Callisto (Tarot Card Fool) Xena: The Bitter Suite

Worn by: Dahlia Complete: April 2006 Status: Active Photos: Fleur-de-Cosplay Awards: 2nd Place Group Craftsmanship - Starfest 2006

Dahlia's obsession with this costume began with an LJ icon and only grew after she began watching Xena on DVD. She fell in love with Callisto's character and after watching the climatic "Bitter Suite" musical episode, it was decided that a Fool's costume HAD to be made for Starfest to go along with Lilacwire's Gabrielle, which she had already constructed last year. 

The fabric was a lucky find at Joann's, and although it isn't 100% accurate, it still conveyed the costume's "feel."  The star motif was hand-painted using self-made stencils and screencaps for reference. For the dress pattern, Dahlia used Simplicity's rip-off of LOTR and heavily altered it. It is lined entirely in red fleece.

The crinkle effect on the cotton underdress was achieved using the "twist and boil" method (aka the Fortuny Delphos pleating method.) The boots and hat were Dahlia's favorite components. Using an old pair of "kung-fu" slippers as a base, she hand-patterned the boots and installed grommets along the back in order to allow the boots to lace up like the real Callisto boots. The hat was also hand-patterned, although it took lots of tweaking to get it to look right. (Dahlia was disappointed that she couldn't get the wig to straighten like Callisto's.) If Dahlia were to wear this to another con, she'd love to make Callisto's rucksack (complete with blinking eye.)