The Frilly Panda

As some of you well know, I am dipping my toes in cosplay. I have made some cosplay outfits for clients before but I have always been given either specific instructions to change parts or creative lisence to change or add anything I wanted. I am now making a costume 95% accurate for myself and it's proving to be interesting. It is just as fun to make, I am just finding spots where I would change bits to suit my personal tastes and it is difficult to decide whether to make it accurate and take the risk of not wanting to wear each element separately afterwards or make it the way I like it and have it not accurate enough for recognition. Even worse (?) is I am entering it into the costume contest at CCEE so it does have to be accurate enough.
That and I am using this as a kind of trial for a fabric I need to use for a clients order next month. I don't like this fabric. It looks great but is such a pain in the ass to work with. It is sticky, it stretches, the top rips off when something rubs against it too hard. This particular vinyl sucks. Thank god I am done the part of the costume with it; I just have some hand stitching to do on it now.
To clarify, I am making the Chromaggia outfit Blind Mag wears in Repo! The Genetic Opera. The corset is done aside from the feathers and a clasp I need to add to the bust. I made it about an inch and a half taller than it really should be because the busk I used was slightly too long and if I made it straight like hers is it would cut into the bottom of my boobs and make them a really weird shape. So I made it taller to cradle them similar to a balconet bra. My next obstacle is trying to figure out how to build the top of the dress to conceal my nursing bra as well as help support it as the dress has to be strapless. And they don't make strapless nursing bras. Well if they do, I don't have one. I'll probably just build some bone channels into the dress for a fully supported top half. I won't be able to wash the dress aside from hand washing anyways because of the feathers on it so it doesn't really matter if there's steel in it.

I also finished some Emperor robes and a tunic for my son and I may say it is super cute. Once I am done my outfit then I have to make a tunic and robes for my husband as well. His are going to be pretty fun as they aren't cannon, the character is an expanded universe one but very important to the regular story.