Thursday 26 June 2014

New project: Fire Elsa

Like pretty much everyone else, I've been enthralled by Disney's Frozen, and like everyone else I've been singing Let it Go on almost a daily basis. However, the cold really does bother me, and so a while back, I made a fire version of the song and the idea struck me that it would be pretty awesome to make a cosplay to match it! And so started started the process of Fire Elsa!

Inspiration:



I started planning it quite early this year, picking up material that could potentially work from fabric sales and such, but in between finishing Tauriel for Desucon Fantasy for mid April, and suddenly deciding to update Kili for HobbitCon, time slipped through my fingers and I never got the chance to start working on it. Then, a few weeks ago, having originally planned to just go for Kili all of Desucon 9, I dived into it, not telling anyone, thinking that if I finished it, I'd use it, and if I didn't, no one would be the wiser.

I already had a dark orange skirt that could work, so I started out with the top and the corset. I actually tried out two different materials for the top before I decided on a third one, the same material as the train would be made of.

Here's a sample of some of the materials I used:


This photo really doesn't do justice to all the sparklies of this material!


 The corset was a bit of tricky business, though. I used an old corset as template and cut out pieces, realising too late that it was cut far too low for my bosom to function properly, let alone look even remotely decent. So, I added an extra piece which also accentuated the sweetheart cut, and allowed me to hide a bra underneath it all, which really helped! The modesty panel in the back had to be redone as well, having miscalculated and made it too small first time around, but finally, it fit and looked as it should!



I moved on to the train that flows from Elsa's corset. Made out of soft and extremely sparkly tulle, it needed no hemming and I could cut freely. Attaching it to the corset was another story all together, however. Though the tulle did have a certain amount of stretch in it, it would not be enough by far to allow for the gap I would need in the back to put the corset on before lacing it. I considered several different options such as using an elastic band, making it somehow detachable, attaching it to the top instead of the corset, but landed on hand sewing the train on to either side of the corset, all the way back to where the lacing began and leaving a lot of material in the back, which I then stitched on around the top lace of the lacing. It allowes for the material to be naturally gathered up when I lace the corset up, and looks pretty good as well! :)

This is how the finished result looks, although I might still add some details here and there:



And I couldn't help but to a bit of photo editing fun stuff:

6 comments:

  1. It is just so great, sweetie! :D Can't wait to see it in real life <3

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    1. Awwww! Thank you! 💖
      I'm really looking forward to wearing it and showing it off! ^_^

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  2. Wow! It looks amazing! Love it!

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    1. Thank you! I'm working on a new post with pics of the final result as worn at Desucon 9! ^_^

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  3. This looks incredible! Would you be willing to do a commission? I'm going to a Supernatural convention in November, I'd love to wear this!

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    1. Hi, Lauren! Thank you! Unfortunately, I don't do cosplay commissions. I have a full time job, and all my sewing and cosplay crafting happen on my spare time, in between working on my music, my Etsy shop, all my other hobbies, going to the gym, and trying to stay social with family and friends. Thus, I simply don't have time for it.

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