Boy this was a fun project! After playing Bioshock Infinite, I knew I had to cosplay Elizabeth! The whole project took about a month and a half to complete, about 3 hours every night after work and longer on some weekends.
The most difficult piece was the corset, which I used a base corset pattern to modify from. I did do a test corset pattern on muslin fabric, so that I could modify it to fit my body type better. I used steel boning for the corset, so at times I had to really loosen it up when it was time to eat!
The skirt was created from a base skirt pattern, which I modified. I created the side scrunching that can be seen on Elizabeth’s skirt, and it did take several modifications before I was happy with the result. I created the white ruffles myself seen at the end of her dress. I used a small zig zag stitch on the edges to prevent fraying, and then I created the ruffles by the bunching technique.
The shrug was also start from a base bolero pattern, but again modified heavily to match Elizabeth’s shrug. I initially started with muslin fabric actually just to make sure I got her collar right. The white sleeve took me a very long time to do for some reason, since I had never made a split sleeve before. After much trial and error with muslin, I finally got it right! The only thing I wish I had done was used a more medium weight interface; I used some really thick facing that was meant for patches, so the sleeve became too thick. But it ended up looking alright anyway!
The choker was the next piece I needed to make. I decided to make the bird pendant (vs the cage). I used Crayola Model Magic; I rolled out white model magic thinly, and then traced out the bird with an exacto knife. I used black model magic to create the base pendant, and then carefully slid the cut out bird on it, and blended it in lightly to “stick”. To create more of a vintage look, I used Mod Podge to not only seal the bird, but as I painted over it, some of the black from the model magic was transferred over the white bird. So it gave it this nice old, vintagey look to it. The ribbon choker, I just took some lace and sewed it over thick black ribbon.
And that’s it!
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