Lightning Farron Cosplay

At the two expo's I've attended, I've noticed that Lightning is quite a popular character to cosplay as, so I thought I'd post up some pictures of Naomi's outfit so any one that is looking to put their own together can see what is needed.
This outfit however, was not made by neither myself nor Naomi, so we have little knowledge of how to create it from scratch, but references are always a good starting point :)

The 'under-vest' as I would call it, has only 3 important factors for it to work with the overall outfit, firstly the collar/zip needs to reach your neck, this is something Lightning uses to hide her brand, she doesn't like to show any weakness, which makes this quite an important part of the overall aesthetic. Then its the colour, a slightly darker than Tan Brown, and then the pattern. Once these principles have been met, your quite safe to move on, if the top is too long for you, you can always just tuck it into your skirt :)

The skirt is fairly easy to get right, it's simply brown high waisted, and hugs your curves. I can bet it'd be quite hard to find one with the zips and ribbon, but I know that these additions can be introduced to a skirt with simple sewing skills.

Naomi's skirt has belt loops, which is quite useful when you need to attach the bag to your hip.

The bag is quite a complex piece, but don't get put off by the straps. The bag itself is three compartments, the main section, then a smaller pouch on the face that has a side zip and a zip across the top, sectioning the pouch into two pockets. The bag is held onto you with the large strap going through one of the belt loops on the opposite side of the leg, with enough slack to allow it to rest just beneath your skirt. Then there are three more strap that tend to mix and match which seem to mainly be for aesthetic use only, they wont hold the bag up, but it will stop it from swinging around. you simply need to over lap them through the loops on the bag, then meet them on the inside of your leg, it's quite simple, but gives off an 'intricate' effect when worn.

The jacket is something you're going to want to spend the most time on, it's imperative to get this spot on, as it's Lightning's most noteworthy aspect of her out fit. The main thing you want to get right, are the three buckles on the front, and the colour of her pockets, and you should be ok. The cape is a simple red fabric, but when attaching it to back, try not to make it too wide, but use a wide enough cloth so you can almost bundle it at the seem. This way it'll look a lot more badass when it blows in the wind :)

To finish off the jacket, this belt is needed, the thing to look out for, is the doubled up appearance as it moves away from the buckle, and the colour.

The accessories are quite tricky, Lightning's shoulder pad is quite unique, but luckily, she only wears one :) it might be worth scouring eBay for a cheap one of these if you aren't good with fabrics. It attaches with 3 buttons, one on top of the shoulder, another on the front of the jacket, if possible under the brown strip, and the last can be hidden under the cape. The gloves are blue fingerless quarter arm length, silver wristband, and a gold fabric with 4 bundles, almost like you be able to fit a straw in each of them. She has a black sleeve coming from under one of her gloves that reaches her elbow. Then on the other arm, around her bicep are 2 bands, one is a simple straight band, and the other appears to be a string of rectangles angled at 45 degrees.

Last but certainly not least, are Lightning's boots, these Naomi did have to put together herself. However, it was quite simple, she bought brown boots, with the buckles already attached, and then simply sewed silver ribbon along them. The strap at the top did not go all the way around the boot, but she circled the ribbon around it to make it appear as though it is. The tongue is simply a wider ribbon, pink, that is also just simply stitched up the front of the boot. She did find it quite hard to get the needle through the leather, so a thick one is recommended if your going to try this.

That's everything for Lightning's costume, if you have any questions or would like to offer myself any advice on improving both the costume and this description, feel free. Let me know what you think, and I'll be posting up how I crafted Lightning's Gunblade from card and gym mats very shortly :)

Introduction

Hey.
I'm Haydn, and quite recently myself and my girlfriend Naomi have gotten into Cosplaying at events in the UK. Our first was last year (2011) at Manchester's MCM Expo, which I have come to learn was a pretty small event, but scary for us none-the-less. As it was my first time, my outfit was very simply put together, and I had no real clue what to expect from it. I paired up with my friend Joe for Mario and Luigi. Myself as Luigi.

As you can see the costumes are very basic. They were made up of regular jeans, blue braces, green/red shirts and a Mario/Luigi hat that were ordered last minute off of ebay. It worked, but obviously no one was in awe.
Naomi on the other hand struck luck, she had a handsome refund from tax, and was able to commission a handmade Lightning Farron outfit from Final Fantasy XIII, which arrived just in the time. 

This is her from the 2011 Expo with Ezio from Assassin's Creed, a friend she made while attending the event. As you can see the outfit is incredible, even more so compared to the sorry excuse I put together. The boots weren't something we could find in a shop, and given their expense on eBay, Naomi decided to try her hand at making them herself out of a regular pair. She achieved this quite easily by sewing pink ribbon up the front of the boot in order to make the 'tongue', and used a thinner width silver ribbon for the buckles. They weren't a perfect match to Lightning's, but the overall aesthetic was amazing. The reaction to her costume was overwhelming, and she came home with some great memories of the day.
It was in fact, after this event that we decided we were going to do this more often, and it has somehow became a hobby of ours. The amount of time and effort that goes in to some costumes is crazy, but there is no better feeling then getting to an expo and being told just how much your work is appreciated, and being able to see all the other amazing people group together in the masses.
This is the reason why we have decided to start this blog, for us, it's a way we can show off the hard work we put into getting our outfits and props right, but at the same time, it gives us the chance to share our knowledge with you guys, allowing you to try it for yourselves at home, and hopefully even give us some tips on how we can improve.
Most of the stuff we will be working on will be made from materials and with tools that can be found quite easily. I will try my best to get as many photos as I can while I'm crafting, so I can give a very detailed explanation here for you folks to then use as you please. Feel free to let us know about any techniques you think would work better as we'd be more than grateful for the feedback.
Keep your eyes peeled, as I'll be kick-starting this blog with how I put together my Darth Maul costume, as well as Lightning's Gunblade.