Construction Details:

The construction of this costume wasn't as complex as I thought it was going to be, especially for my first time creating such a large dress.

For starters I had purchased a corset and 6 hoop hoop skirt to be worn underneath the dress.

I used a dress pattern for the red ruffled part of the skirt, to get the basic triangle shape of the pieces that I would need to sew together and I had to insert two additional pieces due to the hoop skirt being so large. The fabric I used was initially twice as long as the final skirt would be so that I could create the ruffling effect, which actually is all hand ruffled and sewed in place multiple time to ensure the seams would hold due to the weight. The skirt is held on by a double layer of elastic so it pretty much doesn't go anywhere.

The next piece I created was the skirt that's on top. I basically draped a ton of newsprint over the ruffled skirt while it was on my dress form and sketched out the purple skirt. I had to create one seam for it in the back since the pattern was too big to be done in a single large piece. I folded over the fabric and stitched it in place to create the flower-like edge to the skirt. And there's a waistband up underneath the shirt where it snaps together and holds it in place.

The top was done entirely from scratch, it was a little bit of guess and check until I was happy with it. I did a little research on how to do the poof on the sleeves since it was my first time creating them. The white trim is hand pleated at the bottom of the sleeves and hand ruffled around the neck line. The fabric choker was the easiest part and the white on it is also hand ruffled and it snaps together in the back.

All of the gold detailing is done with paint. I sketched the design on the skirt before actually painting it. However everything is free hand, I did not tape any of it off. And all of the gold on the top is free handed along with the gold along the edges of the bottom skirt. It took two coats of paint to get the proper gold color.

The gems on the bow and there are some on my shoes were casted by myself out of resin. Then I added clay and painted it to give them the golden border.

My wig was styled by myself. It's stubbed in the back and the bun is an extension that's placed around the stub. I gave the long pieces in the front the little curl and just had to trim the bangs to the proper length. The rose has the purple ribbon attached to it and is held into the wig by two clips.

And in case you all were wondering I did this based on the anime Beatrice which is more purple than black.

Personal Thoughts:

I really loved wearing this costume at Katsucon, all of the Umineko cosplayers were fantastic and I cannot wait to wear it again!

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