There’s not a whole lot that’s been going on here – my job’s health insurance is all kinds of terrible and I now have back payments cutting into my paychecks, so my fun budget is being reallocated to meet, y’know, actual obligations. Anna and Elsa only made their way here because I was purposely holding back funds for them, and any other new dolls are entirely out of the question at the moment.
I’ve been doing bits and pieces of cosplay work – only bits and pieces, sadly. Like my money, my time is being eaten up as well – I’m in the process of searching for a new new job (my issues with the health insurance are only the tip of the iceberg here) and if I’m not actively working on that, I’m facedown asleep by 9:00 from the stress of it all.
But you don’t come here to hear me whine, you come for amusement!
I’ve been working on two costumes simultaneously – a Fem!Doctor Who and Elsa’s Coronation gown. I do have a post in the works about my Doctor Who costume, so I’m going to talk about Elsa today!
So, like every other female cosplayer on earth, I fell in love with the costumes in Frozen and had to make one of my own. I chose Elsa’s coronation dress, which is my favorite dress in the film (and the cut of it would be far more flattering on me than her slinky blue ice dress, which was definitely a factor under consideration).
The first thing I got was the wig (as you can see in this post). Now, this seems a little backward, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t spend a boatload of time and money on making a dress, and then realize I looked hideous with platinum blond hair. (As you can see, I don’t look hideous, though I am wearing full theatrical makeup in that photo.)
My wig is an Eowyn in Titanium Blonde from Arda Wigs. I was lucky enough to get this during their big February sale – I say lucky because, not only did I get it on sale, but I managed to snag anything in Titanium Blonde. Trying to find any remotely Elsa-like wig in any shade of pale blonde at Arda is like trying to find Frozen merch at the Disney Store, haha. I also bought a Long Pony Clip to help bulk out the bun, and some Short Wefts just arrived that will help me hide the hairline.
I’m rather nervous about the wig – the most wig styling I’ve ever done is resetting the curls in Pieface’s Merida wig after it’s been worn. Elsa’s updo will require multiple pieces, trimming bangs, sewing in wefts, and lots and LOTS of pins. Basically, if I pull this off, I will have taken a +5 to my Wig Styling feat roll.
The other piece I’ve been working on is the black underbodice of her dress. For this, I used the same panne velvet I had used for the undersleeves and front panel of my Elinor dress, in black this time. I also used the jacket pattern from Simplicity 1558, since it had two features I wanted: a mandarin collar and slightly puffed sleeves.
I love Scrubs with a fervent love called “it was the only watchable thing on TV during 3 a.m. baby feedings.” Don’t even judge.
The panne velvet was easy to deal with for a pair of half-sleeves and one skirt panel. It was significantly less easy to deal with for an entire shirt. Slipping, sliding, rolling, stretching, flat-out refusing to stay in place. The pattern’s sleeves were dropped too low, and the puffs looked silly (and, after scrutinizing screencaps/gifs, inaccurate as well).
As much as I hated to do it (see above re: money issues), I scrapped the first shirt and started over with a pattern I drafted from one of my everyday shirts.
Yeah, that didn’t work either. I made test shirts and adjusted my pattern, and I chose a nice ponte knit from JoAnn to make the shirt. Unfortunately, the first collar wouldn’t fit over my head, and the second attempt did fit over my head but flapped loose around my neck and just looked terrible.
Two Abject Failures, sent to Go Hang in the Corner and Think About What You've Done.
So I gave up, and did what I should have done in the first place – bought a couple of black turtlenecks off the clearance rack at Kohl’s. I normally tend toward making costume pieces from scratch rather than altering existing clothing, but my skills are so lacking with stretchy clothing, and the alterations are so minimal, that it’s worth it in this case.
For determining the alterations, I used the super-scientific method called “try it on, look in the mirror, and mark what needs changing with some chalk.”
I ended up hand-sewing all the alterations (which were really just splitting the collar and altering the sleeve cuffs into a V shape). There is a second black turtleneck lurking in the background, in case I mess up the first one. If I don’t, well, I have a black turtleneck to wear for those days when I want to channel the spirit of Steve Jobs.
For the design on the bodice, I did the also very super-scientific method called “Google Image Search”. I found a picture, traced the design in Adobe Illustrator to get a scale-able vector graphic, did some hasty measurements, and printed out a test of the overall design:
I then printed it onto cardstock, and cut out the shapes to make a stencil:
A preliminary layer painted in white:
(Yes, I used the Disney Store Elsa’s box as a makeshift palette! It was a big piece of plastic just sitting in the trash can…)
Adding the turquoise! I bought squeezable bottles of fabric paint, but ended up brushing it on anyway. I did some practice squeezes, and it was just blobby and wobbly and looked like the things I made when I discovered fabric paint back in the late 1980s. We will not speak any more of those things.
The finished design:
What I’m working on now: I've had samples coming in from various online fabric vendors for the main body of the dress, and I finally found one I like. Now I’m just waiting for the money I need to order it and my corset!
(P.S.ing here to link mah Tumblr, which is full of cosplay process pics and reblogs of pretty fanart and feminist critiques of nerd culture, and is PG-13+ because I let my filter down over there. Link me to your Tumblrs if you have them!)
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