Pattern: Corset Top
Working Time Shirt: 4 Hours
Working Time Corset: 5 Hours
Working Time Total: 9 Hours
Materials:
Linen, blue, 1m
Faux leather, brown, 0.7m
Leather string
Grommets
Cost Total: 44,29 Euros
Planning Ciri’s Training Outfit
I had already made Ciri’s beautiful white dress after watching the trailer when it was first released, but when the second season finally aired, my fingers began to itch again. I wanted to add Ciri’s training outfit to my cosplay collection. Since I already had one of her outfits, I wanted this to be as cheap and simple as possible – mainly because the outfit doesn’t look all that sophisticated in the first place. I got the blue linen and brown faux leather from my usual German fabric shop and ordered the leather string and grommets from Amazon. Once it had arrived, I could begin the work…
Making Ciri’s Blue Linen Shirt for my Cosplay
As I’ve said, I wanted this cosplay to be as easy and cheap as possible, so I decided not to purchase a commercial pattern for this costume. Instead, I used one of my own jumpers as a base for the shirt, outlined the pieces and cut them from the linen. I got incredibly lucky here as I had assumed I would need about 1m of it and it was enough – but barely. I was only a few cm away from having to order some more. It was a bit difficult to find good, high-quality stills from Ciri’s training outfit where you can see the exact layout of the shirt. In some photos, it looks as though it was mended before and consists of two different coloured types of linen. I decided to keep it simple and just used the blue one.
Because linen dissolves very easily, I only ran the seams through my overlock machine that weren’t going to be visible – where the sleeves attach to the main body and where the front and back pieces are put together. I left everything else untouched because Ciri’s training outfit looks frayed and old and worn, so hopefully, once I’ve worn mine a couple of times, it will look the same. If not, I’ll have to help with that. As a next step, I merely sewed front and back together and added the sleeves. Ciri’s training shirt was finished in 4 hours.
Crafting Ciri’s Training Corset
Ciri’s corset was a little trickier than the shirt, but overall still very easy to do. The faux leather fabric I chose is absolutely gorgeous and super soft on the inside, so I was quite excited to work with it. However, I kind of needed a pattern for this one. I hadn’t intended to spend a lot of money on a new pattern, but my big pattern box didn’t contain anything that could be altered to look like Ciri’s costume. So I decided to snoop around Etsy and found the perfect corset top right here for just 3 Euros. I first tested it out on leftover fabric I still had lying around because I had to make one minor alteration. Ciri’s training corset consists of multiple back pieces but only one left and one right front piece, so since the pattern wanted 4 front pieces, I just glued those together and combined them into one. I also straightened out the somewhat rounded straps. It worked and fit me perfectly.
Once I had cut all the pieces from the faux leather fabric, I pinned them together and tried them on to make sure it still fit. It did. So I went ahead and started putting the back pieces and straps together. The sides of Ciri’s training corset aren’t attached to each other but held by leather string – just like the front – so I left those open, too. Then, I marked the spots for the grommets with chalk.
Once the base was finished, I kind of wanted to call it a day and leave the rest for the next morning, but determination got the better of me, so I took out my hammer and put the grommets in, too. I have a bad history with grommets, but the ones I bought on Amazon were actually quite good and closed easily, so that made me very happy. Now, I only needed to add the drawstrings and Ciri’s corset was finished on the same evening in just 5 hours.
Cosplaying Ciri
I wasn’t all that fond of Ciri in the first season, but damn, I love cosplaying her S2 character. Sadly, the weather has been very bad lately and rarely suitable for cosplay photos, but I can’t wait to bring this one out when it snows or stops raining for a bit. I’d say for a cosplay that only cost around 45 Euros and took only 9 hours, it turned out pretty cool. If you’re interested in a making-of video, you can find it on my TikTok as well as a video of me showing off the finished product. I still had a pair of grey trousers lying around which I also use for my Rey costume, so I decided not to make trousers specifically for Ciri and I could use the H by Hudson boots I bought for one of my Clara Oswald cosplays.
