About

My real name's Belinda, but people came to know me through my username: @oceana.everything

As a kid, I thought the outfits characters would wear in movies were sooooooo beautiful. I would think, "I wish I had that in real life". My biggest stroke of awe was when I fell in love with the animated film Barbie as the Island Princess (2007). Her peacock-inspired, island-blue ball gown was one straight out of a dream, and I was determined to get one. Of course, my local department store had a children's costume just like it in the toy section, but for a bigger kid whose proportions didn't line up with those of basic retail, it was out of the question to add this dress to my closet. I ran into another predicament when I realized no one in my family or anyone we knew could sew. Thus, seven-year-old me made a promise: if I ever picked up the skill when I got older and had the money, I would make the costume myself. 

Fast forward to the year 2021. It had been five years since I had made the decision to pursue my high school education in a non-traditional online platform. I had spent those years picking up new skills with my newfound abundance of spare time, some of which included crocheting (not knitting) and sewing elaborate dresses! Do you want to take a guess at what I sewed first? Okay, I'll admit I did not start with the Island Princess costume, but it was a ball gown! I wanted to make sure I got the basic idea of sewing down before I started with any big projects, and thus I pieced together a red dress made of satin fabric. Then, I tackled the Barbie ballgown immediately after. Not gonna lie—I felt like I could conquer anything. Then came the real challenge. What was I going to do with all of these costumes I was making??? In steps my best friend Katie (©2009). 

Katie took the summer I took on sewing to introduce me to the world of cosplay as well as all of her favorite anime. We took our first solo trips across the country to different conventions where I got to showcase some of my first-ever costumes, including characters like: (my own version of) Violet Evergarden, Mizu from Blue Eye Samurai, and Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon. If it were not for her inspiration and support, I would not have been able to share my art with those who would appreciate it.