Leafa

Underbust Corset: Self-Made with modified pattern

Belt: Glued fabric over existing belt

Skirt: Self-Made with pattern, cut out front and triangle hem. Sewn on lace

White Shorts: Bought from Amazon, attached lace with velcro

Brown Garters: Self-Made with hand-made pattern

White Thigh Highs: Brought from Venus, attached lace with velcro

Boots: Bought from Charlotte Russe, created flaps and attached with velcro

Cosplay | Circa 2015

Sword Art Online

Timeframe: 5 Months

Materials: Green jersey fabric, brown suede fabric, white netting fabric, white/yellow bias tape, white lace, green/gold spray paint, white stockings, craft foam, white jersey fabric, green ribbon, yellow embellishment, green elastic, brown vinyl fabric, velcro

Hair Flower: Self-Made with handmade pattern, sewn and attached bias tape along edges, added green ribbon

Wig: Brought from Amazon

Elf Ears: Bought from Vendor at Anime Central

Contacts: Neo Dali Heart Green from Pinky Paradise

Choker: Self-made with lace & ribbon. Spray painted back side of jewel and sewn into choker

Jacket: Self-made with modified pattern, sewn on lace and cut out back

White Sleeves: Self-made by cutting off top and bottom of tights, sewn on lace
White Arm Cuffs: Self-Made by hand-made pattern, glued fabric around interfacing, attached green ribbon. Sewn close green elastic

Bracelets: Brought from Halloween Express. Spray painted

White Shirt: Bought from Charlotte Russe, modified to fit. Sewn on yellow bias tape, glued yellow embellishment. Stars created from hand-made pattern, glued fabric around craft foam, attached green ribbon

"This is by far the most in-depth cosplay I had done up to that point. Leafa was a character I knew I had to cosplay the moment she apperared on SAO, I not only loved her outfit but her attitude!"

"Leafa was a LOT of work, you never realize how much goes into a character's costume until you have to break each part of it down and build it yourself~ There's just simply so much to this outfit that it took a lot of brainstorming, trial and error and all-over struggle to complete it. The toughest part was probably the shirt; I wanted to start with a base that was already created and I knew would fit me: a white camisole with a built-in bra. The only issue with that was that it's incredibly difficult to sew around a built-in bra -_- (again trial and error was key in this cosplay), so I ended up using a lot of glue which is unfortunate because now I will have to remake the whole top since I can't wash it. Attaching the bias tape and embellishment was terrifying because that is one of the areas of the cosplay in which people look at the most, so it needed to look good up close as well. The little white star things I ended up remaking around 3 times; first with cloth and sewing the green design, then will craft foam that was WAY too thick, and finally with thin craft foam wrapped in white jersey fabric and glued on green ribbon. That seemed to finally do the trick"

"A tough thing with this cosplay was finding things to fix/do better once I worn it a few times. For example, the ponytail on the wig is EXTREMELY heavy, so after a day wearing it I realized I needed to sewn in hair combs to keep it in place. Also the lace on the shorts and stockings were first completely seperate items that wrapped around my legs. After walking around a bit at conventions they would slide down, so then I had to actually velcro them to the hem of the shorts and stockings."

"There's still so much I would like to make better with this cosplay but I will still wear it a bunch since it has become a fan favorite at conventions and was even published in a magazine :3 "

Photography by Matthew Sperzel Photography & Kime Cieszynski Photography

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