Photoshoots: AleeStudios, Vander the Generalist
Completed: February 2020
Debuted: Katsucon 2020
Awards: Best Craftsmanship, San Japan Virtual (2020)
why this costume
Mercedes is very much My Type of cosplay design. I have a weakness for white mages, and she’s the Big Sister of the Blue Lions class. Plus, her outfits are just so adorable and I’m weak for neutral color palettes.
how i made it
This costume wound up being a much bigger endeavor than I anticipated, mostly because I threw a stupid amount of detail in along the way. My original plan was to keep it simple: heat transfer vinyl for the detailing and pre-pleated ruffles and trims. Well, around the time I got started, my boss asked if I’d take the time to learn how to use the embroidery machine in our Makerspace, so I decided to embroider the crest designs Mercedes has all over her outfit. Then I thought, “Why not add beading to this nonsense for EXTRA detailing?” (It was mostly an excuse to keep making progress while I was on vacation lol).
I also had bad luck with materials shipment. I had ordered lots of pre-pleated ribbon trims prior to leaving the mainland for a vacation for several weeks. I spent the next several weeks trying to locate missing materials, but was running into full-Katsucrunch at that point. By the time my trims finally arrived, I’d already made the materials I needed.
The blouse is made from my trusty go-to McCall’s 7373 with minor modifications. The base skirt is an extended version of my self-drafted student Mercedes skirt with boning and built into a strength layer for support. The top-level “corset” was made using the top portion of the skirt as a guideline.
The resin accessories are from The Dangerous Ladies (finished by me) with additional details from various scrapbooking notions.
relevant blog posts
Coming soon!
The Geeky Seamstress 