Cosplay Chronices: High Queen Margo, The Destroyer // Part IV

Friday, January 17, 2020

So what's next after finishing an abnormally large crown? A dress of course!

(And yes, an eye patch, but that'll be later.) 

After taking a lot of time in Google examining Margo's outfits, I went with the one that realistically I thought I could pull off best with a combination of craft and shopping:

The bane of every cosplayer's existence: reference photos. 

But even in going this far, I didn't totally decide until even more dress research. My plan from the start was to alter a purchased dress, so if I couldn't find one that fit my needs it was a nonstarter. Which is why while it's boring to say I went through 27 pages just of AliExpress, then went to Google, Poshmark AND Ebay before finding a serious contender, it is exactly what happened. And that contender was the Illusion Yoke Lace Gown by Adrianna Papell.

I found one on Ebay in kinda my size (16) for a well price $84 - good for the budget and more than likely guaranteed enough fabric to be able to play around with if need be. Long sleeves, high necked, all sorts of other details kind of taken care. Plus Adrianna Papell is a brand I know and trust, so I wasn't worried about the quality of the garment. The big questions were the lining and the beading accent along the waist. And thus begins the shitty mirror selfies, so my apologies in advance. I wasn't really thinking about capturing this at blog quality [face palm].


Not bad right? Fits better than I expected, and after getting my more experienced friend to take a look at it, we both agreed removing the lining should be doable. And my friends, it was *doable* but it was certainly not *pleasant*. Because what I found one weekend morning was that the lining seams and dress seams were sewn together, so I couldn't use my seam ripper without resewing the dress as I went. Which to be honest sounded comparable to death and so instead I spent 5+ hours with a tiny pair of scissors meticulously cutting everything out along each and every seam.

I don't question how I ended up with a cat that doesn't really bother me while crafting. I just accept and say thank you.

The seam ripper did coming in handy when I got to the bodice though, because the beaded accent was attached to a ribbon that was sewed through the dress to the first layer of the bodice lining, so...yeah. I got that off but it was also a hassle. Some lace was cut and kind repaired using navy thread and since it doesn't like ridiculous I'm just calling this whole process a long-winded win.

Dress post lining and accent removal.

Now there were some other decisions made in and around this time: first that it wasn't a lace panel on the side but Margo wearing lace tights (purchased), and that the longevity of this costume would be better served by inserting a sheer piece anyway to give the lace something to hold on to. Oh and I bought a bodysuit. It's not nude and as such not 100% screen accurate, but when I tried beige/body toned options they looked like shit with the tights so... it is what it is. And let's not dwell on the fact that I didn't see that additional blue satin panel until just now and it made my soul cry. I'll figure it out or I won't (or Jessica won't) so wish us luck.

MOVING ALONG.

Because the next random, late afternoon weekend decision I made was to not only cut the right sleeve off as per the original, but to also play around with extending the left sleeve by using all the next extra material.

There aren't a lot of in-process photos of this because it was even more made up than everything else I've done.I slid it on the still existing sleeve to get the approximate full length I wanted, cut off the extra, and then slowly (very slowly) but surely used back stitches and slip stitches to attach it. After it was mostly secure I used both types of stitches again to slowly shape the opening (it was a little too suddenly angular - I don't know how to better explain that the slope from arm to wrist to hand was off. Sorry to suck). And this ended up having to be done right side up because when I tried to slim it from the inside everything went wonky FAST. I'm just thankful that 1) most of the messed up-ness from this ridiculous method is on the inside of the arm at the sleeve, and 2) the fabric being lace was very forgiving, so even when I did a final check the morning after in bright sun it didn't actually look laughable.

And that's we are. 50-75% of a dress that I actually think fits and works pretty well. Believe me, I'm just as shocked as anyone.


Don't miss out! You can find the other parts of this series below:

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