Vanille Cosplay (Blog Post)

**Vanille Cosplay** was the 4th post on the Cozplai blog.

## Content

If you guys would like some more thorough instructions on how I made each piece, here they are:

**Boots:** I spent about an hour trying to find the “perfect pair of Vanille boots” on ebay. Of course I could’ve just bought the cosplay ones, but I personally don’t like those too much. They’re a pretty bad replica and they look too new and shiny, if you know what I mean. So I decided to just find some used ones that had good bones I could alter. I was really lucky to find these nice leather boots (that had the EXACT heel shape I was looking for!) for only 10 bucks. They were in really rough shape, but I knew I was going to be painting them anyway. Even so, I like my stuff to look tarnished! As if Vanille’s boots were pristine after running all over Gran Pulse! ^\_^ To create them, I first had to resize the width of the opening. These were originally cowboy boots, which tend to have loose openings… so I ripped the seam of the boot and glued it closer together. I also trimmed the height down a bit. Then I sewed on some fur trim that I found at Jo-Ann’s. To finish them off, I repainted both the leather and the lower plastic part. For the leather, I used a paint glaze (1/2 acrylic paint, 1/2 water). This helps the paint look more natural and less opaque and plastic-y. For the lower part of the boot, I just used black acrylic paint.

**Skirt:** This skirt… OMG. I think I spent a good hour just trying to figure out what was going on with this skirt. So many layers! There aren’t too many good photos of Vanille, so I did my best to assume what it looked like. The first layer is a simple top-pleated skirt. By deep pleating just the top of the skirt, you get a nice wavy bottom edge. To further enhance this wavy edge, you can cut the bottom of the fabric in a curvy line. Even though some of the pictures showed this fabric as the orange/yellow gradient, I used a textured orange fabric instead. The photo of Vanille in my FFXIII game guide showed this piece as a textured orange suede/leather looking fabric. I didn’t really want to tackle an additional dye job, so I said- what the hell, let’s go the easier route here. Also, the skirt ends on the sides, leaving the front exposed (the center cloth later covers this area). Once pleated, I sewed this fabric onto a loop of elastic to make it fit snug. The second layer of the skirt was a piece of cake. Just a tiny sliver of red-orange cotton with a bit of elastic cord strung through it. Then finally the orange/yellow gradient center cloth. This was actually easier than I expected. I just filled a bucket with hot water/orange dye and then hung a small yellow cloth over the edge of the bucket and into the dye. Then every 10 minutes I would raise the cloth up one inch (out of the dye). Therefore, the bottom of the cloth (most saturated) would be the darkest and the top (least saturated) would be the lightest… with a nice fade in-between! Then I just ironed a few folds into the piece for flow and tucked it into the elastic from the first layer of the skirt.

**Beaded Sash:** The sash was very simple. Just a bit of fabric with the raw edges sewn under. Then I strung some beads onto embroidery thread and finished them off with safety pins. [Tip: When working with lots of beads, ALWAYS secure your knots with super glue! ] Then I just pinned the strings of beads underneath the sash.

**Fur Cape:** I found some awesome faux fur at Jo-Ann’s. I cut it into a few strips and then sewed them together to give it a pelt-like look. Once I had one large piece, I cut the edges to shape it a bit better. I lined it with a brown suede-like fabric and then sewed the bottom shut. Be careful when sewing the bottom so that you don’t lose the furriness on the edge. Use a loose tension on your sewing machine and comb the hairs out while pinning. To wear this, use a brown belt and secure it from the back. Flip down the top 1/5 of the cape to cover the belt.

**Pouch/Cloth:** The cloth was made just by using tape and acrylic paint. The tape really helps create perfect lines. Then, I super-glued the top of the cloth onto a thick leather string w/clasps on the ends. For the pouch, I sewed a simple little pouch that I stuffed with a bit of toilet paper to look fuller. I painted a large button to look similar to the one on Vanille’s pouch. I looped and pinched a small piece of wire through the two button holes and secured it on the back. Then, I strung a piece of thread through this metal loop. I added some beads and then later added some of that leather string to enhance the overall look. Similar to the cloth, I used the leather string/clasps to attach the piece around my waist. You can just simply hide the string under the flap of the pouch.

**Belt:** The belt was pretty basic, but somehow extremely time-consuming. I just cut a piece of canvas in the shape of her belt, sewed the edges and flipped it inside out. Then, I used a thick stitch on my machine and followed the pattern as seen in photos. It’s definitely smart to measure and mark where you’re going to sew your lines. I can’t even tell you how many times I had to use my seam ripper on this bad boy. For the jewel on the belt, I just used a bit of Model Magic and paint. I also like to use this stuff called Mod Podge Dimensional Magic to create a bit of depth. After this dried for a day or two, I simply super-glued it in place. I created the small metal plates out of foam and gunmetal paint. The studs in the corners were also just painted pieces of Model Magic. The belt loops were little strips of fabric that I just super-glued from behind.

**L’Cie Brand:** I had really hoped that there was a L’Cie temporary tattoo floating around out there… but I never found one. Instead, I figured out a way to make giving myself one a bit easier. I printed out a photo of the image, traced it on tracing paper (heavily with a pencil) and then transferred this image onto my leg by wetting the paper. It will only give you a very faint outline, but hey- it’s better than nothing when drawing something like this! I outlined it with a felt-tipped pen.

**Beaded Armor:** I’m actually not too sure what to even call this. Early on when I was doing sketches, I deemed it “beaded armor”, hahaha. Anyway… wow, this piece was a pain!! It was impossible to find the right beads for this thing. Luckily I found beads at Jo-Ann’s that were the right shape, but there was no way I was finding them in the right color as well. I had to paint 500+ beads for this puppy! Painting beads… not so fun. Anyway, I covered this piece pretty thoroughly in the video tutorial, so I won’t spend too much time on it here. But I basically just stung three rows of beads w/little metal clasp circles on the ends and then braided top of the strands together. The circles go onto a leather string that secures around the hips with a clasp. After that, I added a few handmade (Model Magic) beads to the braid. Sometimes, you just have to make the little stuff yourself! :P I also had to make the teeth beads, but they were pretty simple. So, in addition to this central beaded piece, there are three other “loops” of beads. One that goes around the ribs, and two that go around the chest. The one that goes around the ribs was very time-consuming since it has the dangling pieces. I was worried that those pieces were going to break off, so I put them on a little metal clasp circle instead of directly knotting them onto the main string. All three of these beaded “loops” are secured with clasps in the back. After all of the pieces are complete, they must be fashioned together. I took the two top “loops” and glued them together by the center. I wrapped the top of the braided piece around the center of the two top pieces. [Are you guys as confused as I am right now? lol] Then I glued a small piece of brown suede-like fabric in the center of everything. I also created two thin straps that I glued to the center as well. These straps have loops on the ends that fit onto the back beaded piece. The back piece was a picnic compared to the front. I just sewed together a couple pieces of canvas, stuffed it with a sheet of felt and then stitched the pattern as seen in photos. You 100% want to trace this out in magic pen before sewing. If not, you will be suicidal for a day… I promise. To attach the beads… I strung them, used a needle to insert them front-to-back, and then just tied a few knots and secured them with super glue.

**Halter:** I’m not the best at creating form-fitting clothing without a pattern… but I somehow managed to get through this one! I simply measured my chest/ribs and sketched out the pieces. I would cut, then trim… cut, then trim- until I got it perfect. I used some store-bought thin straps because I HATE creating tiny spaghetti straps. Eek. I had to paint them to match the halter, but that was ok by me! Finally, I turned the bottom of the halter under and inserted a drawstring. This is because it’s hard to have a tight-fitting top that fits snug under your boobs. The drawstring helps give the top a more fitted look. I also added two strings on the bottom to tie onto the beaded piece with the dangling beads… just for extra security.

**Bracelets:** I found these hammered metal bracelets at EXPRESS. To paint them different colors, I used some cheap nail polish. Nail polish works perfectly because it gives you a fantastic finish. The bracelets still have the shine of metal but the vibrant color of nail polish. Vanille also wears these two white bands on wrists. I created them out of thin pleather fabric and velcro dots.

**Necklaces:** For the necklaces- I used wire, tissue paper and Mod Podge. This was most definitely not the most time-efficient way to create these, but the final product was worthy of the time spent. You just dip little strips of brown tissue paper into the Mod Podge and then wrap it around the wire until you reach the desired width. Once it dries for a bit, seal with another coat of Mod Podge. To add the plastic lanyard, just super glue and use clothes pins to hold it in place. To help secure the ends, you can wrap a bit of wire around the tip of the glued lanyard. The third necklace was made just from plastic beads and wire. All three necklaces are closed by claps.

**Earrings:** I was super lucky to find the perfect earrings at Hot Topic. The EXACT shape I was looking for! They were bright blue, but that’s not a problem! I just coated them with a bit of gunmetal paint and a touch of glossy Mod Podge and they were flawless. However… funny story: When I first spotted these earrings, my ears were not pierced. I was convinced that I could just make them into clip-ons. But then I was like, “Eh, whatever, I’ll just pierce my ears while I’m here!” Dedication? I think so :P

**Wig:** I got a Vanille wig off ebay… it was actually pretty nice quality for the price! I had to style it a bit and razor cut the bangs, but other than that it was perfect. It already had hair ties on the pigtails, but I decided to paint them yellow to look like hers.

**Brightwing Staff:** I debated on doing this staff for quite some time. I knew there was no way in hell that I was going to tackle creating her Binding Rod, and the Brightwing Staff is the prettiest, so I decided that visually- it would be the best one to do for the video. The only thing I didn’t do was make it collapsable. This was the last piece I created, and I just didn’t have the time or energy to figure out how to make that possible. To make the staff, I used a PVC pipe and some foam. I cut shapes out of thin foam and glued them onto the pipe. I primed the whole thing in cream paint. Then, I painted the base green and gave the shaped pieces a tan/brown aged look. On the top of the pipe, I glued a small piece of paper to hide where the topper would be inserted (although, this piece IS actually on the Brightwing Staff). The bottom of the staff was wrapped in leather and plastic lanyard; similar to the method of the necklaces, this was all super-glued. I stuffed the inside of the tube with Model Magic so that I could insert a metal loop into the bottom (to hang leather fringe) and the wire of the topper in the top. The topper was made from wire and Model Magic. The “wing” part of the staff was made from slightly thicker foam and supported by wire. However, I must say- this was not supported very well. I added some metal pieces on the back to help add support, but it was still very fragile. Mine actually broke after being outside in the wind for three hours! :( It would definitely do better with a thicker topper and possibly some extra support on the back!

I hope this helps someone! Sorry if it’s a bit confusing! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in a comment!