Construction Details:

Doll took 2 months to make. I did not use any patterns, and improvised by looking at the clothes in my closet and watching lots of Youtube tutorials. I started with her collar, which was the easiest part of her costume to make, and because I was a noob, I spent a whole day figuring out how to cut pieces of fabric, and sewing buttons and lace. Her dress was made out of same white kona cotton I used for the collar, and the bodice is boned with spiral steel bones. Beneath the skirt was lots and lots of white tulle, and the petal-like hem of her skirt has a white rose trim hand-sewn all along it. The sweetheart neckline of the bodice has beaded applique sewn along it. The back of the dress has grommets hammered into it, and laced like a corset. I also made a sash out of black-and-white striped fabric that???s hand-sewn onto the dress with blind stitches, and on top of the bow, I hand-sewed six roses to form a bouquet sitting upon my waist.
About 144 roses went into this costume! For the headdress, I bought a white beanie, sewed a makeshift eyepatch out of a piece of white kona cotton scrap onto it, made ribbons out of the same fabric, and hand-sewed every single rose onto the beanie. I also hand-sewed roses onto the tulle beneath the top layer of the skirt, and a rose onto the toe of each of the white flats I bought. I also sewed ribbons into the flats, and then sewed them into the tights I wore so that they would remain tied in that criss-crossed appearance. The garters were also made out of white kona cotton, and I made ruffles out of scraps.

Personal Thoughts:

Doll is my first cosplay, and I am so, so, so proud of this. Throughout my teen years, I had always wanted to cosplay. I had opportunities to go to anime conventions with friends and my high school???s anime club, but I never went because I felt that I wouldn???t have fun unless if I cosplayed. I also wanted to make my own cosplay, because I love the feeling of pride that stems from working on your own creation. But because I never had the time, money, nor resources when I was younger, I never did. With Doll, I finally achieved the dream of being able to do so. Even though my techniques and skills for my Doll costume are very amateurish, there was a steep learning curve, and the experience reinforced my love for cosplay and costume design. I truly felt that my teenage dreams of cosplaying finally came true, and was the beginning of more wonderful cosplaying experiences to come!

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