How to Make Skyrim Cosplay: Nocturnal's Robes

Photographs: Desirée Marié of Into The New Photography and Artistry

Cosplayer: Beebichu Cosplay

Universe: The Elder Scrolls copyright Bethesda Softworks

Greetings Mortals,

Please enjoy my Nocturnal photos and read along as I explain how I made this costume. I chose to wear a billowy satin underdress for modesty's sake so no comments on how its not 100% accurate! No cosplay ever is anyways ;)

Robes:

Estimated Materials: 

4 metres of black fabric

4 metres of silver bias tape

6 metres of gold bias tape

2 metres of silver heat transfer vinyl (this kind of stuff)

And of course your going to need lots of black thread. I also used gold and silver thread for sewing on the bias tape. Naturally this was all made on a sewing machine.

Reference Photos

History: Nocturnal is a Daedric Prince who often takes the form of a beautiful woman robed in black and with ravens perched on their shoulders. She resides over the Evergloam; a plane of Oblivion. She is oft the patron daedra to thieves and assassins. Her other names include Empress of Murk, and Daughter of Twilight. There are 3 chosen individuals who protect her temple on Tamriel and act as her agents of vengeance should her temple be defiled and her treasures stolen (ironically they often are). These agents are called Nightingales. 

                

The Pattern

Existing patterns that I modified:

McCall's M6612 for the dress and Simplicity 9887 for the hood and sleeves.

    

Pattern mods that were made:

Choose dress D from the McCall's pattern. Following the direction of the pattern cut out your dress size. When it says to lay out the pattern on the fabric while folded in half, make this following modification to get Nocturnal's scooping low low neckline.

So the front and back pieces of the dress should look like this:

front folded in half

front unfolded

back folded in half

back unfolded

Sleeves:

I made up my own sleeve pattern just by looking at how the McCall's dress pattern sleeves were shaped. (I should have used the Simplicity robe pattern for help but I never thought of that).

Hood:

I used one of the hoods from the Simplicity 9887 pattern to help make the Nocturnal hood. I can't remember which one but it's important to note that I used draft paper to enlarge the hood considerably. I suggest making one out of scrap fabric to test your own first.

    

The Silver Details

I used a material called heat transfer vinyl or iron on vinyl for all the silver details on Nocturnal's robes. It is really easy to use and comes in many colours and finishes. I used silver glitter flake from Stahls Canada for this step.

just draw your design on the wrong side

cut with a sharp utility knife to achieve perfect lines

Iron on medium heat and peel off the protective layer

Iron on all the silver details before you sew the robes together!

Sewing Steps:

Follow the directions from the McCall's pattern to sew the front, back, and sleeves together. Remember you don't have to sew the inseams (sides) together as Nocturnal's robes are open almost all the way down the inseams.

Follow the directions from the Simplicity pattern on how to gather the neck of the hood and sew it to the back neckline.

fitting the robes to make sure everything is cut right

Last step is the bias tape.

If your lucky you can find gold and silver bias tape that is already pressed down the middle. If not, just iron it yourself. All you do is sandwich all the hemlines with it and sew it with gold and silver thread. Gold for the neckline and around the sides and bottom of the robes. Silver for the sleeves.

Hallelujah! triple pressed biased tape!


Viola! Enjoy your Nocturnal Costume. Or your new lingerie, whatever floats your boat.