Dress form!

Meet Bertha (Yes I named it.)

Now I can start sewing! I'm going to try and work on Sakura's tops tonight and hopefully I can start on the TB costumes by Friday at the very least. I'm so excited! Sorry for such a small post. I have a huge post about Seth later on tonight (maybe). So check back soon for more updates!

Fixing Sakura

This year our new costumes (We try to add a new costume every once a year.) was Sakura and Syaoron from Tsubasa. Our costumes were very well made (Minus the buttons that just would not stay sewn, but that's an easy fix for me) After looking through pictures that were taken I've noticed a few things that bugged me. 

Note: I hate how I look in these pictures! The short wig makes my face look bloated but I'll be posting them anyway to give you an idea how what is wrong and what I'm going to fix since I have time on my hands. It is NOT the people who took the pictures fault. I just don't look good with that wig on. Plus I need to work on my angles better when posing, I look bored. 

Issues

1.) The skirt looked way too flat! 

The skirts all bunched together and looked very bad flat and limp. I thought not using the hoop skirt would help keep the celestial look like Hanfus are supposed to have. But it really looked bad in pictures. 

Did I mention I hate how short my wig is? YUCK!

The Fix 

Sorry for the mess. I took these pictures on a whim and haven't cleaned up yet. 

The skirt looks blah! Too limp and flat.

Much better! It gives it a nice A-line shape. But unlike my Sharon cosplay this fabric is thin and shows the bones of the hoop skirt so I'm going to have to use my new petticoat I'm making for Caterina on top of it so you cannot see the lines. 

2.) The costume is in pieces!

This kills me. Each part isn't connected to on another which ended up doing this if I didn't fix it every five minutes...

(See my ribbon? I'm so proud of that!)

The three parts (Upper shirt, corset waist piece and skirt kept popping out. It was very bothersome. Made the "Hey can I have your picture?" pictures look bad too. 

The Fix

In order to fix this and stop it from happening the only thing I can do is connect two pieces together to keep them from separating and having the skirt budge out. I'm going to try and sew the two outer pieces together, the top and corset so they wont push through and show the skirt. I'm going to wait until I can get my dress form so it doesn't wind up being too tight. This costume was literary made to fit me like a glove. I should have added a few extra cm just in case but forgot to. Luckily I've lost weight since I've started working so I'm hoping that and sewing the pieces together will stop that from happening. I have to say it ruined my mood by it happening so often. I tend to get grumpy and stressed easily during cons when my costumes act up so I want to try and prevent that. 

The best thing about Sakura's long skirt is it is made out of satin. Why? It dragged on the ground a LOT. Plus rude people stepped on it even through they saw it on the floor. It did get dirty but so far has easily washed out. The thread seems to be the only noticeable dirty spots on the whole thing! I'm impressed and think I'll use satin for lining when I create Seth's costume....which is posted below.

Seth has a HUGE train. It's bound to get dirty! But I can't wait to make it~

Which leads me to my next post. Choosing Seth's costume. This post will be posted in a bit after I find some good examples of her outfits!

(I'm in a cosplay mood tonight!)

Supplies: Round one.

So we got the first wave of supplies bought. We forgot a few things but oh well. We can always go back and get them later on. It was funny how I got so prepared before hand and then when we left I kept forgetting things, including the measurements! Then once in the store I realized I had forgotten to place Abel's coat pattern back into my bag. So we had to guess how much fabric we would need. We got 4 yards but need 5 yards but oh well. I can at least get started on the sleeves and the custom parts. For Caterina's dress I found a lovely white fabric with a bit of a shine to it that is very soft and moves wonderfully. I also got fabric for her petticoat, although I didn't find the right lace so we didn't get any for that. Abel's fabric is a off white that just so happened to look great next to Caterina's fabric.

We also got a few smaller items such as thread and elastic band for the petticoat. Otherwise we had forgotten to get Velcro for Abel's coat and couldn't find lace. But hopefully we can find those later.

Note: Sorry for the pictures. They were taken on my messy bed. I haven't set up my sewing area yet so there isn't much room in my bedroom right now. Wig heads and hamster stuff is taking up most of the room besides...make-up clutter. XD

These are the three base patterns I'll be using for this project. The bottom left is for Abel's coat, top is for the  Caterina's dress and the sleeves, bottom right is for the petticoat.

Caterina's dress will be customized. I will have to add onto the pattern for her skirt to make it large and full, not A line. The petticoat will be finished first to help guide me with the shape.

For Abel's coat I'll be making my own pattern for his coat's lapels.

Abel's coat fabric. It's hard to tell but it's slightly off white. We decided to go with a more breathable fabric since it'll be worn over a turtle neck sweater.

All three patterns and fabrics. I had to put sticky notes on them for I don't get mixed up. The fabrics are next to their patterns.

Petticoat fabric. It's about five yards. Along with our smaller items we got today.

Patterns for Caterina. The fabric for her is above to the right. This is going to be a bit hard since I have to customize the patterns to much but it'll be so much fun, especially getting to wear it in the end!

Abel's patterns and the fabric used for his coat. I'm using the pattern on the right, the non-shiny one. I thought it looked very similar plus I can use this pattern again for the Undertaker when I make his costume...someday.

TB- metal plates

Trinity Blood (manga) is known for it's details. This picture which is what we are cosplaying for Sakura-con 1213 has a lot of little details, although it isn't as many as most of the outfits from the series. This happens to be from the artbook. Which I believe is more based off the novels. 

The main details are metal plates or armor which is what I've been calling them. All pieces seem to be gold with small bolt like circles. 

From what I've counted it seems...

Abel has: around four

Cateirna has: three

 I'll be making seven in total of these metal plates. At first I was wondering how the hell was I going to make these and have them still be able to be sewn into the costume while being able to be flexible.

My first idea was clay since I was a roll with clay but then after thinking it though clay would be the worst possible choice and so I long gave up that idea. I've been searching the net for some good ideas and found a wonderful tutorial for using craft foam (You know those cheap foam pieces that you can find at almost every art store) and have decided to use this method to create the armor pieces. Since I want my fiance to start making more of his own costume so he can later work on his own cosplays in case he choices not to do a couple cosplay, he'll know how to do some work. 

Here is the tutorial:  http://misscordie.deviantart.com/art/Craft-Foam-Armor-Tutorial-307592921

Cool right? It's amazing what you do with foam and a heat gun, which you can buy for around 25$ at most hard ware-stores. This is pretty easy method to use for armor pieces. So we'll be trying it out later on once I get the sleeves done. 

Tomorrow

Should be very fun. After my fiance gets off work we'll be going to the huge fabric store to pick up supplies. We already have our patterns but I wont be able to get the dress form until next week when I get paid. I love going to this fabric store. It's HUGE. There is a smaller fabric store near my house but this one has way more options. I'm hoping I find light blue lace so I don't have to dye lace but I suppose finding blue lace might be hard since I've only ever seen black and white lace being sold. To get an idea of some of the new techniques I'm going to be trying out I'll go ahead and post some links to the awesome tutorials I've found over the last few days. 

Our next con is in March, right after my 21st birthday and  four weeks after that is my fiance's and mine wedding! These next four/five months are going to be a lot of fun. I'm really hoping that it takes me less than two weeks to get Abel's coat done so I can try and finish Caterina's dress and petticoats within a month or two. 

Why?

So I can start work on our next cosplays! Lacie and Levi from Pandora Hearts. Long story short we want a break from Sharon and Break, they both need new wigs and I plan on making those characters other outfits, and I've grown fond of Lacie and Levi plus we'll be with a Will so it'd be awesome to walk around as a "family" I'm hoping it'll take me about two months to finish these costumes too. Since Lacie's dress is basic and I already have a hoop skirt and Levi's outfit is also somewhat basic I'm sure I'll be able to finish them on time as well. 

Besides going shopping tomorrow for our supplies there isn't much news. We're super excited to be going to Sakura with our high school friend, which will be her first Sakura! There is still a lot to do before the con and four months is kind of scary. I wish we would have started earlier but oh well. I have been busy trying to get a job (Which I did!) and my Fiance has been busy with work and school. Cosplay is an awesome relief from all this that's for sure. I love my job and I sure will be excited to go home and sew! 

So that's it for now. Thanks for the huge spike in views! I'm not sure what I did or where I posted the link to my blogs but thank you for stopping by and reading  through my posts. 

Trinity Blood check list (Unfinished)

We are not going supply shopping until this Friday but like normal I feel the need to be ready before we go up to the large fabric store to gather up what we need. Since this is my first hand-made project I'm trying to stay organized so I don't forget anything important. This post will be a check list and will updated up until the point the costumes are done.

Notes:

HM= Will be hand made
B= Will be buying
*= Focal point, will be finished first

Abel (Male):

1) Black turtle neck shirt []  -B
2) Floor length coat        []  -HM*
3) Heeled black boots    []  -B
4) Black skinny jeans     []   -B
5) Double belt                []
6) Lilith's rosary              []  -B
7) Prop glasses               []  -B
8) Black ribbon              []
9) Black Gloves             []
10) Armor                     []  -HM
11) Blue contacts           []  -B
12) Silver wig                []  -B


Caterina (Female):

1) White dress               [] -HM
2) Layered petticoats     [] -HM
3) Rosary                      [50%] -HM
4) White shoes              [] -B
5) White gloves             [] -B
6) Armor                      [] -HM
7) Blond wig                 [] -B
8) Periwinkle contacts   [] -B
9) White stockings        []

Reasons why Cosplaying is cool (And isn't just for teenies)

Yes. A game company has hired a cosplayer to be the face of their character. That's amazing. You can read the story below as linked.

"Forget that cheap cardboard Iron Man getup you threw together for Halloween -- the best cosplayers in the world are serious craftspeople who go to great lengths to portray characters as accurately possible. It takes, time, energy, and true dedication to do it well.

And occasionally, it pays off big time."

Cosplaying is an art. It allows you to create, learn and inspire. And that was why I wanted to cosplay. I have a love for art, whether it's painting or beading, or creating shadowboxes, I've always felt art was the one of the only ways for me to express myself freely and openly. Cosplay allows me to do that and so much more. Within my first year of cosplaying I've heard a lot of different inputs on cosplaying including some goods one and some...nasty ones. This post is going to stay positive and why cosplaying is cool and not only for teenie bobbers but for adults too. 

Note: These reasons are based on my beliefs and experiences. They may differ from yours. This is only my option and my words are not law. But before you bash it, try it at least once.

1) Cons are family friendly.

-Yup, parents all over the world bring their chickens to cons, dressed as characters, cosplaying beside them. Some cons even have events for children. such as drawing rooms and such. Plus who doesn't love seeing a mini version of their favorite character?

2) Widening your abilities 

-For you artsy folk who are curious about cosplaying, this is a great way to really try out new techniques and come up with your own. Whether it's sewing, beading, dying fabric or maybe making props. There are so many possibilities for you to creatively try new things. Plus nowadays it's easy to find tutorials in case you get stuck or are trying something new that is a bit tricky. 

3) It can led to a career

-Yeah. That's right. A career. You may be writing a book, taking photos, or crafting items, all of these things can make you money. Plus some contests have cash prizes. Maybe you are really good at sewing, it could lead you to a career working with a needle and thread. 

4) You meet new people

-I'm a little wary of explaining this one because something happened with some people we met and befriended . I can't say I'm pleased with this topic right now but I can say if you do make friends, enjoy them. Cosplayers are awesome friends as long as they don't separate you, live two lives (A cosplaying one and a noncosplaying one) These types of people don't make good friends if they can't embrace openly their hobby.

5) That rush you get when you step out of your hotel in full costume

-It's amazing, breath-taking, exciting. When you are stopped for the first time, asked if someone can take your picture, when you strike a pose, you feel like a model, like a celebrity. It's awesome. The memories are worth it. Although I don't know what it feel like yet, I'm sure wearing your hand-made costume must be the best type of rush you can feel. All those long nights stitching and sewing.  There really isn't a way to explain how it feel to be at a con. Go out there try yourself before sticking your nose up at it. 

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