How I Made My Steampunk Mulan Cosplay

5/9/2017

I was approached by a group of cosplayers to join this epic mashup group cosplay. I was asked in early March, and the con was end of April. That's a very short amount of time to put resources together. Read the full blog below to see how I pulled it off!

The first thing I did was literally dump my totes of fabric out on the floor and sorted through looking for fabrics and colors I had that would work for any of the princesses that weren't yet chosen. I did a mental run down of my wigs and what I could use. The reality of the situation, was that I did not have enough time to order in accessories, fabric, or a wig. I was limited to what I had on hand, what I could find in my small town, and what my friends could graciously contribute to the cause.

I had the wig. I had the fabric. And according to my pencil, I had the design. My third disney mashup princess was taking shape!

I jumped right into it by cutting out the fabric for my bustle skirt. Then I dyed half the fabric and the decorative ribbon. After I spent HOURS ironing it all out, I assembled the skirt together. So many layers of fabric is heavy! But oh my lord I am so proud of it. I wasn't happy with the front yellow, and wanted to dull the brocade a bit, so I dunked the whole skirt in a coffee bath. After it dried it was the perfect color!! And then I hated myself because I had to iron every single layer again. Hours. Literally hours.

I made the bustle more poofy by sewing a "butt pillow" - yes, I sewed a tube of fabric together and stuffed it tight. I then sewed it into the hem of my skirt and it had the perfect amount of oomph!! ^-^

When I got bored of ironing, I would take some breaks to make little accessories! The first one I made was the foam pouch. I made a small tutorial and a downloadable pdf pattern of the pouch on Patreon!

Possibly my favorite part of the cosplay is my lucky cricket cage! I built the cricket out of random bits and bobbles I had around the house, including safety pins, paperclips, screws, and beads. I also found some keys and gears at Michaels that helped tie most of the cosplay together. More on those details later. The cricket body was made from worbla to resemble a bullet.

After the cricket was sturdy, I built the cage using a foam base and worbla scraps. It took a couple attempts to get the curve right and to hold it together without the worbla ripping. But I did it! A few coats of mod podge and some gold paint later it was time for details. I used a few additional colors of metallic paint to represent rust and deteriorating metal on the cage and then glued gears sporadically around the cage.

The gloves were pretty simple. I've made tons of variations of gloves before. I used a charcoal sweater sleeves upside down as the base of the gloves. The green poof is made from a sheet with elastic in the top. The fingers are kept together with fray check since the material was a bit too thick to hem. I added buttons and gears decoratively along the edge of the arm to add some subtle details.

The top was one of those things where I just took a deep breathe, closed my eyes, and started hacking away at the fabric and yelling spells and incantations. It didn't work. Surprise. But by some miracle, I managed to make a fitted top with proper darts, without a pattern.

FUN FACT: I've never made something using a pattern before.

I was determined to make my own knot closures so I looked up a few tutorials and videos and after a few practice runs, I had some pretty spiffy closures made! I sewed in eye hooks to the shirt and glued the decorative knots over top. The hooks did most of the work while the knots remained mostly decorative but still looked hella cool.

I added a key to a chain and hung it around my neck. It sat perfectly in the little peek-a-hole on my chest and really completed the top.

I was mostly annoyed that I only had a black corset at my disposal. I wanted a nice royal blue for this cosplay, but timing wouldn't allow it. So I added some blue by making my own cool boot spats! I patterned out my boot with masking tape to make a pattern and voila! I had a crazy easy boot spat completed! I duplicated it and added velcro to the seam for easy closure. I glued buttons and gears on the outside and they just might be my favorite part of the costume!

Okay, okay, you caught me. I can't have two favorites....

The last detail I had to add was my obi belt! I cut a long length of red brocade I had and backed it with an old sheet. I practiced tying it and was quite happy. The night before I left for con I did a full try on of my cosplay and felt like something was missing. I consulted the other princesses in the group and decided on more details. Much more gears! I quickly glued a bunch to the skirt and belt and let it dry over night.

Shelley was gracious enough to lend me a flower comb and steampunk goggles to complete the look at the con, and with that, the cosplay was complete!

Above Photo by Billy Wong.

The group was absolutely wonderful, and we had so many talented ladies that really brought awesome details to the group, and I'm honored to be a part of it!