CrystalNeko

Costume :	Princess Garnet til Alexandros XVII
Variant :	Coronation Dress
Source :	Final Fantasy IX
Progress :	In Progress

Worn At :

London MCM Expo May 2008

Photos
Information
Comments (25)

Costume Photos

Reference Pictures

CROWN!!!!

Progress pictures

Costume Information

General
Cost :	£36.52
Time Taken :	18hrs-ish

Description
- Will minimize the details once everything's finished! - hightlights everything and clicks delete Okay gonna start anew. Didn't like anything about old one as fabric was too shiny, besides the new fabric I bought was way cheaper and better than the old one so yay! xD Plus to make it 100% accurate I wanted to make the overdress one piece rather than a bodice and a skirt xP So why Garnet? Well it's been a dream costume of mine ever since I heard of cosplay because it's so pretty! And because FFIX was my first, not to mention the easiest, FF game for me =D. Plus it has addictive mini games which is a bonus XDD. I resemble Garnet in looks the most so yeah Garnet it was! Means I can use my own hair which is ALWAYS a good thing for me haha! xD Materia I mean... Materials used: - 5-6m of polyester stretched [not so stretchy though xD] satin - Boning - Craft Foam - Bake and Bend Sculpey - Fimo - Metal chains - Heart shaped pendant - Silver string - Glue Gun UPDATE 10th May God knows how long I've spend doing the embroidery... So far I'm 2/5 there!! I only do a bit of embroidery on weekends... fingers crossed I'll get it done by expo! D8 But anyways... I'm not gonna update this whenever I do more embroidery! Cause I don't think anyone particulary cares lol xP But I've finished sculpting the crown for the necklace, yay! Again it's my own design... I couldn't find a decent enough reference picture! Looking at other Garnet cosplayers I prefer all of their's! But I really suck at sculpting so I couldn't do anything as good as all the other's on c.com haha xD. It works though! ^_^ I've also sculpted 2/3 of my new [and hopefully last D<] crown! And that's byebye to all the fimo and sculpey I have XDD I had loads left over thankfully to make a new one because... well my 7th one broke again XDD. Shigures high school girl is lending me her headband so I can actually glue it onto something for extra support! Wahey! I have also done my waistband... The reference pictures really were bad!! I just did some random design and hoped it was accurate to the real thing xD;; shrugs It looks Garnet-like ='D I've also bought myself a barette and ribbon... so I'll glue on two layers of the ribbon the next time I use the glue gun xD [It's not the perfect colour I know... But our silly little fabric shop doesn't have the correct shade xD] Haha my Garnet cosplay is soooo inaccurate!! shrugs There's no frickin' way I'm starting all over again xP Good God, I wonder how long it's going to take me to finish the stupid embroidery... And I just realized... I STILL HAVE NO SHOES! D8 UPDATE 29th April Made both the armbands... they're so comfy to wear and actually keep me nice and warm! 8D And I've learnt that my left arm is bigger than my right arm XDD [Okay, that was random xD] It's fitted quite well and funnily enough it only took me one go to get the armbands perfectly fitted... All I did was measure the top of my arm and then hoped for the best! Now that's what I call luck! 8D For the embroidery I actually cannot find any decent reference pictures! So again it's going to be my own design, all I can see is random leaves and 3 stems... Guess I'll base it on my bodice design =3 I also bought some silver string to go on my waist, how cheap am I!? 8D Primark was too far away for me to go... so I just bought some look-alike chains XDD It works ='D Shigure's High School girl has told me she has something that I could use as the base for the barrette as well. THANK YOU! 8D I shall need to buy something stiff to make the shape of the barrette then cover it with fabric... Not sure what to use as the base just yet though... craft foam? ='D UPDATE 25th April Woooo! Finished the [rubbish] hem of the underskirt!! Though throughout I was in my mind going 'when the heck is this freakin' skirt going to end! It's like a freakin' endless circle of fabric!'... yes it frustrated me as it was so messy and there was so much of the skirt! But it all paid off as the train of the underskirt actually stays in position now ='D Though m'thinks I'm gonna have to do some parts of the hem again as I need to shorten it!! D8 kicks it half way across the room but meh I'll leave it for now... Til I make the stencils for the gold details xP UPDATE 22nd April [I haven't worked on it in so long!] BWA HA HA HA HAAAA!!! THE HEM OF DOOM IS DONE! IN YOUR FACE STUPID DRESS! At least for the overdress! ='D I absolutely hate hemming, it's just so time consuming!! But I had no coursework to do so I thought I'd use my valuable spare time to do more on Garnet as it's the costume that still has LOADS to do! Plus exams are just right round the corner so I won't have much time in the next few weeks so I'm taking advantage of all the free time I have!! But erm... waffling on there... YAY! HEM! Means I can FINALLY do the embroidery ='D. Okay so it's not the neatest hem [heck it's terrible]... But I haven't learnt how to hem something that's -not- straight neatly yet @___@ Next thing I gotta do is [MOAR] embroidery and hem the underskirt... Urgh... I'm going to hate hemming the underskirt... it's just... SO BIG! If only I didn't like the train extra long and poofy corner of woe I also need a chain for my waist... Not MORE money spending gaaah! D8 UPDATE 6th April [Sorry for the spam of updates! >_>; I didn't expect to do much more the next day! @_@]: Yaaay! Finished the embroidery on the bodice! 8D So now I can iron on the interfacing ^_^, I've made it more of a 'V' shape too but not too much just in case I woudln't be able to hide the raw edges xD; [I get paranoid alright? xD;] Next thing I gotta do is hem the whole thing, boo! >_< I get bored easily =[ But it must be done xD; Gonna try and make the crown for the pendant now since the fimo has been sitting on my desk for ages xD... Better use it before I lose it... again xD; Also I should probably start remaking the crown as well @_@; And buy more chains... Now that's a good point... there the heck did my other chain go? I bought 3 and lost 1! XD I lost the tassle too... I need to get more organized xD; Progress: [Updated 30th March] The base of the whole dress is complete, needs hemming but I can't be bothered to do that right now 8D; I started off making the top layer first which I know was a very bad idea but in the end it worked out fine as I made it way too big anyways 8D; I basically followed a bodice pattern and then altered it to make it a one piece [Took me forever to work out how to use the pattern though... in the end I just did whatever XD... I hate patterns y'see xD;] I've added interfacing to the bodice as well because I couldn't be bothered to make it anymore smaller! So I just layered it with interfacing til it was nice and tight XP. It was my first time working with boning as well... I didn't exactly conceal it very well but oooh well 8D;. I had previously gathered the bodice... then when I looked on my laptop where I had -more- reference pictures I found that her dress WASN'T gathered afterall =_= So I just sat there with giant scissors trying to pick the gather xD; [I lost my seam rippers...] Though picking the gather also meant picking the embroidery >_< So I redid it [it's neater now anyways 8D]... I still gotta embroider the rest of the overdress but... I'll do that when I can be bothered 8D; [I'm so lazy! XD;] The leaves are my own design btw... Instead of your standard leaves I added in swirls inside the leaves as... they're pretty XD The reference pictures weren't exactly very clear anyways shakes fist at FMV After I made the base of the overdress I started the underskirt. Basically I cut out 4 pieces of fabric and sewn them together and added elastic to the top xD. I then 'borrowed' my friend as my model so that I could make it all look neater as if I did it on myself it would go all wierd @_@. Since the fabric is extremely flimsy and thin I had to use my character skirt for ballet as a petticoat... And it works! xD I was worried that you'd notice it as it's black with ribbons on it... thankfully you can't see it so it's all good ^_^. I'm still pondering on whether I should use fabric paint or simply embroider the pattern on the bottom of the skirt... I'm leaning towards painting it though Because it's way quicker xD. I cheated so instead of buying an octagon jewel I bought a cheapo heart shaped one from primark xD... I'm such a cheapstake ^_^; [The only octagon jewel I could find was over £20 though! D8 Not worth it if I'm only gonna wear the costume once >_<]. Then I made a crown shape using the leftover fimo I had from my crown failures XDD. The armbands were made from craft foam... again because I'm a cheapstake 8D; Painted with the leftover acrylic I had from Duo's scythe [man that was ages ago!]. Then I glued them together and added chains using the glue gun. Gonna remake the crown when I have time... currently busy with coursework though which I've left to the last minute so time to work on a little crown eheh heh 8D; To buy list: - Shoooes! [though I might be borrowing a friend's if it fits] To do: - Embroider the leaves for overskirt - Paint gold details - Make crown - Be happy that I have made one of my dream cosplays 8D - Go around annoying everyone by singing Melodies of Life 24/7 XD ... Ignore the last 2 xD;

Description

- Will minimize the details once everything's finished! -

*hightlights everything and clicks delete*
Okay gonna start anew. Didn't like anything about old one as fabric was too shiny, besides the new fabric I bought was way cheaper and better than the old one so yay! xD Plus to make it 100% accurate I wanted to make the overdress one piece rather than a bodice and a skirt xP

So why Garnet? Well it's been a dream costume of mine ever since I heard of cosplay because it's so pretty! And because FFIX was my first, not to mention the easiest, FF game for me =D. Plus it has addictive mini games which is a bonus XDD. I resemble Garnet in looks the most so yeah Garnet it was! Means I can use my own hair which is ALWAYS a good thing for me haha! xD

Materia I mean... Materials used:
- 5-6m of polyester stretched [not so stretchy though xD] satin
- Boning
- Craft Foam
- Bake and Bend Sculpey
- Fimo
- Metal chains
- Heart shaped pendant
- Silver string
- Glue Gun

UPDATE 10th May
God knows how long I've spend doing the embroidery... So far I'm 2/5 there!! I only do a bit of embroidery on weekends... fingers crossed I'll get it done by expo! D8 But anyways... I'm not gonna update this whenever I do more embroidery! Cause I don't think anyone particulary cares lol xP
But I've finished sculpting the crown for the necklace, yay! Again it's my own design... I couldn't find a decent enough reference picture! Looking at other Garnet cosplayers I prefer all of their's! But I really suck at sculpting so I couldn't do anything as good as all the other's on c.com haha xD. It works though! ^_^
I've also sculpted 2/3 of my new [and hopefully last D<] crown! And that's byebye to all the fimo and sculpey I have XDD I had loads left over thankfully to make a new one because... well my 7th one broke again XDD. Shigures high school girl is lending me her headband so I can actually glue it onto something for extra support! Wahey!
I have also done my waistband... The reference pictures really were bad!! I just did some random design and hoped it was accurate to the real thing xD;; *shrugs* It looks Garnet-like ='D
I've also bought myself a barette and ribbon... so I'll glue on two layers of the ribbon the next time I use the glue gun xD [It's not the perfect colour I know... But our silly little fabric shop doesn't have the correct shade xD]
Haha my Garnet cosplay is soooo inaccurate!! *shrugs* There's no frickin' way I'm starting all over again xP
Good God, I wonder how long it's going to take me to finish the stupid embroidery... And I just realized... I STILL HAVE NO SHOES! D8

UPDATE 29th April
Made both the armbands... they're so comfy to wear and actually keep me nice and warm! 8D And I've learnt that my left arm is bigger than my right arm XDD [Okay, that was random xD] It's fitted quite well and funnily enough it only took me one go to get the armbands perfectly fitted... All I did was measure the top of my arm and then hoped for the best! Now that's what I call luck! 8D For the embroidery I actually cannot find any decent reference pictures! So again it's going to be my own design, all I can see is random leaves and 3 stems... Guess I'll base it on my bodice design =3

I also bought some silver string to go on my waist, how cheap am I!? 8D Primark was too far away for me to go... so I just bought some look-alike chains XDD It works ='D Shigure's High School girl has told me she has something that I could use as the base for the barrette as well. THANK YOU! 8D I shall need to buy something stiff to make the shape of the barrette then cover it with fabric... Not sure what to use as the base just yet though... craft foam? ='D

UPDATE 25th April
Woooo! Finished the [rubbish] hem of the underskirt!! Though throughout I was in my mind going 'when the heck is this freakin' skirt going to end! It's like a freakin' endless circle of fabric!'... yes it frustrated me as it was so messy and there was so much of the skirt! But it all paid off as the train of the underskirt actually stays in position now ='D Though m'thinks I'm gonna have to do some parts of the hem again as I need to shorten it!! D8 *kicks it half way across the room* but meh I'll leave it for now... Til I make the stencils for the gold details xP

UPDATE 22nd April [I haven't worked on it in so long!]
BWA HA HA HA HAAAA!!! THE HEM OF DOOM IS DONE! IN YOUR FACE STUPID DRESS! At least for the overdress! ='D I absolutely hate hemming, it's just so time consuming!! But I had no coursework to do so I thought I'd use my valuable spare time to do more on Garnet as it's the costume that still has LOADS to do! Plus exams are just right round the corner so I won't have much time in the next few weeks so I'm taking advantage of all the free time I have!! But erm... waffling on there... YAY! HEM! Means I can FINALLY do the embroidery ='D. Okay so it's not the neatest hem [heck it's terrible]... But I haven't learnt how to hem something that's -not- straight neatly yet @___@

Next thing I gotta do is [MOAR] embroidery and hem the underskirt... Urgh... I'm going to hate hemming the underskirt... it's just... SO BIG! If only I didn't like the train extra long and poofy *corner of woe* I also need a chain for my waist... Not MORE money spending gaaah! D8

UPDATE 6th April [Sorry for the spam of updates! >_>; I didn't expect to do much more the next day! @_@]:
Yaaay! Finished the embroidery on the bodice! 8D So now I can iron on the interfacing ^_^, I've made it more of a 'V' shape too but not too much just in case I woudln't be able to hide the raw edges xD; [I get paranoid alright? xD;]

Next thing I gotta do is hem the whole thing, boo! >_< I get bored easily =[ But it must be done xD;
Gonna try and make the crown for the pendant now since the fimo has been sitting on my desk for ages xD... Better use it before I lose it... again xD; Also I should probably start remaking the crown as well @_@; And buy more chains... Now that's a good point... there the heck did my other chain go? I bought 3 and lost 1! XD I lost the tassle too... I need to get more organized xD;

Progress: [Updated 30th March]
The base of the whole dress is complete, needs hemming but I can't be bothered to do that right now 8D;

I started off making the top layer first which I know was a very bad idea but in the end it worked out fine as I made it way too big anyways 8D; I basically followed a bodice pattern and then altered it to make it a one piece [Took me forever to work out how to use the pattern though... in the end I just did whatever XD... I hate patterns y'see xD;] I've added interfacing to the bodice as well because I couldn't be bothered to make it anymore smaller! So I just layered it with interfacing til it was nice and tight XP. It was my first time working with boning as well... I didn't exactly conceal it very well but oooh well 8D;. I had previously gathered the bodice... then when I looked on my laptop where I had -more- reference pictures I found that her dress WASN'T gathered afterall =_= So I just sat there with giant scissors trying to pick the gather xD; [I lost my seam rippers...] Though picking the gather also meant picking the embroidery >_< So I redid it [it's neater now anyways 8D]... I still gotta embroider the rest of the overdress but... I'll do that when I can be bothered 8D; [I'm so lazy! XD;] The leaves are my own design btw... Instead of your standard leaves I added in swirls inside the leaves as... they're pretty XD The reference pictures weren't exactly very clear anyways *shakes fist at FMV*

After I made the base of the overdress I started the underskirt. Basically I cut out 4 pieces of fabric and sewn them together and added elastic to the top xD. I then 'borrowed' my friend as my model so that I could make it all look neater as if I did it on myself it would go all wierd @_@. Since the fabric is extremely flimsy and thin I had to use my character skirt for ballet as a petticoat... And it works! xD I was worried that you'd notice it as it's black with ribbons on it... thankfully you can't see it so it's all good ^_^. I'm still pondering on whether I should use fabric paint or simply embroider the pattern on the bottom of the skirt... I'm leaning towards painting it though Because it's way quicker xD.

I cheated so instead of buying an octagon jewel I bought a cheapo heart shaped one from primark xD... I'm such a cheapstake ^_^; [The only octagon jewel I could find was over £20 though! D8 Not worth it if I'm only gonna wear the costume once >_<]. Then I made a crown shape using the leftover fimo I had from my crown failures XDD. The armbands were made from craft foam... again because I'm a cheapstake 8D; Painted with the leftover acrylic I had from Duo's scythe [man that was ages ago!]. Then I glued them together and added chains using the glue gun. Gonna remake the crown when I have time... currently busy with coursework though which I've left to the last minute so time to work on a little crown eheh heh 8D;

To buy list:
- Shoooes! [though I might be borrowing a friend's if it fits]

To do:
- Embroider the leaves for overskirt
- Paint gold details
- Make crown
- Be happy that I have made one of my dream cosplays 8D
- Go around annoying everyone by singing Melodies of Life 24/7 XD
... Ignore the last 2 xD;

Comments

I am really sorry to hear what happened to your crown and I hope your 2nd attempt goes well. Good luck with the rest of the costume!

I'm not going to start on my Garnet cosplay until I finish my Ashe FFXII costume because I have sooooo many costumes in progress which are not listed on my profile and I keep on leaving them unfinished.

by Ichigo-Chan on Monday, 26 November, 2007 - 16:30

Lol aww it's okay xD I'm all over it ^^... Besides it's an excuse to play with MOAR fimo! XD Which is great cause I'm started to get addicted to fimo... again xD
Yay! Ashe! =D I'm sure you'll do great ^^ Lol and I know how you feel! I have tons of costumes that I've made... but never finish xD

by CrystalNeko on Monday, 26 November, 2007 - 18:24

Oh no!!! Sorry to hear your first attempt at the crown didn't work out (after all that time you spent on it as well) >_< Have you thought of using some other material that does not require heat setting? I myself am too scared to make anything out of clay because I know with my pathetic skills, the damn thing will crack after going through the oven... Maybe you can try something like Newclay or Milliput? Both of them are air hardening material so that could minimise the chance of the piece falling apart in the baking process.

Good luck~!!!! I would love to see some FF cosplay other than *cough*overdonetodeath*cough* FFVII... and FFIX is probably my favourite FF out of all the ones I have played!!!!!

by Cat_Cat on Sunday, 2 December, 2007 - 11:07

Lol it's okay xD; I'm gonna give up on fimo after my 3rd attempt ¬_¬... Cause I still have quite a lot of fimo left! XD I'm getting faster and faster with fimo now so it's not so time consuming anymore ^-^. Newclay? Milliput? =O No I haven't heard of them but I'll definately hunt some down it it just hardens in the air! *o* *chucks darn fimo out the window* Right! Off to hunt some Newclay/Milliput! XD

Lol I was thinking of doing a FFVII cosplay... but thought it was way overdone so I decided to go for FFIX XD. Thanks for the luck! ^^ I'll need it xD;

by CrystalNeko on Sunday, 2 December, 2007 - 22:57

Omg CN! That crown = EPIC! Well done, I'm sooooo proud of you LOL! 6th time lucky, eh xD WELL DONE!!! 8D

by FreyaCrescent on Saturday, 19 January, 2008 - 00:45

Eeep! Thank you Freya! X3 I STILL have a silly grin over my face right now! XDDD And yeah forget about 3rd time lucky... It's 6th time lucky for me! XDDD

by CrystalNeko on Saturday, 19 January, 2008 - 00:51

You deserve a medal after sticking with that crown after SIX attempts. Well it looks like it paid off, well done! ^_^

by MoonLily on Saturday, 19 January, 2008 - 13:38

Yay Riku! I'm so glad you got there with the crown in the end! =D I know how much you were getting annoyed and stuff, so it's great too see your work paid off! =D

by Special-Pleb on Saturday, 19 January, 2008 - 15:22

Yay! You managed to get the crown done in the end! Good job~!!!

Now on with the dress XD

by Cat_Cat on Saturday, 19 January, 2008 - 15:59

Lol I'm glad I stuck with it too! I was considering giving up... but decided to give it one last shot as otherwise that bake and bend sculpey would have gone to waste xD... And I'm so happy that it's not falling apart! [thank goodness the wire is holding up the snapped part!] It's not as accurate as I wanted it to be as some bits are too short... But I mustn't complain! XD I definately do not want to go through all that ever again.. EVER! XD

And oh dear god! Yes onto the dress xD; This will be... fun xD;

by CrystalNeko on Saturday, 19 January, 2008 - 18:03

OH EM GEE CONGRATS ON FINISHING THE CROWN! :D
You're gonna make SUCH a pretty Garnet!

by Relion on Monday, 21 January, 2008 - 15:25

Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. That is looking ACE! 8D You're gonna be such an awesome Garnet, I can tell! I can't wait to see you in May and take photos! X3

by FreyaCrescent on Sunday, 23 March, 2008 - 22:54

My sister (FreyaCrescent) keeps raving to me about how brilliant a Garnet you're going to be, and I agree with her! :) I hope there'll be more progress on the dress soon!

by Luminescence on Sunday, 23 March, 2008 - 22:55

Wow! The dress is coming along really nicely~ Can't wait to see it complete!!!

Btw, can I trade for some of your sewing skills please? XD

by Cat_Cat on Monday, 24 March, 2008 - 21:18

@Relion: Thank yoou! ^o^ Though the crown broke again... my fault though... I prodded it too much eheh heh xD;;

@Freya: Thank yooou! X3 And your gonna make an awesome Freya! 8D And yeaaah! First thing Sunday morning I shall hunt you down for photos! X3

@Luminescence: Aww thankies! And wow you've got Eiko planned? I can't wait to see it! ^o^

@Cat_Cat: Arigatou! Haha I'll trade some of my sewing skills for some of your drawing skills! XP [But you know you don't need my -bad- sewing skills xP... You've made a fantastic Chopin cosplay *o*]

by CrystalNeko on Monday, 24 March, 2008 - 21:43

You can do it! *dances*

Looking lovely so far :3

by stripey_dani on Monday, 24 March, 2008 - 22:45

Loves!!!!!!!

by GunstarVixen on Tuesday, 25 March, 2008 - 19:05

lewking good! i'm looking forward to seeing this even though i don't like FF. i tolerate it. but it's nice to see something other than all the over done characters *cough*yunacloudreno*cough*

by Hexi on Sunday, 30 March, 2008 - 19:19

schweet!
Torchwood last night made me cry!!!! T~T Tosh and Owen were my 2 favourite characters!!
Did you watch Dr Who? Catherine Tate is a bad addition i think. bad choice. but ROSE! OMG i want her back!

by Hexi on Saturday, 5 April, 2008 - 21:48

OMG THAT EMBROIDERY IS LOOKING FANTASTIC! =D

I can't wait for May~ =D

by FreyaCrescent on Sunday, 6 April, 2008 - 00:39

That embroidery's looking gorgeous so far, honey. :) Keep it up! I hope we'll see more soon.

by Luminescence on Sunday, 6 April, 2008 - 01:26

STILL looking awesome! >< it just sucks i'm not gonna be able to get a photo! >3<

by Hexi on Friday, 11 April, 2008 - 19:25

Looking great hon! FFIX FTW!!!

by GunstarVixen on Wednesday, 16 April, 2008 - 14:46

It looks awesome Neko!

by Hexi on Monday, 12 May, 2008 - 21:53

your garnet cosplay looks great and the crown looks amazing

by timpey on Tuesday, 13 May, 2008 - 19:25