Please go check it out — your support helps me feed my cats, and it will help me pay for stock art for a book cover, as well as print copies of the books (which aren’t very cheap these days). I’ll also use funds to make bookmarks, and maybe even stickers, at some point to share with folks.

In the meantime, I wanted to let you know about an upcoming appearance I have. I’ll be a guest on the final episode of Cosplay Cafe on Friday, December 5th at 7 PM CST/8 PM EST. We’ll be trying our hand at some mythology trivia, so it should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there!

Meet me at Cosplay Cafe

Yes, there are only three parts of this cosplay explainer/tutorial because this has been one of the easiest costumes I’ve ever put together. With the sewing done, I had to start thinking about accessories.

First up, the wig. Finding a wig short enough was near impossible, but I settled on this wig from Amazon and then cut it. It’s not quite as short as her hair in the video game, but I didn’t want to push my luck. I also texturized it to give it a bit of a more messy look like hers. To do this, I used texturizing paste (this Bedhead stuff is awesome and I use it on my own hair) and then used my flat iron on it (on a low heat). The maroon beret is also from Amazon.

Wig and beret

Sophie wears large hoop earrings, and I just happened to have several pairs from other cosplays. I decided on a thinner hoop because they were longer and you could sort of see them under the wig. Also, Sophie wears a gold bangle bracelet, but I decided to use a bracelet I already had (it’s got x’s and o’s on it) because it has sentimental value to me.

Accessories

The last thing were socks and shoes. The Mary Janes were a lucky find through Amazon’s Vine program, but y’all. I did not expect them to be so comfortable. I did 12 hours in these shoes with a lot of standing and my feet didn’t hurt at all. I tend to have foot problems and wear mostly sneakers because of it, but these shoes were AMAZING. Because I have narrow ankles, I always use these heel protectors and they haven’t betrayed me yet. The socks were also an Amazon find. They’re nice and thin, so they don’t make the shoes feel tight. They also stay up all day.

Socks and shoes

And that’s it! The costume was complete. I wore it for the first time to West Tennessee Comic Con and it was comfy and fun!

Photo by Huffoto

Thanks for following along. I want to try to do more build process blog posts, so stay tuned!

Welcome to Part 2 of my creation of my Sophie cosplay from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Let’s talk about the skirt. I’ll admit there’s not a lot to talk about because this was another case of having the perfect pattern and perfect fabric.

Let’s start with the fabric. I ordered several swatches from Fabric Wholesale Direct, which is one of my favorite online fabric stores. I had thought a twill might be good for the skirt, but this Ponte de Roma had such a beautiful color and drape, so that’s what I ended up going with. Even better, it’s stretchy, which makes for a better fit when you have such a wild size disparity between your hips and waist like I do.

The pattern I used was McCalls 8510, which is a basic circle skirt type pattern with a zipper. But because I was using a stretchy fabric, I decided I wouldn’t do a zipper. So yay! I didn’t do a mock-up of the skirt because the pattern would be so easy to tailor…and it was. I cut everything out, sewed everything together, and then adjusted the seams around the waist to make it a little tighter. SO easy. I also made the skirt shorter than the pattern called for, since Sophie’s is knee-length.

Raw skirt

For the waist band, I used the waist band for the pattern, but made it extra long so I could do the little overlap in the front with the buttons. However, before I added it to the skirt, I did the top-stitching. I tested a few stitches to see what would work best on the stretch fabric (a regular stitch wouldn’t cut it), and it turned out the stretch stitch on my machine was the perfect one. So I did the top-stitching, attached the waist band (leaving room for the overlap), and then added hooks to the overlap to hold it in place. I sewed on buttons, and that was that!

For the hem, I folded the skirt up around 1/2″ and then sewed that in place, and then folded it up another 1/2″ to get a double folded hem. I gathered the fabric in places on the back so that the hem wouldn’t be over-stretched and land weirdly (I wish I could describe this better).

But here’s the best part. I used silver ribbon for the trim. I used a regular glue stick (you know the purple glue?) along the back of the ribbon, and then attached it over the seam line at the bottom of the skirt and ironed it down. This is a little trick I learned from a quilting site. It will hold ribbon (or whatever you’re attaching) in place while you sew it without the use of pins. This comes in handy when you’re working with fabric that pins just aren’t going to hold well or when working with stretch or slippery fabrics.

Anyway, here’s the finished skirt.

Finished skirt

©Sandfall Interactive

I started with a shirt pattern I bought quite some time ago (and I’m not sure it’s even available now): Butterick B4609. It’s a simple button-up shirt pattern that I found super easy to follow (even the collar instructions were pretty clear).

The pattern

I made a mock-up of the shirt with an old sheet (and sorry, I forgot to take photos). I basically mocked up everything but the sleeves and then fitted the mock-up to my body. Once that was done, I took my mock-up and transferred those changes to the actual sewing pattern. I added some extra space at the bottom for my hips and took it in at the top.

Pattern changes

The fabric was tricky to find because Sophie has a Swiss dot pattern on her shirt. But I found some quilting fabric on eBay that fit the bill. Plus, it’s 100% cotton, so it’s nice and lightweight (but not so light that it needed a lining). Bonus: it’s totally washable (although I wash it in cold water and let it air dry).

At this point, I followed the pattern instructions, except that I shortened the sleeves and added the cuff (which I measured out to fit my upper arm) above the elbow. I also just learned how to make buttonholes with my sewing machine and ended up putting them on the “wrong” side, but I just sewed the buttons on the other side. It’s a little awkward to button up, but, hey, the shirt was complete.

The shirt

Speaking of buttons, I found them on Etsy after hunting high and low. As I mentioned, the collar instructions were pretty clear on the pattern, but I’ve never sewn a collar like this before, so I took the one other button-up shirt I owned and looked at it to get an idea of what it was supposed to look like. So pro tip: look at how other clothing pieces are constructed if you don’t understand how to do something!

I also made a quick lei by taking apart a bouquet of fake roses (which also had some smaller white flowers on it that I used) and black Halloween flowers. I used some thick thread and just ran it with a needle through each piece so I could be ready for my gommage.

The lei

Overall, at this point, I realized this costume was one of the easier ones I’ve put together. Either that or I’m finally comfortable enough with my sewing skills to make it easier. I’m very proud of the fit of the shirt and I’m glad I took the time to make a mock-up because a fitted costume looks so much better than one that doesn’t fit, am I right? Fitting my body is so complicated (overall, I’m about five different sizes, depending on body part), so learning to sew for my body has been stressful, but I’m getting there.

• Becoming Sophie from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Part 2: The Skirt

I’ll also be at Daughters of Dorkness: Ungovernable on October 5th at Rose Quartz Body Adornment in Memphis, TN. Hope to see you there, too!