Costume Notes: Lounge Byleth (Fire Emblem: Three Houses DLC)

Completed: May 2023

Hours Spent: 15-ish

Debuted: A-Kon 2023

Why This Costume: As usual, Fire Emblem completely owns me. I’ve wanted to make these dumb outfits since they dropped in the fall 2019 DLC because, 1) they’re hilarious, and 2) give me more comfortable costumes any day of the week.

Purchased Pieces: 

• Base athletic shirt: Amazon
• Shoes: Amazon
• Wig: Five Wits

Patterns Used: 

• Shorts: City Gym Shorts (free from Purl Soho)
• Leggings: Simplicity 8327

Super Helpful Tutorials: 

• Heat Transfer Vinyl Guide
• Spandex 101

How I Made it: 

This was a pretty fast build. I think it took longer to figure out the order of construction than it actually took to build everything!

The leggings are fairly straightforward. The art has the girls wearing shorts, but I opted for the longer leggings the boys wear. To make this part, I turned to one of my go-to patterns: Simplicity 8327. I sewed this up with some grey tricot and used the scraps to create bands on the shirt.

The shorts are a slightly modified take on the City Gym shorts linked above. This pattern calls for a woven fabric, but I opted to use tricot again. I also separated the side seam of the pattern rather than overlapping them, since the design has a lace-up. After cutting my fabric pieces, I designed and cut the stripes on the front of the shorts out from Sportflex vinyl, adhering it to the base fabric prior to stitching on fold-over elastic (FOE). For the lace-up portion, I used a trim from Jo-Ann’s, cutting it down to the length I needed for each side. This portion went on after the FOE. I used a combination of Wondertape and pins to hold each side in place while I stitched them down.

The top was by far the trickiest piece! Figuring out the order of operations was the hardest part of this process. I grabbed a basic athletic top in black off of Amazon. While wearing the top, I marked where I wanted my designs to go. As with the shorts, I vectored and used Sportflex vinyl for the heraldry and Crest of Seiros badge. It’s not my favorite look for the badge, but it works for a silly outfit. I then stitched the first pass of the FOE, bands, the second pass of FOE, and lace up trim to the center front.

Thoughts on this build:

Good grief, this build is absolutely ridiculous. But you know what’s great? Having a cosplay that’s essentially PJs for easy con days. I love this outfit for Sundays or days when I’m working behind the scenes. More of these outfits, please!