How I Got Started

This would be little me. Well, 17 year old me, to be precise, but considering that it is a whopping 10 years ago when I got my start as a cosplayer, I'm pretty little here.

Now, here's the thing; every cosplayer has a start. Some start off having sewn with an adult since they were kids, others learn in school, but we all have to start somewhere. My start was with a bet.

At that point, a friend had suggested that maybe I would actually be good at it. I had been drooling over things I was finding on DeviantArt (the hype of the hype back then), and I wanted to wear some of those wonderful outfits. I figured I would just buy one online maybe, but they were expensive. The colours and fabrics looked ridiculous too so I couldn't very well justify a purchase like that. Then I shot my mouth off to my friend on Skype, that I could do better. I had limited means, no transferable skills, and no f*cking clue what I was doing but I thought I could do better. Unfortunately, he attempted to call me on my bluff and I heard the gruff voice on the other side of my Skype call blurt out, "I bet you." Oh, it was on. I had to do the job for less than $100 with essentially nothing.

Easy, right? Not especially. I was hand sewing, using bed sheets and acrylic paints, in a vain attempt to get close to the original design. I got my own hair cut for this, grabbed whatever I could in the Dollar Store in town as there were no fabric stores or even a Wal-Mart around, and somehow came up looking pretty happy about the job that I had done. I won the bet; I only spent $36. My best friend and I took pictures in the park near my house, and I decided that I had found something I wanted to keep doing.

Putting this long story on fast forward, I hit the books pretty hard. I started reading whatever I could about sewing, techniques, and I continued to build my skills. Eventually, I got a cheap, basics sewing machine and kept working. I kept testing out new ideas and researching as hard as I could to improve. I made a lot of less than beautiful outfits (things that make me cringe when I pull them out now, my seams were atrocious), but slowly I build what skills I needed.

This soon became my new normal. In 2014, I re-did my original Yuna outfit and used it as a competition piece at Anime North. I had hand embroidered the whole thing, it was entirely machine stitched, the beads were hand made, and the sleeves were gradient dyed. It was a far cry from my original and it was comfortable and beautiful.

It was also my first (sort of) win. It was an Honourable Mention for embroidery, but I held in my hands the first acknowledgement of my artistry. It was an encouragement to keep going and reach higher.

I hit the books again. I took wigs apart and made Rapunzel 6 months later, hand embroidered up a storm and even boned a bodice. I won as a Journeyman.

More books. More reading and research led me to Aldnoah.Zero and wig work. I figured out the basics of hoop skirts and fell in love with petticoats. Thanks to Rapunzel, I knew wigs and made a beautiful one, earning me my next award another 6 months later.

I used my love of musicals and magic and made a valiant attempt at a costume change on stage. I read about magnets and physics, did rounds of tests with fabric, read historical text, watched videos, and Anastasia threw me one of the best achievements of my life: Best in Show.

Through all of this work and continuous research to push myself afterwards, I got my last award to Master by accident through Ottawa Geek Market (funny story) and became a Canadian Master.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to work with a few of my best friends who are the most talented artists I have ever met. I have won for performance, embroidery, embellishment, sheer geekery, and more magic tricks. I've achieved one of my original goals: to become an Internationally accredited Master. I made my dream a reality.

So here's the deal, dearest reader, should you have chosen to follow me this far. I'm still not perfect and I'm still not done. There's so much more reading to do, learning to do, competitions to enter, and costumes to make. I've started to find my rhythm with ball gowns and petticoats and I will never stop embroidering. I never want to stop learning and developing and that's the beauty of this hobby.

If you don't lose that sense of wonder and learning, there is always room to grow. You can achieve whatever you want. Get there however you need to by learning whatever you can. Work at your own pace and discover new and creative ways to work. No move is the wrong move, and no technique is really "wrong" either. 

My comments are always the same when it comes to MacGuyvering your way through cosplays: "If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid."

Keep working at it, and you will never lose your way.

How did you start cosplaying? What kind of dreams do you have in your ambitions? Are you only just getting started now?