03. The Smuggler - Puffy shirt & Doublet

Year: 2012/2013
Source: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer
Materials: Cotton voile, vinyl, lining, cotton duck, braid, grosgrain ribbon
Conventions attended: Supanova 2013, PAXAus 2013, Chaoz 2014

Photo: Brett Woolgar Photography
Convention: Chaoz 2014

There are buttons on the inside of the doublet to attach the shirt collar and tails to.

It's been a few years since I made this costume so I'm going to try and remember as many details as possible. Please bear in mind that it was my first ever costume and I had very little, if any, costume-making knowledge back then and very basic sewing tools. A lot of it was experimentation and making mistakes.

  

Doublet pattern

I copied the base pattern off a jacket I already owned and drew out a new pattern with highlighters. I made a toile from old bed sheets.

I used a stiff iron-on interfacing on the vinyl and ended up hand-sewing most of it because it was too hard to put through the machine. I wanted it to be fairly stiff and armour-like. The doublet ended up being re-made about 3 times, I think because I wasn't happy with certain things.

Pinned together. This was a bit risky...

The puffy shirt was made from Simplicity 2809 Renaissance Costume Collection. The sleeves were super puffy and I ended up having to cut off some of the sleeve width.

The shoulder tabs.

Embroidery down the front of the doublet

The pattern was created in Illustrator which I scaled to fit the doublet piece exactly. I traced it onto tissue paper and pinned it in place to hand stitch it with cream embroidery floss.

The doublet was lined with satin lining. The cream braid was hand sewn onto all the seam lines.

I purchased the Tandy Leather buckles and fashion stud domes from eBay. Each stud was roughly spaced out and attached by hand. The doublet closes with hook/eye fasteners.

I drew on the swirls with gold and silver paint pens. I didn't know how else to do it. 

Part 2: Kylo Ren - mid-robe & outer-robe

Year: November/December 2015

Source: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay

Collaborators: Foolyhardy Puffin FX (saber hilt repaint), All Star Props (belt buckle), Mudget Makes (belt)

Materials: polyester basketweave furnishing fabric

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography: Illumis Creations

Cosplayer & Saber FX; Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography: Illumis Creations

I wrote a PDF document detailing each step of my build in depth with photos. You can download it from my website.

Below is a summary.

Mid-robe sketches. My friend already had a cotton mid-robe for a different SW costume that I could modify.

Outer robe sketches.

Finding a similar black basketweave fabric was hard. The best we could find was a bright blue furnishing fabric which we attempted to dye black. It sort of worked. In bright light you could still see a bit of the blue coming through and some strange striped effect.

Part 1: Kylo Ren - Pleated Gambeson

Year: November/December 2015

Source: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay

Collaborators: Foolhardy Puffin FX (saber hilt repaint), All Star Props (belt buckle), Mudget Makes (belt)

Materials: cotton duck, open-ended zips, cotton voile

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography: Illumis Creations

This was a commission for a friend. He had spoken about wanting a Kylo Ren costume for the film premiere. I aimed to make the costume as accurate as possible with the limited references available at the time. Contributors on the Knights of Ren FB group and the RPF Forum were incredibly helpful.

I wrote a PDF document detailing each step of my build in depth. You can download it from my website.

Below is a summary.

My build notes and sketches

Cutting the strips using a cardboard template and a rotary cutter.

One sleeve completed. Each strip was sewn individually with a zig-zag stitch onto a cotton voile backing.

Finished sleeves ready for the piping and zips.

Finished gambeson using the same technique as the sleeves. The sleeves are attached to a T-shirt underneath.

Mermaid Bra

Year: December 2015
Materials: scuba knit, glass pearls, braid, metal flower pendant, bra
Model: Illumis Creations
Photographer: See Through Sea
Mermaid tail: rented from Finfolk Productions
Event: Mermaid Experience January 2016, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

I cut up an old bra replacing the shoulder and back straps, covering it with with scuba knit and polyester wadding. The gold braid and glass pearls were hand-sewn. The metal flower was glued in place and additional stitches on the petal tips to secure it. I glued a pearl to the centre of the flower and added the hanging pearl strands. Inspired by Ariel from "The Little Mermaid".

Below are photos from the week-long Mermaid Experience held by See Through Sea. This was my first time doing an underwater shoot (in open water too!) and swimming in a mermaid tail. Trying to hold your breath for an extended time was the hardest part. My vision underwater was also horrible - sucks being short-sighted. I almost swam into rocks/coral a couple of times...

Shot in a fresh water lava tube

"How many wonders can one cavern hold?"

I picked up the silver candelabra, fork and leather chest at a Salvation Army store in Kona.

It's all real! Also included in the package was a 30 second video of our time. Watch in HD.

Group photo courtesy of Jim Ward from See Through Sea.

Apple of Eden

Year: 2014
Costume: Juno
Source: Assassin's Creed series
Materials: 12cm plastic Christmas bauble, craft foam, Worbla, Rub n Buff, LED lantern, acrylic paint, gesso, liquid contact adhesive

With the light on.

Early stages. Craft foam pieces were glued onto the bauble and covered in Worbla. The Worbla would be cut away from the grooves.

I purchased the baubles from Pack It In (no affiliation) on eBay which are a perfect size.

The LED lantern was purchased from Daiso. It has two settings - a static white light and a coloured "party" setting, which gives the Apple a pulsing glow.

Testing the illumination of one half of the Apple.

Juno's Armour - Head dress

Year: 2014
Character: Juno
Source: Assassin's Creed series
Materials: Worbla, EVA foam, Wonderflex, Rub n Buff, press studs

I scaled and printed out the texture map from the 3D file I found online, cut it out and pinned it to a foam head.

The head was wrapped in gladwrap and I outlined each piece with a marker.

Using another printout, I traced each piece individually onto tracing paper and cut it out of Wonderflex and Worbla. I used Wonderflex as a base because it has a mesh backing and would hold up better to any stress than Worbla. The head dress has to be as light and slim-lined as possible.

The completed sections were marked off on the second printout.

The grills? Fins? on the side of the head dress were the hardest to do. I did my best trying to get them to sit at the correct angle. You can see mine sit higher and narrower than the reference image.

Juno's Armour - Collar & Necklace

Year: 2014
Character: Juno
Source: Assassin's Creed series
Materials: Worbla, EVA foam, craft foam, Rub n Buff, gesso, craft hinges, D-rings

Modifying the collar pattern from Simplicity 2692.

The centre piece was made from craft foam, while the other two are carved from EVA foam.

Similar to the belt, I needed to be able to store/transport the collar. The solution was to add craft hinges at the shoulder joints to essentially "fold" it away. I slipped them in between the foam and Worbla layers, gluing it with contact adhesive and adding another piece of Worbla over it.

I added small photo frame hangers inside the collar to attach the silver bead strands. The beads are strung on elastic jewellery wire with lobster clasps so they can be removed.

There are also two press studs on either side of the collar centre which attach to tabs on the dress front. This helped stop the front of the collar from sticking up.

Made from craft foam and Worbla