Costume Wardrobe

Feedback

2009-10-26T17:52:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,
Are you finding everything ok?
Are you happy that I moved all the non-costuming stuff out of the blog?

Sorry for my lack of updates. I hope to have one or two updates done soon.

Sailor Moon Make-Up

2009-10-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Makeup artist Michelle Phan explains step by step how to create the complete Sailor Moon look including detailed makeup instruction and how to put on a wig. The makeup aims to create the illusion that you have big anime eyes and looks fantastic.

If you are like me, and don't know a lot about makeup you might find this and Michelle's other videos very informative and educational.

Home Made Dress Dummy

2009-05-10T11:49:00.001-07:00

Dress Dummy by Q is for Quilter

Every now and then I get questions about dress makers dummy's usually centred around making them match unique sizes. I personally have an old bra that is a permanent attachment to my dummy, stuffed with tissues. I found this article on how to make your own dummy to your own perfect size and thought it might be of interest to others.

Lolita = gathering x infinity

2009-04-06T13:48:00.001-07:00

Gathering Progress

Today I completed the dreaded task of rethreading my overlocker (serger) with black thread. This is well overdue as most of my sewing is dark colours, but as it is still relatively new to me (even after 2 years) I didn't want to take the jump and rethread it for the first time. The hardest part was actually working out that I have to cut off all of the threads close to the needles to get them to come out. Then I followed all the little arrows and I must have done it right because it has been going fine.

This also means that it has made my life a lot easier with the velveteen. I have given all of my raw edges seam treatment with the overlocker now which will hopefully reduce the amount of mess spreading from my sewing machine to my kitchen table.

I have also gathered the last layer to the next layer. I have two options now. Gather some more lace to the edge of the next layer, or gather some lace to cover the last seam. I am feeling the urge to procrastinate about the lace again, but at least that is some more progress to show for tonight!

Steam punk skirt lace

2009-04-05T09:35:00.001-07:00

Lots of Lace

I thought it was time to do something on one of my other works in progress, so I tackled the tedious job of attaching metres and metres of lace and finally finished the first layers.

I don't know what my machine is playing at today, but it really doesn't want to help me out. I battled through the next layer of lace though. Today I have finished sewing two layers of lace to the last ruffle and then sewed this to the next layer. Only the lace is gathered at this stage. Next all of this is gathered onto the next section.

There are two types of lace used here. Approximately 10 metres of one and 5 metres of the smaller. The velveteen has a nasty habit of pilling with little navy balls of fluff everywhere! The progress photo wants to go purple, so I have had to adjust the colour as I can't seem to take a good photo tonight.

Steam Punk Progress

2009-03-15T14:33:00.001-07:00

Gathering Lace

I feel like i have been gathering lace for days. I have spent the best part of the day working on this now, beginning at about midday with the measuring and cutting for the velvet. I then stitched the upper part of the skirt, including inserting an invisible zip. This time around I used a friends metal invisible zip foot and it was so much easier. I think because it is a proper foot instead of the plastic kind it held everything firmly in place and so I was able to just sew instead of having to make sure nothing was coming loose.

I have also completed the bottom frill by gathering 10 metres of lace and attaching it to the velvet. This took the most time. I spent well over two hours altogether as pinning the lace onto the 4.5m (approximate) length of velvet was very time consuming. I have a couple of progress photos over on my flickr account.

Who Watches The Watchmen?

2009-03-14T09:21:00.001-07:00

Watchmen Costumes

Friends recently got dressed up for the premiere of the Watchmen movie. Their costumes all looked absolutely fantastic, so if you are a fan check out the whole photoshoot. -> Watchmen Photo Shoot

Steam Punk Lolita

2009-03-14T05:39:00.001-07:00

Types of Lace

I am finally making some progress! I have just cut out the frills, which took quite a bit of effort as I had to spread the fabric out on the floor because the table wasn't long enough to cut a 2m24 length. My sudden burst of energy is due to actually having a clean house at the moment which is lending itself to being inspired to do other things instead of feeling depressed about the amount of housework that is piling up.

Earlier in the week I scored some acceptable lace at DK Fabrics which made me feel confident to cut into my lovely blue cotton velveteen. This is the best lace I could find without having to spend over $4/m on Torchon Lace. I needed about 65m of the stuff so I was happy to get it for under $1/m and even happier to realise that one of the designs I purchased might be the same as what was used in the magazine example, so I am sure it will be OK.

The only downside to sewing lolita is the amount of gathering, but the end result is worth it.

Putumayo Skirt Replica

2009-03-12T09:11:00.001-07:00

Skirt Replica

I began this skirt after a burst of inspiration. This is the tartan that I found in a remnant bin for $2 and I also had left over black cotton. I had to get half a metre more of black. After the first weekend I have it almost complete. I still need to make 3 more bows, but I haven't been able to get silver badge backs so that they will be removable. Perhaps I should just sew the bows onto the skirt. I also need to sew on the waist band.

The pattern for the skirt is from Gosu Rori magazine volume 12. The finished skirt will look something like this.

Altered Designs

2009-01-17T06:59:00.001-08:00

Dragonfly Pendant

One of my steam punk pieces arrived last week and It was amazingly wrapped in tissue paper and done up with a ribbon like a present. It is so nice when ebay sellers take the time and care to make your purchase memorable.

The piece is a heart and dragonfly combination on a long brass chain. Other pieces like this can be found through her ebay store "Altered Designs" and are quite affordable if you are looking for something a little different.

Cameo

I have also purchased a cameo today that looks old fashioned enough for my tastes. I fear it is not "real shell" as stated, but still it might end up being one of the cheaper plastic cameos from up to 50 years ago as it looks like the setting is cast metal. While it is missing a stone in the corner I hope to either be able to replace it cheaply or fix it either by taking out the one in the other corner and adding cogs to give it a steam punk feel, or taking out all the stones and replacing them with something appropriate. I guess I shall see when it arrives in the post!

Red Skirt

2008-09-16T08:09:00.001-07:00

Red Skirt

This Lolita skirt was made following the instructions from Gosu Rori volume 7 from the skirt on page 11. The lace is applied to all the seams and the front and back panel has some delicate pin tucks which I think stand out better with my colour choice.

Difficulty: Easy - Medium
Total Time: approx 6 hours

It is hard to explain the actual shapes of the pieces for this skirt. There is a thin band for the bottom with the lace attached, but the rest is made out of pieces. The zip is in the side (though on the pattern the zip is supposed to go in the back - I thought it was wierd having an extra seam in the back when there was a perfectly good seam that could take the invisible zip in the side, so I moved it)

First the front and back pieces are constructed. The pin tucks are sewn in the front, then the two pieces are joined and the seam covered with the lace that has satin ribbon threaded through. Next a wide panel is gathered and the front and back sides are sewn together and attached to the gathered edge. Then the whole lot is attached and the side lace is sewn over the seam as you see in the first picture, which just needs a trim, then the bottom frill and the waist band attached.

Construction Progress

The bottom frill is attached after the lace is sewn. The lace has already been gathered slightly when you buy it so all you have to do is sew it on. Make sure you get a nice cotton on cotton and not one that uses shiny polyester thread on the design. The material is gathered until it lines up with the skirt and then attached with lace applied over the seam again, then the top of the skirt is gathered into the waist band.

Tip: Try to line up any joining seams on the frill or lace with the seams where the pieces join so that all your seams line up and you minimize any seams that may seem out of place.

The most time consuming part of this project is all the gathering, but the end effect is definitely worth it and this is a relatively simple skirt. I have left off the satin bows that the pattern suggests as well as a large material bow for the back as I felt these were unnecessary and liked the simplicity of this design.

Ready for waistband

Unfortunately no pattern for this one at this time. The magazine has detained instructions on how to draft these pieces and I highly recommend picking up a copy if you can. They retail for approximately $25 and contain patterns for approximately 18 whole outfits.

I wore this skirt with an Anna House blouse to a meetup at the Zoo on a 40 degree day, so a parasol was a welcome accessory.

Dejiko Bells and Hat

2008-04-15T06:51:00.001-07:00

DiGi Charat Group

Everyone’s favourite part of my Dejiko is my bells and it’s my favourite part too. The bells really do jingle!

To make them you need a couple of special tools, however they are fairly easy with a little patience.

The bells started life as a clear plastic decoupage ball – the kind you can get from many craft stores. They come in varying sizes, so you might want to take a small mirror and check their sizing against your head. I had many a strange look at my local craft store, which was very interested when they asked me what I wanted them for. Decoupage balls are designed to be taken apart, decorated and put back together, and they are quite strong and thick plastic.

I made my first cuts with a dremel tool which allowed me to position a jewelers saw and cut around the intricate shape. A dremel is a type of engraving tool which comes with a variety of attachments. I used a small cutting disk to make a couple of incisions. This allowed me to insert the jeweler's saw, which is designed for intricate cutting work.Carefully take the blade apart and insert it through the incision, then refit it quite tightly. It needs to be tight in order to cut through the plastic.

Cutting Ball

You can see in the picture that I have clamped a piece of board with a sharp triangle cutout onto a table. This allows you to position the half ball onto a steady surface. Moving the blade up and down, hold the ball carefully and turn it as you cut.

You can cut whatever shape you like as the jewelers saw will allow you to go around intricate curves. I used a traditional bell opening shape which looks a bit like a dog bone. When the cuts were finished I evened them off with some sand paper, while being careful of the finish of the smooth plastic. You don’t want to sand the plastic or it will show up in your paint job. At this time you can cut off the balls hanging tab which you can see in the left of the next photo as we won't need that.

Ready to Paint

I used folk art paint for its superior gold colour. This gold actually looks shiny as it has some kind of metallic powder which catches the light. The cheaper gold paints look brown and dull. To achieve a nice finish I had to do 3 or 4 coats. When the painting was done I used a small hand drill to put two very small holes in the side opposite the cut. You can find hand drills in hobby stores as plastic model makers (ie Warhammer) often use this tool. Using some wire, I suspended a real bell on the inside and formed a loop on the outside so I had something to thread the ribbon through. Then the two halves were glues together.

Painting

The hat was made out of polar fleece. I used a very basic shape for the ears and a 6 panel hat pattern. The eyes are simple ovals with a wide zigzag stitch like is used for appliqué to form the pupils. After sewing together the hat with the ears in the top seam, I pinned the eyes and carefully hand sewed around them. Just before stitching them closed I put a little stuffing inside to make them raised from the hat.

Dejiko Hat

I used blue ribbon to tie on the bells using a wide needle to thread it through the polar fleece of the hat just below the ears. The bells are held on only by the ribbons and the whole lot sits atop my wig without any pins or support. After several wears I have only had the hat fall off once.

Brisbane Supanova 2008

2008-04-08T21:48:00.001-07:00

Fate/Stay Night Group

I have recently returned from Brisbane Supanova and now that I have caught up on some sleep I wanted to express how much everyone impressed me with their costuming this year. It was so fantastic to meet so many new people and talk (however briefly) about your costumes and experience and I hope some of you will find me and say hello!

As far as my costuming is concerned, you could have seen me running around in a commissioned Japanese school uniform on Saturday (and I got a lot of comments about being Sailor Moon for some reason), or as Dejiko on Sunday for which I still have several articles to write, especially after having a lot of questions about my bells and shoes. I am hoping to get those other articles up as soon as I can.

As one of the judges for Madman’s cosplay competition on both days it was unfortunate that there can only be a certain number of winners. The panel of judges had to deliberate quite a lot on some of the decisions that were made due to the high level of both costuming and performance; however in my mind everyone who got on stage deserved something for their time and effort.

For this entry I thought I would give you an insight into what a judge is looking for and how you can provide them with the best way to evaluate your costume and performance.

1. If you are performing a skit then please utilise the stage – centre front is good! Make sure you give everyone the best opportunity of seeing you.

2. If the judges are to the side of the stage (as we were during the more informal Saturday competition), then please make sure you walk past them. Don’t go too fast as we want to see your costume. If you are encouraged, stop and answer any questions and point out any parts of your costume you think the judges should notice.

3. Be honest if you did not make the costume yourself!! We like honesty and it doesn't necessarily mean you will be precluded from a prize.

4. If you are not performing a skit please make sure you stop and pose for a reasonable length of time. Practice poses that show off your costume, for example, if you have spent a lot of time on a prop or the back of your costume is noteworthy (wings, etc), then you might want to pose with that prominent. Choose up to three poses and stop long enough for photos.

5. Time and practice your skit. Usually there is a two minute limit for cosplay and skits which you should try to stick to. A shorter skit means that the judges won’t get bored, and boring the judges is not a good way to stick in their memories! You can say a lot in 2 minutes.

6. Keep it PG13. And to those Yaoi fans out there... I personally don't find Yaoi to be an entertaining skit!!! Please do something original.

After the competition is over, audience members may want to tell their favourite cosplayer how much they liked their costume or enjoyed their performance. As a costumer myself who has been in these competitions the positive comments are great to hear, but one thing I don’t like hearing is if I should have won over someone else or that you didn’t like the costume that won and thought your favourite should instead. The panel judges are chosen for their expertise in differing areas and have their reasons for choosing one entry over another.

You also don’t know who is listening or who you might offend with a careless comment about another person’s costume. The person you are talking to may be offended if you say you thought the costume which won was bad as it might happen to be their friend. There are ways of telling another person about your enjoyment of their costume without putting down others, and if you remain encouraging then we can hope to see the cosplay at these events reach new heights every year!!

A very big well done from me to every person who put on a costume for this year's Brisbane Supanova and a big thankyou to the organisers for putting on a fantastic weekend!!

Rin's Kaleido Stick Wand

2007-08-13T05:57:00.001-07:00

This is Rin's Kaleido Stick which turns her into a cat girl in the game Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia. There was no option of buying this prop and I did not want to wear the costume without it as it is the costume she has because of this piece.

Difficulty: Hard
Time: 20 hours

By breaking your object into its basic shapes you can get an idea of the kind of things you will need to make it. I started with a piece of dowel, some PVC pipe and cardboard.

I cut the PVC pipe so it was the same thickness as the dowel with a hacksaw and drilled 5 holes with a hand-held hobby drill at equal distances. To gauge the distances I marked a circle on a piece of paper with a compass and then used the compass to mark 5 equal lines on the circle, which can then be joined to form a star as a guide. I fed through thin copper wire to form a base for my star so that it would be solidly suspended in the PVC pipe.

The PVC pipe section was stuck to the dowel with liquid nails and allowed to set over night. Then I started building up the outside of the PVC pipe with paper clay (DAS). Over all this method is a little heavy, but is very easy to mould, air dries hard and is able to be sanded and painted, which was a benefit of this material over other options.

Once I was reasonably happy with the outside of the PVC pipe I cut out 4 stars from cardboard and glued them either side of the copper wire so that they built up the centre star. You can’t tell there is wire in the centre, but this gives strength to the star as only the points are touching the PVC pipe base. I used Tarzan's Grip glue as I have never had a problem with it not sticking to just about any surface. I actually stuck the cardboard either side together, so the copper wire suspends the star, but it is actually that the cardboard is glued together which holds it in place.

The wings were constructed with a cardboard base and built up with DAS. I found that because the paper clay starts off wet the cardboard warped a little, but that added to the effect I was going for. This was sanded and then painted separately to the main wand. This did leave the wings very delicate and after a couple of wears of this costume (and traveling interstate with it twice) I discovered hairline fractures around the base of the wings. Airline security also loves to touch this sort of thing regardless of how much bubble wrap you have it in and how much you tell them to please be very careful as it is a cardboard sculpt that is quite fragile. Hence the corners of the wings are now a little dog-eared. Thanks airline security!

The best gold paint I found was for folk art, and though it is a little on the expensive side it paints very nicely and has a more realistic gold colour. It took at least 3 coats to build up a decent covering. When all the pieces were painted the wings were glued to the outside of the star and the cross for the bottom was glued into its slot. (The cross is actually 3 layers of cardboard with a tab that slides into a slot in the handle to give it strength - the part has broken off in travel, but glued back in with no noticeable damage)

Lastly the whole lot was coated in several layers of clear coat and the 8 gems were glued into position on the wings.

Dejiko Shoes and Gloves

2007-07-26T06:23:00.001-07:00

Dejiko Shoes are a relatively easy shoe cover because you have a little wriggle room for making mistakes since it doesn't need to be a tight cover and you will be using stuffing to create the shape you need.

Difficulty: Medium
Total Time: approx 8 hours

First find a cheap, comfortable pair of slippers to use as your base. Mine cost less than $10 and there didn't seem to be a left and a right foot so they were perfect for this application.

The boot cover itself is a bit like a horseshoe shape with the open end of the horse shoe sewn so the seam is at the back of the heal on the boot. Depending on what kind of slipper you have bought will potentially change the shape of your shoe cover.

Get some scrap material and start by making a horseshoe shape that can cover the boot. Don't worry about the toe at this stage (you need a little excess there), but when you sew a seam up the back make sure you can get it over the boot and so that the top is around your ankle height. Have a close look at the pictures. Then cut your pattern out of your polar fleece.

Use a long stitch along the front of the boot cover and gather in the toe, then stitch up the back and line up your shoe cover. Use pins to hold it in place and gather more or less until the bottom of the boot cover fits snuggly over your slipper. Using a curved needle stitch your boot cover close to the sole of the slipper.

Next lightly stuff the front of the boot cover on top of the slipper until you have the desired "fluffiness" and, using a long matress needle, take a length of cotton in through the material and stuffing close to the sole and up out of the top of the foot being careful not to pierce the slipper. Pull the cotton tight, tie and hide the ends. This will form the toes.

Next make a "leg warmer" out of a tube of material. Hem the top and insert some elastic to hold them up. The bottom should be the same size as the opening you have for your shoe cover. Line up the bottom of the boot cover with the top of the shoe cover and carefully stitch around them. Because there is some looseness around your leg it doesn't matter if it isn't perfect and you won't see this seam.

Finally add your ribbon trim and you're done!

The gloves are made in very much the same way.

I used a cheap pair of acrylic wool gloves that I bought for approx $2 and used the left over polar fleece. The pattern for the top is larger than the bottom pattern and I have created a hint of two fingers and a thumb so they are reasonably functional for carrying things, but not for doing anything more specific such as using a mobile phone or retrieving money from a wallet.

First sew the top and bottom together and leave inside out. Place the real 5-finger glove onto the inside out dejiko glove and stitch the fingers into place around the tips and down either side of the hand. Now turn your glove in the right way so that the real glove is inside and lightly stuff the top, leaving the palm unstuffed. Now turn the polar fleece in at the wrists and stitch to keep the stuffing in place.

Cat Ears

2007-02-18T02:42:00.001-08:00

An upcoming costume required ears, but I've realized there aren't really any instructions on how to make these, so I had to make it up as I go along. Perhaps this will help someone.

Difficulty: Easy
Total Time: approx 3 hours

I bought a black headband that had a material covering to sew my ears to, but you could just as easily attach clips or hair pins and attach your ears straight to your hair.

First I made a pattern from paper by cutting and trimming until I reached a shape that I liked. At the centre of the head my ears fold over to try to make them look more natural.

Next I cut 2 pieces of polar fleece for each side and sewed the top edges together, leaving the bottom edge unsewn. These were turned inside out, then I hand stitched a small piece of black toy fur to the inside of the ear so it looks like longer fur coming from the inside (many anime ears show this, but real ears look a bit different).

I used pins to mark the centre of the headband and then hold the ears in place while I stitched them down. I found that they looked better with about two inches left between them at the top of the headband. Its easiest to stitch on the ears with a curved needle - in fact I think it would be almost impossible without one. Curved needles are really good for sewing something to a flat surface, especially if the surface is solid because the curve helps you to push the needle through and come up and out the other side.

Carefully stitch all the way around the ear. When you do the second one take extra care to keep the positions symetrical. And with a bit of patience, you will have some lovely fluffy ears.

Jorvik Cap

2007-01-25T01:45:00.001-08:00

I've always wanted one of these for sun protection, so it was about time I made one. I deviated from the accepted pattern to make it more comfortable, and completely hand-sewed it so that accounts for the time.

Difficulty: Easy
Total Time: approx 6 hours

The accepted pattern for the Jorvik cap is generally a rectangle which has a seam sewed to fit to the curve of the head. The caps of this kind found in Jorvik had this part tailored so that the cap was curved (as in the one I have made), however in Dublin the material was not cut, leaving a point created by the seam.

To fit my head better I tailored the curve a little more and ended up sewing this in two pieces. This also allowed me to leave the seam open at the back of the neck so that my hair won't becom too bunched up underneath. Fitting something to the head can be hard, so I had help with checking how the seam was lying on the mockup and alterating the length of the cap.

I sewed and hemmed the cap by hand using linen thread, then used wool embroidery wool to do some decorative stem stitch around the outisde. The linen ties were also hand sewed, then attached to the cap.

The generally accepted way of wearing this style of hood is with the strap under the chin and flaps hanging down over the ears, however I find it much more comfortable to tie it like a scarf at the back of my neck (as shown), which should keep my hair out of my face better as well.

Earrings

2006-12-13T07:22:00.001-08:00

I wanted something special for a Christmas present. Then I was going through my old jewellery and found my pearls and amber and remembered at the same time I'd bought a few different gemstone beads, so I decided to make something.

Difficulty: Easy
Total Time: 1 hour

These aren't hard to make, they're just fiddly. I never knew that hand crafted jewellery could look this good though. I really like using jump rings and head pins. I bought myself some earring hooks and silver chain as well as the pretty heart spacer charms and put it all together with some real garnet and real peridot. The only other things needed are two pairs of small pliers and a bit of patience coupled with some creativity.

The first set are garnet (2 x 6mm and 18 x 4mm), 2 heart accents, 10 head pins, 12 jump rings and 2 earring hooks.

The second set are peridot (2 x 5mm, 6 x 4mm), 2 jump rings, silver chain and 2 earring hooks.

Petticoats

2006-12-07T06:35:00.001-08:00

After listening to advice about working with netting I have finally achieved a lovely Lolita petticoat with lots of "poomf"! These petticoats form the integral part of the "bell shape" which is typical in Lolita style clothes.

Difficulty: Easy
Total Time: 4 hours

These petticoats really aren't all that hard. I now know that I simply made some errors in fabric choice and was far to gentle which proved the downfall of my first petticoat.

First get a decent cotton or poly/cotton as the base of the petticoat. You really don't want to work with anything shiny, slippery or light weight because you just won't be able to sew the netting to it.

Second, get yourself some netting. You want the normal netting, not the bridal stuff because the bridal netting is just too thin and doesn't give that nice "poomf" when you put your garments on overtop.

The petticoats from Gosu Rori magazine have a tapered shape as the base of the skirt. Sew the two halves together and then mark out where you will sew the netting to make it easier to pin and control. Hem the bottom of the petticoat now if you need to because the netting will make that hard later on. Put this part aside for a minute.

Cut out your lengths of netting (mine were one length of 2.6m x 33cm and one length of 1.6m x 25cm) and gather one side. Pin one length along the line on your base material and stitch into place. Then pin the next length along the other line and stitch.

Sew your waistband onto the top of the skirt and insert your elastic, and you're done!

You can be quite rough with the netting. You won't hurt it!! Make it conform to where you want to sew... and worse case - remember it is going under your garment and doesn't need to look perfect.

If you find the netting is scratching on your legs you might have made the netting ruffles a little too long. Trim them a centimetre or two all the way around so that the netting is above the cotton base and then the cotton should protect your legs.

Bunny Bag

2006-12-06T07:01:00.001-08:00

After deciding to do a Lolita version of Alice in Wonderland for the Fairy Tale Picnic event I remembered I had a pattern for a Sweet Lolita bag that was in the shape of a white rabbit. There is no better accessory to hide my wallet and keys!!

Difficulty: Easy
Total Time: 6 hours

I photocopied the pattern out of Gosu Rori vol 4, but the pattern itself could be adapted to any soft toy where you can put a zip up the back. I only got cheap toy fur because I am probably only going to use the bag once and at the beginning I wasn't sure how it would turn out and didn't really want to spend up to $60 on fur. So my "scrooge" side won out on this one.

I used about 60cm of fake fur. One tip is to make sure you pay close attention to the way the fur will go. I drew each piece on to the back of the fur, but if you do that make sure you two each of the front and back of the pieces (ie. you need to turn over your paper pieces and do the other side too)

Next carefully cut the fur out. Because the fabric is fur you need to try to cut between the fur follicles. You can see why by having a look at where the shop assistant cut the fur. It is all ratty because the fur was cut through. You need to try not to cut through the fur, just the backing material.

Finally you can start to sew the pieces together. For the head I sewed the ears into the top seams where the gusset joins the sides of the head together. The arms, legs and ears are all relatively straight forward to sew together. After each piece is together turn it the right way and carefully pull the fur out of the seam lines.

The instructions for the body didn't include a lining for the bag itself and I wondered how the bunny would look if it had my wallet, keys and other things inside without having a little stuffing in there too so that he keeps his shape. I used the original body pattern to draw a smaller shape for my gusset and cut it out of white cotton. First I sewed the zip onto the fur and sewed around the fur leaving a small opening in the front. Next I sewed both pieces of cototn lining to the zip as well so that all the seams would end up in the bunnies tummy. Then I sewed around the lining without leaving a gap. I could turn the stomach in the right way through the gap in the fur seam and then after attaching the arms and legs (described next) I lightly stuffed either side of the stomach lining.

I used some blue toy eyes and some simple plastic arm and leg joints which you can get from the "teddy bear" area in your craft shop. With some of these things you either need to be quite strong to put them together, or use a pair of pliers. You can join each of the arms and legs to the body and then stuff the arms and legs and sew the holes closed.

Finally the head is stitched to the top of the body with a piece of ribbon coming out of the back of the neck seam as a handle. Then I added some lace and a blue ribbon around his neck and stitched on his nose with black cotton embroidery thread.

Wa-Lolita Dress

2006-11-14T06:51:00.001-08:00

The Picnic at Himeji Gardens in South Australia gave me the perfect excuse to make a wa-loli (Japanese inspired lolita) dress. It was quite simple in design and easier to fit, but the material was expensive.

Difficulty: Easy
Total Time: 35 hours

The dress was a design from Gosu Rori vol 7. I constructed a mock up of the top of the dress to ensure the sizing was correct and deliberated for a while over the sleeves. I wasn't sure if the sleeve design would work because when I tried it I found that there was quite a noticeable crease near the arm pit on my mock up.

I constructed a second set in sleeve and tried this, however I then felt that the sleeve was too fitted and was not in keeping with the Kimono-style of a wa-loli dress. You can see from the photo the two types of sleeves I tried and here are the patterns for each.

I constructed a second mock up using a lighter material which more closely matched the printed cotton material I had chosen for the dress and found that actually the creasing around the arms wasn't as noticeable as I'd thought it would be, therefore I decided to plow ahead.

The dress itself was very easy to construct. My only downfall was the printed material. I wanted to try to keep the geisha design upright, so I had cut my material carefully and sewn each piece together after carefully lining up the sections. I started taking some progress shots after sewing the sleeves together and then noticed a big issue through my view finder. Because of the way the sleeves were put together one side of each sleeve was up the wrong way. I had to unpick both sleeves completely and cut them in half so that I could have the pattern the right way up on both sides.

The bottom of the dress was never going to be up the right way, so I just sewed it as best as I could. The collar was partially hand sewn, which was the most time consuming part, but for the majority of the hemming I used the machine.

The corset was a simple pattern which I had already used once for the corset of my Urchin cancan dress . I altered it a little to see if it would work better if I had a squarer design. I am not 100% happy with it, but it did the job. One point was that I should have been more careful with the poly boning because I didn't trim it accurately this time and it starts to poke out through the material.

The material of the corset itself was cut to allow the majority of the pattern to show. It had an intermittent pattern which I wanted to utilize in the body of the corset. I also had to be careful that I used the right sides together because one side up was blacker than the other side when it caught the light.

I purchased my geta from an ebay seller in the US. They arrived really quickly, and although simple they did the job. Unfortunately my puppy decided they were a good chew toy at one stage and took a chunk out of one of the sides, but thankfully no-one noticed on the day.

Moulin Rouge

2006-09-16T08:50:00.001-07:00

An ambitious costuming project to take on for my broadening interest in costuming, this dress is from the Moulin Rouge movie and although rarely seen on film is one of my favourites. There are a lot of firsts for me in this costume from intricate patchwork to corsetry.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Total Time: 60 hours

Putting it all together involved a lot of items, but I was happy with the end result.

Grey Bowler hat - purchased from ebay.
Blue shirt - purchased and altered to short sleeves.
Waist Cincher - Handmade with article here
Vest - Handmade with article here
Skirt - Handmade with article here
Bloomers - Handmade with article here
Shoes - Second hand store platform shoes

Moulin Rouge - Urchin CanCan Skirt

2006-09-15T08:37:00.001-07:00

The patchwork looked to be the most time consuming part of this project and I decided that I would begin there because it was something I thought I could manage with minimal advise. If I didn't make a start I thought I never would!

I bought ten colours of cotton quilters material and spent around 5 hours with a hexagon template cut from cardboard drawing hexagons and cutting material... What a job! Each Hexegon is 12cm across in each direction giving me a centimetre seam allowance all the way around. I tried to keep the colours in darker neutral shades as I interpret the photos from the Moulin Rouge.

Just when I thought I would surely slip into madness it was over and I could begin sewing... right after I ironed every single patch (another tedious task).

The sewing progressed a lot quicker than I thought and after not too much deliberation I had two rows of patches sewn. I decided to sew concentric circles of patches so that I ended up with a circle without any obvious break in the pattern.

Over several days and several more hour long sessions I was up to the sixth row of patches. Although I thought it would be more difficult the hexagon shapes are joining together quite easily. I think sewing them in circles helps to fix any small errors that may creep in.

Of course I am not too worried about this being completely flat like a quilt, but I was worried that keeping it in two pieces would warp the pattern when it came to sewing up the sides. My original idea was to sew a zip or some kind of fastening into either side to enable the skirt to be put on without breaking the pattern with anything. I think now that I will use elastic around the waste as this should be covered with the waist cincher.

I finally found the colour for the petticoat ruffles! I don't know how many times I've freeze-framed the movie looking for shots of urchin and finding only a few un-useful shots. The screen capture I found shows Urchin’s petticoats which are purple; very different from the design sketches. What great timing for me, merely hours from going shopping for the petticoat material (which I nearly bought in cream two days ago!)

I bought cotton voile in three colours - black, plum and floral plum. The black was used as a base for the ruffles which is a simple circle skirt 80cm long. Next I mass produced ruffles by cutting lengths 13cm wide and doing a rolled hem on one side and a zigzag on the other. A machine that can do a rolled hem is extremely handy to have. Cotton voile apparently doesn't fray if it is ripped along the weft, but I didn't want to take any chances and I have a lovely finish even though it took much longer.

Eight layers later the ruffles are starting to look great and took 5 metres of material to construct. The plum was not as wide as the patterned material so I had initially bought three metres of it and two of the patterned. The first ruffle took 6 metres of material and the 8th took 4 metres.

A few more layers and I'll be up to my waist and able to attach the patchwork to the other side. These layers took me another 4 evenings to complete and believe me I am very tired of ruffles!

I realized that I had extremely underestimated the amount of material I would need for the grey border around the bottom of the skirt. I had bought only half a metre, but I really need a complete circle strip because a straight stip would not sit flat because the skirt is constructed from a simple circle skirt pattern. I bought 3 more metres of grey but as it was only 114cm wide I had to improvise for the back and cut it out of two pieces.

I have just made enough patchwork to go up to the grey border which was constructed out of two half circle strips. The ruffle skirt was attached around the grey border and then the patchwork was trimmed to the waist and attached to the waistband. One problem I encountered was not only that the black ruffle base was slightly larger than my patchwork circle (despite careful measuring), but also that the ruffles are so heavy that I had to use umpteen tacking stitches under the first ruffle into the inner side of the grey border to hold the ruffles in place better.

More photos of the construction on flickr.

Moulin Rouge - The Rest

2006-09-14T08:56:00.001-07:00

Other construction photos for these items can be found on flickr.

Vest

The vest was drafted using a tank-top as a base. I created a basic shape then sketched out the details on my dress model until I was happy with the appearance. Then I constructed it out of my materials. I used my machine to do the button holes and hand stitched the buttons. It took about 6 hours to make and cost $16. One thing I would do differently next time is to fit an adjustable strap across the back at about waist level because closer inspection of the movie after I had completed this part shows that the vest actually has a little strap or tie there.

Corset / Waist Cincher

I used a simple pattern out of one of Gosu Rori Magazine Vol 7 which I will have to make again for another project. I constructed a mockup just to test if I would need to add or subtract anything from the pattern, and although it was hard to tell at this stage it seemed to work alright so I started with my nice material.

The instructions did not include boning, however I fitted in 8 rows of poly-boning to give it some strength and stability. I got the eyelets done at Dragons Blood Creations, where they do professional eyelets for a very reasonable price. They gave me a tip that the boning actually has to go next to the edge of the material, so next time I will know better. It took me approximately 12 hours and $25 to complete.

Bloomers

I drafted my own pattern based on a pattern out of Gosu Rori Magazine Vol 5, but largely made up as I went along with my own measurements and guesstimates. I feel that drafting this pattern was the first time that I had confidently drawn out the diagram and been assured that it would fit without too many problems. I cut the legs much longer than I was going to need them and cut off about 10cm after sewing the four pieces together. This is a fantastic, well-fitting shorts pattern that I intend to use again.

After cutting the legs to the length I wanted I hemmed them and then attached some garter lace. I completed these in one evening and they cost me $22 to make. I have a suspicion that the movie version may have been made out of the same colour material as the corset, though I did mine black, because although I cannot find a reference picture for Urchin's bloomers some of the other cancan dresses with corsets showed bloomers in the same colour.

Vinyl Dress

2006-08-25T07:22:00.001-07:00

My first lolita dress is from Gosu Rori magazine Vol 6. The hardest part of this costume was the invisible zip and working with the slippery vinyl.

Difficulty: Medium
Total Time: 51 hours

The dress itself consisted of a petticoat skirt, under dress, overdress and a hairpin. Gosu Rori magazines have pattern sheets in the back with pages of instructions (in Japanese of course) which I needed to decipher.

Underdress

With this part of the outfit I felt like I really started utilising my dress-dummy for the first time. Because my breasts are quite a lot larger than a typical Japanese girl I had several issues with this pattern. Initially I knew that the body of the pattern would fit because it was directly adapted from the overdress pattern which I had done a mockup for. So I sewed the main parts together and pinned it in approximately the right spot on my manaquin. The straps were a real trial. I had at one stage about 6 paper variations and got so sick of cutting little pieces of paper that I ended up just making on to see how it went and luckily it seemed to work.

The invisible zip was another episode entirely and I think I will write a seperate article about that. I learnt from a friend that you need to buy an invisible zip foot from your local sewing shop (ie Spotlight). I fitted the foot to my machine and spent a while looking at how it was it would work. Then I tested it on a spare zip I had bought and it was a DISASTER! The foot kept slipping sideways and I would end up sewing over the zip and at one point I got so angry that I just had to stop and nearly gave up entirely.

After wishing I had 6 arms I managed to hold the zip (which I basted first - yes basting is sometimes very handy so don't be slack!), the foot, the material, put the foot down and work the machine (phew) and somehow slowly and miraculously I got the zip sewn in.

The front was interesting again and I completed the ruffles on the bottom well before I had solved the problem of how I would cover my boobs. I had already followed the pattern which just did not work although it looked great on my dummy at which point my friend gave me another idea. Put your bra on your dummy! So thats right, my dress-dummy now wears a stuffed bra and I am thinking of making something a little more permanent.

I ended up with a piece about three times bigger than the pattern which is gathered along the bottom and has lace and elastic along the top. That was sewn in carefully and thankfully not only covered my modesty, but also looked great!

Overdress

Firstly a warning for everyone: Vinyl does not take kindly to pins or unpicking because you will end up with small holes in your fabric. I had to draw each piece of the pattern with tailors chalk because I could not pin my pieces to the material. I did pin around the outside of the pattern though so that the material would not slip and I utilised pins carefully when doing the ruffles in areas inside the seams.

Secondly vinyl is slippery. While sewing the pieces wasn't too hard because there is a material-like backing, I wanted to sew the seams so that there were two lines of stitching parallel to the seam. I had to reduce the tension of the feeders so that they would not leave marks on the front of my garment and carefully help the fabric through the machine by pulling from the back as I slowly stitched. The effect though was very very nice.

The ruffles were quite fiddley to complete and time consuming to gather evenly and then pin and slowly sew. Each seam has stitching next to the seam and this is the reason why the ruffles sit so nicely because the seams are actually pressed flat and open when the secondary stitching is complete.

The zip in this case was quite easy and I chose a nickel coated open ended jacket zip. Also the fold lines that I originally had from my material being stored for a month fell out over the period of sewing. Do NOT iron your vinyl, but you can apparently heat it softly with a hair dryer and any creases you do get will fall out. I did not try this as the weight of the garment hanging on my dress-dummy meant the creases disappeared during construction.

Unfortunately I don't have many progress shots of this part of the costume because I ended up doing most of the construction over two long nights and I completely forgot! The only thing this progress shot is missing is the bottom ruffle and a couple of hook and eye clips on the collar.

Hair Pin

The pattern for the hairpin consisted of about two dozen little hearts - 8 large, 5 medium and 7 small - and a circle for the back. Each heart is folded and then sewn along the bottom. Then each heart is sewn in a circle. I found it easier to sew each heart together one by one rather than trying to pin and sew all of them at once.

The layers are built up. You can see from the image that i have two hearts that I have not sewn in yet (they went in the middle of the 5 hears small circle sewn in by hand) and in the image I have already hand sewn the small set of hearts to the medium set. Next I sewed the two small hearts into the middle and then sewed the large hearts together. The circle covers the seams and then the bobby pin is sewn to that.

This is quite a large flower, but it is extremely effective and I got several positive comments though I don't know if many people realised that I had made this part of my costume as well.