My first cosplay commission

I really enjoy it when clients ask for something a bit different or out of the ordinary for a bespoke costume, it always sparks my curiosity. When Becki from S&S Cosplay approached me and asked me to design and construct her costume for Eurogamer 2012, I was really intrigued and ready to try something out of my comfort zone. The character she chose was Elizabeth Comstock from the game Bioshock Infinate.

 As someone who doesn’t know much about games my first job was to research the character and find out what the costume entailed. After about an hour I had found that the character was a 19 year old girl whose costume consisted of a Victorian style royal blue dress and bolero and, my favourite part, a white and silver corset.

Material Choices 

As my client has sensitive skin, I had to take into account fabric choices and what trimmings would be appropriate. I also had to make sure the corset was boned correctly as Becki suffered with a bad back.

I chose to use a royal blue cotton for the dress and white polycotton for the trim with white lace as there was 7m of material alone in the skirt and as the garment was to be worn for an entire day, it needed to be as light as possible.

The bolero matched the dress in materials and the corset was made of a white herringbone coutil with silver binding. Each of the garments were lined with hypoallergenic lining to accommodate Becki's skin. 

Whilst making this costume... 

I found whilst making the outfit that the corset was the trickiest partas I had to use two types of boning, steel and spiral. I had to take into account the seam allowances changed per panel and the length of boning needed varied per panel.

The dress was quite simple to make once I gathered the skirt, and there was a lot to gather with 7 meters of material encased in the waistband. I also took into account Becki may like to wear the outfit again for a different event so I allowed room for a crinoline to be placed under the skirt.

The Final Piece

It was lovely to see the costume worn and Becki even sung on stage with the song Will the Circle be Unbroken from the game, and she has also recorded this song and put it on YouTube while in costume. 

Working on a cosplay outfit was something I never thought of doing but I really enjoyed it, and I have taken on another cosplay commission recently.

 Becki says:

"Tanya made the perfect outfit for me, including a fully boned corset - she even supplied me with ribbon for my shoes! She was thoughtful and inventive throughout the costume design and making process, always checking with me before making a change from the original. I wore the costume all day and it was so comfy and easy to move in - I love it! I won best skit as well, and had loads of people tell me that my costume was fantastic."