Vin

from Mistborn

I don't have a lot of pictures of this cosplay :(

I made this mistcloak for Halloween 2014!

Here are some descriptions of mistcloaks from the books:

Large and enveloping, the cloak wasn’t constructed from a single piece of cloth—rather, it was made up of hundreds of long, ribbonlike strips. They were sewn together at the shoulders and across the chest, but mostly they hung separate from one another, like overlapping streamers. Kelsier threw on the garment, its strips of cloth twisting and curling, almost like the mists themselves.

Sanderson, Brandon. Mistborn: The Final Empire (p. 90). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

The cloth was slick and soft in Vin’s fingers, and she quickly realized what it was. She let the gray material unroll in her fingers, revealing a Mistborn cloak. Like the garment Kelsier had worn the night before, it was tailored completely from separate, ribbonlike strips of cloth.

Sanderson, Brandon. Mistborn: The Final Empire (p. 133). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

She paused, then threw the cloak over her shoulders and tied it on. It felt…different. Thick and heavy on her shoulders, but light and unconstraining around her arms and legs. The ribbons were sewn together at the top, allowing her to pull it tight by the mantle if she wished. She felt…enveloped. Protected.

Sanderson, Brandon. Mistborn: The Final Empire (p. 134). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

It's also described as having pockets and a hood, and coming loose when pulled.

Some of these descriptions are a little contradictory - I'm not quite sure how a cloak could both be made entirely of ribbons but also have pockets and a hood.

I chose to make the shoulders and hood of a cloak out of a light, bouncy fabric, then add strips of the fabric to the base of the shoulders/hood section. This seems to be the standard when making a cosplay mistcloak.

I have made basic cloaks in the past - I have a Ravenclaw cloak I made for myself, and I made my sister a Hufflepuff cloak with the same pattern.

I used the hood and part of the cloak from the cloak pattern to design the hood and shoulders patterns for this cloak.

Somewhere I have some of my initial sketches. If I find them, I'll put them here!

Here's the hood/shoulder patterns, pinned onto the fabric before I cut them out:

About to cut out the upper part of the cloak

I cut long strips of the same cloth for the ribbons of the cloak:

Each strip was the same width (I think about an inch?):

I then loosely added each strip to the end of the shoulder section, probably using pins (although it looks like I tried using a white thread that I intended on removing later in the first picture):

I also layered the ribbons to ensure there were no ribbonless sections.

I didn't use "hundreds" of ribbons as described in the book - I probably used no more than fifty. Hundreds would have been insane.

Here is me trying on the cloak before adding the fringe and clasp:

Unfortunately, this is the best picture of me in the cloak!

I used seam tape to finish the fringe of the cloak where it meets the ribbons:

And I created a magnetic clasp to allow the cloak to be removed with a strong pull:

There are rare earth magnets in the clasp sections, and magnets sewn into the backs of the front cloak section.

When I first got the magnets, I looked for the package and couldn't find it... until I realized it was stuck to the door!

And yeah, I know, using magnets doesn't really make sense in-world, since a mistborn doesn't want to have any metal on them at all. But I thought it was neat to have a mistcloak that stays on when you want it to but can be pulled off quickly.

As for the rest of the costume, I got a single stud earring:

This is another case where I used magnets instead of something that made sense in-world. I don't have pierced ears, and I do not intend on piercing my ears, especially not for a cosplay. At least it looks like a real earring.

I also got some edible glitter of various metallic colors, and some small glass vials. I filled the vials with liquor and the glitter! (The metal in the vials is described in the book as being in an alcohol solution.) I attempted to tie the vials onto a makeshift belt made of a wide brown ribbon, but it didn't look very good. I still have yet to find a belt solution that has no metal but can still carry vials.

I found some peasant-looking clothes at the thrift store for my Halloween edition of the cosplay. In cosplays since then, I've worn pretty dresses under the mistcloak :)

Thanks to my mom for letting me use her sewing machine, since I didn't have a sewing machine yet at the time. She also helped me with some of the initial plans for the cloak, and I believe some sewing specifics in the middle!