilting clips yet again, are the real MVP.

Blade

Now with the scabbard completed, it was on to the actual sword.

The main blade of the sword was comprised of an outer shell of “actual blade” and then an inner shell that would eventually house the acrylic rod I would be using for structure. For the outer shell, I lightly interfaced the fabric to add some light structure (and to keep the fraying in check). Some light top-stitching detail was also added to the blade. For the inner shell, quilted batting was used.

It’s a little hard to see, but the top-stitching detail was done in white to add some extra, but subtle, definition to the blade.
I opted for quilted batting for the lining layer as it would provide some plush cushioning, as well as avoid the risk of stretching raw batting.

Grip

The grip of the sword was done next. The wrapping detail was done very similarly to how I made my bracers for Sigrun Mercy.

Making the grip, which ended up being one of the thickest components to this sword (curse you layers of double folded bias tape :shakefist:)

Guard and Pommel

The guard and pommel were made with roughly the same technique. Both sections were simplified into more basic 3D shapes, and then patterned onto the heavy craft interfacing. The parts were then wrapped in fabric, top-stitched along the edges to keep them crisp, and then lightly interfaced on the back again to keep the raw edges in check. The parts were then assembled into their final 3D shapes and attached to the rest of the sword.

The guard (shown at top) which was broken down into a simple cone. The pommel (shown at bottom) which was broken down into an octahedron. Holes were left through both shapes to allow the structural acrylic rod to pass through.

The “winged” guard detail was a similar technique, except with the addition of a layer of quilted batting so that the top-stitched details would be slightly more puffy.

The assembled pommel pieces, “winged” guard detail, and everything attached to the sword!

Extra gold embellishments to the “winged” guard detail and blade were added using the same techniques used for the scabbard embellishments.

The MAster Sword of Resurrection

And so, my own plush Master Sword was finally completed!

The completed Master Sword!
This sword is substantially longer than my arms. Not, that I tried wearing it on my back and drawing it from the scabbard while pretending to be the Hero of Hyrule :|
Makar for scale. The true Hero of Hyrule.

RETROSPECTIVE

General lessons learned from this time around:

  • Quilting Clips were the real unsung hero of this entire project. I hadn’t owned quilting clips through any other project, but… these were incredible (especially when dealing with easily bruised fabric, or exceedingly thick fabric stacks). 10/10 would use again.
  • Fabric Choice I feel I’ve gotten more comfortable using a larger range of fabrics than I did maybe 2 years back. Original fabric choices used to be knits for cosplay and fleece for plush (both convenient non-frayers), but lately I’ve been experimenting with fray monsters. Pinking shears love me, vacuums hate me.
  • General Quilting (Piecing) Techniques remain something I need more practice with. There’s something about joining fabric together with complicated curving seams, bulky seam allowance management, and crisp corners that I feel would be beneficial for my projects going forwards (I say this as my next, currently in progress, cosplay project is riddled with complicated piecing :C)

Overview, I was very happy with how the Master Sword turned out! Now to see if it’ll be coming to a convention near me one day! Where… strangers can watch me struggle as my short T. Rex arms try to unsheath a sword that is roughly 75% of my height…

PATTERN CREATED BY ME!
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