I gotta be honest here, I do not like spending time at the local fabric store. Let me explain: It’s not because I don’t enjoy browsing for fabric. I could’ve spent hours in Eurokangas for example. I just don’t like spending time at this particular fabric store, because it’s warm and stuffy there, and I can’t find anything for the life of me. Yet I was in there for about two hours last Friday looking for the perfect fabric for my Pocahontas cosplay. The sacrifices you make for your hobbies!

I’ve been googling other cosplays to see how they made that dress, I found basically the perfect Pocahontas. It’s from a Disney princess photoshoot by photographer Ryan Amendi, and it’s a lesson in humility: There’s no way I could ever look as perfect as this model. It’s my own fault, really. My friend Neko warned me about looking at really good cosplays because it’ll just make you feel bad about yourself. But I decided I wouldn’t let this get to me – I’m doing this for fun, after all. So I decided I’d let that picture be an inspiration for my dress, nothing more, nothing less.

Starting from there, I knew I wanted some kind of leather-like fabric. It made sense, too, more than the cheap cotton fabric that people often use for cosplays. Hence me searching my local fabric store for two hours, because you really think I found the right fabric right at the start? Oh no. At one point I was standing in the section for furniture fabric, pondering if spending 20€/m on a beautiful, beautiful suede was really worth it for a costume I’d wear once. (Hint: It wasn’t.) It wasn’t until a saleswoman pointed out the faux suede, hidden under a table in a corner, that my search came to an end. That was uncharacteristically helpful for the sales personnel in this store, but I think she may have been extremely amused by me waving my phone with a Pocahontas picture in front of her eyes. (She further endeared herself to me when she told my mother off, who had already decided which fabric I had to buy. “No no no, the daughter decides, not the mother”, she said. :D)

The fabric on top is for her belt, the fabric in the middle for the fringe, and the last one is for the dress. It’s darker than in the original designs, but I prefer the colourway!