FirebornX
06-28-2009, 01:06 AM
Ok I like bleach, I kinda look like Ichigo so I want to go as bankai Ichi
overdone yes.... I know, but I've never cosplayed before so I might as well go as someone that I don't need a wig for =p
All well and good, but I want to make things difficult for myself and sew my own costume and make my own sword. (being dirt poor is a motivator)
The sword and any other props I'm not worried about, I know how to work wood, work metal, and to a lesser extent sculpt. I'm confident I can make nice looking replicas.
However, I've never sewn more than to repair my own pants and socks... and a backpack one time.
I'm not really too worried about the hakama, I ordered a pattern for it but it's just a couple pieces of square cloth...
However, Ichi's coat... I read somewhere that you could start with a man's long coat pattern and mod it to get to ichi's coat.
I got the pattern and after looking at it I'm like wha?
So went online, looked up the lingo and how to read a pattern, how to transfer the pattern to the fabric, etc.
It's an advanced pattern, If I'm going to learn I might as well learn big right?
Anyway after that little story, what advice do you more advanced tailors have for a novice such as myself? I'm not talking really specific to this character's outfit, but in general are there things that I should know or that would help me before I get into the thick of it?
Thanks!
Well AX09 was a lot of fun, I finished my costume.
For reference, I found a long coat pattern from Burda that (after learning how to read sewing patterns) was fairly easy to follow for an advanced pattern.
Took me 3 hours to learn how to thread a sewing machine! ugh if you've never done it....
Finally a couple days before the convention I asked my dear old mom to help out and good thing I did because I figured out that in order to make the coat flare out near the bottom I needed to do more than just extend the pattern pieces straight down to my ankles.... I wouldn't have been able to walk... For those of you who know how to sew this may be obvious but for those who are newbs like me, know that you need to extend the pieces down at an angle so that the bottom is much wider than the top *_*; so obvious but I was so fixated on the long coat pattern itself that I didn't think about the modifications I needed to make.
Figured out how to line the coat as well, basically just make a second coat the same as the first and sew it to the inside of the first coat.
After I got done with my coat I needed to make kimono's because my girlfriend agreed to go as Rukia.
Unlined kimonos are surprisingly easy to make. There's great tutorials for making Japanese clothes here : http://fibers.destinyslobster.com/Japanese/Clothes/japmake.htm
Also made two very fast and not at all historically correct hakamas.
Overall the convention went well, I didn't think people would be that interested in us since there had to have been quite a few ichigo's and bleach peeps around there, but we had quite a few people ask us for pictures. Was interesting to say the least, at first I was like huh, wha, seriously? But it was a fun day.
Here are some pictures of me and her and the convention in general : http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z14/FirebornX/Anime%20Expo%2009/
overdone yes.... I know, but I've never cosplayed before so I might as well go as someone that I don't need a wig for =p
All well and good, but I want to make things difficult for myself and sew my own costume and make my own sword. (being dirt poor is a motivator)
The sword and any other props I'm not worried about, I know how to work wood, work metal, and to a lesser extent sculpt. I'm confident I can make nice looking replicas.
However, I've never sewn more than to repair my own pants and socks... and a backpack one time.
I'm not really too worried about the hakama, I ordered a pattern for it but it's just a couple pieces of square cloth...
However, Ichi's coat... I read somewhere that you could start with a man's long coat pattern and mod it to get to ichi's coat.
I got the pattern and after looking at it I'm like wha?
So went online, looked up the lingo and how to read a pattern, how to transfer the pattern to the fabric, etc.
It's an advanced pattern, If I'm going to learn I might as well learn big right?
Anyway after that little story, what advice do you more advanced tailors have for a novice such as myself? I'm not talking really specific to this character's outfit, but in general are there things that I should know or that would help me before I get into the thick of it?
Thanks!
Well AX09 was a lot of fun, I finished my costume.
For reference, I found a long coat pattern from Burda that (after learning how to read sewing patterns) was fairly easy to follow for an advanced pattern.
Took me 3 hours to learn how to thread a sewing machine! ugh if you've never done it....
Finally a couple days before the convention I asked my dear old mom to help out and good thing I did because I figured out that in order to make the coat flare out near the bottom I needed to do more than just extend the pattern pieces straight down to my ankles.... I wouldn't have been able to walk... For those of you who know how to sew this may be obvious but for those who are newbs like me, know that you need to extend the pieces down at an angle so that the bottom is much wider than the top *_*; so obvious but I was so fixated on the long coat pattern itself that I didn't think about the modifications I needed to make.
Figured out how to line the coat as well, basically just make a second coat the same as the first and sew it to the inside of the first coat.
After I got done with my coat I needed to make kimono's because my girlfriend agreed to go as Rukia.
Unlined kimonos are surprisingly easy to make. There's great tutorials for making Japanese clothes here : http://fibers.destinyslobster.com/Japanese/Clothes/japmake.htm
Also made two very fast and not at all historically correct hakamas.
Overall the convention went well, I didn't think people would be that interested in us since there had to have been quite a few ichigo's and bleach peeps around there, but we had quite a few people ask us for pictures. Was interesting to say the least, at first I was like huh, wha, seriously? But it was a fun day.
Here are some pictures of me and her and the convention in general : http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z14/FirebornX/Anime%20Expo%2009/