Maya - Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata
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Worn at: Armageddon 2005 by Nikki.

Awards: Third place!! YEAH!!

Commissioned by: Nikki.

Nikki tends to follow a trend with her costumes...she always has a hat, and she always has gloves, and she's always bloody cute. This costume was much more of a challange than I bargained for originally, but I loved working on it - 'twas extremely rewarding in the end.

The dress was made with a pattern, and was a pain, but at least I had instructions...jacket was mostly invented, with the motifs on the sleeves handpainted on. Petticoat was a pain in the ass, 4m of tulle and still too small. The hat was fun though - like a big pincushion or a knob of garlic; Nikki's lucky she can wear it and not look completely munted. How does she do it?

The bows I was determined NOT to screw up this time. And so I didn't, bwaha! The tails are just black cotton with medium weight interfacing, lots of black fabric paint to create the shaded area(many better ways to do this, but I was feeling un-creative) and a ring of fabric to match the dress. Boots are the same ones used for Rena-chan covered in white bengaline with the pompoms sewn in place. The smaller ones I replaced with bells, just because. I had really, really sore hands after stitching the covering in place onto the first boot - my poor fingers. So I used pliers on the second, and bent a darning needle in half - which should give you some idea of the force I had to put behind the needle in order to get it through the bloody stuff. And what I used my hands for the first time.

Bells were made by pix with wire and I covered them in orange lycra and painted on the detail. Wing is bengaline, wired at the top edge and stuffed and topstitched to achieve the correct shape. I spent ages trying to decide whether she had one wing or two, but I think the general consensus is that there's only one...

That plushie, nicknamed the turnip, which is actually a ginseng root, wasn't too difficult either. I just used sweatshirting and a lot of stuffing, and he looks fine. The collar is Sculpey and paint and trim, and the Chinese character for "snow" because the official one was unclear. She's described as 'cold' anyway, so I thought it was rather appropriate...foliage was bought from the Warehouse. Mm, cheap.

Photos by me.