Below are summaries of how I made each piece of my Isobel Thorm Cosplay from Baldur's Gate 3. I purchased a lot of patterns for this cosplay and include them in the descriptions below for each item! I also recommend looking at the stories highlights on my Instagram (part 1 and part 2).
The STL was purchased from UltimaProps on Cults3D. I printed the pieces with Hatchbox PLA on my Bambu Lab A1 with 0.1 layer height. The pieces were all sanded with varying grits of sandpaper until smooth and glued together with Loctite super glue. Kwik Seal was applied on the seams as well as in a thin layer over the print to help hide the layer lines further. A 1/4" threaded rod was inserted into the print for stability. The printed pieces were attached onto a 5ft long pine dowel (1.5" inch diameter)- I drilled a 1/4" hole down the center so that I could use the threaded rod from the spear head.
Multiple layers of filler primer and Kwik Seal were used to further smooth the print, and then I airbrushed the black base coat. Vallejo gold and silver were used for the main color blocking, and then I added dimension and weathering with some acrylics.
For the body of the spear (the dowel), I traced some swirly designs and etched them with my rotary tool. This was before photo mode was available for BG3 - so I must admit the swirlies are not accurate! I then applied wood stain and then I was done. A hot tip I got was to use one of those furniture foot pads on the bottom of the spear to prevent damage!
Pattern was bought from MadsFive as part of her Isobel full package kit (Etsy). I did modify some small shapes here and there to fit my proportions but overall it is a one-to-one recreation of her pattern. The breastplate is made out of varying thicknesses of 5, 2, and 1mm EVA foam. I didn't do a great job of dremel-ing down my seams so I added Kwik Seal to help smooth some things over. The breasplate was sealed with multiple coats of ModPodge, and everything was painted by mixing Folk Art acrylic paints (note: the silver bits were airbrushed Vallejo).
The decorative trim at the bottom (the small moons and stars) were cut out with a Cricut using Raisin Cosplay's decals included in her Selunite Accessories kit (Etsy).
Pattern was bought from MadsFive as part of her Isobel full package kit (Etsy). The capes were cut out of Kona Cotton (in Silver) and the dark gray fabric was satin stitched onto the cape as to give it that "embroidered" look. I used a combo of airbrushing and watered down acrylic paint in a spray bottle to weather it.
The capes were made out of 2mm and 1mm EVA foam, sealed with Mod Podge, and painted with Folk Art acrylics. They attach with magnets - in hindsight I probably would've used slightly stronger magnets for the center closure because I was always double checking to make sure it didn't pop open. I chose to do magnets over snaps or Velcro because I wanted each layer to be clean and independent from one another (I didn't want any fastenings to be visible). The large moon button fastenings that attach the cape to the breastplate are STLs from Raisin Cosplay's Selunite Accessories kit (Etsy).
The armor was 3D printed on my Elegoo Saturn 3 using Silver Panther 3D's Isobel Armor kit (Etsy). Everything did the standard painting process of: airbrush black basecoat, airbrush silver, and then add in the navy with Folk Art acrylic paints. The thigh pieces have velcro on the back and attach directly to the pants. The calf pieces slide up my leg and just stay with friction, and the ankle pieces are made of foam using MadsFive's pattern and attach in the back with Velcro.
The cloth part of the boot cover was made with the duct tape/cling wrap method on my leg, with one seam down the center front and one seam in the back. I then installed eyelets in the back in order to lace them up.
The boots were thrifted off of Poshmark - some key terms to use when searching for a boot with that kind of cut are "center seam" and "v cut".
Belt
Her belt was as a strip of 5mm EVA foam which had stitching added along the sides. I also heated up the foam and pressed crumpled up aluminum foil into it to create texture. The buckles and adornments were from Raisin Cosplay's Selunite Accessories kit (Etsy).
Gloves
I bought a cheap pair of gloves off Amazon and altered them by shortening the fingers and adding a seam to simulate a cuff at the wrist. I also added weathering with acrylic paint.
Wig
The wig is a silver lace front from Amazon that I cut and styled with a straightening iron for loose waves and a metric ton of Got2B hairspray.
Patterning
Pattern was bought from MadsFive as part of her Isobel full package kit (Etsy). After making mockups, I altered the shape of the front panels slightly to be narrower, and because of my alterations, I ended up covering the coat in masking tape to make the silver trim. I also redid the moon and stars on the tail of the coat in order to fit the proportions of my new trim pattern.
I ended up re-patterning the tabard after I sewed the coat because I realized my coat opened up wider than in the reference, so I needed a wider tabard to compensate.
Fabric
The main coat was made out of a stretch denim and the lining was a lightweight gray cotton. I sadly got these from Joann's so they are not available anymore. The silver vinyl for the trims and accents were from Michael's, and the pleated fabric on her arms is the same Kona Cotton Silver that I used for her capes (available at a ton of different fabric retailers).
Accessories
The coat closes with standard hook and eye closures down the front centerline; this isn't entirely accurate to the in-game model, which uses what looks like button loops. To the right of my hook and eyes, there are star and moon motif "buttons" which were 3D printed and stitched onto the coat close to the hooks and eyes to look attached but not actually bear any weight. The moon cycle decals on the trim of her coat were cut out of light blue Siser HTV vinyl. Both the star and motif buttons and the moon cycle decals were from Raisin Cosplay's Selunite Accessories kit (Etsy).
The arm armor was 3D printed on my Elegoo Saturn 3 using Silver Panther 3D's Isobel Armor kit (Etsy). I airbrushed a black basecoat and applied silver on top of that. The blue center was Folk Art acrylic paints. They attach to the coat with magnets - the inside of the armor is lined with magnets, and then I had a separate strip of magnets that I can place on the inside of the pleats on the arms (the magnet lays between the pleat and the coat fabric).
Sewing Process
This coat nearly ended me hehe. I sewed the base coat panels together and then stitched on the silver trim after that. For the silver trim, Spray N Bond was my holy grail. It's an adhesive spray glue that washes away with soap and water, which I used to affix all my pieces in place. The moon and stars (20 moons, 40 stars) were all glued down and then topstitched into place. I used a satin stitch (a very tight zigzag stitch) on all of the borders of the silver trim to get that embroidered look. When my machine struggled sewing through these layers, I utilized a walking foot (sewing machine attachments).
After finishing the silver trim, I then attached my lining to the coat. I then worked on the sleeves (I'm a lazy girl and didn't feel like lining the sleeves), making 2cm pleats as per MadsFive's pattern. For the side pieces with the holes, I punched them using a leather rotary punch tool. I went over any stray threads with a lighter to keep them from fraying too much. For the bottom hem of the coat, I just turned the edges in on themselves and topstitched because I was getting exhausted of this coat. As mentioned before, hook and eye and silver moon closures were handstitched down the center of the coat.
For the bottom trim, I cut out a strip of silver vinyl as long as my coat, folded it in half, and then I painstakingly wrapped silver rattail cord around the strip of vinyl, gluing the wraps in place. I then handstitched directly on the outside of the coat.
The coat is very lightly weathered with eye shadow and watered down acrylic paint.
