I chose the Ranger because I was drawn to her costume design and attack style the most. Not only do I love a red/gold/black color scheme, but the design is so well-balanced. I like an easy to move in costume full of interesting details from head to toe. 

Vest:

The fitted hanfu-inspired vest is made of red knit and is lined in maroon taffeta. I wanted to surround the solid colored vest with lots of textured and patterned fabrics to create a balanced aesthetically pleasing costume. The fit was important for the vest so I spent a few hours draping and pinning the mock-up until I was happy. The edge binding and collars are 4-way stretch pleather for contrast.

Jacket:

Hands down my favorite part of this costume design, I had so much fun making this effortlessly chic cropped jacket. I used the reptile moleskin from my fabric line which looks solid velvety black until you get close and see the subtle reptile pattern. This fabric stretches so I made a jacket pattern and ironed a lightweight interfacing to all the cut out pieces to give it a stiffer drape and remove the stretch factor. The jacket is lined in maroonn taffeta and has a proper kimono collar installed.

Appliqués:

I picked this cosplay partially because of the gorgeous rose appliqués. To meet the release deadline, I bought various appliqué pieces on etsy and cut them up in order to create my own designs. Since the pieces came from  different vendors, they were various shades of gold so I painted them with Jacquard brand Lumiere acrylic paint to give them the same golden hue. Then I pinned the appliqués to the jacket collar like a puzzle and hand sewed them in place. 

Pants:

Originally, I wasd going to use a semi-matte spandex to make some simple leggings but I got in a sample shipment of new fabrics and I’m SO glad that I switched to the new Mini Rubber Geometric print to make the pants. This fabric is a part of my Fall 2021 collection and has a raised 3D rubber pattern over a stretch knit base. Perfect for making pants. The added texture really balances out all the stuff going on in the top half of the costume and the fabric photographs beautifully. I hand-sewed gold rose appliqués on the pants as well.

Belts and details:

The costume is accentuated by these gorgeous belts and sashes and I used various brocade fabrics such as the regal brocade from my cosplay line to recreate the pieces. 

I also made all the leg straps, bullet holders, and tassle sashes. I used a bunch of left over buckles from my Lio cosplay, wooden beads and various Chinese tassles and charms that I then cut up and strung up and hand-stitched together. 

Wig: 

I started with a lace front wavy bob with pretty good reviews on Amazon and straightened it, then trimmed it into the Ranger's style.

3D accessories:

I hired my friend Hoku Props to 3D model the few fine accessories on the Ranger like the demon belt buckle and sash charms. He printed them in resin and all the pieces were finished and painted by me. 

Gunblades:

The weapons for this costume are so fun! They are guns... with knives…. on chains, omg.

In order to make the props as lightweight as possible, I chose EVA foam from my cosplay line as the main material, with a center layer of soft craft wood. My friend Jessie vectorizes the gunblade design into multiple layers and we used my Full Spectrum Lasercutter to cut out the layers in various thicknesses of EVA foam and one layer in wood. With the precisely cut pieces, I was able to glue the layers together to build thicknesss and create the base gunblades.

They were primed in Plasti-dip and airbrushed, and I applied vinyl stickers of the rose motifs on the guns that my friend Bep.cosplays kindly cut on her cricut. A clear top coat sealed everything in and I attached the gunblades to plastic chains that we painted using removable mini carabiners.