Hello!
Here's the Build Log for Eileen the Crow from Bloodborne. This was my first Bloodborne cosplay and it kind of reinvigorated my passion for the hobby after a long period of feeling like I only failed at everything. I've updated the costume aswell, from being the regular Crowfeather Garb featuring the Saw Cleaver as weapon, to the proper Eileen with the Blades of Mercy as weapon.
The costume itself was a surprisingly fast build considering how many things had to be done. I made it with the intention of having at the Master rank cosplay competition at NärCon Winter 2016. I recieved the "best craft" award in the competition which felt great!
Eileen has a lot of layers, and I can't tell you how many times I had to ride elevators up and down in Bloodborne for the cloak to flap up so I could see the backside of the design. Since Bloodborne takes place in a Victorian-esque setting, I decided to go for what my mind considers to be victorian in regards to the clothes going underneath everything.
To start with I picked a thin gray velvet for the pants, as close as I could find to the ingame model. I decided to make a model similar to the "just below the knee" type of pants with a high waist.
Pinning the model together and having the hemline also pinned to test the fit and length
Testing the fit on, adding even more pins and deciding where to put the button closure in front. During a lot of this process it felt more like I was making a hobbit rather than a murderous plaguedoctor..woman.
In any case, when I was happy with the fit of the pants I added the buttons, stitched the buttonholes and also added buttons right below the knee on the back that the wider parts of the legs are attached to. A bit hard to explain, but it was the only way I could figure how to make the tight fit (sadly no wip pictures of that).
After I was happy with the pants, I moved on to the shirt. I made it with a thin white linen fabric. For buttons I used the same type and model as everything else on this costume, because I had to order somewhere around 500 of them due to wholesale.
Shirt front and back with adjusted fit and hemline. As with everything else for this costume the base pattern is freestyle hand-drawn by me.
Trying the shirt on after adding the sleeves, collar, extra fabric for the middle hemline where the buttons go (I'm sure there's a proper name for that but I have no idea what it is). I went with the typical slits in the sleeves down by the hands to add buttons and make it more like a "real" shirt.
When the pants and shirt was done I tested them together to see the fit and overall look.
Since the rest of the costume was going to be very very warm to wear I was happy with a loose fit on the shirt to get more air in when I took the coat and everything else off.
As with all my builds I don't really do stuff part-by-part rather everything at once, but I'll write about each part separately (even though it was probably not the order I made it).
When making the hood that goes underneath the hat etc. I picked a stretchy fake leather fabric. It's made out of two pieces and has a liner fabric on the inside, as well as two small hooks to make it close nicely under my chin.
Pinned together, and then when I had stitched everything together. First I thought I'd just make a small grommet string closure but when that didn't work I added the small hook closure instead.
The plaguedoctor beak mask is obviously one of the greater characteristics about the costume. I made mine with genuine leather that I watershaped. I KNOW Eileen doesn't have a black mask, but I thought it looked nice enough to take some artistic liberties in keeping it black.
Watershaping the two top sides of the mask. When waterhspaing leather it's very important to use tools that don't dent the leather such as a plastic or rubber hammer. Mine is pretty small, but it gets the job done. Unless you want a specific pattern then usually you use small metal tools.
Mask and hood and hat for version 1 tested on. I stitched the leather mask together with waxed linen thread. The bottom part of the mask has slits cut out on the underside for some additional air intake. The hat is also made with genuine leather but untreated/unshaped just stitched together so that's why it looks like a cone, haha.
The gloves for this costume are some of the easiest gloves I've ever made, mainly because I picked a very forgiving stretch suede fabric. I didn't have to worry about adding fourchettes or anything like that.
Pinning the top part of the design when I was close to finishing them up. I use a coarse hemp rope and wrap it around the gloves when wearing with the full costume.
Next up is the coat and the "feather" cape. I've seen a looooot of different variations on how to do the cape itself, in the item description ingame it surely is supposed to be made entirely with feathers. However that's not really how I feel that it looks on the ingame model. So I went with genuine leather for the cape. And let me tell you that was a hot mess to stitch together, since I had to handstitch all the ~200 handcut pieces together. I used secondhand leather for this, from old coats and jackets that I bought at a thriftshop.
All the pieces cut, and arranged by size and shape
Placing all the pieces to make an even design for both sides and getting a feel for the overall look.
On to all the stitching! I had to stitch all the layers in a way so that it held together nicely but also has a good "flap" to it with everything. For this I used extra strength sewing thread.
I dyed a larger piece of dark blue leather black to go as the over-the-shoulders part.
Testing the length and average fit of the cape when everything was stitched together.
For the coat I picked a thick fake leather, probably intended to be used for furniture rather than clothing. It was very very stiff, but not impossible to work with.
Getting the base out and then pinning the back piece together to create the folds and seams as they are on the reference.
Making the end of the sleeves. They have a folded look on the edges so I made a pair of "tubes" for it.
Adding them onto the sleeves
Trying the coat on with sleeves attached, and back sewn together
Back view
Making the liner... Which doesn't look that great hahah. I just picked a thin fabric of aproximately correct colour compared to my reference not caring much for the quality or behaviour of it.
Adding the liner. For the edges of the sleeves I had the outside part of the sleeve-tubes be a bit longer than the inside part so I could fold them over like this.
making the collar, and pinning it to the coat. Very vampire-esque!
That's all the photos I have regarding the clothes. Additional things that were done was; * Adding the "U" leather pieces to the front of the coat, adding buttons and hook closure through the front. The coat doesn't close with the buttons but instead with tiny hooks.
* Added buttons for the cape to be attached, and holes in the top part of the cape to attach it to the coat.
* Belts and bags. All of that was made in genuine leather, handstitched or studded together. * The bottles on the backside of the belt, I used old soda bottles sprayed silver on the inside and wrapped the same type of hemp rope that I use to wrap around my gloves.
* The shin leather parts, also made with genuine leather. Tons of buttons and holes, but after some wear the leather has stretched so I can simply pull them on and off without having to open them with all the buttons.
* The bell necklace. I made it out of worbla and attached to a chain, silver spraypainted.
So! Moving on to the Saw Cleaver. We're still in version 1 after all.
I made one version of the cleaver just for the Master rank competition, but it was extremely rushed and not very durable. So later the same spring I made a proper one out of wood, and that's what I'll write about.
I started with picking a good chunk of wood for the handle. It was going to be sawed and axed and sanded for what felt like an eternity to make the "S"-shaped handle. For the blade I just went with plywood. For the making of this weapon I was very lucky that one of my close friends had access to a proper woodworking workshop.
Cutting out the base shape and then going to town with an axe on it.
Sanding down the cleaver teeth
The two finished pieces! And the metal tube that was going to be used for the handle to get this all together.
Testing the assembly of the metal parts. I got some assistance with the welding and metalwork for this.
Checking how it looks in extended mode
Adding the parts that make it open and close smoothly. I tried to follow the actual cleaver model as much as possible when making this, and the way it works is that there's to caps in the "wheel" where the handle is pushed down, depending on if it's open or closed. So in order for it to work you need a spring to constantly push the handle "up" so it keeps the mechanism closed, but isn't too hard to push the handle down in order to release it for a smooth movement. Ingame the character can do this onehanded however my weapon turned out a bit too heavy for me personally to be able to do that.
The finished cleaver with paint on and the dirty bandages and a rope wrapped around the handle! I used acrylic paints for this.
I have an explanation up on my youtube about how this weapon "functions", it's not super high quality but it's there nonetheless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHsxZOaCZu0
And that's it for version 1!
Now some adjustments I made just last year was to make a new hat, and make the Blades of Mercy, as well as adding a black chiffon fabric to the inside of the mask for the eyes so I didn't have to make a raccoon-paint on my face everytime wearing this. I made this all the day before leaving for DreamHack Summer 2019 so they were kind of speed-built. But still turned out nice!
Let's start with the hat.
I made it out of faux leather, similar to the type I have for the hood. It's later on pinned to the inside of my hood so it stays on all the time.
Making the pattern
Pinning the inside and outisde together, and then the finished hat! I zigzag stitched across the seams to attach them to eachother, but not all the way to the top or bottom. Then I folded the edges in and stitched those.
Finished hat!
For the blades I used 5mm EVA foam and thibra thermoplastic.
Blades cut and edges sanded, and then sandwiched in Thibra. Thibra doesn't have the same type of adhesive structure as worbla, however it requires little to no priming so that's why I picked it. It had to be glued to the foam to actually stick.
With the thibra all tidied up, and then painted! I used a type of paint that's just called "hobbyfärg" which comes in small plastic jars. They are my preferred paint when it comes to metal types of paints because I feel acrylics just don't quite work as nicely with actually getting a full coverage.
All finished up! With a thin leather wrap around the "handles".
And that's about it for this WIP! This costume was a lot of fun to make and I've had a lot of fun wearing it. It's still in good shape and I don't feel the need to remake it, at least not anytime within the foreseeable future. It's one of those rare costumes that actually made me happy with what I accomplished crafting wise, aswell as being from one of my favourite games ever.
For nice crisp photos, head over to the dedicated page for this costume!
And as usual if you have any questions or such feel free to ask.
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