Iracebeth The Red Queen Cosplay – The Bodice, Bottoms and Train

Hello guys, this is an update from a very old project. I realized a never finished sharing the process of this amazing costume, so better late than never!

For the last part, I will go through the making of the top, Bottoms and cage train.

THE TOP

The top looked like a long sleeve top with puffy embroidered sleeves on top, a sort of elizabethan collar split in two (which is pretty similar to the collar style of all her other costumes) and a beautiful lettering of an I and an R connected by a heart.

red-queen-top-references — Reference images from official photos, exhibitions and screenshots

I built a basic knit bodice pattern for the top as well as the puffy sleeves and built the collar on my mannequin using a draping technique to get a better proportion and shape.

The fabric I purchased as base for my bodice was a bit too bright so I tried to dye it in a burgundy red, you cannot really tell in the photo but in a full piece it did make a difference.

For the collar I draped it on my mannequin and used black organza for rigidity and also to give the transparency effect seen in a few images of her costume. I found a small rounded gold chain for the trim around the collar that I hand sew.

For the embroidery part, I considered hiring someone to do this but honestly after contacting 3-4 people I could not find anybody willing to do it. So, I found this great video as a reference of how to free hand embroidering on a sewing machine. This was a wild experience for me, I had to repeat this part twice, but I am really happy I found this technique that I also used for me sleeves details.

I used polyester organza backed with water soluble stabilizer and embroidered both pieces with gold thread (not real gold ;)). Then, I cut the pieces and then I hand embroidered the large back piece to my bodice and used zig-zag on the details for the sleeves.

THE BOTTOMS

So the bottoms are split in two parts: Leggings and Bloomers.

The Leggings were purchased and I worked on the side details. I first drew up the design based on the reference photos and doll too and used a gold cord that I hand stitched to create the loops on the center of the design.

Once that part was ready, I put a mesh as a base and sew the loops on it and then used various ribbons to finish up the details. The hard part was that once these pieces were finished, I had my awesome sister hand sewing them to the leggings while I was wearing them. That is a proof of how much i trust her!

Then, I created the pattern of the bloomers and used three layers to create the look of the original costume: The base was red taffeta, then I used the same floral lace fabric of the bodice and covered it with a black mesh.

I cut straps of red taffeta that I backed with black cotton fabric to create the base where I sew 1/8 inch burgundy satin ribbon and 1/2 inch gold ribbon. Then I stitched it to the pants.

The CAGE:

For the cage I used the same principle as in the bloomers. In this case, I used the same 1/8 inch burgundy satin ribbon and a 5/8 Gold ribbon for the center.

I don’t have a photo of this part of the process, but to be able to keep the horizontal straps rigid, I used plastic corset boning.