Because I couldn’t find a sexy pink haired lady willing to go naked and stick with me  like I’m the greatest man in the world, I had to make a plushie, Neko’s animal form instead :’<

This is the first time I made a stuffed toy. It was harder than I expected :P But the same rules for tailoring, props making applies with it : Turn flat objects in t 3D form. 

This is not a tutorial but just a show-off WIP post. I think I did badly at this since the end product couldn’t stand on it’s own at all. Boo.

Trial photo! 

Before the event. I still looked fine here and not like I was run over by a truck or something.

During the event! 

As you can see, Neko couldn’t hold up her head properly. It will have to be remade. Along with the rest of this costume, which I rushed :P

There’s no WIP of the rest of Neko’s body as I finished it literally minutes before heading to the event HAHAHA. As you grow older, time for cosplay and other stuff like this gets less. It’s sad. 

Part 2! Rubber sheet armor! My first armor baby (and the last of my commissions, sadly)

As this is a queued post, it will take me time to answer any question you have. But because I don’t know when I can get back to you, I’ll just write down everything I remember about making this. Sorry for the upcoming wall of text!

Materials

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This is not really a proper tutorial. This was the product of my first time making armor of this kind. Please consider this a narrative of my first tryst with rubber sheet and armor making, and maybe by reading my experience you could learn a thing or two too.

I’ve always found rubber sheets and props makingscary. I am not familiar with this material and my greatest problem with it is it’s not cloth! It doesn’t farking bend AND flow!!!! I had no idea how to manipulate it at all. 

But there’s a similar concept shared between armor/props making and tailoring. You”turn flat materials in to 3D form” in both tailoring and props making so I thought I’d give it a try. Maybe my tailoring knowledge would help.

I was asked to make this set of costume. It’s Alicia Melchiott from Valkyria Chronicles.

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Warning: This post will be very wordy. This is my brain in present tense. And boy, I think a lot. 

I’m writing this down while munching an early lunch (blt sandwich). My schedule nowadays is just FUUUUU. September is a very busy month for designers. I’m swamped with bespoke orders for weddings, prom and debuts. I’m having fun though. Just anxious if I’ll have enough time to finish my costumes for Cosplaymania.WHICH IS IN 11 DAYS AS OF WRITING KASJDL;ASJDL;AKSDALS

Anyway I don’t know the proper way to make hoop skirts because I haven’t studied it, so    I made this based on intuition and common sense. You just need common sense for making clothes or costumes, seriously. And lots of patience.

You might remember the next photos from my previous post. 

Anyway the materials I used are Arix Clean System plastic coated steel for the hoopwire and tetoron for the cloth parts. Arix Clean System is a very lucky find. Originally I planned to get a regular clothesline wire (alambre) from Ace Hardware, twist two pieces together for strength and use that as hoopwire.

You know, it’s sometimes sad in Philippines because even if we have the magical land where you can buy almost everything called Divisoria, we STILL lack sophisticated sewing materials such as high quality boning, wadding, suit canvas, hoop wires and even sewing machines. DIY sewing is an underserved market!

Anyhow Ace Hardware is a resourceful cosplayer girl’s bestfriend. When I asked for “alambre” they gave me this 129.75 pesos 20 meter plastic coated clothesline wire. “Ma’am, wala kasi kaming alambre dito”. Sorry naman, jologs lang. 

And this thing is heaven sent. It does not lose its shape when bent, bouncy and best of all : STRONG. It’s hell to cut though. 

As for tetoron, you can buy that in any fabric store. 

A hoop skirt would probably consist of three parts. The waistband, the vertical bones and the horizontal hoops which makes the shape. This is most likely historically incorrect but I don’t give a flying ipis right now.

First step I did was get my skirt pattern, divide it into five sections and measure the length of those sections. That minus 2” is the length of each of my horizontal hoops. I deducted 2” from each hoops’ length because I’m wearing 2 garments over it, both quite bulky. If I don’t deduct the length the poofy-ness would be too much. That’s my theory anyway.

But oh, don’t forget to add 4/8” on both ends of your horizontal hoop skirt, for sewing allowance. It’s width would depend on what wire you’re using. Mine’s 4/8 wide.

You have to base your hoop’s circumference (horizontal hoop lengths) on your pattern. If you just make an estimate, the outcome might not look right and your skirt might look awkward over it. You don’t want your hoop to be larger than the skirt itself.

Cut your wires according to the horizontal hoop lengths. I used two ply for each, because I think one is not strong enough.

Here’s my unsewn horizontal hoops with two extras. (I have a plan for the two extra which I did not execute in the end)

And oh, here’s my feet too.

This is how it’ll look like with wire inside. Sew the ends together, and make it with really strong stitches. Make sure the cloth or wire isn’t twisted before sewing though.  Then divide and mark with a tailor’s chalk each horizontal hoops in to nine parts. You’d need that to shape your skirt later.

Next is the vertical parts!

Cut a waistband. Mine’s just a rectangle based on my waistline (23”) + 4/8” allowance on left, right and top side. My allowance for the bottom part is about 2” because that’s where I’m stitching in the vertical bones, and I want it to be very strong. Oh, + 6/8” on the right side too for the overlapping part for buttons. 

Here’s how it looks inside out, no ironing.

Turned inside out + button tabs. I top stitched the top and sides. LEAVE THE BOTTOM PART OPEN. You still need to attach the vertical p

Waistband, finished.

Then you make 9 vertical strips. I made mine longer than the intended length (10”) for safety measures. 

Everything looks lame when not ironed out. Sew, clip (threads), press. That’s the way of a dress maker, so iron it out! 

See? Much better after some pressing, right? Top stitch the sides for strength.

Divide your waistband in to nine parts then attach your vertical bones. You don’t need to add wires inside these bones btw, unless you don’t plan to sit down while you’re wearing it.

Mark 2” across each vertical bones. You’d need this to shape your hoop skirt. 

Please excuse my fugly nails. I don’t have time to fix it at the moment.

(in the two photos above the hoop is only held up by pins. I sew it together afterwards)

My mannequin is too large for me so I had to secure the waistband to the mannequin using pins as well. I haven’t bought a size 0 dress form yet, you see. :) This will do for the meantime.

Anyway,  attach the horizontal hoops to the vertical hoops using the markings made earlier. Doing so will give you a circle skirt. However since I’m striving for an elliptical one  (less poof in front, more bulk at the back) I simply transfered values from front to back using the markings I made earlier as reference to make sure the hoop skirt I’m making will be symmetrical. It’s pretty simple, really. 

I don’t have a photo of the elliptical form but here’s me wearing it.

The V shape of the first horizontal loop is intentional btw. I still need to photo finish the front seams and cut and seal the excess vertical bones but that’s pretty much it. 

Oh, the best part about this skirt is it’s collapsible. 

I prefer hoop skirts over petticoats now. Petticoats are such pain in the buttocks for storage and comfort :P

See you at the biggest cosplay convention of the year this September 29-30 at SMX convention center! I’ll be judging for both days again for third time this year! individual and group competition only. ToRCH judges will always be foreign guests.

Give me your best shot, okay? I will also give you mine <3

For my other WIP entry, check this out.

Cat signing out and is going back to work (NOOOOOOOO!). 

I’ve been looking for leather dye for some time now, since my shoe maker wasn’t able to make me a blue flatforms (for cosplay). The shoe fits nice, but I need it blue for accuracy.

I want to share this to cosplayers in Philippines just in case you don’t know yet. Leather dye is available in Heel Sew Quick, Lower Ground floor of SM Megamall. You probably passed by it a couple of times. It’s a cobbler/shoe/leather enthusiast specialty store.

They got two types of dye, the cheap ones and the expensive ones. The cheap one (213 PHP) got more color options, but got err, so-so consistency. The expensive ones costs about 545 PHP, and is fantastic <3

They got blue, green, brown, gold, black and white leather dyes. While we’re at it, they got some fantastic products for leather AND suede goods too. 

Anyway, you can always just dry brush with acrylic on leather. But if you plan to use it outside cosplay anyway, what’s a few more hundreds for proper leather dye? 

[EDIT] I forgot to say you can use the leather dye for leatherette and faux leather. :)

Here’s a cheat sheet on which needles to use for different types of fabric.

http://www.organ-needles.com/english/user/tech/sewing01.html

:D enjoy! 

(To locals, Organ sewing needles are available at your handy-dandy Carolina’s shop) 

One upon a time on Twitter Universe, I tweeted about my need for a new mascara. I   chirped “My mascara’s past three months already, I need a new one! Hmm, which one should I buy?”

Marj of Catwalk Cosmetics replied and recommended this darling.

The make-up artiste didn’t just gave me an advice on which one to try. She actually gave me the product! I was so surprised ;A;

Anyway, here are my thoughts on this beauty product:

The packaging is very girly and nice! Pink, black, zebra stripes and Hello Kitty! You can’t get more feminine and spunky than that. This is something I won’t be ashamed to use in a public comfort room, since it is so cute~ Too bad though the mascaras with this packaging is limited edition. 

Another thing I loved about this mascara is the comb type wand.  It’s easier to apply mascara with wands like this for me. It is made of plastic and easier to control compared to the normal bristle type mascara applicators. Less messy and less hassle. You have to make sure that there’s just a bit of mascara on the comb wand first though or else you’ll risk having too much, making your lashes look clumpy. If that happens, get your spoolie to fix it.

I was able to use it on my lower lashes without any problem though. Proper amount is the trick, I think~

Here are before and after photos:

Please don’t think this mascara will make you frown. I just forgot to smile, ahahah!

This mascara is waterproof too! I washed my face after taking these photos and the mascara was still intact, it did not run at all. You really have to use make-up remover to get it off your lashes.

Although I got mine for free, you could get your own Maybelline Hello Kitty X Volum’ Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes Mascara at Watson’s nationwide for 499PHP. 

Please forgive the state of my eyebrows right now. I’m growing it back to it’s natural, thick state so I could go to Laybare and have it shaped by a pro. I’ll write about my Laybare experience too!. :)

Thanks again, Marj!

(Do add her on Twitter, will you? She gives away stuff from time to time)

I received an SMS yesterday asking for advice. I’m so sorry I didn’t replied immediately, I was in a shoot. Also, I always shut down my phone on Sunday (today, yay!!!!).

Instead of a book on DIY clothes for beginners I’ll recommend these sites:

http://www.craftster.org/

and http://www.burdastyle.com.

In my opinion DIY fashion books for beginners are not worth the money. Most of the information you get from those books can be found in the internet.

What’s worth your money are books that will teach you the fundamentals of sewing and pattern making like Vogue sewing reference  and Lee Hollahan’s How to Use, Adapt and and Design Sewing patterns. 

Vogue Sewing reference will not teach you how to make a certain style of dress, but it will teach you how to sew each part of a garment the proper way. It’s basically a sewing manual. Very boring book for someone who doesn’t have enough will and interest in making clothes, but it’s pretty much some sort of a bible for me. I got my copy from Powerbooks about 3 years ago. How to Use, Adapt and Design Sewing patterns on the other hand have the information you need to make basic styles of clothes.

We always start with the basics, don’t we? When you’ve mastered the basics you can start experimenting. :)

This post is for Eloise. Have fun making clothes!

Also you can ask me through my Ask box  and formspring ! Send me questions there instead. Since with an SMS, what I can reply will be limited to how many characters a text message allows. :P