A Brief History of my Cosplay Project

Last fall (2025), two weeks before Halloween, I found some beautiful fabric on Ebay and realized that it would be perfect for making a costume for one of my characters from the book I’m currently writing: Kyndara, the Guardian of Fire! I got a couple additional pieces/materials from Amazon & thrift stores within a few days, but the fabric itself took almost week to arrive, so I had a single week to actually make the costume. I’m super grateful I had a light courseload that semester or this never would’ve worked. 😅

To start off, here’s one of my favorite drawings for this character to give you a general idea what I was going for. I swapped the colors around to work with the fabrics I actually had, and changed some details, but aimed to capture enough key features and the general vibe so it would hopefully still be recognizable to someone who was familiar with my artwork.

Now, on to the costume itself! First we have the “alpha test” version. I made this in an ultra-intense 2.5 days to wear to a Halloween event several days before Halloween itself. This is just the basic dress, a rough overskirt that I later redid completely, and the belt I bought. The bodice was made by sewing my fabric over the inner layer of a thrift store prom dress so I wouldn’t have to do the boning in the bodice from scratch. The sleeves were unfinished and I folded the edge underneath so it wouldn’t look messy.

Second, the “beta test”, which could pass for a finished costume to anyone who didn’t know the end goal. This photo was from my college’s Halloween costume contest, where I ended up winning the prize for best craftsmanship! The overskirt’s fabric was from a ridiculously lucky find the previous year: someone’s discarded store-bought cosplay in my college dorm’s public trash room. I took it home and cleaned it and though I didn’t recognize the character, the material itself looked like it would be wonderful for some other projects… I didn’t know this would be one of them at the time, but it ended up working perfectly!

And now here’s the “1.0” version! This was several months later during Mars Con in January. Not all the upgrades are easily visible in the photo, but there’s more detail on the arm pieces, overskirt, and front of the bodice. Most of the gold pieces in the new details were taken from other parts of the salvaged cosplay. I also added a couple more accessories in the armbands, crown, and rings, but those were all bought, not made.

I also wore this to Awesome Con in March after I discovered it lined up with my spring break! It’s in DC, and I’m in the DC area, so I opted for the cheaper but less convenient option of a 1.5 hour public transport trip to get there rather than getting a hotel room nearby. I skipped the crown and armbands due to comfort and lack of safe storage during the commute, but I got to test out the new shoes I had recently bought and decorated!

…and last but certainly not least, we have the professionally edited photo I bought while at Awesome Con, which is by far my favorite so far! 😄 (Shoutout to @bryantcoxcosplayphotography on Instagram!)

I have a couple more upgrades planned, namely redoing the lower bodice & skirt to add the second belt, and the layered sleeves. I’m hoping I’ll get myself together enough to finish them before Raven Con on April 24-26, which nicely coincides with my birthday (hence why I have an excuse to go to a con during the semester)!

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