Instructor

Um... I was trying to come up with some flavor text, but apparently I'm not in a writing mood today, so it didn't happen.

This is my last-minute SeeD/Instructor Quistis Trepe uniform! After some costuming problems with a friend and some less-than positive responses from grad school admissions, I was (understandably, I feel) a bit upset. To make me feel better, my mother gifted me some money for a new costume. With two weeks till PAX East, I had to pick a character that would work with one of my two wigs or natural hair that I liked, could make for the amount of money I had, and was (preferably) from a video game. I eventually settled on Quistis and polled my friends for which outfit. The SeeD uniform won by a single vote.

We forgot pictures at PAX, so I was duty-bound to my mother to get some nice ones so that she could see what I'd made. My friend and I took an afternoon to go to the local university (our alma mater and his current employer) for a short shoot with my little point-and-shoot. Real pictures will come later. This one is from the computer science building. I liked it because the tech feel reminded me of Balamb Garden's classrooms, with all the screens at the desks and even more on the walls. Please forgive the quality of the photo, we had to work with what little available lighting there was, and it was just a point-and-shoot camera.

Construction note time!

FF8 is my favorite Final Fantasy, and one of my favorite stories of any media, so I wanted to do it justice. I had a bit of freedom with material due to the tech nature of the setting, but the one time I was actively looking for a polyester suiting they only had 100% wool. I had a coupon, no time to wait for an online order and I like wool, so it worked. The body is made of the lightweight wool suiting from Jo-Ann's and lined with the posh lining... stuff. It feels nice. Both jacket and skirt are drafted from my custom slopers. Note: If you have a large butt, a custom fitted pencil skirt will look absolutely ridiculous when lying flat. I thought I had messed up till I tried it on.

The red cuff and tie are dupioni silk. I did cheat on the tie. It's a few pieces sewn together and not cut on the bias, but it worked out rather well when I based it off a medley of internet tutorials. The yellow trim is polyester pre-made bias trim, because I couldn't afford the yard of fabric I'd need to make it myself (incidentally, same reason I cheated on the tie).

The silver filigree was the really fun part. I didn't just want to fabric paint them on. They do seem raised in the few cut scenes we see them, and I've seen some well done fabric paint lapels, but it's just not my thing. So I wracked my brain and eventually came up with a time and soul-sucking method. I bought a length of silver satin with a nice sheen. I painstakingly screenshotted every time you see her lapels and drafted out the design on a piece of paper cut to the size and shape of my lapel. I had to make up everything covered by her collar. Afterwards, I ironed on a fusible interfacing to the satin and rigged up a lightbox with a string of christmas lights and a clear box and traced the swirlies from my paper. Since I had no heat'n'bond, I lined up strips of stitch witchery and ironed it onto the interfacing (with parchment paper on top). I cut out the designs and edged them with silver fabric paint to prevent fraying (didn't do this on the first time; wasted hours on lapels that I had to toss), and lined them up on my wool and ironed them down. Add the gold trim and bam! Beautiful silver filigree out of fabric.

I didn't have the right boots, so I just used my black Doc Martens with black tabi socks. I think it's true to the design and character, and also super comfy to walk around in for a whole con.

... I forgot my glasses. Which aren't just an accessory, they're prescription (I just hate them). Between that and my badly-painted tie clip (I do fabric art, not 2d!) and my camera, I WILL be doing a better set of photos in the future.