Aerith's summer dress

I took the for-action of ordering Mcalls pattern M-5094 for Aeriths dress. Its Panelled so is not 100% perfect but pretty spot on : ) I'll leave out on the panels to keep the skirt straight and sew buttons on the front. When I cut the pieces for this pattern I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew and was disheartened, I couldn't sew it without help. When my mother in law took her sewing machine back I tried to find a tailor who could take the job from me.

The only one who was interested in "having a look" said he didn't have time to make it before the convention but I was welcome to use his extra machine if I had the free time. I explained I was a rookie and the pattern was too complicated and he said he would help me, I was sceptical but after 8 hours solid work I was so happy with the result. It came together beautifully and although the dress is not 100% correct from the game, its a beautifully made lined summer dress!


I have sewn white pearly buttons from just under the bust and Laila has found these fabulous boots. I also had a play with some polyma clay and modified some bangles for her, I still have to paint the plastic bits but I am very happy with the result. She also needed help with Squalls costume so I have bought and modified some belts that I am also very chuffed with, I hope Alex (Squall) will like them as much as I do : )

Tifa Lockheart

I quickly compiled the items I needed for my Tifa costume and I am very glad it came together so easily! I had some items already including; a white ribbed tank top, socks, boots and gloves. One essential piece was this brilliant leather skirt on I bought on ebay. Although it will be a bit longer than "offical Tifa" with its very high waist the tank top - rather than the authentic crop top - will look better. The only problem was the braces pulled the skirt even higher! so next time I'll buy a skirt that is not so high on the waist as well as changing the elastic on the elbow pad to brown to make it more accurate. Over all I think it went very well : )

The braces were the most expensive item at £7 but they are double ones which is spot on so in my view worth the money. I like it when I find perfect accessories ; ) I painted some brass split pins (no silver ones available!) and modified a pvc belt, turning it back to front, I taped the back to avoid snags when wearing.

It took a bit of time to find some Polyma clay, but once I got some I had fun with it! I put some tape on the INSIDE of the gloves and used the 4 air holes as guides for the "studs". I guessed what proportions by going with what looked right to me and rolled out 4 balls. I flattened them with my thumb, baked them following instructions and stuck them on with craft glue, simple! I have 2 knee length socks cut at the toes and worn under the leather gloves to complete Tifas gloves : )

The elbow pad I sprayed silver with a bit of pewter over the top to give it some depth. I also made a small armoured piece with cardboard and clay to attach to my boot, shown on the far right. The gloves looked fantastic and I was very happy with the result : )

I was not overly excited about this costume by itself but I was excited about Arieths dress! Being along side her was great, I was very proud and Laila was happy to be glomped several times : ) We saw a couple of other FF cos-players and some serious guys but mostly was store bought and a few nauturo (boo). Ill definitely stick to the bigger conventions in future.

Alcon

Well folks seems we are all going to Alcon 2009, Aerith and Tifa here we come! I'll post as I go along as I did with my medieval costume back in April, that way you can see the work in progress : )

The costumes mainly consist of the following:
- Aerith
Red denim cropped jacket
Pink button down summer dress
Brown boots with white socks
Wicker basket & accessories (Hair tie, thong necklace and bracelets)

-Tifa
White tank top
Black leather skirt
Black 6 clip braces
Brown leather gloves
Custom elbow pad/long black gloves
Brown boots with black socks.
x2 red hair ties.

Budgets for both costumes will be tight but I hope to do Tifa for under £15 and Aerith for under £25, lets see how that goes shall we? I hope you will enjoy following the progress, I love actually getting a chance to put together and make new costumes, and in this case I get to do two! Lets hope I get everything done on time considering it is only a couple of months away.