So a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending ACen for about the 5th or 6th time in my life. I made two costumes for this year. One was for myself and one was for my best friend. We both went has League of Legends characters. She went as Bloodstone Lissandra.
Bloodstone Lissandra
The construction of Lissandra’s dress was very simple. It was a modification to a strapless ball gown pattern from Simplicity pattern 2400 that we were lucky enough to find someone on Etsy that had a printed version of it uncut and in the size that we needed.
The modifications were simple. Cut outs added to the sides and the neckline was lowered and altered shape. We didn’t add the boning that the pattern required as we went one step up and sewed in a bra so with this costume it was literally a slip on a go type garment. We found that making the piece one solid piece simplified everything. If one has ever attended a convention due to sharing rooms with others and time to get ready being limited having this be one item made a lot of things simpler packing wise.
The entire gown is made of a cotton poly blend. Easy to work with and minimum threading out when cut. The trim was also hand made as they do sell bias tape just not in the color we required so I made quick work in making our own to use. I was also able to break in my new serger with this dress so all of the interior seams have been serged for added security. Not needed with cotton poly blends typically but with high stress on garment it doesn’t hurt.
With the added trim and belt it gave the needed look for the character and the final touch was some fabric paint to create the muted gold for the trim and the stones around the bottom. We will be going back to add in more stones so that it has a layered look on the bottom. I even went a step further and added glow paint to the stones so that they will glow in the highlighted areas when in a darker room after being exposed to light. So Lissandra will look like she is glowing.
We started in January with the concept and material purchase. Then actual construction was from Feb – first week of May. Lissandra was by far one of the easiest costumes I have created for my girl friend as past outfits have been a bit more complex.
In the coming years there will be updates to this costume. We are wanting to add stones to the gloves (missing this year), and possibly making some 3D objects for the bottom of the skirt for added effect.