Construction Details:

Oh god this was terrible. Costume isn't finished yet, I spent most of the time I had allotted for .hack stuff working on my boyfriend's Haseo costume and did the bulk of this one in a week.

The body of the costume is stretch suede. I chose suede (instead of a comfortable, breathable, easily sewn fabric >_>) because I like the texture contrast, and I always think of "light armor" as being leather. I bought pink stretch suede from Distinctive Fabrics and dyed it with blue iDye Poly to get the right shade of purple.

The armor is made out of craft foam sealed with Mod Podge. I made the gold decorations on the torso like a piece of armor because a) terrible at sewing b) wanted it to look substantial and metal-y. They're too thick to be accurate to Endrance's in-game model, but a lot of the art book illustrations feature broader lines like this.

The cup-shaped decorations around the ankles, knees, and wrists are made out of craft foam. They were flat-patterned with curved darts, hot-glued together with muslin overlying the seam for support, and then covered in fabric. The gold decorations are made of muslin bias tape painted with Lumiere acrylics to match the armor pieces.

I think the boots are my favorite part of the whole costume. Endrance wears flats, but heels make me flounce more/slouch less/tower over my Haseo in a game-accurate fashion. I got the base shoes from a thrift store in Richmond for $2. To make the pattern, I stuffed the shoe with bags, wrapped it in saran wrap, duct taped over the saran wrap, then drew on lines where the sole, zipper, and decorative borders went. Cut the pieces out, voila pattern! The dark purple areas are lambskin leather (couldn't find pleather the right color ;_;) and the rest is faux suede.

The hat is made out of faux suede, heavy Pellon interfacing, and stuffing to keep the crown of the hat puffed out. The roses were made by buying 6 silk roses and taking them apart to make 3 extra-fluffy roses.

The butt-cape is made out of Mendel Fabric's "Super Seal" fur. I made a pair of *ridiculously* tiny shorts to attach it to to make sure it stayed up, even when I wore it really low on my waist. There are pockets in each "sleeve" piece so I can carry my wallet/phone/camera around. The sash is made out of the same poly taffeta as the roses (what luck!), and I wasted all of Friday at Otakon doing the runching. Eventually it will be sewn onto the shorts to keep it from riding up, which I didn't have time to do before wearing it T__T

The wig was made from a 60" long dyeing failure. After stripping the old dye out and retinting it with RIT, I cut half the length off, wefted it, and reintegrated it, then stubbed the ends with caulk. Unfortunately, it looks like the dye on the surface leeched into the center of the fibers while it was in storage: I dyed the wig back in March, and when I took it out in July the blue had faded substantially ;__; I'll be buying a new wig for this.

Personal Thoughts:

Full-body suede and fur for a summer convention is literally the worst idea I have ever had in my life. I was dying.

Sorry, you must be a registered user of and logged in to view and add comments. Either log in or register now!