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Saria from Ocarina of Time: Progress

My Saria costume (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) was pretty simple to make. I eyeballed a pair of shorts to get the bottom of the jumper right, and drafted the rest. I also drafted the turtleneck. Stretch fabric is very forgiving like that. :)

The turtleneck is a thick green cotton jersey knit. The jumper is a faux green linen look fabric. There is a zipper in the back and an elastic band inside to create the cinching look even under the belt. The belt is made from black bottomweight fabric from my scrap bin. I found the Navi plushie at a dealer’s booth at AWA. The wig is an emerald Magnum from Arda Wigs, I didn’t have to cut it or anything! The elf ears are from Aradani (“anime”).

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Savior’s Hide from Skyrim: Progress

Savior's HideThe Savior’s Hide is a really cool special armor you get in Skyrim from completing a certain quest a certain way. I love the sculptural elements to it and all the different materials involved. It also only involves the cuirass, so I had to figure out what boots, gloves, and helmet to make with it. This meant I got to play dress up doll with my character! I ended up choosing the Armor of the Old Gods (Forsworn) boots and gloves, and the female Dragonscale helmet. For my weapon I chose the Ebony battle axe because its huge and awesome.

To start I made a leotard out of faux suede to wear under the armor and attach everything to. I found some super awesome very realistic fur on super duper clearance. I made a sort of shawl like thing out of cotton and stuffed it. Then I made a casing with fur on the outside and suede on the inside. The idea was to make the shoulder/upper back fur look much fuller than it was, plus add warmth since I’d be doing a shoot in the cold. The ends have straps to tie onto the armor. then I made a sort of skirt/loincloth thing of of the fur and lined with the suede. This is attached to the leotard.

Ebony Battle AxeFor the cuirass I started making the general shape out of craft foam. I used Worbla pieces to surround the various pieces and stick them all together. The whole thing is layers of designs to build a 3D look. I suppose I could have made it all out of craft foam then formed Worbla over it, but the layering method really allowed it to be 3D, plus its sturdier. I used thumbtacks for the grommets and openable key rings to attach the top of the armor to the pelvis armor. a 4-ish inch gap is in the back, since its just Worbla and foam, it can bend a bit so I can get into it. Then I made a separate back piece that hangs down from the fur cape thing. The back piece is secured by faux leather belts around the waist, which just happened to be conveniently in the design.
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Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite: Gallery

This photoshoot with Dim Horizon Studio took place at the Alabama Lyric Theater, which is undergoing restoration and still in a dilapidated state. This made it perfect for “during the war” scenes for Elizabeth! This is the final version of this Elizabeth costume, I made her entire skirt and got the broach to make it more complete. I’m wearing the ivory Tavistocks from Lady Comstock, so its the day she decided to wear white shoes instead of brown :P. I am also aware I’m not wearing the thimble, whoops.

Elizabeth: Bioshock Infinite
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Sheogorath from Oblivion: Progress Part 2

Finishing the embroidery on this was such an amazing and relieving feeling. *_* Now I could finally start putting it together and seeing progress! I carefully sewed the embroidered pieces together, making sure to check how the seams were done in the source. Some had satin stitching along the seam to hide it (shoulders, sleeves, etc) and the sides actually had gold satin covering them. I added thicker interfacing for the collar pieces.

I chose baroque gold Casa satin as my gold secondary fabric. I really REALLY hate satin, but in the end I felt this was the right choice. Story time! Back in high school when I discovered how to manipulate HTML and CSS, I used to make terrible websites. I would go to background swatch sites and use those everywhere. I remember that the satin swatches had the same odd ripple to them as Sheogorath’s gold parts. So yeah, that’s how I made the connection. :P Turns out satin was a bad idea because it already started snagging during Dragon Con. Oh well. x_x
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Sheogorath from Oblivion: Progress Part 1

SheogorathI have been wanting to make Sheogorath’s regalia ever since I first played the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion (Elder Scrolls IV). It is obviously very complicated and a huge undertaking, so I could never really give myself an excuse to do it. However last year when trying to figure out what my big costume would be for Dragon Con and the Friday Night Costume Contest, I remembered this awesome outfit.

I wasn’t sure at first since he is an old dude, and I’m not old, or a dude. But then I envisioned myself wearing a long flowing silver wig and fancy makeup, and I finally decided to do it! This costume is technically “genderbent.” However it is also kind of canon to the Elder Scrolls lore. I’m not super into genderbending characters (I really enjoy when other people do it, but I feel kinda odd doing it myself), so it was important for me to tie it in with the lore. Every now and then in the games it is mentioned that the daedric princes choose which gender form to take on, and sometimes switch between them [source]. I thought who better to try being a lady than Sheogorath? If you know him it TOTALLY fits his character xD. I did want to create the outfit accurately so the only thing I really changed was my face and hair, the rest of the outfit is exactly the same as his.
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