Valkyrie Suit Wings (Sigrun Mercy) From Overwatch
Valkyrie online… and in plush form!

While planning out my next big cosplay project, one of the more daunting tasks was the wings for my Sigrun Mercy. To save myself the agony of figuring out (and worrying about the weight of) the wings, I was inspired to think of an alternative way to incorporate them into the final cosplay. I decided on making them into a functional plush backpack, because incorporating plush into my cosplay is kind of my thing.

I was yet again inspired by this tutorial from Choly Knight on the basic construction of the bag. Fabric choices for the bag were a combination of heavy duty fabrics (duck cloth and bottomweights) and some borrowed fabric from my main Sigrun Mercy cosplay to ensure color matching!
For the front and back sides of the bag, a series of concentric inset circles was used to get the general shield pattern down. I used this tutorial from The Busy Bean to figure out how to do the circles (it was my first time using freezer paper for crafting, and it was glorious).

The little strap detailing on the front side was done using the same primary fabric from my main Sigrun Mercy cosplay. Long thin tubes were made, folded over little rectangle rings, and then held in place with studs for some extra detailing.

The strap detailing was then sewn in place by carefully squishing the ends between my layers of inset circles, and then carefully hand stitching along the edges.

The wing design was shrunk down into a more compact and cartoony form, and then lightly stuffed to make them puffy.

The sides of the bag were constructed very similarly to the tutorial from Choly Knight. In retrospect, if I ever make another bag in the future it may be worth investing in one of the double-zipper-pull varieties :<

To give the overall bag extra structure, a thick sew-in interfacing was used within the front, side, and back panels. I used the suggestion from Dog Under My Desk for using Peltex: by cutting an inside-seam-allowance-sized piece of Peltex and then sealing it onto the fabric using an iron-on lighter interfacing. A layer of regular fleece fabric was also added as well for extra “padding”. The final “stack” of fabric used in construction ended up being: outer surface fabric, thick sew-in interfacing, lighter iron-on interfacing, fleece, and lining fabric.
As an extra feature, I added a small zip pocket on the inside to make the bag a little more functional. I followed this tutorial from Vanilla Joy on constructing the pocket. I made sure to interface both the zipper section as well as the pocket to give both just a little more structure and (hopefully) some added durability.

With all of the panels (front, side, and back) finally completed, very patient sewing was done to assemble the bag! All sections were basted prior to sewing to ensure that all panels stayed (mostly) aligned.

The primary bag strap was made using the same primary fabric from my main Sigrun Mercy cosplay. Though the actual hero design called for a cross-body strap, I opted for normal backpack straps to make it easy to put the backpack on (especially if I’d be wearing it with a wig and helmet ._.).

Now with the primary body of the bag completed, all that was left was the crossed straps on the front and the sword. Unlike my previous plush sword projects, I decided to make this one a bit flatter just so it wouldn’t jut out weirdly on the bag. A thin acrylic rod was placed on the inside of the sword to give it some rigidity while remaining lightweight. The crossed straps were made from a long tube, woven through the rectangle rings and sewn in place (with some slack!) to fit the sword while still being somewhat snug.

And finally… the bag was completed!

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