Construction Details:

Since I chose to cosplay Riddel based on her color scheme, my first challenge was coordinating fabrics; there are so many variations to her coloring that no two Riddel cosplays are remotely the same palette-wise. I decided to go for rich, bold colors that really stood out to me. For the dress I heavily modified a Butterick wedding dress pattern, taking in the seams at least a half a dozen times. It was my first attempt making a fishtail-style silhouette and it was a challenge to shape it properly. The bell sleeves, however, were easy enough to freehand pattern, and the appliqu?? "petals" are four layers of fabric fused together and were painstakingly satin stitched before finally being topstitched to the base dress and sleeves. The headband is handmade from leftover dress fabric and matching blue ribbon, and the viper is made from Sculpty, painted, and screwed on to the headband base. The Rainbow Rod staff is a PVC pipe base spray painted silver and accented with black electrical tape, topped with a red ball from the home decor section of Target and the top shape carved from insulation foam, covered in worbla, spray painted and clear coated.

It was important to me to stay true to the reference art and have the petals of the dress laying flat on the ground when standing, which made walking difficult the first time I wore it. I constantly caught myself tripping over them, which was not only impractical but actually damaged the petals and several had to be re-stitched. When I decided to touch up the outfit for Anime Boston 2017's retro theme, I added a low, oblong hoop petticoat layer to the bottom of the skirt which helps prevent me from tripping over the petals when walking around the con, but still allows them to drag on the ground a bit and splay around my feet for photos. Since I was also four months pregnant for AB 2017, I took out the zipper closure at the back and replaced it with a lace-up design to allow the dress to not only accommodate my new chest and torso size but to be adjustable in either direction in the future.

Personal Thoughts:

In 2012, my friends decided to do a Chrono Cross group, and I had always loved the colors and shape of Riddel Viper's design so I decided to be her. As time has gone on, I just love being Riddel, and get a kick out of the old-school Chrono Cross fans that recognize me!

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