Four Weeks, Four Costumes. New record, I think.

Hello all,

So this year has been difficult to say the least, but as mentioned before, the second half of 2012 seems to be picking up.

I only really got back into the swing of costuming and prop making a month before the annual anime convention Montreal has so I had to hit the ground running.

This year was planned to be very simple since most of my extra time was spent planning my wedding. Our group decided on simple, no props needed, costumes from the Final Fantasy series.

Some of you may be thinking, "Where in the FF series does one find a costume WITHOUT props?" A valid question and the answer is simple, spell casters. Though in all fairness we did choose from FFIII and FF Tactics, War of the Lion's job systems so there was ample choice.

After a few days of debate, the choices were as follows; FFIII Devout, FFIII Red Mage, FFIII Scholar, and a FF Tactics Summoner.

 

So here are the reference shots I used. I had managed to find a shot of just the male Summoner, but deleted it before making this post...

FINAL FANTASY III DEVOUT

 So this is the Final Fantasy III Devout (Arc Version). A pretty simple costume since my client had the boots and pants already. The cape was modified from a Simplicity 5840 pattern and is out of a white linen fabric. The shirt was a straight forward Butterick B5008 pattern with no modifications except the addition of a metal ring in the bottom hem to help it balloon out when the cape was put on.

 FINAL FANTASY III RED MAGE

This Red Mage costume had three different layers in alternating linen fabrics. The vest is taken from the Butterick 5656 Doublet pattern. I added a hidden zipper for easy on and off. The belt buckle was sculpted from some Sculpey and cured. I then made a mold from Smooth-On Oomoo-30 Silicone Rubber and cast an acrylic double of it. The Holster Pouches, as I grew to call them, along with all the Summoner bags (see below) were from a mix of different patterns. If you would like more info on them, feel free to drop me an email.

Close up of the Holster Pouches

Close up of belt and buckle

 

The jacket was again made from a red linen fabric with white cotton details, the cravat is made of an imitation silk material. The jacket was taken from a modified Simplicity 2517 pattern with a larger collar so it had more height.

       

 The cape was again taken from the Simplicity 5840 pattern and made without sleeves. Made from the same linen as the vest.

This hat has to be my biggest achievement this year. Made from a hand made pattern and a lot of trial and error, it took about three days to complete.

         

And here is the complete costume, hat and all.

FINAL FANTASY III SCHOLAR

 The Scholar costume was my quickest to finish this year, as my client already had the turtleneck, pants and boots. This is made out of a brown linen material and made from a modified Simplicity 5685 pattern. All said and done with fittings this costume took me a day.

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS; WAR OF THE LIONS SUMMONER

Two quick shots of the complete costume, the cape is again the Simplicity 5840 pattern modded without sleeves. I added an octogram in tone-on-tone green thread to the back as a small detail piece, though it hardly showed up in any pictures. The cape is 100% Linen.

 Vest made from a black Cotton/Poly blend. Used a Butterick 7799 Pattern and modified the front points, along with making it extra fitted.

These boots took forever as they were my first attempt ever at making footwear. Happily, they held up throughout the weekend and are still alive today. Butterick B5233 Pattern modified. Made from light brown imitation leather with real leather soles.

And what would a Summoner be without their telltale horn? Dark brown cotton/poly fabric is wrapped around a 4" Styrofoam cone with cotton batting filling the tip so I wouldn't do too much damage if I walked into someone forehead first.

That's right people, this thing stuck out 10.5" from my forehead. It took me a long time to get used to bending over while looking at vendor tables without hooking it onto anything.

This was a project I decided on one night while watching TV. I figured since no one could see the arms in the reference shot, I could take some artistic liberties and have some fun. The gauntlet was made with remnants from the cape and horn fabrics and embroidered with a nice Celtic design I found online. The idols were made from more scrap material I had lying around. Each measure about three and a half inches tall and are hooked to the gauntlet via key rings and chains.

From top left we have a Moogle, Ifrit and Bahamut summoning idol.

This is the right arm gauntlet, made same way as the left. Again, the idols are each about three and a half inches.

From top left we have a Shiva, Carbuncle and Titan summoning idol.

A very simple belt to hook my bags onto. Made from the remnants I had from my cape.

 

These pouches were made from left over fabric I had from the Scholar costume, Each is embroidered with either a Celtic or Nordic insignia as I always pictured Tactics taking place in that type of environment and time. 

And that was my mad rush of four costumes in four weeks.

See you all next post! 

New Year, New Post

Happy New Years everyone!

So this is just a small post to say I hope everyone had excellent holidays and got everything they asked for. I will be posting shots of some of the more enterprising gifts I made this season a little later, once I manage to get pictures of everything since I went into a sort of fabrication haze and only came out December 20th, by which point everything was wrapped and under the tree.

Again, Happy Holidays and wishing everyone a great 2012!

Babydoll outfit.

I received an order for a commission a few weeks before Halloween asking if I could make the outfit Babydoll wears in the movie "Sucker Punch".

My client informed me that she already had the thigh high stockings, the shoes, the sword and gun, so my job was simply to find the wig, and make the outfit.

I started by trying to find a suitable pattern that I could use. My searching ended up leading me to use a mixture of a cheerleader costume pattern and a woman's sailor blouse I had found in the bargain bin at my local fabric store for the top and some inventive thinking for the skirt.

So, onto the 'build'.

I started by figuring out which pattern pieces I would need for the top. Taking the basic shirt pieces from the cheerleader pattern and the sailor flap (thing) from the blouse pattern. After doing that, I cut out the pieces and matched the front and back of the basic top at the shoulders.

After stitching up the shoulders and sides of the top, I added the sleeves and prepared for the hellish ride that was attaching the sailor-style necktie. Two hours later, I finally managed to get it done, and started working on the skirt.

Simplicity was a key factor in making the skirt. I cut out two and a half strips of fabric, about 45" long and 13" tall and proceeded to make the pleats. This process was made really easy by my handy pleating tools.

Using both my handy pleating guides I ironed out all the pleats in the proper directions using an 'under, over, over, under' style sequence.

To make the band at the top of the skirt, I mimicked the pattern I had found for the cheerleader costume and modified it to my purpose.

I then pinned the skirt to the band careful to make sure I got all the pleats in the right order.

After stitching shut the band for the skirt, I had a fitting with my client and decided where to put the buttons and how much to take in for the top.

After that, it was just a simple matter of making the scarf, making the clasp for the scarf, and sewing on the ribbons to the bottom of the skirt, the sleeves and the sailor necktie.

Just a quick shot of the skirt after adding the buttons.

The beginnings of the scarf clasp. Really easy to make.

After installing the pressure snap. All finished.

 

The completed outfit. 

A shot my client was nice enough to send me of her in the outfit. The wig was found online. Sold for about 35$ and is the wig released by the production company. I had to redo the hair band though, since it was a black ribbon and the entire outfit was made of a navy blue material.

Hope everyone had an excellent Halloween!

Giant list of stuff I wanna do!!

Hi all!

So this post will be without pictures for two reasons. First being I'm writing this from my iPhone, and the process of loading photos through this app will take forever, and second, because every time I load a picture with the app, it crashes.

Alright, so onto the list!

-What first springs to mind is the Hylian Shield and Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess.

-I can think of another two parter off the bat: the Deku Shield and Kokiri Sword from the Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time.


-This next item could be considered a set, or three individual items depending on your viewpoint. It would be the swords from the Magic Knight Rayearth series. (A small note for anyone who hasn't watched this series, one of the characters, Fuu Hououji's sword is a staggering 80+" in total length!) These are going to be beasts to build!

-The pendant Robin Sena wears in Witch Hunter Robin.

-The Orbo pendant that the STNJ agents wear in Witch Hunter Robin.

-I would also like to make the pendant that Hitomi Kanzaki wears in the 'Visions of Escaflowne' series. There is also a different pendant that she wears in the Escaflowne movie. So I may try my hand at making both.


Heading back into the weapons department, I’ll generalize a bit and say “Final Fantasy Weapons”. Here are some of the ones I’m most interested in:


-The complete Vincent Valentine costume from the Advent Children movie. This would include his pointy boots, metal claw hand, and Cerberus, his three barreled handgun.


-The Nirvana staff (Yuna's final weapon from FFX) and Brotherhood Sword, mainly cause it's pretty and see through:)



-Then if I go completely crazy, the V2 Buster Sword from Advent Children. (Yes, that crazy one that's actually eight swords in one.) Could be fun...

So I think that's enough crazy for one day. I'll most likely be adding to this list as I find more things I want to build so stay tuned!!