June 10, 2015 by lorigami

Inara, v2.0

A bride wanted this Inara dress for her Firefly wedding. I love that people are doing cosplay weddings, so much fun! She asked this version be in a truer red, and preferred the corset sash option. (I think I should have made the original with a corset sash, it does look much better) Anyway, here it is…

May 26, 2015 by lorigami

Birds

A little while ago my friend Lindsay asked me to help her create part of her costume for a new piece she was creating. These button up jackets are sewn from a sturdy stretchy mesh and stretch lace for ease of movement. Peplum is longer in the back in a nod to Victorian style.

I was thrilled with how they came out, and love how they work with her beautiful choreography. I screen capped a couple of bits from her performance until stills become available.

You can see her whole piece, performed with Errin, here:
https://vimeo.com/122855377

I’m making a couple minor modifications and adding them to the shop soon.

April 8, 2015 by lorigami

Inara’s details

Here are a couple closer shots of Sarah’s Inara inspired dress from Jody and Sarah’s engagement shoot. The dress is actually 3 pieces, the maroon satin under dress, the raw silk tunic, and the sash. Both the under-dress and the tunic wrap like kimono, and either can be worn on it’s own. The maroon dress is made from a matte heavyweight satin, and the sleeves from a lightweight chiffon. It’s designed to trail slightly, and be a little shorter in front. The sleeves are slit on the upper arm, with a small button at the elbow. They are attached to the dress only at the shoulder.

The tunic is cut from an iridescent burgundy/purple/green fabric with the feel of raw silk. Specialty silk fringe trims the edges. The sash is made from an embroidered satin fabric and simply knots in the back. This was quite a lot of fun to make, I’m adding it to the shop as a custom order, no two dresses will be exactly alike.

March 31, 2015 by lorigami

A Tale of Two Khaleesi

I’ve been asked to make a few outfits for people cosplaying Danaerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. Two of my favorites were not strict copies, but costumes intended to simply reference Dany’s Dothraki riding outfit.

The first was for go-go dancer Angie Starr. She wanted something sexy and easy to move in, a costume to accompany her and her three mischievous dragons as they “terrorized” photoshoots and dragon*con ballrooms. The top was made from a woven wool and nylon blend fabric, triple washed then hand-dyed for softness and color. Strands of the original fabric were removed and replaced with hand woven bits of leather and twine. The straps were braided bits of unravelled silk cording, again pre-washed for softness. The closures were crafted from cast brass findings, distressed and sealed, with double pointed metal pins. The skirt was double layers of soft faux-suede topped with re-purposed vintage chains, suede lace and brass findings for the belts.

Angie and her dragons,
with Sarah and Ashley

The second outfit was simply intended to reference Khaleesi, and was created to wear to festivals and other non-cosplay events as well as DragonCon. The top starts with the same material, but there is less of the handweaving, replaced instead with brass grommets, braided leather, and a large vintage buckle closure. The skirt is long and more full, with extra layers to allow for sitting on the ground. It is also decorated with grommets, brass studs and a brass buckle closure. Shown here with a wool John Snow cape made for another client.

And here’s a picture of it from DragonCon, with a most excellent Khal Drogo:

More Danaerys costumes coming soon…

March 3, 2015 by lorigami

making a harness

One of the great things about the new machines I got is once again being able to sew leather. (or in this case faux-leather) A friend had a vision for a “gunslinger” Cupid costume for an event in town and asked if I could design a harness top and gunbelt to go with it. Of course!

I modified the holsters slightly after this was taken, but here is a shot of it on the mannequin, then photos of her at the fitting. The shot above is by Dorn Brothers, taken after the event.

February 24, 2015 by lorigami

Aphrodite Cosplay for SMITE

I’m guilty, like a lot of people I know, of letting the ease of Facebook kill my daily blogging. My apologies to everyone (including myself) for that, and here’s to trying to write real entries again that are more than a couple of sentences!

First, to catch up on some projects I really enjoyed. I’ve made two costumes in the last year for the same video game character, Aphrodite from the SMITE series. This is the first one, based on the original character skin. The model is Angie Starr. This was a super fun project to work on, and this spring Angie and I re-visited the character based on a new Legendary skin for the SMITE championship tournament. I’ll post those photos tomorrow.