How I made Vanille

BECAUSE I GET THE SAME QUESTIONS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, if you ask me in the comment sections, I'll just direct you here.

Also. For me, this costume was all about trial and error!! I spent tons of time researching and looking on forums on everything. Cosplay.com's Vanille thread has EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW on how to make Vanille; I and many other cosplayers have posted up our advice and tips there. I read through all 15+ pages of the thread, you can do it too. All it takes is a little bit of effort. XD (I'm not directing this at anyone specific, but one of my pet peeves are people who demand, not ask, that I tell them how I did something and expect me to hold their hand as I practically do everything for them. Doesn't that take the fun out of making your own costume? And not even saying thank you if I do give out a ton of help orz)

COSPLAY.COM VANILLE THREAD: www.cosplay.com/showthread.php…

And here I'll write about how I made my own costume, through lots of trial and error.

WIG: I purchased mine from COSPLAYWIG from Ebay. It's a great store, though they keep jacking up their prices and I usually prefer other wig shops. But COSPLAYWIG had the perfect Vanille wig!

Only downside was the back needed a bit of fixing to cover the mesh and the bangs needed to be razor cut, so I did that. I also backcombed the pigtails to make them fatter and more airy! (Though it fell flat eventually throughout the cons)

LINK TO COSPLAY WIG: stores.ebay.com/COSPLAY-WIG (so please don't ask me lol)

CONTACTS: I used DOLLYEYE GREEN contacts! I have dark eyes so they show up really well. I got them at TOKIOSHINE.COM! It's pricier but they're based in SOCAL so I got it in about 2 days after ordering.

LINK TO TOKIO SHINE: www.tokioshine.com

EARRINGS: My ears aren't pierced!! So I used clip on earring bases, and made the curved horns out of model magic, sanded and painted them (I mixed silver and black paint to get the right color) then glued the horns to the base. Simple as that!

NECKLACES: This was another thing I had to achieve through trial and error. I actually looked up how other Vanille cosplayers did it and I liked the idea of using model magic over memory wire.

The first two smaller necklaces are exactly that - model magic over memory wire. I actually bent the ends of the wire into hooks so that it could open and close properly. I didn't cover that part in model magic. After letting it fully dry, I used sandpaper to smooth it down! I then painted the necklaces whatever color they needed to be - one necklace is a darker brown then the other.

I then went to Joann's bought 99 cent roll ribbon and wrapped ribbon around the necklaces.

The third necklace was actually made of beads. I bought large wooden pony beads from Joann's and hand painted them. I then used smaller brown and white pony beads for the rest. all the brown and white beads on my entire costume were all strung on bias tape and then spray painted. This was because for some reason I couldn't find brown beads anywhere lol, and also it makes the bead more matte rather than plasticy shiny.

PINK TOP: Made my own pattern and sewed it. All there is too it lol. As for material, I used two layers of COTTON GAUZE It's very thin and see-through so doubling up the layers is  MUST. It has the perfect texture as in the CG renders of Vanille! Of course, most people just use pink cotton fabric and that's totally fine, but I'm retardedly anal when it comes to stuff like this haha.

PHOTO OF THE PINK COTTON GAUZE I USED: www.bigdaddygypsy.com/media/ca…

BACK HARNESS: I made this piece before I got better reference photos of it, so it's not accurate. OH WELL LOL. I used craft foam. Cut out the shape, sealed it with glue, then painted it. I didn't just do one easy step though. I used one layer as a base, and then the top layer I cut out individual strips to give it a more 3D look. If you see it up close, there are actual ridges in it. Before I bonded the two layers together however, I took a needle and poked 11 holes on the bottom and strung beads first, then I sealed that by gluing the second layer over it!

The beads, once again, are hand painted if I didn't have it in the right color.

The back harness is connected by suede trim to the front bead piece!

CENTRAL BEADING PIECE This part. This part I hated!!! I had to restring 4 times because I was stupid and kept letting go and the beads would go everywhere hahaha.

I went to Walmart and got a pack of hook nails. I covered the tips in hot glue so that it won't stab me lol. And then took the same leather that I used for the weapon holster and wrapped that around the nails. This part is what connects the back harness to the front, so all those beads are put on as one piece.

The big ass white bead is made from model magic, as are the metallic silver beads that connect the top two strands of beads that go around her chest.

The fangs - the smaller fangs are from earrings I got in fashion district in downtown Los Angeles, and the two bigger ones made out of model magic. Seriously, model magic and craft foam are a cosplayer's best friend. They are attached to tiny blue and orange beads that are attached to the top strand that goes around her chest!

The beading on this is NOT ACCURATE, I KNOW. I will be redoing this whole section eventually with semi-precious stone beads.

The 3 strands that go around her, I used the spray-painted white and brown beads because I didn't have enough of the wooden black smell flat beads for the entire thing.

The belly strand, I still need to figure out how to keep it from sliding, which I will in time for Anime Expo. But it's all strung beads that were hand painted.

The three middle strands going straight down are a combination of black wooden flat beads, spray painted white bead, and hand painted color beads. The red blocks are craft foam - I'm gunna switch that out to painted model magic soon.

the middle strands...some people like to leave it hanging loose but I think that's too weird so I attached it to a safety pin that I can just pin it to my underwear and it'll stay in place! and LOL YES I wear bright yellow booty shorts underneath the skirt, since in the playarts figure she has yellow underwear.

BRACELETS: As you know, I'm a stick. Regular bracelets don't fit me. So I had to make the white bracelets out of model magic. I used the same technique as the necklaces, I got packs of silver metal kids bracelets from downtown (because I'm so small I can't fit regular bangles orz) and wrapped model magic around it, and sanded it down after it dried. The rest of the bangles? They didn't ave the colors I needed so I got cheap nail polish and painted all of them.

BELT: This took me awhile to figure out! I went around EVERYWHERE looking for the right fabric/base belt for it but didn't find anything I liked at all. So I thought you know what, I'll make it out of craft foam. HOPE IT WORKS LOL. I used the thicker 3 mm tan craft foam for the belt. I used it without painting/sealing it so it's still soft and flexible.

Just like the back harness, it's in two layers - the base layer and the cut out ridges on top. Dude. Cutting out and gluing down all those strips is ANNOYING lol. You have to leave a small gap between too, so it makes it harder.

The belt centerpiece is not centered, I am aware of that. I accidentally made it too far off to the side, but I spent so long on it I would have to remake the belt entirely if I wanted to fix it. The center is just model magic painted and hotglued to the belt lol.

I then used leather from the weapon holster to make the straps, and I used 2mm craft foam for the "metal plates." Those were cut out, painted silver, and glued onto the belt. Didn't bother to seal it haha.  The belt attaches with velcro underneath!

POUCH: I made it a functional pouch! Easy to carry your hotel key card, cell phone, money and ID in without lugging a larger bag around. It's made out of suede (because I like the rough looking yet super soft texture it as) and white bias tape for the outer edge. The "closure" is one of those circle button covers with hand painted beads strung with leather trim. The yellow piece underneath is simple, just fabric sewn and ironed flat, then fabric paint along the bottom for the orange and green stripes.

This and the pouch are held together by two pieces of leather trim tied around my waist.

PINK SASH/BELT: Another easy one, I actually didn't use pink gauze but rather a lighter pink cotton fabric just sewn and ironed flat, then tied together.

BUTT CAPE: lololol this thing. I got the FAUX FUR fabric in downtown los angeles at the fashion district. So I can't help with any specific store, sorry. THIS WAS SO EXPENSIVE!!!  but so worth it because it's soooo soft lol. How did I get it to pleat like that? Well, over on cosplay.com I made a diagram of it.

DIAGRAM OF THE BUTT CAPE: img.photobucket.com/albums/v31…

I basically cut out a flat trapezoid shaped piece on top with half my waist measurement, and the bottom line is maybe an additional 1.5 inch on each end. I did this so the leather weapon holster would be able to lie flat . I drew an arrow where you can see where the pieces are sewn together.

For the bottom, I took that bottom line measurement and didn't make a full circle, but 3/4 full circle shape. This will give the flowy pleated look. Half circle would not have been enough pleats and a full circle would have been too much pleating. All I did was sew the flat trapezoid piece and the circle skirt together, hem, and viola! you got a Vanille skirt.

It uses a lot more material then just doing a flat piece of fur, but it's more accurate, I think. It's also way easier than sewing in or making pleats, which I've seen others done.

I even have the tears in the skirt, but because it's so pleated you can't even see it!! Oh well lol

WEAPON HOLSTER: I used genuine leather for this part! Let me tell you, it's a bitch to sew a curved hemline, especially on leather. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. I got lazy on the straps here and didn't bother to add the buckles or anything lol. The weapon holster is attached to the fur skirt so it's all one easy piece.

All of it has a black leather belt I got at a thrift store looped through it. I made the loop big enough so that the belt can slide and I can hide the buckle by just pulling it around to the inside of the buttcape haha.

SKIRT: This skirt was another trial and error for me! If I truly look at the references, I know the top is supposed to be more loose and flowy but I didn't feel like doing that. Also, looking at the HD scans, her skirt IS MADE OUT OF FRIGGIN LEATHER. There's no way I'm about to try to make a flowy gradient dyed skirt out of leather or whatever animal she used haha.

I took white stretchy cotton fabric and made a base strip. Under that I did another circle skirt design to get the flowy bottom. Over that is the center loincloth, which I accidentally ended up making too short orz. Oh well, I figured it's make my legs look longer.

After it was all sewn was when I gradient dyed it, using this super awesome tutorial by hiyoko-chan.deviantart.com/art…

I had to dye it 3 times to get the right gradient! It kept coming out to light for my tastes.

SKIRT BEADS: I counted 11 strands on her skirt. I didn;t use the black wooden flat beads like I was supposed to, because if I did, the strands would have been WAY TOO LONG. So I threw accuracy out the window to make it more proportionate to my body. (I did the same thing with the chest beads, took out a ton of beads to make it fit better)

They're basically strung beads I either hand or spray painted on a line of wire that clips along the sides of my skirt.

BOOTS: lol my boots are inaccurate. For some reason I had no luck finding the right boots, though many others did. I also opted for no heel because we wanted height accuracy with the rest of my group. I got yellow suede boots from the brand SODA in downtown LA for cheap. I used scrap white faux fur and made little fur cuffs for them. Except the fur is so poofy it looks too big, but I like it haha.

AND THAT'S HOW I MADE MY COSTUME. Dang, took longer to write out then I thought~!

I worked my butt off on this costume and I'm proud of how it turned out. It's not perfect, but I think it's pretty decent. Of course, I get crap from 4chan and stuff on how my Vanille sucks and how I made everything too big, but haters gunna hate lol. Here's my reason for making everything bigger/oversized than it's supposed to: it looks better in pictures. You can see more detailing if it's bigger. On top of that, I'm so small, if I made it 100% accurate to the references the beads and everything would have to be tinnnyyy and you wouldn't see anything.

But yeah. See ya'll at AX! I'll have a full group this time around! SO EXCITE!