Hemming is finished!

One step to go and Alice's dress will be finished. Tomorrow I have to measure the bottom of the dress so I can start cutting out the chiffon for the ruffles. I'll have to double whatever the length is because the way I make the ruffles is by gathering the top so whatever I cut out will become shorter due to the gathering on top. Hemming took me about four hours and boy is it hot upstairs even with the air on. It reached about 91 today, I hear it got to 134 in Cali, which is their highest recorded temp. One more point and they would have broke the record, which is pretty cool. I'm glad I don't live there. No way could I survive in such heat.


Anyway, I did the hemming panel by panel which is way it took so long. I had to iron, fold and pin then sew one panel after another instead of just doing the whole thing and wind up having to re-do half of it. This way, although slow I could make sure I made a straight line all the way around since people will be able to see the thread. I'll be able to sew the ruffles on that line so there is not two line and this way the first line of thread can lead me for the ruffles.

I managed to get the line pretty straight for the most part so I'm very pleased. I can fix the mistakes when I do the ruffles. Besides the hem I also got pictures of the sleeves I finished and the props I have been working hard on.

They look great when worn, nice and flowy. I keep forgetting that I will have tea length gloves on (Those reach over the elbow.) so I won't need to show much skin. I'm not used to showing skin so it'll be new for me and I'm not too happy about it but I'm so happy that I will be wearing gloves so I wont have to be competently out of my comfort zone.

                                                         The new chain for Abel's rosary.

                                               The white piece is the start of the center piece.

                                                           Caterina's new armor plates.


There is 62 days until the con. Now that Alice's dress is almost done I have good faith in myself that I can get everything done on time with time to spare. I'll be starting on Oz's waistcoat and coat next week. Alice and Oz's wigs are also on their way!

We still need:

~ Shoes for Alice and Oz
~Find heels for Yuuko
~ Contacts for Alice and Oz
~ New wigs for Abel and Caterina
~ Pants for Oz
~Finish the scythe, armor plates and rosaries


Not too much left to do. I will have to style Abel's wig which will be a fun adventure (I'm still new at styling wigs.) am while doing all this I'm thinking about opening commissions on small props and accessories so I can help pay for everything while I seek a job. I'm almost 100% sure we can get everything done on time now that Alice's dress is almost finished. I cannot wait. It's going to be a blast.

Sleeves are done!

Yes, the sleeves on Alice's dress are FINALLY done. That means the whole bodice is finished. There are some small things to do, hand sewing in the back to fix the fabric that is near the zipper, I also need to put on some Steam A Seam to get the ruffles from sliding downwards. I'm so glad to be finished with the sleeves as I hate cap sleeves and they were a bit troublesome. But, I am happy with how it has turned out. The chiffon looks really nice.

I would have started on the hemming of the skirt but it was so hot today! And I don't do good in heat due to my health issues. So I couldn't stay upstairs for very long. But I did get them done and I'm quite happy about that. So now all that is left are the same fixes and the hemming plus ruffles. Then I will be done. I'm guessing it will take me about two-three days to finish depending on the heat. Then I can start on Oz and hopefully get him done before August so I have lots of time to get everything else done.

Right now I'm working on getting the missing piece of Abel's rosary done so I can put on the new chain. As seen below, the piece is in the center with spikes. I made this piece right before Sakura-con but I made it too big and didn't have time to re-do it so I'll be making a smaller one so it will fit nicely and wont look crazy huge.

Reminds me of a spider. 

The larger picture shows the full rosary and shows just how important the piece is since it is in the center and is a main view point. We will be entering our TB cosplays in the contest at Kumori-con for the last time. As next year our new TB cosplays will remove these ones. So it may be the last time we wear them for a while. It will be the last contest, that is for sure.

Today's work, tomorrow's to-do list

I could have gotten a ton done today but due to my health acting up I had to stop. I'm pretty sure I am anemic, because of the dizziness I feel often, I'm hoping to get a blood test for anemia this week or next week to finally figure out if I am or not. If not...Who knows what's going on with me. Any way, today I got both strings of elastic tightened on the bottom of the sleeves. One sleeve is all done, ruffles and all. Once I finish the other sleeve tomorrow I'll be done with the bodice and can finally work on the bottom hem. I also hemmed the back of the bodice.

Like I said not as much as I would have liked to have gotten done today but there is always tomorrow. Hopefully I can get the sleeve done and start or maybe finish hemming the bottom of the skirt tomorrow. Then if I do all that all I will need to do is gather the ruffles and sew them on. Although I'm pretty sure I will not be able to get the ruffles done tomorrow. Especially since I want to focus on writing a bit tomorrow as well.

I have until the end of August to finish the dress and Oz's waistcoat and coat, plus the props and everything that goes with the cosplays. As well as get the new wigs for the TB cosplays and updating their props. Yuuko only needs heels and our xxxHolic cosplays will be done.

So I'll update tomorrow. Hopefully with more news!

Prop update. With pictures!!

Finally! I found the camera and was able to take some quick pictures of what I'm currently working on. I have my hands full right now. We just got fabric for Oz's coat and waistcoat and I am still not done with Alice's dress or her accessories.

So to start off with today I decided to dye some lace for the sleeves buuuut of course I messed it up. My adventure in fabric dying turned out so very wrong. I got some red dye (Rit), did everything it said to and everything was going great until I forget about it and left it in too long.

                                                Purple! Oh....it was supposed to red? Darn.

As you can see the lace has turned out more of a purple color. It's a lovely color and I do like it but its all wrong for the dress since the color is a deep red and not a plum color. I think I'll use it for the sleeves of one of my sweater instead since there is no way I can use it for this cosplay.

As you can see, this is why the lace will not work. The dress is very red. But anyway, this is what I've been working on. I got the top row of ruffles sewn in. The sleeves have become rather short because I put in elastic so since I cannot use the lace I will just sew on ruffles onto the bottoms so the length is a bit longer for my own comfort. But I'm pretty happy with it so far. I just need to iron it. It's so wrinkled! Sorry for not doing so before!

Another side project I've been working on is updating Abel's rosary. I am not good at making jewelry so it's something new for me to do so I did run into some trouble. Since I had some free time I did a few things, using Mod Podge to smooth out my mistakes. Adding ink to make the bots look like metal, ect. It's looking much better.

There are still a few mistakes that I need to fix but it's coming along alright. I just need to do a few more touch ups to it then repaint it. It wont be much longer til it's finished. I may re-make it later on but I'll figure that out later.

Another TB prop I'm re-doing is the armor pieces for Caterina and Abel. They both needed some major updating. But since they were my first armor pieces I'm not surprised that I saw some flaws with how I made them. These are for Caterina. I'm going off the artbook version this time, instead of just having two strips of craft foam, which of course ended up looking like craft form. This time I molded the pieces, by placing them on a very hot lamp (Please be careful when doing so!!!! You can start a fire/melt the foam.)

I etched in the cross by tracing it on. When you do this, don't use pen or a knife, just use a wooden clay wool that has a good edge, that's what I used and it turned out great. I coated both pieces with Mod Podge afterwards, do not do this before you mold it with something hot. Tonight I'll start painting it gold. The cross will be red.

Here are the materials for Oz. I'm in love with the black fabric. It's light and airy and will be used for the waistcoat, belt, cuffs and the collar. We also got gold buttons for the outfit, only 80 cents per button! Such a deal. I'm excited to start on it! There are still some things to get but we wont be getting those until later.

On ward! Sorry this is so rushed, I need to get started on working on props.

Last and not least, the scythe! Almost done with the top piece. I just need to glue on the last two pieces and start sawing down the edges so there is a nice slop. The pole needs a new paint job. The paint I mixed the second time around is too dark for my liking.


So that's about it for now. I'm super busy, rushing to get everything done. Kumori-con is going to be great. I really cannot wait. Hopefully I get everything done on time!!!

My biggest project ever, Trinity Blood 2014

It has been decided! 100%. Next year I will be focusing on two major costumes for the entire year. These will both need lots of time to finish and lots of creativity. I may be rushing into making such detailed pieces but I feel I can do it or at least try and start them. This is a huge step for me, sewing wise. By the time I am ready to start on these pieces I will have only made four costumes. It's a huge step for me and I'm going to learn a lot while making them as both will bring new challenges.

As I've mentioned before, I am firmly going to make Seth from Trinity Blood. This is one of my dream cosplays! And I cannot explain how excited I am to be finally cosplaying her. I am almost 100% sure this will be the outfit I will be making. And as you can see, it's going to take a lot of work. That's why I'm giving myself the whole year to work on it. I do wish however that it will be done for Kumori-con in the late summer. If not it will have it's debut at Sakura-con 2015.

I will be re-using the same pattern I am using now for Alice for the base dress. The sleeves and petticoat will all be using other patterns or patterns that I will be making. The armor, of course will be craft foam. And yes, I do plan on making the large golden "wings" she has on. If I am unable to come up with a stable way of making them, I will instead make her crusnik wings.


And big drum roll....

My fiance has decided on a character! And that character who will be joining our TB group (Our friend is making Ion for our Sakura-con group.) Will be...

Suleyman! The other night I gathered a bunch of male characters from TB, since he said he's more than willing to do another TB cosplay (THANK YOU DEAR!) but wasn't really sure if he wanted to do another version of Abel since we all were being different characters and he wanted to be a new one too. So he took a look through all the pictures and became stuck on three choices. Cain, Suleyman and Radu. He said he does want to do Cain int he future but for now wasn't sure if he felt like cosplaying him and already crossed out Ion since he feels he's too weak of a character or a girly boy as I put it for him. Lol. So he decided on Suleyman since not many males have cosplayed him and none have ever been to Sakura-con. He has a very interesting look and my fiance really liked the outfit as well since it is much different from what he has worn before. Plus we can re-use Oz's white pants for this cosplay.


So we have three characters from TB all from the Empire. I think we may have a winning shot at the contest now. We all will have props (Not sure about Ion. That's up to her.) Suleyman will have his uniform hat and ring that I hope my dad can make light up for a special effect (S-con sure does love their LED lights!!) Seth will either have the golden wings or her crusnik wings and her tuning forks which I am super pumped about making.


So, for those who have not heard of TB or have but don't know much about these characters (All of which we are basing off of the manga. The anime was horrid. Which is just another reason I normally only read the manga and ignore the anime.) here is a bit about each character that will be in our group, starting with the powerful and mysterious, Empress Augusta.

 Seth (Augusta Vradica.) is a powerful character. When I first saw her in the anime I wasn't liking how they drew her as this weak little child. She looked horrible and sounded worse. In the manga she is sassy and mysterious. She is seen popping up randomly, always there in a way, protecting Esther and Ion through their journey.  She rules the New Human Empire. And is highly respected among the Methuselah she rules over.

She may appear childlike but has a hidden power. She is the third child of the Nightlords and is Cain and Abel's younger sister. Putting her ten year behind the twins. She is close to Abel, who she asks to join her living in the Empire "As brother and sister." You can tell there is a hidden sadness within her at time but she always puts on a smile and encourages others to do so too.

There was something that I connected with right off the bat when I first saw her in the manga, even in the anime I admired her. That love I feel for her will be my pushing force behind getting her outfit done. I'm sure there will be no other moment like the one I will feel when I first walk out of the hotel as Seth. I cannot wait.

Challenges:

• Details on dress and hat
• Armor pieces (I'm used to working with small ones. There is tutorial online luckily.)
• Hat (Base will be craft foam, thank goodness there is a tutorial online for this hat.)
• Shoes (First time I will be making shoe covers.)
• Giant props

Suleyman is the third highest ranking royal in the New Human Empire and is the Duke of Tigris. He and Asthatoshe have known each other since they were young.  He is a well respected war hero and is a deputy of the Imperial Secret Council.  But was used by the Rosenkreuz Orden (led by Cain.) and was killed by Astha as he stood before the Empress, threatening her life.

He has mentioned that he has lived in the Empire for over three hundreds years, making him very old for a Metuselah, as mentioned in the manga.

When he betrays Seth she offers him nothing but comfort as he lays dying in her lap. I always thought that scene was so beautiful.


Challenges:

• Styling his wig 
• Making the props (I will be making the ring.)
• His hat

I won't be posting about Ion as I have no idea what my friend is planning for him. She has her plate full, cosplay wise right now and is also holding off Ion until later. I can say Trinity Blood is an amazing manga. One of a kind. I have read some of the original novels. This series is one of kind. It's for just about anyone as it has fighting and gore, hints at romances and romantic feelings, War, Supernaturals, Royals, Revenge and betrayal, hints at steampunk technology. It is well detailed (One of the best I've ever seen.) but sadly no longer sold in the states. And the artist is always pushing it to the side to work on their other manga. The real creator of TB sadly died at a very young age. I can feel his love for this story, these characters whenever I read the novels. It's a powerful story line. 

You can read more about the manga and it's crew in the links below.

http://newhumanempire.weebly.com/the-author.html

Cosplay fever

Oh my gosh I am so excited about the up-coming con its crazy. We'll be spending lots of time with our friends and hopefully have some photoshoots as well as (hopefully) the PH panel. We just bought the wig for Alice (Which was the only one for sale online with twintails) and we still need to...

~Buy a wig for Oz
~Buy a new wig for Caterina
~Buy a new wig for Abel
~Finish the scythe
~Finish Alice's dress
~Start on Oz's coat and waistcoat
~Finish updating TB armor plates

Not so much to do if I put it that way. Of course sewing takes time. I hope to get the sleeves done on Alice's dress tomorrow (And dye the lace.) Then start on hemming the bottom so I can get to work on those ruffles. I'm so excited to wear Alice's dress. There are going to be some issues like what to do about keeping "the girls" in. Can't do straps, gotta find a way to keep them in a strapless bra. Oh the troubles of being a lady. Lol.

I cannot wait until I start on Oz's coat and waistcoat. Alice's dress has given me so much trouble it's driving me nuts and I am so ready to finish it so I can move onto Oz. The details on his coat are amazing and although it's somewhat simple I love the red/white combo with the ribbon and roses. I like small details and the waistcoat and coat have lots of small details. Not sure when we are going to get fabric and supplies but it's going to be soon. I think we will head over to the big fabric store since the one nearby didn't have any that I like that would be good for a coat.

Right now I am working on updating and remaking the armor pieces for our Trinity Blood cosplays. Which they really needed. I sort of rushed them last time. I cannot wait to get all these projects done with. Right now I'm searching for photographers so we can finally get some good pictures of all the cosplays.

So much to do and so little time.

What a night!

There is nothing better in this world than having friends and having someone to love, and of course pets eagerly awaiting your return. Tonight I went out, something I rarely do due to my anxiety and I had a blast! I went to my first bar (I'm twenty one mind you.) and played pool for the first time and never have I felt so free  from all my worries. I feel refreshed, ready to go and slightly drunk still. Thank goodness for water.

Anyway since we went out with two cosplay friends we talked a lot about our shared hobby. I've realized that cosplay is more than just a hobby or a skill, it brings people together and creates a bond. That's so important. So amazing that something like cosplay can do. I'm so glad for my friends, and for the first time in a few years I can say I have real friends. I'm ready to face my fears and move on, because my life really is just starting.

So tomorrow I'm going to get up slightly early and work on getting Alice done. I only need to finish the sleeves (The bottom holes are too big and need the elastic to be tightened.) and hem the bottom, then finish it off with the ruffles which will take another day as there is lots of gathering to do. Over all I feel good. Its nice to something other being depressed for once. I showed myself I can let lose and have fun, enjoy my friends and my love.

I'm hoping it will take only a week to get Alice done. Hemming will take a few days (maybe.) to get done. I know I'll be making some mistakes or make the line uneven in some spots as it is such a long area to hem and hemming is my worst enemy. Tomorrow I will work on the sleeves and start hemming. I really want to improve and stop cutting corners as I would love to win an award for this piece next Sakura-con in spring.

It's only day two of summer and already I'm having a great time. Hopefully this keeps up and I can get a ton done, maybe I'll be lucky and get a job too. Who knows. I'm just going with the flow of things right now. There are so many doors to be opened still. I'll open one at a time. Slowly I'll make my life one that I can be proud of.

And make some wickedly awesome costumes along the way.

The next costume I will be making is one of Seth (Trinity Blood) outfits. I'm not sure which one yet, nor do I know who my fiance will be. He loves TB too so I'm sure he'll pick a character soon. Maybe I can get him to be Ion or Cain. XD

Anyway, enough of my blabbing. I'm going to go write! I've never felt so inspired. And in case you were wondering....World War Z is awesome! Go see it!