After meeting Kamui cosplay and talking with her, I really wanted to make a wizard from Diablo 3. I decided to focus on the quality of the costume rather than finishing it in time, and I wasn't afraid to fork over a little more money. I used satin for the main part of the dress, and brocades for the smaller details. The gold appliques were done in gold foil brocade which heat and bonded onto black heavyweight cotton I hand-embroidered on.
The bracers were made of EVA foam that I used Kamui's patterns and techniques from her armor books (which are a GREAT investment if you're interested in making armor.) I had to use EVA since I ran out of Worbla. All of the smaller details were done in Apoxie Sculpt and attached with rare earth magnets. The sword was a cheap Bokken I bought off of amazon and painted, and I made the dragon staff with a foam ball attached to the toilet paper roll and covered in Apoxie sculpt and Instamorph. The scrolls I made from paper towel rolls filled with expanding foam and then covered with pleather and ribbon.