Rydia Dress

And finally...Rydia's dress!  Even though this cosplay adventure started 6 months ago, it was not until one month before ConnectiCon that I started working on the dress.  I purposely waited as long as possible so it would fit my [new] frame (goal of 6-7% weight loss, plus building muscle tone).


This was my first experience making actual clothing and feel really, really good about how it turned out!  I made one alteration from Rydia's actual dress in order to hide the bra.  I wanted the bra to provide lift and support to give the illusion of more, and in order to do that I needed to maintain the integrity of the built in bra (i.e. keep the fabric/hook between the cups).  That's why it is not fully open at the breast area.  I used clear bra straps, which are hidden by the beaded straps that Rydia's cloak clasps onto.  You can see one of the straps in the photo below:

Like all the other pieces of this costume, the dress was also custom design.  I created my own pattern from scratch by taking numerous measurements.  The fabric is a thin, stretchy knit, which allows room for movement and expansion.  There's also a hidden zipper built into the side---another new sewing adventure for me!

My crown achievement is the embroidery and beadwork, which took about 50 hours to complete.  The smaller design is made of an embroidered plus sign (+) with a diamond-shaped exterior and a single bead in the center.  The larger design is a combination of beadwork (both "jimmies" and round beads) to emphasize the highlights and embroidery to bring life to the shape as a whole.

  
What went well:

1. Overall dress shape
2. Built in bra
3. Extensive beadwork and embroidery
4. Decorative leather straps & gold eyelets
5. Designed to take on/off without any assistance (woot!)

What could be improved:

1. Less modesty!  I was a bit nervous over how revealing the dress is on the legs and hips.  I could probably take the bottom up another couple inches without feeling too terribly self conscious.  As for the sides, those should probably come up another couple inches as well.  However, I may run into issues as the top of the tights and my underwear line are *just* covered up at the current length.
2. More boobs!  After sewing in the bra, I read some good tips online to create larger, fuller breasts.  If I had started a cup size or two higher than actual and used more padding, it would have looked like there was more.
3. Stronger material for beaded straps.  I had a couple wardrobe malfunctions at CTCon when seated---the stress put on the straps when moving my shoulders caused the bead string to snap.  Originally, the straps had 4 strands of gold thread to hold it together.  Then, when I used extra strength Gutterman brand thread (2 strands), it still ended up snapping.  I'm open to suggestions on how to make this work.  A friend suggested I try fishing line, so I may give that a shot.  The holes in the beads are rather narrow, which may limit the types of materials I can try.