Tales of Symphonia was the first game in the Tales Series I completed, and one of the reasons I originally got into cosplay! It has a very special, nostalgic place in my heart. Lloyd is an excellent character and his costume is so iconic!

This was one of the first costumes I tried to make by myself, so some of the material and construction choices are a bit questionable, but I’m still proud of the result! It was my first attempt at patterning something quite complicated myself, some of my first props, and my first pair of fitted boot covers.

I had a lot of help from my mother and sister with this costume, especially with the trousers and sewing on all of the buttons!

Materials Used:

• Cotton • Jacket, Gloves, Boot Covers
• Faux Leather • Belts, Swords
• Polyester Bi-Stretch • Trousers
• Foamboard • Swords
• Wig •  Short Brown Spiked Wig from CosplayWig

Construction Notes:
Lloyd’s design isn’t very complicated but as one of my first projects, this was very daunting! I learned a lot while making this about the order things should be sewn in and how garments go together. None of the costume was lined or finished properly, and the shirt was ill-fitting .. but it looked the part!

The wig was bought from CosplayWig on eBay, one of their generic “short brown spiked wigs”. Most of the styling was done by my friend __Jaeger, who styled his signature spikes.

The jacket is made from red cotton with white cotton “tails” on the collar. There is a lot of debate over what material is most appropriate for Lloyd: some versions suggest a heavier material like leather, but when I made this I was young and cheap, so I used cotton. It photographed nicely but wasn’t very flexible and frayed terribly.

The pattern for the jacket was made from scratch, adapted from a shirt. The front panel was extended, the collar was added, and the shoulder and arm detail was patterned to fit. The front closes with snap fasteners – none of the buttons were functional to reduce pulling. The collar stood up with heavy interfacing.

The gloves were made from the same red cotton. They were my first attempt at gloves and planted the “I hate gloves” seed early on, using a free online pattern. The exsphere on the back of my hand was made from sculpey built around a gemstone, which was formed over my hand and glued to the glove.

The trousers are made from grey polyester bi-stretch. My sister gave me a lot of help with these, especially with the proportions. They are high waisted with an extended zipper and buttons sewn to the front and back for the braces to fit to. The braces were bought.

The belts were made from faux leather with grosgrain ribbon detail. The swords slid on to them before the belts were sewn up as a loop. When worn, the belts were attached to the side of the trousers using safety pins. The swords were made from foamboard I cut and glued into shape then covered in faux leather with cotton and ribbon detail.

The boots were plain calf-high black boots covered in the same red cotton. There were no zippers so they were easy to pull on. The boot cover pattern was made from scratch by myself. It was tricky to pattern each panel and strap but I got there in the end!