Construction Details:

The cosplay was originally bought from taobao as a second hand. I expect a second-hand cosplay to not be the cleanest, but the stain was... urg. And the craftsmanship, oh god, middle schooler could have done a better sewing job. I threw a fit after examining the cosplay up close, then had to talk myself into fixing each piece. Hence why I'm not giving the shop credit, since I either had to take a piece completely apart or simply re-make it from scratch because it was absolutely unsalvageable.

The two-layered skirt was originally held up by a elastic band that BARELY stretched, since I have a butt, I couldn't pull it up. The edges were tucked in, not serged, which was fine, except that the tucking was crooked and many fraying edges were showing. The seam lines were often loose and full of loose thread. So I took apart the ENTIRE skirt and resewn it. Added a zipper and waistband, serged the edges and then ironed the entire skirt.

The sleeves were the same story, both layers were fraying badly and the armband were badly sewn. The shop showed their ignorance by using WHITE thread on the dark blue areas. So I take apart the entire thing, serged the edges and tried to re-sew everything as neat as possible. But certain fixes just could not be done because of the state of the fabric so I had to hand sew some trims to hide certain flaws.

The original yellow waist clincher was... It was fraying, it was badly patterned (a mix of rectangles and squares, it looks like they played tetris with it!) and there were dark red stains that could not be washed out. So I just got another yellow brocade and re-made it. Although it was suppose to be one piece, I made it into a corset so when I put it on, it won't fold and be weird.

I don't know how they could have messed up as simple thing as a straight belt, but they did. Again, the shimmery blue belt was sewn badly and unevenly with white thread. I had wanted to take it apart and re-align it. But the mess inside prove it impossible. The trims were added for accuracy.

And just to prove how much the commissioner did not care about their work, they used a OVAL gem on a CIRCLE base on the chocker. So that was taken off and replaced with a resin gem I casted myself. OH, and removing the ribbon that were badly sewn on and fraying with hook and eyes.

The light blue sashes were make up of four smaller pieces that are sewn in a way that seams were not all facing the same way with non-matching color thread. So took it all apart, sewn it so they were all facing the same direction.

The bodice... I seriously wanted to kill someone for the bodice. It was a complete remake and I was handsewing the trims up until show time just to cover up the fraying on the dark blue because I could not find matching fabric here.

I made the headdress for both of us, and both were made using extra thick craft foam that was primed and painted. I nearly burned my hand using the hair dryer to try to make sure they keep the curved shape.

Personal Thoughts:

Chinese Paladin aka The Legend of Sword and Fairy is a popular series of computer games of the martial arts genre. It focuses on the adventures of a young swordsman and his love interests.

Long Kui stood out to me because of her tragic story; Watching her parents die, her kingdom fall, her brother killed, and then forced to suicide by leaping into a active forge and become trapped as a spirit in a sword. After spending a thousand of isolation and still experiencing the terror before her demise. A alternate personality was created to help and protect Long Kui, which is the red version of her.

I also like the symbolism of Long Kui(龍葵)'s name, which means Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum). A plant that can be used for medicine, yet could also be very toxic. Which can come to represent her two personalities.

Also, special thanks to Kira for motivating and helping me to push through the final leg of completing this cosplay.

Styling Notes

Just trimming the bangs

Wig Review

I'm actually sorta amazed at the wig. It's a long wig, therefore already prone to tangling. I wore it for a whole afternoon and only ran my finger through it a few times. On top of that, I'm also wearing a headdress with dangly parts that adds to the chance of tangling. But I did not have much trouble brushing the wig back into submission after washing.

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