Making of Firecracker Jinx : Dress

Awesome splash art done by my coworker, Jason Chan. Such a delightful image!

So having to rush the whole process with only few days left while working full time, I opted in for purchasing a Chinese qipao dress and modifying it instead of making it from scratch. I also could not find any embroidered red Chinese clothe that I liked, this was my best bet to 1) make it quickly and 2) enhance the quality of the dress. Quality of clothe is VERY important for the finished product, such as thickness, texture, sheen and embroidery. This is what makes a costume look like an wearable garment, or just a one-time use costume. I never skimp on when it comes to fabric.

Being an avid Amazon customer, I found this mini chinese dress on Amazon.

My leg is shiny because I am wearing a ballet stocking. I bought it back in High school for Dead or Alive Kasumi cosplay to hide my underwear, glad I kept it!

 First thing I did was to shorten the skirt to match Jinx's dress, and also making the burnt area.

 

 Not the most obvious detail from in game angle, but it's a nice little touch!

Bottom left corner is where Jinx burnt off her dress and then used candle to make the edges burnt. 

I had some chain that I have sewn into the bottom seams of the skirt. 

Why? Because this skirt is soooo short and I need to wear this to work tomorrow somehow! Also it is October, I'm sure there would be a breeze or two that could flip the skirt up. The skirt is already so short and revealing, I needed some kind of insurance. And it worked! 10/10 would recommend.

I started to hand sew the gold trims everywhere. Warning, this process was the most tedious & painful among the whole process of making this dress because leather was so thick! Thimble would help a bit with the pain but sometimes the thread just couldn't make it and would break off. I wish I had the right needle and thread, or a powerful sewing machine that goes through leather.

Small gems were the ones I got from Michaels, but I wanted some decently sized and heavy gem for the neck brooch, so I took out my old broken bracelet and cut it off with a nipper. Conveniently has a clasp on that side, too!

Close up on the neck area. I am pretty diligent when it comes to hand sewing. However I never want to do this part again, not with that thick leather trim that is all over the dress... *cries*

Added the gold ribbon details!

Checking the dress length with stockings and waist belt.
Red stocking was found in Amazon as well. A proud Prime member.

Now I measure my waist and make the belt. Purple goes on top of green, and I wanted the purple fabric to have some body and structure, so I am putting some thicker quilt fabric inside.

With more gold trims and hidden hooks and buttons, the belt is ready to go!

One thing that I did was to attach a leather thing around the waist to act as a gun holder. I added a little ring so it can hold things!