Gun Mage Paine

Character Name: Paine

Variation: Gun Mage

Source: Final Fantasy X-2

Total Cost: 150 USD

Time Consumed: 15-25 hours

Why I made it: Gun Mage Paine is my third Paine costume ever. I decided to do this one initially because Pixiekitty wanted to do Gun Mage Rikku and I wanted to do the costume with her. Also I have liked this particular sphere’s design for quite some time now, so it didn’t take too much arm twisting in the end to get me to do it. The costume was an interesting challenge too. It was overall easy looking but with some very strange bits and pieces that would need to be creatively executed.

How I made it:I made Gun Mage with a number of different materials. The pants were the hardest part to construct. Upon looking at in-game shots, I deduced that there were no side seams! This was a slight problem of course given that the pants are checkered slightly with different colours of material.
I went through three different ideas for material as well in the process, buying and returning twice before finally buying a moleskin and a cotton spandex blend for the two colours. The cotton spandex being the blue, I also used that to cover the boots.
For the Pants pattern I made a mockup of one leg of a normal pants pattern and then cut it down the front and back. Next I cut it into sections and labeled each by colour with some tailor’s chalk. The final step was cutting with seam allowance and sewing. Amazingly enough, it worked!

The boots also gave me some trouble. I ruined a very nice pair in the process of trying to change them, but thankfully I managed to acquire another pair which I then covered with the cotton/spandex and some vinyl.

For the skirts we decided to use low sheen, so I primarily used the underside of various satins, tattering and burning the edges at the bottom of the purple. Pixiekitty painted the writing on the black (She did a glorious job I must say).

The top again was the underside of satin with blanket binding, the holes both have bias tape around them and again Pixiekitty appliquéd the design. My necklace of course is the good old barbed wire Paine necklace that I have used in my previous Paine costumes.

The gloves took forever to dye mainly because we couldn’t find the correct dye ratio for them, but eventually we did. That was mostly Pixiekitty’s doing too. The tops of the gloves (upper arm) were made with feathers and vinyl.

Lionel Lum made me the gun. It is amazing. I thank him very much for the glorious gift that it is!

Likes: I really like how the costume as a whole turned out. The pants I think are one of my favourite accomplishments from it. I also like the tops of the gloves.

Dislikes: Two things I dislike about the costume are 1) the top doesn’t allow for a bra underneath. This makes me a bit insecure in it. And 2) By the time Ohayocon came along I had lost at least ten pounds from the stress of last minute sewing since I made the pants so they were slightly loose.

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