Becoming Elsa from Frozen for Setsucon 2014

After Kotoricon ended, I had this sudden determination to cosplay as Elsa from Frozen and go premiere it at Setsucon. I told Nick and he agreed to go as Kristoff! WOOT! Another convention to go to...and one we've never been to!
Then it sets in....we have to make our cosplays. Okay, okay, I have styled wigs galore and made small props, and some sewing for previous cosplays but this time we were legit gonna make the whole deal. Besides, an Elsa costume is almost 1,000 bucks online! Wha!?!
I was more than ready to dive headfirst and make this happen. We had less than two weeks to make Elsa and Kristoff come alive. 
When making a cosplay, it is good to go through inventory of what you already have that will work. For me, I had a long platinum wig, high heels that could be used, and that was pretty much it. Oh dear.
I studied pics of Elsa in her glorious ice dress and decide that I will buy a dancers leotard and long ballet skirt in white and dye it. And that I did. They turned a lovely blue hue that was perfect. I then sewed the two together to make a dress.

 Taaaa daaaaa successfully sewn together! Now the next part was tricky. During the course of making Elsa's gown, I must have went to Joann's Fabrics 4 separate times and to AC Moore probably 2 times. I spent more money than necessary because I was against the clock and didn't think things through. The biggest mistake I made was buying three different types of fabric that I layered on each other. It looked AWESOME. I was making a bodice to sew onto the top half of the dress. However, the fabric did not stretch like the leotard top does and it would pop seams. Sewing 101: failed.
Rather than freak out and throw in the towel (OK, I almost did) I decided to go on a hunt for a sparkly tank or bodice/corset top that I could wear over the leotard. My mom and I went to a store that sells a lot of ahem clubbing clothes...sparkly, gaudy, skimpy outfits. And there, we found THE shirt. It was not sparkly or silver, but we saw it and said YES!
This shirt had gauzey sleeves and a bodice already on it. It was $19.99. Sold! I got home and pulled on the dress and then pulled the shirt over it. Perfection! All I had to do was dye the shirt the blue color and then make the bodice a sparkly explosion! I dyed it that night and hung it to dry. The next day I sponge painted the bodice silvery-sparklies with a tee shirt paint.
I had a pair of white heels that I jazzed up with snowflakes and the wig was easy to do. Simple side braid with baby snowflakes bobby pinned into the plait. The slit was cut the day I wore the cosplay. I sewed the cape on the night before the convention...it was blue and loaded with glitter that sparkled and moved well when I walked.

In the end I looked like this:

 And YES that is real snow! There were mad flurries! What luck!

All in all, I felt happy with my cosplay and people took very well to it! I knew I was missing some of her designs on her sleeves and my cape was sparkly sans snowflake designs. The bodice differs as it has a V on the front. I didn't have sleeves that ended in a point. There were differences from movie Elsa.
This is all good because now I know what works and doesn't work for this cosplay and what I can improve for the next convention which happens to be Katuscon 2014. I bought a new shirt to work on and will be sewing on fabric so there is no V center. I am making a snowflake cape and transforming my high heels into the ice shoes shown in the movie. I'm also going to have the pretty designs on the sleeves. Best part: I have time on my side!
My advice to people who are beginning to make their own cosplays: have confidence and be proud of what you created! Do NOT compare yourself to others who may have the same cosplay as you. You each can learn something from the other in how you made it or wore it :) We are all doing this for fun; it's not a contest! (unless you are in a contest...)
I debuted Elsa at a smaller con so I could see what I needed to change or tweak. And I know now, and I am working on that! Nick made his Kristoff cosplay which was pretty amazing...I will show it in the Setsucon review :)