Cosplay Breakdown + Giveaway: The Making of Mona Alastaire’s Coronation Dress

I had the pleasure of meeting Emily B. Martin at Electric City Comic Con 2017. Her books were an easy sale for me because they had female protagonists and were written by a local author, but she also makes her own cover art and fan art for her stories! I’m definitely guilty of buying books at conventions then taking forever to read them, but I devoured this story. It was agonizing waiting for the final installment, Creatures of Light, to come out. With her amazing storytelling skills, inspiring female leaders, and fantastic character design, I knew that I had to cosplay from her books. Thus the Mona project began.

Keep reading for a detailed breakdown on the making of my cosplay, and giveaway to follow the post!

Why Choose Mona?

You may wonder what made me settle on Mona over the other wonderful ladies in the novels. I think there is a bit of Gemma, Mae, and Mona inside all of us, but Mona really spoke to my soul. The inner growth that Mona experiences throughout the course of the trilogy is truly touching. I personally have not always been the greatest at expressing my personal feelings, and am still learning this. I also feel like I have gone through a wonderful journey of true self-discovery over the last five years of my life as well.

There are so many versions of Mona being a Queen of Lumen Lake but also of fashion, and it took me a while to settle on her coronation gown as the design to bring to life.

Materials

Sourcing the material is often the most tedious part of making a cosplay. It is an emotional and budgetary investment that can take longer than creating the costume itself. Mona wears a lot of jewelry, and it took a lot of time to find the perfect material for each piece of this outfit. I did my best to link to the different websites or products that were used for this where applicable.

• Sewing Patterns (Simplicity 2442, Vogue 2788)
• Dress material (All About Fabrics)
• Bodice lining (JoAnn’s)
• Zipper (JoAnn’s)
• Lace trim (Lace Beauty)
• Pearl trims (All About Fabrics)
• Bolero material (All About Fabrics)
• Tiara (Amazon)
• Red pendants (Nico Jewel)
• Red Bead (Allearringsandsuppli)
• Large Pearl (Wen Pearls)
• Jewelry making supplies (Hobby Lobby)
• Pearl necklace (Amazon)
• Pearl Earrings (Amazon)
• Pearl strands for belt (Amazon)
• Wig (K’ryssma Wig on Amazon)
• Petticoat (Amazon)
• Pearl Ring (gift)

The Making of Mona

Bolero

The bolero was the first bit of this costume that I tackled. Even though the dress is beautiful, I’ve had my eye on the fabric I made this from for over a year at All About Fabrics in Anderson, SC. It was so exciting to finally have an excuse to buy it.

The construction of this jacket was actually really simple. I used Simplicity 2442 for the base pattern, which had 4 pieces. The only modification I made was to lengthen the sleeves from a ¾ sleeve to a full length sleeve. The pattern calls for a lining, and since the fabric I chose was just opposite colors on the wrong side, I used the same fabric reversed to line the jacket.

Dress

This dress was a monster just from the sheer amount of fabric required for her train, which was not an optional feature. I spliced two patterns together to create this dress. I used the top of Simplicity 2442 and the skirt from Vogue 2788. The patterns actually didn’t need any modification to work well when attached to each other. I did lengthen the dress about 4 inches because I’m quite tall, 5’8”.

The real work on this dress came from adding the trims. The bodice pearls were easy to sew into the seams of the dress from the way they were constructed. The bottom pearl trim was extremely frustrating because the pearls got in the way of the needle, which caused us the breaking of about 8 needles during the process of adding this hem.

The final detail was the lace, which was my “challenge yourself to do something new” on this project. I really avoid hand sewing where I can, and this required a lot of it. Luckily, my friend Jon, owner of Jon Pierce Fasions, and Sybil, White Knight Cosplay, had a hand sewing party with me. They not only taught me how to apply a lace applique, but helped me get this detail knocked out as a team in about two hours.

Jewelry

No cosplay, but especially, no Mona cosplay is complete without accessories.

The item I spent the most time searching Etsy for was her signature pearl. The largest pearl ever found in Lumen Lake. I definitely wanted it to be real. I liked this process because through my searching I learned a lot about pearls that I didn’t know. I ended up purchasing a fireball pearl that is a freshwater pearl, and it is about the size of my large toenail (~17mm wide x 32mm long).

The pearl necklace she wears was a combination of a necklace pre-bought on Amazon and adding additional pendants and beading to finish the look. Her belt was also the same red pendant added to some pearl stranding that simply wraps around her waist and clasps at the red pendant.

The earrings, wig, and crown were all purchased from Amazon. The tiara was an extra special adventure in shopping as well. I have learned there are thousands of tiaras available on Amazon, and you will eventually find what you need if you search long enough. I don’t want to admit how much time I spent looking for a tiara that looked like a cresting wave with pearls on it. I love that with Emily’s input, I was able to find a tiara with exactly 12 pearls on it to represent the twelve islands, and it was absolutely perfect to finish my look.  

The Completed Look

I wanted to take a moment to thank Emily for many different things. 1. For letting me internet stalk you when you barely knew more about me than that girl you briefly met at ECCC. 2. For always taking the time to respond to my endless questions through reading your books and the making of this cosplay. 3. For inspiring myself and many other young readers. This never would have been possible without you. You’re the best!

I still plan to make the scepter for this costume, and do several other more fitting photoshoots in the future. This is hands down my favorite outfit I have made for myself to date. I also hope to bring some of Mona’s other looks to life in the future, but for now please enjoy the amazing photos by Scott Thomason and Linc Williams below.

Bonus picture with Virginia, Quercus V, as Mae.

Giveaway!!!

It is with great pleasure that I present this EPIC giveaway from Emily and myself. See below for details!

It’s the biggest Creatures of Light giveaway yet! Enter up to six times to win a prize pack containing a signed trilogy set, two photo prints of Sadie by Design’s Queen Mona cosplay, and a handful of bookmarks and stickers. Contest runs from Friday, August 31^st to Friday, September 7^th at midnight. Entrants must provide a valid email address to be entered. Winner will be contacted privately for a mailing address at the end of the contest.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions that weren’t answered on the construction of this outfit, please feel free to ask in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe via email or Bloglovin’ to never miss a post!