Cosplay Breakdown: Keyblade Warrior Cinderella

Happy Kingdom Hearts 3 release day!!!!! For those who have been Kingdom Hearts fans since the beginning, we’ve waited just over 13 years for today to finally come since the second game! I am happy that I have fallen so behind in cosplay breakdowns simply so I could feature my Keyblade Warrior Cinderella for this day.

Why choose this character?

I have been a Kingdom Hearts fan since the second I heard Simple and Clean for the opening of the first game. It’s always been a dream to create some sort of cosplay as an homage to my love for this game. When Josh’s sister asked us to join in a group for Dragon Con several years ago, I couldn’t say no. The idea was to do different Disney characters as though they were warriors with their own keyblades.

This wonderful costume was based on artwork by Avery Ota, who owns full rights to the art shown above. I have actually admired her work for several years before this group came into existence, and I knew I had to seize the opportunity to bring one of her creations to life. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to have Avery give me permission to bring her design to life for this project. Definitely make sure you check out her Instagram and Deviant Art once you’re done with this post.

Materials

The Making of Keyblade Warrior Cinderella

I really enjoyed making this costume because the sewing parts of this were the easier parts. By choosing a costume with easier sewing, I forced myself outside of my comfort zone on other elements.

  • Dress
  • Headband
  • Tights
  • Gloves
  • Keyblade
  • Hip armor
  • Shoulder armor
  • Headband
  • Earrings
  • Boots
  • Choker
  • Wig

Purchased or Reused Items

Dragon Con is the con I try to really go big or go home at in sheer numbers of costumes I bring, so I don’t let items that are simple cause unnecessary stress. The wig and choker, as stated above, were reused from my original Cinderella ballgown costume. The clear boots were purchased on Amazon. I couldn’t find the exact ones for sale, but there are plenty of other options for clear shoes out there. Finally, We Love Colors is a fantastic resource for cosplayers, and I was really pleased with the color range offered in gloves and opaque tights to choose from.

Headband, Earrings, and Chest “Armor”

Her various embelishments and jewelry on her outfit have these beautiful blue gems, and I had been wanting to learn resin casting for quite some time. I took this opportunity to learn the basics. If you’ve never resin cast before, I highly recommend using the EasyCast two-part resin for a beginning project. They sell resin casts and dyes to color your resin with as well in the same aisle at Hobby Lobby. I used blue and an opalescent additive to color mine when mixing together. There wasn’t anything special after that, I simply followed the instructions in the box. They turned out really well for my first time!

The headband base was purchased from Amazon, and I was very shocked I didn’t have to cover it in matching fabric. I used foam to create the base of the armor that was on her chest and the headband. I simply used some earring backs I had for the earrings, and I used E6000 to glue all of these to the appropriate base pieces.

Dress

The dress was fairly simple. I am pretty sure I used view C on McCall’s 6995 without modifications for this dress. I used two different types of fabric for the outer layer, and a matching blue in a simple lining fabric for the lining of the bodice. The construction of this dress was very simple, and I have used the pattern since to make the base of a dress for a friend’s cosplay as well. The most intricate part of this dress was the details on the bodice, which I simply created by handmaking an iron on applique with the contrasting skirt fabric. Now that I have improved my sewing skills, I would definitely do this differently. It’s also been so long since I made this, that I almost forgot that I used a veil attached at the shoulder seams to create her cape.

Hip and Shoulder Armor

The shoulder armor was created with worbla as the base layer. This was my first time working with worbla, and I created the uniform rounded shape by using a paper towel tube as a base for shaping. I used foam for the smaller layers after that. The two separate fans are held together in the middle with the foam base piece. This is embellished with smaller foam details, pearl beads, and an Apoxie Sculpt fleur de lis. I used elastic attached on the back with more worbla as the way to make this wearable. I was most proud of this piece of the costume, but if I wear it again I do need to add some protective felt to the back of the worbla because I removed a layer of my shoulder the first time I wore it.

The hip armor, I was a bit disappointed in. This shape was definitely difficult for me. It is all foam, and it is attached in the middle with a velcro closure. The velcro definitely did not hold up the entire evening, and this piece has been the least durable part of this costume. After both pieces of shoulder were finished they were primed and painted.

Keyblade

Obviously, the centerpiece of this costume was the keyblade itself. The first thing I did was create a pattern for the castle of this. The base of this was a dowel rod. I traced the pattern of the castle onto two pieces of insulation foam, and cut the outline out. After that, it has to be hollowed out, so the dowel can fit in between the layers. Once the base had been attached to the dowel I proceeded with the painstakingly long process of carving out the details.

I also used insulation foam to create the tip on the end of the blade. I used thin foam pieces to add 3D details to the roof of the castle and the wheels of the carriage at the handle. There is another Apoxie Sculpt piece in the center of the wheels.

 

The starburst at the top that creates the “teeth” of the key was made from floor mat foam. It came together very fast, but there was probably more insulation foam than I’d like to admit inhaled. Don’t forget to protect your lungs and eyes during projects like this.

Once the base was sculpted, Josh helped me with my con crunch, and primed the blade for painting for me. Painting the details of this only took some lost sleep and a few tears. To finish it off, we screwed a piece of hardware into the bottom of the handle, and attached the bead strand I had chosen. At the other end we attached the ornament.

I really love the way this turned out, and I will probably keep elements of this costume for display for a long time. I also got to get truly amazing shots of this with the wonderful Ghost River Photography. I couldn’t thank them enough. Do you have any additional questions about specific pieces of this costume? What are you most looking forward to in the new Kingdom Hearts game? Leave a comment below, and don’t forget to subscribe via email or Bloglovin’ to never miss a post!

2 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

Kylareply
January 29, 2019 at 10:54 am

Yes!! I love this costume so much. The prop work is amazing, especially the armor. I’ve personally never played any of the KH games but all this hype is really making me want to play them 🙂

sadie.geerligs@gmail.comreply
January 29, 2019 at 11:50 am
– In reply to: Kyla

AHHH they’re so goooood! And thank you so much. The armor was definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I’m slowly getting better at it. I learned so much from the mistakes I made with this one.

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