Harry Potter Cosplay

We have wanted to do a Harry Potter cosplay for a long time now.  I even went so far as to order three sets of Gryffindor robes for the kids two years ago.  Rob and I were going to be Snape and McGonagall or Hagrid and Professor Trelawny, but it just never manifested.  Halloween 2019 was difficult with the death of Rob's dad.  I didn't make anything for anyone.  We pulled out the Gryffindor robes at the last minute for Sarah so she could go trick or treating and found out that the Small we ordered was entirely too small and wouldn't fit her anymore.  She wore one of the Larges that we bought the boys and we gave the Small one away. 

When we chose Puffs for our second slot, I donated the Gryffindor robes to the cause of the show. While watching the show, which was super cute and fun, it occurred to me that we could do a HP photoshoot and send it out for Christmas cards.  The first idea was a Slytherin family photo with Rob as Voldemort, me as Bellatrix, Sarah as Malfoy, Sylvan as Crabbe, and Seth as Goyle. The school uniforms fit the kids perfectly, which was a lucky coincidence with the casting. Voldemort's robes were one size fits all.  The only thing I had to do was come up with a new Bellatrix costume since I'm twice as big as the actress who played that character in Puffs. I chose a black corset, a long sleeved net shirt, and a ruffled black skirt with a cape.

Production Process

Then I had another idea: do all the Hogwarts ghosts.  Nearly Headless Nick. Fat Friar, and Moaning Myrtle were all parodied in Puffs, so I already had those costumes, built by the fabulous Matt Smith for the show, and again the sizing was a lucky coincidence.  I had to make a Bloody Baron and a Grey Lady costume.  I ordered the fabric from Fabric.com and it arrived in a week. I made a Restoration Justacorp for The Baron with slops, that he wore with a pre-existing doublet that I made for Three Musketeers. For The Grey Lady, I used a pre-existing skirt from Beaux Stratagem and matching bodice that I made for Christmas Carol.  I had to remove the sleeves and create new ones to bring it into the correct period.  I added an overskirt and some more trim.

At some point, I bought an awesome tiara at a Skellington Market.  I really wanted to make something to go with it.  That's when I had the idea to do all the Founders' Objects in our Ghost photo.  Rob already had a sword, I used the silver cup from the show, my tiara was Rowena's diadem, my grandmother's locket became Salazar's, and for Moaning Myrtle, an old patterning book stood in for Tom Riddle's diary.  All I needed now was a photographer.  Of couse I asked my friend Krista Kasper to do the honors.  She did Seth's senior pictures and really did an amazing job on them.  I asked her before Thanksgiving when I was still putting together all the costumes, wigs, and props.  We set up a date, I did the location scouting, and like a very busy bee, started patterning and sewing. In fact I was still sewing the morning of the photo shoot.

Getting Ready

The family showed up at 1:00 and it was a tight schedule to get everyone dressed with wigs and makeup in the Ghosts costumes.  We had to do those first because Rob had to shave afterwards to be Voldemort.  I really needed another hour to do a better job with the wigs and makeup, but as it was literally the shortest day of the year, hurrying had to happen or we would lose the light.

Photoshoot

 Krista took a ton of photos, which are really great.  The only problems were the girls' wigs weren't on very well and you can see our hairline in the close ups. Also, there's a reason I'm not an actress.  I don't take great photos, especially when I'm supposed to be cruel like Bellatrix or haughty like the Grey Lady.  However, all things considered, the photoshoot was a rousing success.  We celebrated with pizza and Christmas tv shows back at our house.

The CArds

Did I mention that Krista is also great wit Photoshop?  Check out the awesome Dark Mark and Hogwarts castle she gave us. She also managed to make Rob's arms white after I did his Voldemort makeup on his face and neglected to do his arms as well.  He also forgot to take off his Fitbit, so she got rid of that too.