costuming – Galactic Thighboots

Adventures in Costuming; Fire Keeper – Dark Souls III

When I first saw the promotional video for Dark Souls 3 that featured the Fire Keeper, I was immediately intrigued. Upon release, I put off buying the game for a couple of weeks while I studied for a state exam that was crucial to my career, listening to my friends scream and curse their way through the game. When I finally did download the game onto Steam, I was almost immediately derailed by my sudden decision to make the Fire Keeper for AnimeNext. I had been selected to judge the performance portion of the World Cosplay Summit US Preliminaries and wanted to make a new costume for the event. I was also in the process of planning a trip to Jerusalem, and a short weekend trip, so my time was very limited. This costume would prove to be as maddeningly frustrating to complete as the Dark Souls 3 gameplay itself.

After some deliberation, I ordered ten yards of a charcoal grey polyester crepe from Mood Fabrics, a package that the USPS immediately delivered to the wrong address. My attempts to intercept it were in vain, and it was ultimately sent back to New Jersey before being redelivered to my address. This set my progress back by at least a week. A portion of the lace that I had ordered for the dress from China was marked as delivered to my address and promptly lost by the USPS.* All attempts to recover the package have failed. I reordered the same lace, paid for EMS shipping, and received the package only days before AnimeNext due to the seller charging me for EMS and sending the package standard.

Once the charcoal grey polyester fabric was delivered, I began drafting out the costume using a modified Butterick Pattern B4827. I had hoped that I would be able to manipulate the fabric to give it a heat distressed look, and was very successful in doing so by heating the fabric at high temperatures. The hemline of the skirt, cloak, and sleeves were all distressed in this manner. The costume was then airbrushed with various shades of browns and greys to give it a weather, singed, and ash covered appearance. It was perhaps the most fun I’ve had making a costume in years. The chance to make what would have been a beautiful medieval gown and turning it into something tattered and aged. The dress was worn over an altered bodysuit from We Love Colours and airbrushed with a faint lace pattern to replicate the in-game look. The arm wraps are suede lamb skin leather.

My favourite part of this costume is of course the mask.The base is a Worbla covered foam. Wanting to make the mask as intricate as possible, I used metal instead of Worlba to create the designs, and spray painted silver before giving it an aged patina with acrylics. The mask is inlaid with a Swarovski aquamarine crystal.

The wig is from Wig Is Fashion and was styled into a loose fishtail braid before being bound with leather.

I finished this costume almost a week prior to AnimeNext despite all the shipping setbacks and my own travel, making it one of the fastest costumes I’ve completed, and also one of my favourites. While I was only able to wear it around the convention centre for about an hour before I was called into judging, it was pleasantly very well received from a large number of Dark Souls fans, many who asked it they could level up, went through the motions when taking photos, and I was even chased up the escalator by a very charming Solaire cosplayer for a photo. Praise the Sun.

Photography courtesy of Joseph Chi Lin and PhotoNinja.

* 3 months later we hear a knock at our front door around 11 PM on a Friday night. My husband goes to answer it and there waiting on our doorstep are the two lost packages which had been misdelivered back in late April to the wrong address. I can only figure that they were placed in a vacant mailbox and when the new tenants moved into our building they were kind enough to finally deliver them to our address.

Adventures in Costuming; Open for Commissions

Starting today I will be opening myself up to a limited number of costume commissions.** I am open to costume recreations as well as original concept designs. My approach to cosplay has always been translating designs from media into beautiful couture inspired pieces. As such I will unfortunately have to be selective on what commissions I accept. There are many talented costumers out there who specialize in comic book costumes, however that is not my style of approach. If you are interested in commissioning a costume from me, please submit the requested info below so that we may discuss pricing and the overall process.

If you are wanting something created exclusively for you, please give a description of what type of costume you would like designed.

I ask for budget because in the era of mass marketed Chinese cosplay pieces, I’ve met too many people who believe they can commission an entire Robe a la Francaise for under $100. The rest of the information is used so that I might accurately begin working out the pricing for materials and fabrics, as well as plan for the amount of fabric needed. More detailed measurements will be required once the commission has been accepted.

Thank you for your interest and time.

** I will not be attending Dragon*Con 2016. As such, I am free to take on a limited number of costumes that would be guaranteed finished prior to the convention if received prior to July 5th.

Adventures in Costuming; Mathias Cronqvist – Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

In the words of Psycho Mantis, ‘You like Castlevania, don’t you?’

A few months ago while making plans to attend MAGfest, I decided that I needed to put together vampire Mathias Cronqvist. I had previously made a Mathias costume for ROFcon last March, however the costume lacked that added appeal of being able to wear vampire fangs and vaguely creepy makeup, and so began the task of finally making yet another costume I’d been wanting to make for over a decade.

I spent a few weeks over the winter holidays perusing various silks. Jacquard, devore velvet, several hundred sari fabrics. I ordered a few swatches from B & J Fabrics in NYC, none of which were the right shade or design once they arrived. The in-game design is a little different from the artistic rendering, and so I kept deliberating between going with a dark brown for the robe or black.

At this same time I finally acquired a copy of Ayami Kojima’s artbook, and for the first time was able to see the colours of this costume without the distortion of having been scanned and the robe looks decidedly darker if not true black, the colours all a bit more vibrant. Pictured below, the scan that is not true to colour.

Cloi-mathias-cronqvist2

The robe was draped from muslin onto my dress form, and patterned out. Due to my petite build, I wanted to keep the robe very slim and fitted through-out, while maintaining the fluid lines of Kojima’s artwork.

The robe is a black devore velvet with emerald green embossed devore velvet as contrast and is lined in a chocolate brown silk fabric to give a little depth to the semi-sheer black devore.

The sleeves are a black silk velvet and accented with custom dyed green silk ribbon and glass pearls. The ribbon was pinned and interwoven together in a diagonal criss-cross pattern on the sleeve before being gathered individually with a needle and thread, and secured with a pearl. This process was extremely time consuming, physically draining, and collectively took 8 hours to complete both sleeves. This process was repeated on the black contrasting lapels.

The robe fastens with hidden hook and eyes, and is accented pewter clasps with antique gold chain.

I wanted to keep the textures interesting and varied, using a coarse raw silk for the faux slashed sleeve accent, and an ivory silk jacquard trimmed in Czech woven ribbon for the sash. I purchased various vintage trims from Etsy to add to the robe, some of which I hand embellished with glass pearls for additional detail.

The cape is 4 yards of black silk velvet lined in dupioni silk and trimmed in black fox.

I wanted to focus on the small details, allow the costume to come to life through textures and accents from the tiny pearls, to the custom chain belt I had commissioned–which I sadly forgot to wear while doing photos at MAGfest. This is why you always look at the reference art before leaving the hotel room no matter how well you think you remember the design. I didn’t realize I’d forgotten to put it on until after our sunset photoshoot when a friend was looking at the all the details on my costume. I was so let down when I realized that I’d left out one of the tiny details because of my own carelessness while putting on the costume.

No one else noticed, no one else would care, or will care, but for me I’m still sort of disappointed in myself whenever I look at my photos.

The wig is an A-Plus Ozone lace front wig in dark brown, and the fangs are custom from Kaos Kustom Fangs, which does mail orders with an extremely fast turn around. I got mine in about two weeks from the day I ordered the dental molding kit and they were delayed a few days by the arrival of Winter Storm Jonas.

We shot at sunset to take advantage of the lighting, and I’ve always been a fan of the Bram Stoker’s mythos of vampires being able to walk in the daylight though weakened as I prefer my vampires eerily human, evolved into something darker, the subtle flash of fangs behind smiles, that even in daylight no human is entirely safe.

Overall, I’m pleased with the outcome of this costume, and look forward to shooting it again when I’m not forgetting part of my costume.

I have such an inexplicable love for this character. A Christian knight with a irreconcilable darkness, driven to madness with the death of his wife, damning himself to become Dracula. Sadly, this may mark the end of my Castlevania costumes, as the series is pretty much dead courtesy of Konami destroying every franchise they held, unless I decide to cosplay Soma Cruz, bringing this whole thing full circle.

Photography by PhotoNinja.

Adventures in Costuming; No, I Won’t Sew your Halloween Costume

As the air begins to get a little cooler, the days shorter, and the leaves turn to hues of gold, orange, and red, we welcome in a season that drives many costumers batshit.

As the air begins to get a little cooler, the days shorter, and the leaves turn to hues of gold, orange, and red, we welcome in a season that drives many costumers batshit. Despite my self professed Gothic tendencies, Halloween is a holiday that does little for me. There’s a certain nostalgia to the Halloweens of past spent with my friend, Crystal, wearing whatever pieced together costumes we’d constructed for the evening, watching Bram Stoker’s Dracula while drinking red Kool-Aid, the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Halloween Special, the fact that I could wear vampire fangs to class and no one would judge me for it.

These days, the Halloween kitsch is something I avoid, the stench of cheap plastic and polyester costumes coupled with rubber corpses and ghouls that permeates Halloween stores is nauseating. Using the holiday as an excuse in which to dress up no longer holds much appeal in the wake of conventions. It also marks that time of year where people who I’ve never talked to who found me through random internet searches or my now closed Etsy store approach me in hastily written messages, inquiring about sewing them and their daughter and their daughter’s best friend’s Halloween costumes.

This is a topic that is sometimes difficult to address. After all, shouldn’t we as costumers be flattered, honoured that someone would approach us to sew their Halloween costume? In a way, yes. I truly do appreciate every compliment and kind word anyone sends my way about my costuming work, however compliments are not monetary funds, nor will they suddenly give me the additional time, drive, or motivation to make a costume two weeks before Halloween.

I have a full-time career outside of costuming. This is my hobby, something that I do for myself, on my own time, with my own funds. The fact that I own a sewing machine and can sew two pieces of fabric together does not mean that I am willing or able to sew something for someone else. The amount of time, effort, and research that goes into each costume I make is immeasurable. I cannot put a monetary figure on it, but I can tell you that it’s going to be more than that under $100 price range you’re hoping I’ll quote you. While not impossible, as I have made costumes for under $100, it is not feasible when requesting a custom costume.

People underestimate the value of having something custom made to their measurements. In the world of fast and cheap disposable fashion, bagged Halloween costumes, and mass produced Chinese cosplay, it is extremely difficult to convince someone that your work is actually worth the price you’re quoting them, and even then many costumers undersell themselves.

Fabric is not cheap. Not by a long shot.

But what about Halloween fabrics at Joann Fabrics?

Even these will cost you a bit. You’re not going to get $3 a yard fabric that’s above the super shiniest synthetic that would go up in flames if it even came near a candlelit jack-o-lantern. Say you need 8 yards of fabric for that Sofia Coppola Marie Antoinette costume you plan on wearing to your friend’s Halloween party, your satin is $12 a yard. You’re looking at $100+ with taxes on that fabric alone, add in steel boning, interfacing, lining fabric, lace, rhinestones, it begins to seriously add up.

But you’d said yourself you’ve made costumes for under $100.

I have. For myself, years ago when I was on a budget. My Queen Gorgo cost me all of $15 for two yards of a coarse ivory voile and a pack of brown quilt binding. The wig was borrowed, and jewelry and sandals were things I already owned. This was the exception, and not the norm. And I would never use quilt binding instead of leather these days.

Maria Renard cost me $75-$100, but required two yards of silk dupioni, half a yard of duchess satin, and is lined in muslin. These were both made in 2007. Fabric costs, like everything, have increased.

Fabrics aside, my labour, my time put into creating this costume is billable. Most of what I make is painstakingly researched. Again, say you’re asking for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, I’m going to need to research the fabrics, find what best replicates the costume. This is as much a part of the work that goes into a costume as the physical labour itself. As stated in my previous blog entry, Sibylla took me a decade to find the appropriate fabrics.

But I need this by Halloween, certainly there’s enough time.

Not really. The fact that I have a full-time career outside of costuming plays a huge factor in just what time I am able to dedicate to sewing. Back in February I took upon the rather daunting, ill advised task of making two intricate costumes from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence for my friend, Crystal and I.

I made these costumes in less than a month while working 8 hour work days only to come home and spend 6 to 8 hours working on costumes. I finished them the night before we left for the convention. It resulted in me being horribly sick from a combination of inhaling fabric fiber, heated Worbla, spray paint, super glue coupled with a lingering illness, and lack of sleep. I went to the convention looking appropriately dead. I only met this deadline because these costumes were important to me, personally.

Lack of hours in the day isn’t the only time constraint. I do not keep fabrics on hand, trim, rhinestones, embellishments, all these have to be ordered, often from retailers who are overseas. Sometimes a specific item is out of stock, which adds additional wait time.

Concerning the hours spent working to create a costume, according to Glassdoor the average wage of a seamstress working at David’s Bridal is $11.71. This is making alterations and the like, not sewing, sourcing, researching any entire garment. Other sources cite $15 as the average wage for seamstresses. So, say it takes me 40 hours over the course of 3 weeks to create a costume, you’re looking at potentially $600+ in labour.

Suddenly, it’s becoming far less appealing to ask someone to sew your Halloween costume.

So you haggle, you argue, you plead that it would mean so much to this child who I’ve never met who was going to dress as little Marie-Therese with you, you cite that Halloween Express has a Marie Antoinette costume for $80.

Yes, it’s made out of plastic and comes in three sizes. Small, Medium, and Large. And yes, you would be better off buying it for Halloween because the costumes I create are not designed to be worn on Halloween. I don’t wear them on Halloween. If by chance I go out to a club in costume, I’m wearing something that I know might get trodden on, damaged, stained. I’m not using $60 a yard silk duchess satin for a costume that some inebriated pirate might accidentally spill his entire vodka Red Bull on. It pains me every year that I have costumes that could possibly win local costume contests, but the costume I would enter in probably has a greater value than the prize and it’s not worth the risk of damaging it in a poorly lit club.

All that said, the main reason I won’t sew your Halloween costume is that my ability to sew is not a public commodity. It is a hobby, a passion, something that I do for myself, and a very select group of close friends. And so if we have no prior relationship, I will not be valued only for my ability to sew. I am always willing and happy to help others with their questions when it comes to costuming, sewing tips, encouragement, but will not sew your Halloween costume.

Photography courtesy of PhotoNinja, Orobouros.net, David Ng, and Joseph Chi Lin.

Adventures in Costuming; Princess Sibylla – Kingdom of Heaven

Sibylla from Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven has been my dream costume since the movie came out back in early May 2005. Since that time I have been searching for the right fabric for this costume. Some of it is easy to source, others proved to be nearly impossible. I have such a love for Eva Green’s portrayal of Sibylla, and an even greater love for the period of history in which the film was based that I was determined to finally cosplay her.

I have folders saved on my computer of screen shots, and have lovingly stalked The Costumer’s Guide for years to see if any additional resources have ever been added, sadly it seems as if this movie’s beautiful costumes designed by Janty Yates are all but forgotten.

2015 has marked the year in which I’ve made those costumes that I’ve loved and wanted to make for myself for a decade. The ones that few others will care about, but mean something to me, personally, as a costumer. And in finishing Sibylla and being so completely happy with the outcome–sacrificing my sewing machine of the past 8 years in the process–I feel like I’ve accomplished something that I set out to do over ten years ago.

The dress is made from a wheat coloured stretch silk charmeuse and trimmed in vintage beads along the wrist and neckline, and accented with a vintage mother of pearl Jerusalem cross pendant brooch, and patterned off Butterick Pattern B4827 with some minor alterations. Fabric was purchased from Mood Fabrics.

The lavender robe is made from a limited edition silk sari that I was fortunate enough to purchase the very last of–this is the fabric I’ve been looking for relentlessly for a decade, and finally found something close enough to work–it is lined in a lavender silk charmuese. The sleeves of the robe are accented with freshwater pearls. It was patterned off a vintage 1940’s housecoat pattern that I purchased off Etsy for another project and never used.

The cape is made from six yards of mandarin orange silk dupioni purchased from Silk Baron and trimmed in gold zardozi. It was sewn without a pattern.

The headscarf is a silk lurex marquisette from B & J Fabrics in NYC, accented with pearls and tassles and held in place with multiple ornate pearl stick pins.

The sash is a matte silk duchess satin purchased from thunderlily.com, which provides a plethora of hard to find high end fabrics sourced from fabric retailers in NYC. In all, the costume is collectively 18 yards of silk.

Wanting to capture every detail, I made sure to pay particular attention to my hands in this costume. Purchasing rings and adding henna designs with Temptu alcohol based makeup. Everything is in the details.

Photography courtesy of PhotoNinja and Joseph Chi Lin.

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