Interview with the Cosplayer: Aissac.Cos & Aobittybaby
If you’ve been with us since the early days of CUT/SEW, you might recognize a couple of familiar faces in @Aissac.Cos and @Aobittybaby. Longtime collaborators, early models for our patterns, and endlessly creative forces in their own right, these two have always had a special place in our brand story as cheerleaders and friends.
Known in the cosplay world for their jeweled details, bold silhouettes, and striking makeup, they also bring that same artistry into their professional lives — working behind the scenes at two of the East Coast’s biggest costume studios. With credits spanning film, television, Broadway, and even the Met Gala, they’ve mastered the balance of craft and spectacle on both the hobby and professional stage. We sat down with them to talk about brainstorming, burnout, and the surprising ways cosplay and professional costuming overlap.
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This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.
★ Let’s start simple! Your name/IG handle and one short & sweet fun fact about yourself:
Ai: Hello my name is Ai/Aissac and I can be found on IG and TikTok under @Aissac.cos! A fun fact about myself is I’m obsessed with disco music. It always puts me in a good mood.
Blue: @Aobittybaby, and if there’s a dragon on it I’m probably gonna buy it.
★ And what's your official "work title"?
Ai: Tambour specialist/hand finisher.
★ How did you first get into cosplay anyway?
Ai: I first got into cosplay through Death Note. I really liked how dark and angsty Mello was so my heart immediately fell for Matt, his one friend that knew he was good beneath all of his moral ambiguity. At the time, Matt had very little content but the fandom adored him. Since his outfit was so simple I felt safe and confident trying to piece it together. I also didn’t feel much anxiety being him since he was such a minor character. I’m pretty sure the striped shirt I wore was from Hot Topic.
Peer pressure and wanting to be included, honestly. My friends at the time wanted to get into it so I went along with it. And then it consumed my life. Wish they’d wanted to get into like…watercolors or maybe bird watching.
★ What’s something you’ve made that taught you something unexpected? Skill-wise or emotionally, either is fair game!
Ai: I learned how to cartridge pleat by working on a dress for (the broadway show) Death Becomes Her. I’d still love to implement this in one of my own costumes.
Blue: I made myself a snack in the hotel room and learned that the photoshoot didn’t go horribly wrong, I was just stressed and hungry.
★ Do you have any “I can’t believe I pulled that off” moments in cosplay? Whether it was finishing a costume at 3 am or surviving a con meltdown.
Ai: Katsucon 2017 my friend Spades and I made four costumes each for the weekend. It was an insane amount of work. I make 1-2 costumes max per con now.
Blue: Nope! Whenever it gets down to the wire and I pull an all nighter hot gluing and safety pinning. It’s almost never worth it because I don’t finish anyway.
★ What’s something you wish more people knew about the cosplay scene, especially from your perspective. Feel free to mythbust.
Ai: That it’s an introductory hobby! Yes, we have veterans that have been doing it for a long time, but we also have young kids just getting into it. I think it’s really important to see the cosplay community through a gentle lens. Not everyone is going to have the perfect wig or perfect makeup. It could be their first cosplay ever!
Blue: The sheer amount of time and effort it takes to complete a costume from conception to completion. The lengths people go to make these cosplays is insane and should be appreciated more, both in and out of the (cosplay) community. I feel the fast fashionification of cosplay has really devalued how labor intensive it is.
★ Have you ever had a creative rut? How did you work through it—or are you still figuring it out?
Ai: I stress dream about sewing problems and tend to come up with solutions in my sleep. (I don’t sleep well leading up to a con lol)
Blue: I guess you could say I’m technically in one right now? Having self-esteem issues compiled with cosplay becoming synonymous with Instagram/posting online for me really turned me off of (cosplay) and I haven’t quite found my way back. Working in theatre, making costumes all day everyday, really quiets the goblin that growls and dances around in my hindbrain whenever I’m not creating something. I do still very much enjoy the idea of cosplay and creating things, but I’ve found sort of an adjacent creative outlet that also happens to make me money instead of bleeding me dry.
★ What advice would you give to someone just starting in cosplay? Especially the kind you wish you’d heard early on.
Ai: Sometimes done is perfect! You don’t need every detail. If it’s wearable you’re good to go.
Blue: Time management! If it’s not done 24 hours before you have to leave, let it go and wear something else. It's not worth a night of lost sleep. You’re there to have fun and make friends, and that's most important.
Let's talk about work really quick, since you guys have incredibly cool jobs. What project have you worked on that you're the most proud of?
Ai: Debbie Allen’s 2025 Met Gala outfit.
★ In your opinion, how do cosplay and broadway intersect? (Or do they not intersect at all?)
Ai: They absolutely do! Our shop is full of cosplayers. We are all people that love to create so in that way both communities will always intersect.
★ What you wish more people knew about professional costuming?
Ai: That almost everything gets done by hand! Collars, hems, pleating and detail work all has to go through hand finishing. Jacket linings get finished by hand, gown skirts get attached to their bodices by hand. So don’t ever be afraid to pick up a needle and thread!
SPEED ROUND ╰┈➤
★ Must-have in the con hotel room?
Ai: Speaker for music.
Blue: Snacks.
★ Song always on your getting dressed playlist?
Blue: At least one song from a musical that no one wants to hear but I brought the speaker so 😈
★ Character you’d cosplay if time, money, and gravity weren’t an issue?
Ai: Trinity Blood.
Blue: Seto Kaiba in his Blue Eyes jet with a briefcase full of Benjamins.
★ Your Babygirl character of the moment?
Ai: Declan Lynch from The Raven Cycle
Blue: It's a Tie between Jean Moreau from All for the Game and Jayce Talis from Arcane
★ “Cosplay is…” (Finish the sentence.):
Blue: Not that serious. Take a deep breath and smile, it’ll be ok.