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The Hero’s Closet

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Published on December 10, 2014 at 512 × 512 in Large Blog Image

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Hey there!

I’m Gillian, a cosplayer, writer, editor, and occasional illustrator with an unruly fabric habit. I love patternmaking, fabric manipulation, embellishment, and big, ambitious projects.

My book The Hero’s Closet is available now!

#cosplaydetails is back? Give me an excuse, why do

#cosplaydetails is back? Give me an excuse, why don’t you. Here’s a peek at some of the last-minute additions that I’ve been making for Ciri, with the caveat that most of it still isn’t done and may not actually make it to the show 😬
In addition to the boots, which I’ve been chronicling in my stories, I’ve been tinkering with a Skellige-sauna-inspired bra to wear under the lot of it, a new scabbard with all the tooled detailing, and some little refinements to the finishing on the chaps. Cross your fingers for me that I’ll get through it all in the final week!
#crownchampionshipsofcosplay
#cosplaywip #cosprogress #witchercosplay #cosmaker #ciricosplay

“Auntie. I heard you’ve been looking for me.”

Call this my little group portrait tribute to the family reunion from hell in issue 32. I love both of these hazardous-to-know ladies but get them in the same room and 😬💥😬

The Maika issue 13 armor was my first big worbla armor, and I made her in about two months after being blown away by the cover reveal in late 2017/early 2018. Bit of a learning experience! The armor was pretty heavy and not very mobile, and the soft sculpture monster arm that went with it was both large and unbalanced so it ended up being awful to wear. I haven’t really worked myself up to bringing her out again since her debut at Katsucon that year.

Warlord was similarly an impulse project. Very shortly after I spotted the concept art in the back of volume 5, the opportunity for this build popped up so I tossed aside my other wips and dove in. The three additional years of experience that went into this project do show up a bit visually, but much more so in the underlying structure and logic of the build. The armor is all supported by a canvas vest that I can step into, and I can put everything on myself up to the point of buckling vambraces over gloves (and I’m pretty sure I could do that myself too, it’s just annoying and fiddly.) The worbla is mostly a single layer over a canvas base, so it’s much lighter and more flexible. The back and lower part of the torso armor are molded leather stitched to canvas, so they’re light, sturdy, and breathable. She’s much closer fitting, but the difference in mobility is incredible and she’s comfortable enough to wear for at least a couple hours.

I do still love the issue 13 design, and if I didn’t already have the Empress in the works and lots of other monstress costumes I’d love to take a crack at someday, I’d be tempted to have another go at it with the updated skillset. But there’s never enough time to build all the things I want to build!

Maika and the Warlord are from Monstress by the brilliant @marjorie_liu and @sanatakeda_art @worblana provided Worbla’s Black Art for the Warlord build.

#monstresscosplay #cosmaker #cosplayarmor #worbla #worblaarmor #leatherarmor #fabtasyarmor #cosplayglowup

Okay, heck, this is the coolest dang thing. I deci

Okay, heck, this is the coolest dang thing. I decided I’m restarting the boot project, because the leather I originally picked is too soft and I don’t think it’ll hold up well or look good when worn for real (note lots of wrinkles, awkward lump over the ankle of my jeans.)
So this means I need to get them off the lasts in order to start the new pair, which means I can TRY THEM ON, and hot dang if it isn’t a rad feeling to put a boot I sewed from scratch on my actual foot.
The good news: It fits! These lasts were an etsy find, and I was pretty astonished to have found my bizarre size at all, so it’s great to have confirmation that they’ll do the job.
Someday maybe I’ll come back to these and add the sole and heel so they’re actually wearable, although I don’t have high hopes for their durability - now that they’re on, they feel about as substantial as my wool socks.
Still, an awesome learning experience and an excellent practice run for what I hope will be a much more functional final pair!
#cosplaywip #cosmaker #cosprogress #learningnewskills

Three weeks and 60-odd hours later, I’m official

Three weeks and 60-odd hours later, I’m officially past where I was before I decided to remake the boots. Welts are on, shanks are in, and now I just need to fill and level the underside of the boots, put the soles on, build the heels, and finish and polish the damn things. Not so bad, right? Except for the bit where we’re down to the wire now 😅

#crownchampionshipsofcosplay #cosplaywip #cosplaycobbler #cosplayshoes #cosmaker #cosprogress #ciricosplay #witchercosplay

Fancy abs! Officially checking off the lower torso

Fancy abs! Officially checking off the lower torso armor for this costume. The leather plates were wet-shaped, tooled, dyed, and highlighted with gold paint, then sewn by hand to the steel-boned vest. The worbla breastplate will attach on top with a combination of hooks and magnets, and I wanted to finish the base before starting that piece so that everything would match up perfectly. So that’ll be the next step now!

I also finished the undersuit, which has been sitting around half done for about a month now. The fabric is a coated doubleknit I’ve had stashed for a couple years - I think it actually came from the much-missed Paron Fabrics - and I added gold leather piping on the collar to help tie it into the armor. The pattern is my own, based on the jumpsuit from the book but modified to remove the side seams for a slightly cleaner line. All the seams are pinked and topstitched as well, to keep everything as flat and smooth as possible, and it closes up the front with a heavy-duty invisible zipper.

#cosplayarmormaking #leatherarmor #cosplaywip #cosprogress #cosmaker

“I’ve missed the smell of witch blood.”

Recent Posts

How I made Ciri’s Boots
Building Ciri’s Sword and Scabbard
Ciri’s Armor (Pauldron and Poleyns)
Ciri Chainmail
Embroidery Purgatory

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