Oh hey! It’s an actual blog post about the other half of this site, cosplay!
Sadly it’s been a couple years now since I’ve had the time and energy to make a new cosplay; not since the HamFam group that nearly murdered my soul. But now! I’m back! I’m taking very few custom corset orders this upcoming year so I will actually have a bit of time to make things for myself! I know! Shock!
So what has managed to capture my interest, to pull me from this hiatus, you ask?
DRAGON AGE.
Yep. It’s bad. You wanna talk Elvhen lore with me? Because I will. For hours. Wanna talk about the titans or spirits or blood magic? I’m in.
So I decided, instead of ONE DA costume, I might as well make two.
First up: default Marian Hawke
So far Hawke is the single character I relate to the most, disaster bisexual who tries her best. I still haven’t decided whether to go Mage or Rogue-I flip every couple days, but I have done a makeup test for her!
With my corseted shape, I’m not sure which style lines will work best on my body, so I might do a basic block pattern and draw on the lines to see which I like better.
If I go mage-I’ll most likely make the design from leather and faux fur, with EVA foam armor. The pants look like linen in texture to me, and I may get to play with some fun new methods to make the metal bits- the belt buckle and the tunic toggles specifically- I would love to learn sandcasting with pewter! And then I would have to decide which staff to go with, which is a whole other fun decision!
If I go Rogue-I will most likely do the top out of silk. I think it’s the only material that will get the red to nearly glow just right. I think the strapping would have to be stitched down to keep it from moving all over the place, and then I could also cast those very interesting buckles. I may need to sit down and do a tech sketch of all the lines, they’re much messier on this design than mageHawke. Like really, did Dorian have a hand in designing this? This is ridiculous.
But I am (irl) a rogue. So that would be thematically appropriate. Either way, I think I’ll be learning sandcasting!
As for Leliana!
I am much farther on her, though ironically I haven’t done a makeup test yet!
I started by taking my trusty dressform that was made from a cast of my body and using it to drape the pattern on. Once I did that, I transferred the pattern to paper and cut out a version in muslin to make a mock up.
Yeeaaaaa… Look how crazy those pattern pieces look!
I then used this to make the first mockup!
A few minor tweaks were necessary, but the biggest part was cutting away some of the armscye to correct the proportions. I also made a mockup of her little shrug/bolero thing to lay over, to check how all the lines interact with each other.
Much better proportions!
I will most likely have to change this a bit once the final tabard is made up, since the chainmail will add bulk.
Oh yea. I’m using chainmail. Real chainmail. Because I’m a crazy person.
Hand for scale. Also featuring kitten paw.
However! I am not so crazy of a person I want to make the chainmail myself. That’s a whole lotta nope. I don’t think my hands would ever forgive me. So I started looking around. But of course- I didn’t want the weight of steel, or the sheen of aluminum. And I was having a really hard time finding sheets that were a) big enough, and b) the right size of rings. Honestly, I still didn’t find large enough rings in quite the right sheen, but I did finally find some flat riveted titanium sheets I thought would be about right!
I finally found what I wanted at All Best Stuff, and it came in gorgeous.
They did take a few months to get made and shipped, but wow do they look good!!! I may need to clean them off, my hands are getting pretty black handling the maille. Anyone know a good way to do that?
Anyways, I cut the final tabard from canvas, and made the piping from a lovely grosgrain ribbon with just a hint of metallic shimmer in it. Next step is to hand stitch the chainmail into place between the piping, and then adding the edging.
Then I gotta check to see if the shrug still fits with the bulk of the chainmail under it, which it probably won’t. I’ll probably post more on my progress! But this is it for now.
Crazy excited to have time to cosplay again!