G A R N E T " D A G G E R " T I L . A L E X A N D R O S
Final Fantasy IX
S O P H I E . H A T T E R
Howl's Moving Castle
The Inspiration
I love Howl's Moving Castle ( the book more so than the movie ) and my friend Lizzie decided she wanted to cosplay Howl in his pink diamond jacket. Well, the natural choice seemed to be Sophie's corresponding green dress. Sadly, I only wore this once before I sold it, and only got a couple pictures. This is one of those costumes that I knew I'd love to remake, but I don't do direct re-makes. Years later, I made her Yellow dress from the final scene.
The Build
The concept was simple, but the execution could have been better. I bought a bolt of muslin and used it to make a pair of bloomers using my hand-drafted pants pattern, and a simple underskirt with an elastic waistband. The shoes were purchased on ebay. The dress was made of a green sateen cotton, using a nightgown pattern. It was a weird modification though, the easiest part was adding the cuffs to the sleeves. The waistband was a pain -- the back is gathered with elastic, and the front is gathered and stitched down. The whole thing is a little big, and really aught to be sized down, or re-made. The ruffle on the collar was made of bleached muslin and hand gathered and stitched in. The wig was a Carolyn from amphigory, and the hat was a lucky find at the thrift store. The hat band was made of remnants from the obi for my Maya Fey costume, and the bobbles were made of sculpy, then painted.