FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Feywild Flowers
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Other Credits
I am also the model as well as the creator
Outline the story …
I have always been a huge fan of D&D but I didn't get into Critical Role until about a year ago. Fearne and her player Ashley Johnson had a lot to do with that. When I heard the theme was The Natural World, I knew I wanted to enter this costume into the contest. Fearne is a Faun Wildfire Druid from the Feywild, a realm that is filled with natural magic and extreme nature. This really inspired me to bring more Fey influence into my costume design for this cosplay.
The Feywild is very green, magical, and ephemeral. I tried to really focus on natural elements in the design with leaf elements in the dress and organic detailing, such as the burn-out detailing at the hem of the dress. I also chose to make the dress from a taffeta as opposed to a sheer as the texture is reminiscent of leaves or foliage. I added iridescence and sparkle where I could to add hints of fey magic and dew drops around the design. I also wanted Fearne's connection to nature to come through in the corset and used ribbon embroidery and beading with beetle wings to create a scene of flowers and dew.
I also enjoyed creating the non-sewn items on the costume including painted and gemmed sheer gloves, 3d printed horns and crafted ears, a staff with a lantern, and a matching mask to be worn at costume gatherings.
Outline the construction…
I actually started the creation process with the corset I used silk ribbon embroidery, a new skill for me, to create 3D flowers and foliage. This required patterning the corset, and marking the pattern pieces with temporary stitches.
Using white silk ribbon, I created the flowers on each panel and then dyed them individually with alcohol ink markers This allowed the flowers to be variegated and organic looking with gradients and shading. Once the corset panels were put together and the corset was assembled with boning and hand-sewn eyelets. I added gems and jewel-wing beetle shells as well.
The dress is a simple sweetheart dress with a high-low hem that I self-drafted. I crafted a partial lining in the dress to add boning for additional support to the bridal loop lacing up the back. To add organic and natural detailing, I used a wood-burning knife to cut holes along the bottom hem reminiscent of holes in leaves. I then dry-brushed paint on the detailing to further accent the organic leaf-lace effect.
The petticoat to the dress is a handkerchief hem circle skirt with an elastic waistband made from embroidered cotton and iridescent mesh. The cape was based on Firefly Path's Simplicity pattern 8629 I really loved the high collar, to which I also added silk ribbon embroidery as well. The construction was fairly simple but adding the flowers to the bottom took a long time. The flowers are hand-sewn and glued on I also added gem and petal detailing.
OMG, I love ribbonwork embroidery, and here you’ve gone and made an entire, rainbow, flowered corset with it!!
The ribbon work is stunning!! You look like a faerie
This is really incredible and exceptionally creative. I wish so much it had gone forward!! I can tell you worked extremely hard on it.