Tales of Vesperia is my top Tales title and I hit it hard in 2010 – Raven was the first costume I made from it.

I remember thinking to myself “I’m gonna hate this guy..” but he became my favourite very quickly so I threw together his costume. There’s something very satisfying about looking and feeling so scruffy, applying eyeshadow stubble and day drinking from 9am.

After a few years of misuse, I retired him and sold the jacket, which now lives happily in the US. I don’t have the costume anymore but I have lots of very fond memories of it.

Materials Used:

• Cotton • Jacket
• Jersey • Shirt, Trims
• Polyester Bi-Stretch • Trousers
• Faux Leather • Belt
• Wig • Short Brown Spiked Wig & Clip from CosplayWig

Construction Notes:
I don’t particularly remember making this costume, probably because it was made very quickly and fuelled by excitement.

The wig was a Short Brown Spiked Wig & Clip from CosplayWig. The base wig was backcombed and trimmed to look “messy”. The clip was originally 60cm long, so I chopped it up, flipped it upside down and covered it in hairspray. It’s not got as much volume as Raven’s hair should, but it certainly added to the messy look!

The jacket was made from purple and yellow cotton with black bi-stretch cuffs and trims. It was made loosely from a kimono pattern, adapted to have the tapered hem. The jacket was double layered and closed at the neck where the collar attached. The white diamond pattern on the back was done with satin stitch applique, and the black diamonds along the collar were edged with thin grosgrain ribbon.

The shirt was made from pink jersey. I wouldn’t recommend using jersey for a shirt ever. None of the buttons were functional and it was easy to pull on but it didn’t sit correctly and wasn’t particularly comfortable.

The belt was made from faux leather. The “buckle” is a hair gel lid spray painted gold and glued into place. The belt closes with velcro and has small strips of elastic on one side to hold a hip flask (for accuracy, obviously).

The dagger was made from a cardboard tube and foam board. The inside of the foam board was carved out to create the “sharp” edge, covered in glue, then painted. The handle had foam detail glued into place and painted gold. The tassles were attached with a loop at the bottom of the dagger using ribbon.

The trousers were made from black bi-stretch with pink jersey diamonds attached to them. They had extra volume at the bottom, gathered into a cuff at the ankle that slipped inside the boots.

The boots were bought.