Leather and Lace pt1. Jewerly and Patterning

It is perhaps my greatest challenge yet. Admittedly, I am a bit of a lazy costumer, I have only made a few costumes entirely by hand - in that I don't use found items in conjunction to things I've made. Normally there's no need, much of my costuming is plain clothes that second hand store finds with some tailoring would do the job properly. However, I was coerced (and by coerced I mean it took little to no convincing on their part) into a Final Fantasy X group. I was never a HUGE Final Fantasy fan, simply on the grounds that turn based combat drives me insane. I played VII back in the day but just couldn't get into it because I hated waiting around to beat up the enemy. I didn't play a Final Fantasy game for a good many years after that. But wanting to know what all the hype was about I borrowed my roommate's copy of Final Fantasy X and was just totally hooked. While I'm still certainly irked by turn based combat, I've grown to tolerate it.

X is hands down my favorite game of the lot, since I've picked up the others to keep up with the times, and Lulu was always my strongest character (100% overkill. 100% of the time) and by far my favorite, so when I was asked to be part of the X group as Lulu, I just had to jump on board.



Obviously my normal plan of attack isn't going to fly, this isn't going to be anything I'll be able to find and modify (outside of the plethora of belts). I guess its time to put that college education to work.

I decided to start simple. With her jewelry. This is often times done incorrectly due to simply how distinct the beading is. However, I managed. So I made the jewelry while being holed up at home with shingles (eww). I'll be the first to admit that my jewlrey isn't 100% accurate, I went more for aesthetics and texture rather than to the tee accuracy, though still not trying to stray too far from what the design is, hopefully I will be forgiven for my choices.

The earrings are pressed coral. The white necklace is bone, as are the red beads on the red and green necklace. While the green on the red and green are jade. The purple necklace is made of fired ceramic (the purple) and glass (the black). I chose to use black as opposed to the yellow/gold simply because I didn't like the look of it in the game renderings, it just doesn't fit with her color scheme well enough for my taste.


I was presented with a bit of a problem when addressing her skirt and belt configuration. The belts will obviously be heavy, and with the material I plan to make the dress out of, while sturdy, would simply warp under all the weight of the belts. I decided to make something of a harness to wear under the dress, which will lace up over my hips and support the weight of the belts, which will then clip forward into the panels of the dress. That being handled it seemed reasonable to just go ahead and make the dress as it appears. Some would argue that she is simply wearing a skirt, however in some in game shots it is revealed there is an open area in the back of her dress, only some of it is revealed under the corset. It seems odd for there to be a keyhole in the skirt, if it is indeed a skirt, the skirt would have to be extremely high wasted in order for the hole to be in the location it is, which then indicates to me what she is wearing under her corset is a dress. Perhaps a backless one.

I chose to put a bodice on what she is wearing under her corset, to help carry the weight of the train, in addition to making more sense, construction wise, of where that hole is located. When more construction on the dress I will be sure to include the reference picture I have been referring to.

The base pattern I decided to work with is a McCall's bridal pattern. It is an 7 panel dress with princess seams and a train. It took very little modification to get the look I wanted. Rather than making the dress backless I simply added a keyhole in the lower back of the dress, adding a zipper on top. As the bodice won't be seen, it doesn't really matter too much how that's going to look.

This is simply my mockup pattern, but the idea is beginning to take shape. My next entry will likely be addressing the styling of the wig. Stay tuned!