Introducing Lady Josephine Cherette Montilyet of Antiva City. Ambassador of the Inquisition.
2015 Trinity Treasures Cosplay Cup Entry – Wellington Josephine Montilyet
Emma Simo
Basic Details Contest:
Wellington 2015
Division:
Open
Solo/Group:
Solo
Skit/No Skit:
No Skit
Name/Group Name:
Blue Rose Cosplay
Full Name: Age: Contact Email: Character: Series:
Josephine Montilyet Dragon Age Inquisition
Entry Introduction I got into cosplay to combine my loves of sewing and PC Gaming. This is my second costume where I have taken the creation seriously and although it might not be as visually impressive as some of the armoured costumes around I have poured a lot of love and attention into attempting to create an accurate and high quality costume of one of my favourite characters from Dragon Age Inquisition. So without further ado; I introduce Lady Josephine Cherette Montilyet of Antiva City. Ambassador of the Inquisition.
Reference Images
Method, Materials and Techniques Aka how I did it; from top to bottom‌
Hair and Makeup Hair is braided and pinned up behind the head with wavy strands left out to frame the face. I have chosen to use my own hair rather than a wig, as: a) Styling a wig in such a formal updo would likely look unnatural, especially at the back, behind the ears, and in the front part. b) My own hair although lighter in colour from Josephine’s is not significantly different, and the lighter colour is preferable as my skin tone is also lighter. Very dark hair would have too much contrast with my skin. For makeup I have applied a nude lip, dark brown smoky eye shadow, a little eyebrow shaping with tweezers, some contouring to enhance the cheekbones and a little bronzer to darken my skin tone a little. My aim with the bronzer was to get closer to the skin tone I have with a summer tan. I did not wish to go any darker for fear of crossing the line between a fake tan and blackface. It is important to me that I do not needlessly cause offence so I am happy to sacrifice a little accuracy in skin and hair colour.
Necklace Perhaps the most complex part of this cosplay the necklace is sculpted from Fimo clay and painted with a brilliant shine gold spray paint. Each link is modelled separately and interlocks so that the necklace moves as I do in a natural way. To prevent it from shifting out of place I have attached broach backs to two of the links which are pinned to the coat at the shoulders. The Fimo was used because it was readily available, inexpensive (i.e. on sale) and both flexible enough and strong enough that the links wouldn’t break at the joining loops. I added detail with acrylic
paints, glass beads, and a glass cabochon painted on the underside with red nail polish. In creating this piece I encountered the first major hurdle when I found that the gold spray paint was remaining tacky days after I had applied the first coat. After some research I discovered that solvent based paints such as spray paint react with the Fimo and therefore should not be used. But water based paints wouldn’t give the shiny metallic finish I wanted. My solution was to seal the pieces with water based PVA glue before spray painting. This worked for the necklace pieces and when I used the same materials for the clipboard I added a few initial layers of acrylic paint before the glue and spray paint which did an excellent job of preparing the surface.
Shirt, Scarf and Sash The shirt, Scarf and sash are made from the same gold satin backed crepe fabric. This fabric has the stain sheen to match the in game fabric but is not as shiny as other satins so looks better under harsh artificial light and flash photography. I also found it slightly stiffer than other satins which helped to hold the structure of the shirt. The scarf pattern is a simple rectangle doubled over and sewn to hide the wrong side of the satin. The sash also made from rectangles sewn the same way; a central rectangle which is folded diagonally and secured with ties attached to opposite corners. The ties are an example of the level of attention to detail I paid to this costume, if I kept the sash as a single rectangle the tails of the securing knot would be pointed, but this way they are squared as in the reference art and the knot hides the join between the ties and the main part of the sash.
The shirt bodice was patterned from a plain fitted shirt of mine and tailored. It has four long shaping darts running upwards from the bottom of the bodice and two darts running inwards from just below the armpits to add shape around the bust. This is not strictly necessary as the shirt bodice is largely hidden but it is another bit of attention to detail and quality that I paid to the costume. I created the sleeve patterns from scratch. Due to the extreme puffiness of the top segment of the sleeves (it is close to double the width of the rest of the sleeve) I split the sleeve pattern into two segments, the top part which is a vaguely oval shape to allow the sleeve to puff away from the body without having the same puff towards the body, and the lower part which had ruffles evenly spread around the arm. The top segment of the sleeve is lined, iron on interfacing used to help define the shape better, and stuffed with cushion padding to hold the distinctive almost triangular profile of this portion of sleeve. The lower part of the sleeve is gathered by sewing channels into the sleeve and filling these with elastic which eliminates the need for visible stitching lines. The white cuffs were attached to the ends of the sleeves and I used the gold thread as a decorative accent for topstitching these which visually ties them to the rest of the shirt. A collar was also added and white buttons which match the ones visible at the neck of the shirt in a few reference images. All my seams were overlocked to prevent fraying and keep the shirt looking professional and neat both inside and out.
Coat The fabric used for the coat is a denim with a raised velvety design woven into it. The denim is heavy and gives the coat an appropriate stiffness and is patterned in such a way that it is only noticeable as denim close up. I was unable to find fabric which exactly matched Josephine’s coat but this matched both in texture and in the style of the pattern. The coat has pockets and is fully lined, and it fastens at the front with a single button, chosen to match the style of the overall outfit even though it is also not visible when the costume is worn. I based the design on the McCall’s pattern M6844, although I made significant alterations to it and the end result is not recognisable as coming from this pattern. I widened the collar and shortened it so that it ended at waist level, removed the sleeves and widened the armholes, and practically redrafted the lower half of the coat from scratch adding more flare and length. I also added two rectangular pockets, one on each side with closing flaps that do not fasten. These were created separately and hand stitched to the coat. Facings were added to the armholes and edges of the lower half and I sewed the lining together and hand stitched it to the
coat. All seams are overlocked as with the shirt and hidden by the lining where possible.
Clipboard The clipboard is a modified file master clipboard with extra pieces of board added for a little more length above the clip and for the top platform holding the inkwell. The curved scroll like top end is created from craft foam stiffened with hot glue and Knead-It repair compound. I used a coping saw to cut the hole for the inkwell, Fimo to sculpt the detail at the base and handle of the clipboard, and Knead-It to add more detail and join all the pieces together. It is sealed with two layers of black acrylic
paint, one layer of PVA glue, and painted with gold spray paint. The inkwell is pepakura cardboard painted with acrylics and a Fimo and pepakura lid sealed and painted with gold spray paint. The candle is real secured in place with an upturned thumbtack and melted wax. I might find a better way of securing the candle before Armageddon if I find it is still too loose, I am considering using a small nail or screw instead of the thumbtack for more stability. Other details include the papers which include a decorative cover page, several pages for writing and a page of handmade cosplay cards (decorative page and cosplay cards are yet to be printed) which I can tear off to hand out. These are tea-stained to give a rougher appearance closer to the in game art. The clip on the clipboard has not been trimmed down to exactly match the reference images as I wanted the full width of the clip to ensure the papers were held securely, but I did add a craft foam half-oval to hide the file master logo and create some appearance of the smaller curved clip from the reference images.
Waist Wrap, Belts The waist wrap is made in one piece from vinyl curved to fit to my waist with minimal wrinkling, and secured with Velcro. I have used bias binding for the edging, machine stitching the binding to the top side and then hand stitching it flat on the underside in such a way that there is no visible stitching as the reference art does not show stitching on the waist wrap. The Velcro is glued to the underside of the wrap with Ados contact adhesive, also to avoid visible stitching when the wrap is fastened. I also added belt loops to the back made from leather straps and attached with rivets. The belts are bought, but spray painted a darker brown and the silver buckles they came with removed and replaced with gold buckles. One of the buckles has had Fimo detail added and painted to create a point to match the reference pictures. I also needed to punch extra holes in the belts so that I could buckle them at the correct lengths.
Trousers and Shoes The trousers were created using a very old high-waisted shorts pattern which I lengthened and widened the legs of. The high waist allows me to tuck the shirt in and not have any gold showing in the slits of the coat below the waist wrap. It has a zip fly and button is made from cotton poplin and was dyed darker (using black dye) when the first photos of the costume in the sun showed the trousers and shoes showing up as lighter colours than the coat when they should be close to black. I hand stitched some loops into the legs just above the hem to thread cords through which tie the trousers closed below the knee. All seams are overlocked and the trousers are finished to a level that you would expect from store-brought clothes. I used the same fabric as the trousers to cover a pair of flats for Josephine’s shoes. The fabric was cut and edges turned over and finished to extend the tongue over the foot a little more and make the heel a little higher and then glued to the base shoe using contact adhesive. This was very fiddly work and I found it very difficult to keep visible surfaces clear of the contact adhesive. Where the contact adhesive did not hold the joins completely flat I added hand stitches to hold the covers in place neatly.
Stockings The stockings are made from a stretch pleather material sewn into a boot shape. The boot shape with a sole or sorts should be more comfortable as it does not place any seams directly underfoot. I created the pattern using paper and chalk to draw seam lines on stockinged feet. Extra elastic will be sewn into the tops of the stockings to hold them up more securely although they currently do stay up reasonably well. Seams are trimmed short for tidiness.
Summary Overall the costume fits together wonderfully. It is easy to put on and take off without needing any help, and in fact is barely any more complicated than getting dressed in the morning. Thanks to the puffy sleeves and warm coat it is very warm to wear, perfectly suited for windy Wellington. It is also very comfortable, it does not hinder my mobility at all (except for when I bump the sleeves into doorways) and I never feel like anything might break off if I move a certain way. I am particularly proud of the accuracy of the details in this costume. From the necklace design, to the shape of the shirt sleeves to tiny details such as shirt buttons I have ensured that it matches Bioware’s design wherever possible. I think I have succeeded in bringing Josephine to life.
Other Questions Did anyone help you with your costumes and/or props? No How did they help you? N/A If you are performing a skit, who was involved in creating the script and recording the file etc? (Please include a written copy and digital file of your skit) I am not performing a skit. Have you previously won any awards for costumes, props or performance in any contest? If so what were they? Best novice at the Christchurch Trinity Treasures Cosplay Cup 2015 Have you worked in or are you currently employed in any prop/costume related field? Please describe here: No Do you have any qualifications or are you currently in any costume related study? Please describe here: No If you have any special requirements please describe them here: No special requirements. Have you fully read the rules and understood them? Yes