Lizard Beans Cosplay Showcase: Arwen's "Chase" Jacket

Well, it's time for the LOOONG overdo Cosplay Showcase for Lizard Beans! Hooray! And it's awesome. But before we get to that, let me quickly direct you to this update post that explains my long absence and what I will be doing with this blog in the future. So once you are done checking out Ms. Lizard Bean's epicness you can pop on over there and read that. But first!:

Cosplay Showcase

Arwen's "Chase" Jacket from The Fellowship of the Ring

Photo By Tim Boothby

Why did you choose this character/prop to make? Why did you choose it for the showcase?

I'd really been wanting to make a Lord of the Rings cosplay since it's my favorite series ever! And I really wanted to make a cosplay to wear to the midnight premiere of the first Hobbit movie to show off my Tolkien love. I really wanted to make something of Arwen's and this jacket was the only thing she wore that wasn't a dress. Dresses aren't really my thing, but warrior babes are :) And I've always loved the look of it, I just avoided it for a long time because it looked too hard. But I finally had the proper motivation to make me shut up and do it. 

I chose it for the showcase because it was a beast to make. I had to use pieces from 3 different patterns which I modified a bit and I had to make a few pattern pieces of my own. It was a labor of love as well as frustration and I am insanely happy with the final product. This isn't something you could just make in a weekend (unless you're some crazy wonder seamstress, which I am not). So I'd like to show off the construction process for you guys.

What was your construction process?

Research- I always start by finding pictures from every possible angle. I watched the scene from the movie and took snapshots on my computer so that I didn't miss any details. And I even found a site where someone had gotten to see the actual costume in person and made an in depth analysis of the costume.

Gather Materials- The analysis site said the actual jacket was made of dove grey suede, so I found a similar charcoal grey microsuede that worked. Then I found fabric for the underskirt and undersleeves pretty easily. The sashes were harder. I found some cheap chiffon but it was a light blue, so I had to dye them in a mixture of grey and purple dye to get them the right color. And I got really lucky and found some mesh fabric leftover from Halloween that looked similar to the mesh on her collar.

Patterns- I bought a pattern for a vest that had a rolled collar, but it had no princess seams. So I traced out the pattern, cut princess seams into the copy and then added seam allowances to the new seams. I used two different skirt pattern pieces for the bottom half of the jacket. And I had to make a pattern for the petal shaped sleeves. I just cut newspaper little by little until it looked the way I wanted it to.

Test- I bought a bunch of muslin fabric to make a test jacket. It's a good thing I did because my torso was longer than the vest pattern and I had to add 5 inches to the bottom. It also let me test out the petal sleeves to see how well they hung from the top part of the sleeves.

Cut and Assemble Pieces- Exactly what it sounds like. I followed the directions as much as I could and made up the rest. The design on the sleeves was drawn on with an oil based paint pen.

Accessorize- I found my leggings, elf ears (by Aradani Studios), and Evenstar on Amazon. I already had the boots. I made the brooch out of Sculpey based on a design I found on the analysis site. I threw the sword together at the last minute. I cut it out of 1/2 inch thick Sintra, shaved the edges and painted it. It's not great but it looks good in pictures.

Photo by Tim Boothby

The things you love about this cosplay/prop.

Like I said, Lord of the Rings is my favorite series ever. Books and movies. So I love that I can cosplay someone from my favorite series. It's also very easy to get in and out of, and I don't have to wear a lot of makeup for it. I feel very badass and beautiful. 

The things you hate.

I hate pulling off my elf ears when I'm done. I hold them on with spirit gum and it feels like I'm peeling my skin off with the ears.

A general closing statement and where one might find more pictures of this and other cosplays you’ve done.

I was very proud of myself when I was finished with it but I have gotten such a positive response from other people that it's turned into one of my favorite experiences with cosplay. I've come very far in the last couple of years and I hope to go further.

You can see more of me on my facebook cosplay page ^_^

Lizard Beans Cosplay

Photo by Tim Boothby

Woo!! Super awesome! I have seen this cosplay in person and it is simply lovely! Thank you Lizard Beans for sharing your process with us (and for your infinite patience waiting for this post.) You can read her interview here if you haven't already.

Ok! So I hope you all enjoyed reading about Lizard Beans! I also hope you all will head to this post to read up on where this blog is going in the future!


Until next time!



~Edward