Character: Marcille Donato
Series: Delicious in Dungeon
Version: Dress and Caplet
Debut: Anime Frontier 2024
For my Marcille costume I wanted to focus on sustainable choices for the build. You can see that theme through the materials I chose for many elements of the costume. I was able to use fabric from dead stock, thrifting and second hand sources as well as recycled materials to build the base for her book. I also tried to use natural fibers because they were both in character and typically more sustainably manufactured.
For the capelet and pants I used commercial patterns and for the dress I generated a pattern from Sewist.com to use as a base. All of these patterns required modifications and a few mock ups to settle on the final versions. The sewing was pretty straight forward for all the garment pieces. I used french seams on the pants, skirt of the dress and sleeves of the dress. For the bodice and capelet I lined these pieces. The dress also features pockets.
This project was a good opportunity for me to learn some new skills through making all of the accessories. I have done some leatherwork in the past but I pushed my self this time making both her pouch and sandals out of leather. For the pouch I modified a free online pattern and made a mock up with craft foam. Once I was satisfied I cut the leather out and dyed all of the pieces. I was then able to saddle stitch it all together and add the closure. For the shoes I followed a similar process, excepts I had to draft the pattern completely from scratch. Since her sandals are a much lighter color I left them the natural veg tan color and just finished them off with some wax. I also dyed and put together her belts from belt blanks.
In addition to learning more about leather working I spent time learning about book binding and decided to use some of those techniques to make her magic book. Instead of binding a real book though, I wanted to create a faux book box that I could use as another way to cary stuff around in the costume. I built the box completely out of packaging cardboard and matte board scraps I’ve had stashed away for years. I finished off the inside of the box with some scrapbook paper. I sculpted along the outside edge with foam clay to create the impression on book pages and then sealed and painted that. For the cover I created my own book cloth using fabric, heat n bond and tissue paper. I created the designs by vectoring the and using the cricut to cut HTV. This whole think is held together with Alene’s craft glue. I did add a couple of rare earth magnets into the side to help keep the box closed.
The wig was a pretty basic style job of a lacefront purchased off of Amazon. One cool thing is that because I chose a lace front I have the opportunity to restyle the wig in more of Marcilles MANY hair styles.
Overall this was a nice low stress project that allowed me to grow my skills and I’m really pleased with how it came out. I am looking forward to wearing her more and maybe eating some monsters?
photos: Alphonse Media