Otakon 2016- Atelier Escha

Series: Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky
Character: Escha Malier
Cosplayer: myself
Photographer: ChezPhoto Cosplay
Location: Otakon 2016, Baltimore MD

reference picture: here!
more in-depth progress pictures can be found at my Instagram or Tumblr


To my complete amazement, I managed to win Best in Show at this year's Costume Contest! I've been bumped up to the craftsman category, which is the highest level. Judging consists of a several minute private session with the judges, where you tell them about how you made everything, what materials you used, etc. They get up close and inspect things, like to see if the seams are perfect, and how finished props look, what kind of technique you used for zippers/buttons/snaps, whether the outfit fits well, and all sorts of things. At Otakon, about 70-80 people enter, I believe. After two days of judging and deliberating, the awards are announced, with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for each skill category, as well as personal Judges' Awards. My life was already complete after winning Best in Show last year, which means out of everyone who entered, they chose mine as the best work overall. So my heart stopped when they called my name again... I can't believe I'm now a two-year defending champ! The thought of it blows me away!

These beautiful photos are taken by ChezPhoto, who does amazing work! She managed to make even my sleepless zombie-self look radiant, somehow!

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Wig/Hair Accessories: "Chibi Classic" in the color "light pink" from Arda Wigs! It's trimmed in the front, and I added in Escha's little braid on one side. The pompoms are balls of white fur attached to suede cord, wrapped around the ponytails and tied. I made her little hat out of buckram as a base, then covered it with white flannel and a stripe of the same brown fabric as the skirt. The tiny emblem on it is foam, painted gold.

Staff: The base is a wooden dowel rod. The shapes at the bottom and near the top are lathed wood, fitted onto the dowel and glued. The circular piece at the top is also wood. I made the gold piece out of foam, embellishing the design using puffy fabric paint. The whole thing is painted gold. The feathers were originally large white turkey feathers (I think), that I painted using very watered down peachy pink acrylic paint. They are attached to a snap, so that they're removable from the rest of the staff. The rest of the staff was spray painted gold or silver, with the red section done in enamel, and the black in normal acrylic paint.

Dress: I drafted a fitted sloper to my measurements using Craftsy's Bodice Sloper Drafting Class. I went through several mock-ups before getting to a pretty good fit. From there, I used the sloper pattern to draft my dress, keeping it a princess seam design, but making it strapless/sleeveless, and extending the back panels down. The dress consists of a thick bottomweight white fabric as the outer layer, a layer of white flannel right below that (underlining to cover the lining and seams from showing through), a few channels of spiral steel boning, and the same thick white fabric as an inner lining. The bottom skirt portion only has one lining layer, which is a purple polyester fabric. The gold edging is an upholstery weight vinyl. I used the "Vinyl Bound Edges" tutorial posted by December Wynn... it worked amazingly, and I love the result! The little pompoms are the same as the hair ones, made out of white fur and suede cord.

Cape: The pattern is based on the shape of a shirt I already own. I made it out of a minky white fabric, with a white flannel lining. The bottom edge is a cuddly white fluffafluff fur fabric. The capelet thing attaches to the sweater by way of the two gold buttons– they're actually buttons glued to pin backs!

Sweater: Entirely designed and handknit by me, with help from my best friend! It took about 1000 yds of worsted weight wool, and several sizes of needles. Ultimately, it has a back panel and two front panels that are curved around the lower edge. The collar was picked up all the way around and added on. The sleeves are normal drop-sleeves, but increase in circumference toward the wrist and end in a triple layer of ribbing to really give it that chunky look and swing. I love it! The little buttons on the sleeve were a lucky perfect find, and I love how they look.

Less visible clothing: Under the dress, I'm wearing a tube top I made using salvaged fabric from a thermal-ish shirt. It was a pretty simple job using a serger. I made a chiffon ruffle to go along the top edge too. Under the skirt, I've got a cute pair of white bloomers I made ages ago that worked perfectly. The cream color skirt is three layers of circle skirt ruffles. For doing any type of petticoat or things with ruffles that need to be hemmed, I highly recommend a narrow hem foot for your sewing machine...

Skirt: The skirt is made of a dark brown wool blend fabric, lined with a polyester satin. The gold design was very painstakingly designed and cut out of gold fabric with Heat n' Bond, then ironed down. I then pained over parts of it using Jacquard Dye-na-Flow in Brown, to give it an aged look. After that, I sold my soul to my sewing machine and satin stitched more than I ever thought was possible. That was my summer. After all the applique, I attached the lining, and ended with the waistband. There's also a little black leather strap and buckle sewn in, just for decoration.

Belt and Pouch: These were made from a thin faux leather fabric, with styrene in the belt to stiffen it. The gold parts of the belt are craft foam, shaped and painted gold and aged. The pouch is all the faux leather on the outside, lined with a cute cotton. It's just big enough to hold the con essentials! I used a latch and the clips salvaged from an old handbag. On the back of the belt, the tail is attached. It's made of two types of fake fur fabric, sewn into a tube shape and attached via a gold ring. There's also a little green glass bottle and a chain of gems hanging in the back.

Shoes and Socks: The socks are purchased white over the knee socks, held up with the wonderful "It Stays!" sock glue. The gold garter-like bands are the same gold vinyl as the dress edging, cut to the circumference I needed, and attached to the sock tops using little snaps. It didn't work very well, so I'll try redoing them. The shoes are purchases slip-ons, that I attached the minky fur to, as well as the little vinyl gold shapes. Very comfy!

Other Accessories: The gold bangles are purchased ones I've had. I made her other bracelets using pretty beads in the right colors and threading them onto elastic cord. The necklace is a ruffle elastic with a small gold button sewn to one side and a button loop on the other. Simple!

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Please ask any other questions you may have! I'd be happy to go into more depth!