A change

I haven't written a blog post in a long time! Things have been crazy busy as we only have one month we get married AND move out. A while back I had been struggling with the idea of quitting cosplay. The last few conventions just weren't fun. We were more stressed than happy. Between friend drama and stress caused by myself and having to rush sewing projects, I couldn't relax and enjoy the experience of cosplaying.

Cosplaying should be about goofing around and having fun. But I held back and it caused a lot more harm than I thought it would. So we've decided to change things. I'll be honest, I got too caught up in contests. And because of that I sort of forgot why I entered contests--to have fun!!! To get the rush of being on stage and preforming.

Instead of having to rush four cosplays in 7 months we've decided to only do one set of cosplays. I didn't have fun on stage last time because Nic wasn't up there with me. So we're sticking with what we used to do--couple cosplays!

For Sakura-con our only cosplays will be Lacie and Levi from Pandora Hearts. I guess you can say we're going back to our "roots". Pandora Hearts was our first series we cosplayed from. Those first few cons were amazing. We were rarely in the hotel and were busy as bees, having fun and meeting new people. And we want to experience those things again.


I cannot start sewing until the end of August or the beginning of September. which will be plenty of time to get Lacie's gown done and two outfits for Levi. I'll be making Levi's past outfit and the outfit as shown above when he's closer to death. I think I might even step it up and start hosting the Pandora Hearts meet-up again. Maybe.

With all the free time we'll have with only one set of cosplays this also means I can start focusing more on building and finishing a full lolita coord. Which is teething I had been planning on doing for years now but cosplay always got in the way and took up all my free time and money. Since my dream dress from Haenuli is...in a tricky situation I'll be building a coord for my other Haenuli JSK, Planetary Dreamer!

Being in lolita will also give me the chance to keep up with the boys. Meaning we can also stay out later, experiencing the convention fully. Maybe I'll even meet up with some other lolita and make some friends. We're also going to do something we never get the chance to do and that's go out of our way to take pictures of cosplayers! I love seeing people's cosplays and always want to go up and take pictures but taking pictures while dressed in crazy cosplays has been a bit challenging for me. So in 2016 I'll be in lolita with my camera ready!



I'm hoping by making these positive changes to ourselves we can find the happiness cons and cosplays used to bring us. I have some pretty big plans with Lacie and Levi and hopefully I can write more blogs about that and if we get enough feedback, maybe even start videos?

Today's work load.

There is so much to do! I'm currently working on my synopsis for my novel so this post will be short. Sorry about that!

Today's work

• Sewn cuffs on
• made mock up for scarf
• Cut scarf pieces out

Making a pattern or mock up is very simple. I use unbleached muslin. It's cheap and a very easy fabric to work with. This is the beginning stages for the scarf.

The scarf will be 55 inches long. There will be two pieces, sewn along the back. It will be lined with a long red, gold trimmed cross on each bottom piece of the scarf.

Here is the scarf. The fabric I'm using is Daphne poyl/cotton blend. It's sort of like the fabric hankies are made out of. Thin but very soft. The reason I chose this was became broadcloth is too firm. The scarf needed a nice flow to it. This fabric was cheap and very soft.

Plus I don't think Abel's scarf would be made out of a expressive fabric. Seeing as his clothing are always being torn or lost. So it works out in the end.

The cuffs! These were a lot of trouble. Because we changed the size they were too small for the sewing machine! Luckily the seam I was making will never be seen. It was a bit too sloppy for my liking but I had no choice. There is a part that will need to be hand sewed tomorrow but otherwise they are done.

Now I have to hem the bottom of the cassock and make the slits. I can't do that tomorrow as my fiance will be working. So that will have to wait.


It's almost done!!!!

Another thing I did today is remove the lace from my Caterina cosplay. This lace (since I have extra of this size.) will be used to make Seth's choker. I used the wider version of this lace for the underskirt for Seth. I'll use it again for her sleeves as well.

I think I have enough to start making the choker. I may wind up beading it as well. Just to add some bling to it.










Tomorrow's goals

• Finish sewing the scarf
• Start making the details on the scarf
• Finish the cuffs
• Start on the bias tape.

Lots to do. Luckily I can do all of it without help. I'm very excited to test out the new fabric glue I got and get started on Seth's choker. I am so close to finishing Abel. It's very exciting to see it all coming together. I will admit I am looking forward to making Seth. Not only because its mine but because there is so much to do. It'll be a real challenge.

I love me a good challenge.

That's it for now.

Thanks for reading!

Scarf supplies and update on progress

                                                                 Look at dat horse.


Busy bees. We have been busy, busy bees. Yet with 90 days left I feel like we haven't been busy enough. So I'm waking up earlier these next few months to get work pumped out. Now I have something to work on when my mother is away at work and cannot assist me with issues that come my way. The picture I posted above is of our awesome progress notebook that is filled with ref pictures and samples of fabric and beads and whatever else we're using. I've also listed how many yards we've used per fabric. This book will be brought to contests for the judges to look at. I always forget something when we are being judged so I thought this would be a good way for them to read over all the details in case I forgot something. It'll also have some progress pictures in it that they may not have seen yet.

The notebook has kept me really focused and organized so far so I'm really enjoying filling it up with info about our current TB project. We'll be doing this for now on for all our costumes that will be entered into contests.

So first progress pic, the cuffs. These are done a little differently than I'm used to but they are still easy and pretty straight forward. I did have to modify them a bit as we made the sleeves fitted. I have to cut a bit off one of the cuffs as it is a bit too long and not very even. Otherwise they are almost ready to be sewn onto the sleeves.

And here is a little preview of the cassock! I'm loving it so far. It looks great on my fiance and is nicely fitted to him. There isn't much more to do luckily.

• Sew on cuffs
• Create slits on the bottom of the garment.
• Hem the bottom
• Sew on the bias tape
• Create crosses on sleeves

I'm glad I'm almost done with Abel. 

We also got the supplies for the scarf today! I found a soft cotton fabirc (sort of like what hankies are made out of.) Luckily there was just enough to make the long scarf. We also got a thin gold trim and red fabric that will be used for the crosses on both Abel's cassock and the scarf.

The red fabric will also be used for the circles on Seth's train and hat. It's a very soft Kona broadcloth. I love it. I found some fabric fusion glue as well. I'm hoping this stuff will work well on the red fabric and trim as I want to use it for Seth as well to save me time. It's washable glue that is permanent so hopefully it goes okay.  

I'm hoping that Abel and his scarf will be done before the end of January so I can start on Seth. That would give me two full months to get Seth done which is perfect. I'm sure I can finish her within that time range. Maybe even make Abel's wings too! 

Remember to check out our Fb page for more updates! Thanks for reading.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Equus-Cosplay/169389529916223?ref=hl

Updated to-buy list

Our updated list of what else we need to buy for our Trinity Blood cosplays.


Abel

• Black skinny jeans 
• Two wide belts
• Combat boots (Maybe. I have a pair. We just have to see if they fit.)
• Acrylic tubes (For the back piece and dangles on the belts.)
•  White fabric + red for Abel's scarf
• New contacts
• Silver beads

Seth

• White fabric, dark green fabric and gold fabric.
• Shoe supplies (Ribbon, dye, soft pointe shoes, lace.)
• Gold trim, lace. (Lace for both sleeves and choker.)
• Red tights/stockings
• Supplies for the hat
• Resin for gems (plus molds)
• Wig
• Contacts

Maybes

• Black feathers
• Supplies for wing harness
• Second wig for Abel 

So that's it.

All the cosplays!

A question I often hear people ask is do you think it is better to cosplay a lot of characters or just one very rarely cosplayed character?

Since this is such a good question I couldn't help but to want to write a post about it. I am quite torn on this question. We normally cosplay at least two-three cosplays per con. This way we have a cosplay for everyday. Since we rarely cosplay on day zero (The day before the con starts.) we will wear one cosplay one day then a new one the next. Again, we do not cosplay on day three as we have to check out hotels and drive home. So two is normally enough.

Last con we brought three outfits. It was fun but very bothersome.  One of them we wore for a total of thirty minutes and tore it off as soon as we got in our room. Although it was fun it was a ton of work and we found ourselves in our hotel room more than around the con. It wasn't very fun. Of course we didn't have a connection to the characters like we normally do.

Our very first con we only had one cosplay. Break and Sharon from Pandora Hearts. We had such a great time. Having only one character to cosplay meant we had more focus to put into getting into the role of being that character. We don't have to worry about changing into another cosplay. That means one make-up look, one wig, one set of accessories and one pair of shoes to get used to.

Here is a short list of good and bad things I've noticed about cosplaying numerous characters and just one. These are based off of my experiences and may not be the same for you.

One, unique character to cosplay.

Pros

• There is a few or none cosplaying the same character as you. (You literary feel like you ARE that character.)
• You stand out
• Makes group shoots a lot more fun
• Less to pack
• Makes taking a break easier (Will discuss below.)
• More picture taken of you

Cons

• Sweat (You will sweat and sometimes it shows. If you have one costume, you can't change and wash it out without having to wait hours for the fabric to dry. This happened to me the first time I cosplayed.)
• Your costume may become dirty/stained or damaged.
• No one may know your character (Been there, done that. Not much fun.)

The pros are very easy. And they over rule the cons. When I talk about taking a break I mean going into your hotel room to eat or just wind down and rest your feet for an hour or two. For my fiance, friend and I we like to remove our wigs, kick off our shoes and costumes and lounge for a bit. When you have only one costume it's very easy to remove our outer pieces and relax. We don't have to worry about changing our make-up or contacts. 

Now for the bad side. Our first time cosplaying we had to walk quite a while from our hotel to the con site and I wore a long ballgown that came un-stitched so it dragged on the ground. It became so dirty I was really upset. I spent the entire evening scrubbing dust and grim off the pink trim. I did get most of it off and somehow managed to get the fabric dry (this fabric is horrible to get dry.) But when I found myself in the hot summer heat and started to sweat I found hiding that very hard. We didn't stop at the hotel often because of how far away it was so I just kept my arms down but it was horrible and I felt very gross. The fabric is not breathable.

When I cosplayed more than one character I found it easier to avoid all that but didn't feel as connected to the character. We wound up changing from character to character a lot because we were bored. It wasn't much fun. Sakura-con we only bringing one cosplay for each of us. And at first I was nervous. The train of the dress is white. What if it gets dirty? I decided I'll just sew on a clear strip of elastic or plastic and use that to wrap around my wrist so the fabric is lifted while I walk outside or in a crowded room like the dealer's hall. Of course we'll be bringing along some Tide pens too. Instead of wearing the cosplay when we are in our hotel room I'll remove it so there is less of a chance of it getting dirty.

I have to say I am very excited to cosplay only one character. Now if only I could hurry up and finish Abel so I can start on Seth and get everything done on time so we can cosplay. I have quite a lot of time so I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get everything done. We're going fabric shopping for the white fabric for Seth later this week. I might look at trim too and see what they have for Seth.

In the end I don't it matters if you cosplay a lot of characters or one. As long as you are having fun and enjoying your time, I don't see how it would matter. Some people can only afford one cosplay per con. So what. Enjoy your cosplay to the fullest. I hope you have fun.


Thanks for reading.

Feeling inspired

Although today has started off in a rather heart retching start I am finding myself feeling very inspired to finish up Abel today. That's one of the reasons I love having a FB page for cosplay. I watch all the cosplayers I like and admire and today someone posted a picture of their award winning Trinity Blood cosplay. She made it so nicely I always feel so inspired after seeing her work.

Abel's cassock is almost finished. Yesterday I finished putting in the zipper. I hate zippers. But it looks pretty good. It was my first time doing an invisible zipper which it turns out is just as hard (if not more.) than sewing in a normal zipper. The reason it had to be hidden is because you cannot tell what is closing Abel's cassock. It's just closed. So I had to come up a way that the zipper will not be seen. The zipper was the best way to have it close and still be able to have it hidden away under two small flaps of fabric. It worked. But the flaps are very small. I may not be able to sew on the bias tape as I wanted to. So I have to play around and see if my iron on tape will work under the bias tape. Just in case.

                                                      It's closed by sexy Crusnik magic


Besides the bias tape I am now working on the sleeves. There are three pieces. Upper sleeves, lower and cuffs. I love sleeves! They are so basic and easy to do. Why aren't I doing them right now? I don't know! They are very easy. So I'm pretty sure both sleeves will be on today.

When the sleeves are done I will have to hem the outfit and cut the slits on the bottom of the cassock. There are three openings besides the one on the front. But, again those are very easy to do. Then I will be ready to do the bias tape. I need to figure out to make the corners a lot nicer so I better go research that now.

Then in a few days we'll be heading out (with coupons armed.) to go find the perfect white fabric for Seth. I am very eager to get started on Seth since I have a matching hat to make for her and fabric painting and hand sewing to do for the dress. So there is ten times more work to be done on her dress. Luckily I have worked with the pattern before and am used to it. We will be adding two other patterns to the dress pattern to modify it. I will be making the pattern for the sleeves myself.


Thanks for reading!

Frozen cosplays

Yes, they are super popular right now. But I sort of fell in love with the movie. And the characters are so amazing. How can I not love them? I've been thinking about what other cosplays we'll be doing for this year since our summer con is now four days we'll need at least four-five cosplays. Since we already have two planned (Trinity Blood and Pandora Hearts) that are firm we'll need at least two or three. The reason being the con is long and I want to take a break from sewing next year so my fiance and I can finally get our first tattoos and update my computer. Since those are costly we'll take most of the year off and enjoy the cosplays I'm making this year. We may add a more casual cosplay later next year but for the most part will not be doing any big sewing projects.

I love sewing but am so stressed (mainly because of my love for big and complex cosplays.) so taking a small break by bringing our new cosplays for Kumori-con to Sakura-con will give us a nice break and will allow us to do other things. We will still being going to con. I don't think we can stop at this point. We love them too much. Kumori-con next year we may add on a few new cosplays but not for our spring con since we'll have new cosplays that have not been worn there.

Plus we won't be dropping Seth and Abel from our list for a very long time as we both love those characters too much as well as Sharon and Break, so we'll have our hands full for Sakura-con next year.

But for this summer we do need to figure out what we'll be doing. This is my year to pick out the series so I'm trying to figure out what we're going to cosplay. I think we'll leave Black Butler off our list for now since our friends may cosplay it next year. So instead I'm thinking of replacing it with Frozen.

This is the dress I've fallen in love with. It's so cute and has sleeves. I hate sleeveless tops otherwise I'd make her other green dress. But it is kind of cool that not a lot of people have made this dress yet. It's from the ending scenes and I love it.

Since my fiance has already decided he wants to cosplay Kristoff I have to cosplay Anna. Which is great because I love her personality.

Here is another screenshot I took of the dress. It's just so freaking cute and simple. It'd be great for the summer con since the fabric for the sleeves appears thin. Although I like her winter outfit it would be too warm for Kumori-con so this is perfect. Plus it is pretty simple. The bottom detailing would be very easy to paint on.

So I've decided on this dress, although I may make the cloak just for the fun of it since it's so cute and I would love to wear it for winter.

 
So Frozen is added to our summer list! Both outfits are fairly easy and look super comfortable which will be awesome since our cosplays that are already planned will be huge.

This is the cloak I will make. I just love cloaks okay? It's too cute....and those little ball tassels...I can't help myself. If I have time I'm making it!









So as of right now I think all the cosplays I will be making this year are...


Trinity Blood (Seth and Abel) Firm
Pandora Hearts (Sharon and Break) Firm
Frozen (Anna and Kristoff)
Don't Starve (Willow and Wilson.)
Pokemon (Cowslip Gijinka)

Hopefully we can do all those but the most important to get done is Break and Sharon since those will be in a panel. When those are done (we'll start a month or two after Sakura-con.) we'll see if we can add on anymore. I'm hoping to at least have three cosplays so we can wear one for one full day each.

I'm very excited to start on these as all of them are very different from each other and challenge me which I think is one of the most important things as it will help me grow as a seamstress and cosplayer.


Thanks for reading!