Felicia
Darkstalkers

Inspiration:  Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be making a Felicia costume, but when my cosplay group asked if I would do it, I didn’t need too much coaxing to agree to it.  Upon further review I learned that Felicia had a really cute personality and even became a nun and opened up an orphanage!  I had never played the games before, so just looking at her character design I would have never guessed that.

Materials/Construction Details:  The costume is entirely made out of a short pile white costume fur.  Unfortunately for me though, there was no stretch to it what-so-ever, which made covering curved surfaces with limited seams quite the challenge.  The paws were my first obstacle.  Each finger was carved out of upholstery foam so that my paws would have an exaggerated look to them.  The claws were formed out of air dry clay and then painted a light pink.  I also coated them in several layers of clear nail polish to give them a nice shine and protect the paint from chipping.  The fingers were attached to a glove, the nails glued down at the tips, and then everything was covered in fur.  There’s a lot more to this than I’m describing, so if you would like to know more, please feel free to contact me about it.

I bought some cheap clear heeled shoes to make the foot paws.  I got the idea from Felicia cosplayers that came before me and I agree that the angle of the heel gives the foot a more cat like look.  Upholstery foam was used here too to shape the toes and foot before being covered in fur.  Because the fur didn’t stretch, I had to install an invisible zipper from the heel of my foot to just below mid-calf in the leggings to allow my foot to get past the ankle part.

The tail was cut out in the shape I wanted it to be (rather than a straight tube) and stuffed with poly-fiber filling so no wire was required to give it the desired curve.  The top was made from modifying a strapless bra that had a clear snap in the front.  I modified the cup to be much thinner and then covered it all in fur.  I made the pattern for the bottom and made it out of two layers of fur with a snap on one side since, once again, the fur didn’t stretch.  The ears were made with fur over a thick layer of interfacing and some pink satin attached to a headband.  Tufts of long fur were added at the ears, wrists, and ankles.  All other fur bits (stomach, thighs, upper arms) were cut out of fur and backed with iron-on to give spirit gum a solid surface to adhere to when stuck to my body.  I also wore green cat-eye contacts and fangs with this costume.

Wig: Ah, the glorious wig!  I actually purchased this wig from an online store based in Las Vegas…basically it’s a wig designed for drag.  It had an amazing amount of volume to it, but I tamed it down a bit while I was styling it for my purposes.  Despite the amount of teasing it had been through, it was still shiny and soft and so much fun to wear!

Prop:  Samu-chan as Morrigan and Meru as Lilith.  Just kidding, you two aren’t props, but really fun and sexy cosplay partners!