C I E L . P H A N T O M H I V E

I will say up front, I KNOW a lot of this costume is Not Right. I know it. But after so many hours of trying and trying to get it right, with the dying, and the trim-work, and the sewing, and the hunting... I just couldn't take it anymore. I focused more on making it look good, rather than worrying too much about accuracy, and even now, I'm not so sure I succeeded on the Looking Good part. As Always, I'll start from the top and work my way down.

The wig was purchased from Cosplay.com Shopping back when they were in partnership with Epic, so I think this is actually a Chronos in Slate Grey. I trimmed it into that style, and luckily, it wasn't much work. The hat is made 100% from scratch. I started by building it with craft foam, and then creating the melted effect on top with LOTS AND LOTS of hot glue. The ribbon, while not accurate to the picture, is something I found at Fabric Depot. The Chocolate Seal is made out of craft foam, hot glue, and spray paint. the cookie sticks were made by Kayla using small wooden dowels, and scrapbooking paper. I used a brown 'satin finish' paint on the majority of the hat, and a black gloss on the brim. The eyepatch cookie is made out of sculpy, and was also made by Kayla.

The jacket and pants are made using a brown polyester suiting, white crepe-suiting, and lined in a gold-ish party taffeta. I used a Napoleon/French Revolution costume pattern as a base for the jacket, and made modifications here and there to get closer to what I envisioned it must look like under Lizzie's hair. The cuffs were made from a hand-dyed stripe curtain taffeta, and are trimmed in a brown twist home-dec piping. The pants are made from a women's slacks pattern, which I then had to draft a pattern to add the cuffs to the pants. The stripes down the sides are satin-stitched, and made of the same taffeta that I lined the jacket with. The ruffle cuffs are made of a cotton/polyester blend eyelet fabric, that I dyed to give it that yellowed, aged look. The vest is made from the same fabric as the cuffs, but in a different color, and trimmed with the same piping. The ruffles is made from the same white crepe suiting that I used on the contrast pieces of the jacket. Each cuff and the front of the jacket have stripes of satin-stitched applique work to create the illusion of large button holes... or whatever those are supposed to be in the illustration, because lord knows I don't know enough about period clothing to do it authentically.

The sash is made from a banana-yellow Casa Satin, and so is the 'ribbon' -- I made it myself by doing box pleats, and then gathering it into a spiral. The chocolate crown in the center is made from craft foam, hot glue, modeling clay, varnish, and the same satin-finish spray paint that I used on the hat. The gloves were a pair of black costume gloves I had from a Halloween costume, and were bought at the local year-round Halloween store.

Almost done! The socks are just a pair of brown trouser-socks I bought at the drug store. The 'garters' on top where made out of a stretch lace that I had to sew together to get the scallops on top AND bottom, and the ribbon is just that -- a yellow ribbon. I could not figure out how to get diagonal stripes on nylon socks, so I didn't bother. XD the shoes are a pair of black victorian-style boots I got for 2 bucks at a garage sale AGES ago, that I painted the soles and heels on, and then drafted a spats pattern to go over it.

And after all that, can you believe I want to do MORE of this stuff? XD.