Hey, all! This is Emmy. Aren’t you surprised to see me? :D
I completed my first sewing project ever for Katsucon this year, and it couldn’t have been done for a more perfect character. D.Va is so special to me for a whole bunch of reasons, but I’ll get to that all later. For now, sorry for the long post, but there’s so much I want to say about this project! Please prepare for a very long-winded, messy, and emotional post!!
I’ve been in Dangerous Ladies since the beginning, and while I’m usually behind the scenes doing less glamorous work, I wanted to step up my game and do what I’ve always been afraid to do: Sew. Jenn has been my best friend for 15 years, and though I hadn’t done much sewing-wise during those years other than try to thread the machine (which I sucked at, haha), I always admired how effortless she made it look. And now that I have experienced sewing first hand, I can see it’s definitely not easy and, like any other skill, it takes so much practice and patience and diligence! Jenn has honed her skills for years and years and I hope someday I can reach that level, too. I learned SO much from this project; as Jenn has said, she really threw me into the deep end! However, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I can now thread the machine correctly and quickly (like, 90% of the time, unless I do some freak mistake that has Jenn pulling out a tangled mess haha), I can interface fabric, I can serge, I can wind a bobbin, I learned how to put lining in and learned how to deal with colourblocking on sleeves… And now I’m so eager to learn more! I have a secret project in the works now, so you’ll see more of that in the future!
D.Va’s hanbok was patterned using my real hanbok as reference, though we belled the sleeves a lot more, since it’s got a more traditional feel. Her jeogori (shirt) is fully lined, and the little gold flowers are HTV. The chima (skirt) is pleated and has a fully finished hem and serged seams, with HTV filigree patterns along the bottom. The fabric pattern was vectored by Jenn and printed on Art Of Where.
As simple as D.Va’s seems on paper, it was actually quite a challenging outfit to make. Besides the sewing of the actual garments, which was fair bit of work in itself, there was a lot to be done on all the accessories and prop to help tie it all together. As such, I was lucky enough to enlist the help of our team and friends!! All the HTV applique (heat-transfer vinyl) cut by the Silhouette was done by Christine, who also taught me how to iron it all on and make it all stick. The beads and hanbok accessories were also assembled by her, and our dear friend Meg painted the pieces. Shazz hand-sewed my snaps and our friend Erin helped with ironing. The Palanquin gun was modelled by Obsydiann Props, printed by Jenn, and assembled by me. Jenn and I primed and painted and I did all the little detail work. The socks and shoes are authentic; they go with my actual hanbok that I wear for special occasions.
At Katsucon, when I finally put everything on - hanbok, wig, accessories and all, I… cried. It’s so cheesy, but D.Va is such an important character to me and to a lot of people! As a Korean person who was told as a child that Korea wasn’t a real country because “no one heard about it”, having such a strong, cute, and beloved character representing my background is a dream come true to me. When the Overwatch lunar new year trailer was released, I watched with Jenn, eager to see what kind of outfit D.Va got. When she appeared at the end, doing sebae, I couldn’t believe it and I instantly teared up. Sebae is such a specific new year ritual that brought me back to my childhood and it gave me so much joy to see it showcased in such a mainstream game! Jenn and Christine could see how important the LNY skin was to me, so that’s how it was decided that this would be my first sewing project. It couldn’t have been done without their guidance and knowledge. The number of people at the con who complimented me all weekend and marvelled at the construction of my costume made my heart swell. I felt so confident and happy and most of all, I felt proud because I got to say that I made it! So, thank you to everyone who had kind words, or took selfies, or took pictures of me. Katsucon was the absolute best. Now I’ll have memories of it every time I wear Palanquin D.Va!
So to wrap it up: huge thank you to my babby, my bff, Jenn. She’s a huge inspiration to me and I have so much respect for her sewing and crafting, I hope that I become a much more useful asset to her for future projects as well. Thank you to Christine for her guidance and her willingness to sit me down and teach me things from stringing beads to ironing and “punishing” the HTV to stick. And of course, huge thank you to Shazz, and friends who helped out! Even those little things like sewing and ironing and painting really helped everything come together so beautifully. Couldn’t have done it without you all, truly.
HTV applique, custom fabric, resin accessories: http://dangerousladies.storenvy.com/
D.Va gun model: https://www.copefx.com/myminifactory/
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