Yes I Made That Dress: Fem-Stein

Aside from doing character interviews for other people's novels, I also do a lot of sewing and I make costumes to order.  So I'm going to deviate today and talk about one of the dresses I just finished.

Some History:

For the last year or so, thank to my wifey's cosplay getting pretty popular (you can see her cosplay site here) my name has been going around as a costume maker who specializes in plus sized cosplay.   I met the lovely lady who ordered this dress at Metacon 2013 and she contacted me after the con to commission this dress.  Originally she asked for a dress based on Dr Stein from Soul Eater, but done as a dress, with designs based on some of the outfits Sarah Brightman wears in her live shows.  

Here's what I came up with:

Making the dress:

I have quite a bit of progress pictures on this one so I tried to pick the best ones.  

Basically the dress was broken down into 2 parts.  

Damnit Clayton!!

For the gray dress - there honestly isn't as much to tell.  I chose a pattern out of the ones I have stashed in the basement and make a simple dress.  After fussing around with the turtle neck, I discovered that the fabric I'd picked didn't really work for that style.  So instead I chopped it off and made a more flattering neckline that gathered at the very middle.  

The jacket was the part that took the longest!  The jacket itself was a modified trench coat.  I made it larger to match the measurements provided by the commissioner and then added triangles between the seams at the bottom so that the lower section would billow and poof out.  Then I went about stitching all the seams with black yarn just like the stitches on the above gray dress.  (Shown on hoop skirt so I could judge if it poofed out enough).

The final part, sadly, is one you won't see.  After completing the dress I attempted to make the cage I'd originally drawn in the picture and my attempts failed.  I realized, upon more research, that the cage I'd been planning actually would have required a lot more work and materials then I'd quoted, plus significant time to learn to make it work correctly.  And then I wasn't sure how to mail it.  So, instead, I spoke with the young woman who ordered the dress and we mutually decided to skip that part of the dress.  Prices were adjusted and the dress was shipped out!

Finished Product

My customer received her dress and sent this picture back to me.  I love it!  I'm very happy with how it looks on her figure and even though it doesn't have the cage as originally planned, I still like how it turned out.  She has a couple accessories she's planning on adding to it but in the meantime, she's still super cute!!

If you'd like to commission me for a dress or have any questions on how I make these pieces, please send me an email or message me through my etsy store.