Belldandy – Ah! My Goddess (manga outfit)

Made for: Katsucon 2004

Background: I wanted to reuse my Belldandy wig from the year before, so I thought it would be fun to try something from the manga – I picked this outfit from the cover 1-555-GODDESS because it looked super fun to make with all the little details and things.

Journal Entries: Read more at my Belldandy manga tag

Related Costumes: Hild, Belldandy, Urd

Patterns Used:
McCalls 3636, McCalls 2790

Skirt:

I had to dream up the bottom portion of the dress, since the artwork I was going from only showed her from the hips up. I also decided to streamline the design a little; I just felt like there was so much going on on top, the bottom needed to be a little more simple to balance it out. The skirt I made out of the same material I used for Padme’s Lake Dress, and dyed it pink. I used part of an old hoopskirt in the hem to make it keep its shape. I added a layer of the same undyed material along the inside edges, simply because the skirt seemed to need a little something more.

Shawl:

In November ’03 I found a really cool orange fabric, shot through with gold for the shawl. I made the shawl without a pattern, and interfaced the shoulder parts so they would stand up on their own. The back of the shawl has pieces hanging down which I painted the designs on – they’re hard to see but they are there! I should have wired them to make them stick out away from my body a little more.

Corset:

The upper part of the dress I decided to make a corset, using a nice blue fabric, and I used a heat-bonded the white designs – they are all suede cut into the shapes. The transfer worked really well and the designs have stayed on really well over the years. The corset has plastic boning and laces up the back. There are “straps” on the corset, which I beaded with various stones. They’re simply for looks, and hang wayyy down the back. The lighter blue parts at the hips are just 2 pieces of fabric I tacked in place on either side.

Headdress:

The headdress I made based around a headband. One is made of the light blue material, with the same white designs as the corset. It is attached to the second one, the one that has the “pointy things” coming out of it. Each of the pointy things is built around a wire, and each I painted just like the back pieces of the shawl.

Accessories:

The necklace and earrings I had found months earlier and bought just in case, since they reminded me of Belldandy’s jewelry, and they came in handy for this costume! The wig, gloves, booties and bracelets I had from the previous Belldandy costume.

History:

I only wore this a couple of times since the wig combined with the head-dress can get uncomfortable. But I love how it turned out!

As of 2025, I SOOO wish I had gotten this one out and shot it when I shot my other Belldandy costume on the white backdrop back in 2014. I had the wig cleaned up and both costumes live in the same box together, so why didn’t I do it then? Now it’s 10 years later and I’m going to have to clean up the wig all over again whenever I get around to shooting this one on the white backdrop. But it’s coming, I swear.

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