Cosplay: Zelda from Skyward Sword Construction

Hello everyone, I thought that since Halloween is coming up you might like to see how I made my Skyloft Zelda costume?

This is the picture I used for reference:

I initially wanted this costume to be a quick construction so I took a ready made M&S skater dress I found in a charity shop and started working on embellishments. I ordered 10m of 1cm thick yellow ribbon to make the designs around the arms, skirt and chest. This turned out to be a much bigger job than I imagined. I had to sew both sides of the ribbon to give it an even finish and it was hours of intricate sewing! Here it is part way through the process:

Here it is completed:

Next I had to start working on the buckle and parts of the circle belt. I made the blue gems using a hand coloured paper backing and square clear resin cabochons. I glued these to craft foam and then painted them using gold and silver acrylic paint.

It took 4 coats, and three days to fully dry.

Next I had to make the sash and sail cloth. Both items have the same bird design on them so I took the time to make a template so that I could paint the fabric. This took two coats. I made the sash using double sided plain polycotton which I topstitched a light blue trim around the outside. It was fairly simple, I only had to cur two squares and three rectangular pieces, sorry I didn't take more detailed pictures of that part!

I used nylon thread to sew the circles on to an existing belt to create the ring belt and I used a long strio of brown poly cotton to create the top of the sash. This worked pretty well as it gave the belt a solid anchor without being very visible. Although it was slightly difficult to work with.

The whole project took longer than I expected, but equally, the end result was far better than I expected too :)

Here it the finished costume:

You can see more of it here.

What are your plans for Halloween?!