Mother Nature

A project 2 years in the making, I finally wore this dress to Camp Cosplay in South Wales.

This particular costume started from a desire to create something inspired by nature, using a gorgeous mottled green and gold fabric for the overdress and an autumnal ombre for the chemise underneath. I created the costume, spent hours hand embroidering the veins on the 'leaves', french knots on the bodice, and 'branches' on the chemise, all using a textured yarn that was tricky to work with and tangled constantly, I also hand sewed fabric and synthetic flowers to the bottom of the chemise to give the effect of growing out of the the ground and made a subtle crown with gold wire and burnt orange tone stones.

After doing all this work...The costume was left in a cupboard for over a year. For various reasons, including my own personal struggles with my body image, as well as learning to live with chronic pain and fatigue which made dressing up for a full day at a con exhausting, I kept pushing back the debut of this costume to 'next time'.

Finally, in April 2026, with the support of my friends, I finally gained the confidence to wear it at Camp Cosplay. After a mini-breakdown when getting ready, which resulted in my friend taking over to do my makeup, I was able to finally get photos of my mother nature inspired dress. This journey has helped remind me that I create for the love of it, and it's a shame to not proudly wear what I've made. I'm actually in the process of working on a proper cosplay for myself which I'm hoping to wear by the end of this year, and is letting my test out a fair few new techniques and have fun with it!