It ended up taking me much longer than I thought it would to get all the costumes
and get the pictures done, owing mainly to the fact that my general workspace
is half an hour’s drive from my place.
I mentioned in the last post that we did
the White Coats from the Tsubasa art book for the 2010 Otakuthon in Montreal.
Here is the reference shot once again so you don't need to go back and forth from post to post.
This is the first of the four costumes.
Fai (on the right) is seen wearing a black jumpsuit with long white gloves and
white chaps that go over the bottom of his pants.
This
is the finished product! The gun has mysteriously vanished from my stockpile of
finished weapons, so if I ever manage to find it again, I will edit this post
so you guys can see it, too.
The black bodysuit was made out of a 50/50 cotton/poly blend and was extremely hot to wear in a convention hall. The white chaps were sewn onto the pant legs just above the knees so I wouldn't have to care about them falling off if the belt loosened.
The
gloves were made out of a stretchy cotton material so they would fit, well,
like a glove. I made the top part where the blue wing detail is situated out of
the same material as the chaps. To give them more stability and the capacity to
stay standing, I reinforced the fabric with a stabilizer sewn onto the back of
the fabric. To make the wing detail, I used the same reference shot as above and
enlarged it using a portable enlarger I bought at a Curry’s Art Store and blew
up the wing on a piece of paper. I then cut the pattern out and traced it onto
the blue fabric. After cutting out the fabric, I used a 'No-Sew' type of glue
to glue it to the top of the glove. The horizontal 'buttons' are actually a
bunch of wooden chopsticks I cut to size and painted with gold acrylic paint,
then sewed onto the costumes.
Here’s a shot from the back to let you see. I had to use Velcro to keep the
belt of the chaps up since there wasn't any indication in the reference picture
that it had any type of buckling implement.
Next up, is Kurogane (top left in the reference shot). I had a lot of fun making this one!
To start, I used the Simplicity sewing pattern for the Matrix trench coat
and duster (#5386) using a white canvas material for 3/4 of the coat. I also
used a similar canvas like material in black for the last 1/4. While cutting
out the pattern, I added about three inches to the outer edge of the black
material so I would be able to cut to shape the 'button holes' (I use air
quotes here since the coat closed with Velcro.) The belt was simply a strip of
material about 4" thick cut to the length of my boyfriend’s waist. I made
sure it stayed shut with three hook and eye set-ups along with a four inch
vertical strip of Velcro. As before, I used chopsticks that I had cut and
painted for the buttons.
Moving onto the detail work of the cloak, I made the red wing detail in the
same manner as the blue wing on my glove, by tracing out an enlarged copy from
the reference photo, cutting out the tracing, and then in turn cutting the
pattern out of the fabric. Using the 'No-Sew' glue I glued the fabric to the
cloak.
The cloak clasps were made from an awful molding clay that dried to a
brittle clump so I don't think I'll be using it again. I molded a regular
brooch clasp into the clay as it was drying to ensure it would stay put when I
attached the clasps to the cloak. After they were dry I painted them with the
same gold paint as I used for the chopstick buttons. I made the braided rope
out of three meters of red rope that I cut and braided into a thicker rope. The
two tasseled ends were made in the same fashion, and then I wrapped and sewed a
strip of dangly embellishment about four inches long around one end of each.
The whole set-up was hot glued to the backs of the clay clasps around the pin so I was still able to pin it to the cloak.
And here is the complete costume from the front...
And the back.
Next up is the last outfit that is in
the reference shot. Syaoran's coat (center) was a bit more difficult. I
couldn't find a suitable pattern to use, so I got inventive and modeled one
after a short jacket I had. I simplified the pattern, mainly to make it easier
for me when it came time to cut out and sew the fabric. As with Kurogane's
trench, I added a couple of inches to one side of the pattern so that I could
later cut the clasps to size.
The sword is one solid piece of pinewood and does not come apart, as at the
time of construction I didn't want to attempt anything too big and risk not
having the time to finish. I traced out a rough pattern on the wood and cut it
out using a band saw. After careful sanding and refining, I coated it with
three or four coats of gold acrylic. The ribbon was found at the Dollar Store,
and I simply looped it repeatedly through a hole I had pre-drilled into the
grip of the sword handle.
The flame detail was first drawn on one side and traced with tracing paper to have an exact duplicate for the other side of the handle. I then painted it with red, orange and yellow acrylics. The red gem was hot glued to either side after everything had dried.
Next we come to Sakura's shirt dress. Again, I didn't have a pattern per say, so I made a copy of the pattern I had used for the Syaoran jacket and made it much longer.
The shirt dress falls to about mid knee on my friend so as to give enough coverage and not instill any type of 'wardrobe malfunctions'. I lined the entire opening of the shirt dress with Velcro to keep it well secured, but also stitched the last foot of the skirt part to keep it secure at all times. Again, the buttons are painted chopsticks and paint circles directly applied to the material. I decided that since Sakura is the only girl in a group of guy's, her outfit would need some little embellishments so I slit the length of both sleeves, put eyelets down the length and laced it up again with pink ribbon I had found to match with wing detail.
Close-up shot of the pink wing detail.
And so, those are the costumes I made
for Otakuthon 2010! Now we skip onto Otakuthon 2011.
Our group’s original plan was to have a Legend of Zelda theme. Our group
would go as Link from Twilight Princess, Linebeck from Phantom Hourglass, Medli
from Windwaker, and Tetra from Windwaker/Phantom Hourglass. I began the year
deciding that props would be a must and dove in head first into making as many
as I could. Let it be stated that I got a bit over-zealous and lost track of
time. But, regardless, you can see the props I did finish in the above post!
So, long story short, I ran out of
time to make the costumes to my satisfaction, and asked my friend and now
fiance (!!!) if they would mind changing costumes to something I could
accomplish in the short time I had left before the con, (about two weeks.) To
my great joy, they agreed, and we decided on simple costumes from the anime XXX
Holic. My fiance and I would be going as Watanuki Kimihiro and Domeki Shizuka.
I only have shots of the outfits themselves, mainly because I wasn't happy with
how my wig turned out.
Basically, this is the school uniform jacket that both Watanuki and Domeki wear, the only differences between the two jacket I made was the width of the shoulder's in my fiance's coat. Made from a material called Gabardine I used a McCalls pattern (# M4745) which is essentially a military style jacket. I cut out the pattern and adjusted the length to be appropriate for the coat, then went onto detailing it with the white borders around the neck and cuff lines.
I very much liked the material and the way the pattern made the coat keep its shape, all in all they turned out well for a completely rush job...
The next costume I tackled was an original idea I had with my friend while trying to figure out how we would make her costume. She was going as Yuko Ichihara and I knew from the get go that I wanted it to be luxurious and slightly over the top.
Our original idea was to try and make the costume pictured below, but from the beginning I was doubtful I could make the wings in such a short amount of time.
So scrapping the project before I got in over my head, I decided to make an original costume that would still give the look of Yuko, while still keeping me sane enough to finish the costume on time.
My friend and I went shopping for the fabric and decided on a lilac colored satin for the under Kimono, and a red wine colored Organza fabric that was shot through with highlights of a dark purple. We found a light green satin fabric for the Obi that tied the outfit together nicely.
This is the under Kimono made from the Lilac colored satin, tied with a sash of the same material. I used a McCalls pattern (# M4953) and adjusted the sleeves to end shorter than indicated.
The Kimono was tied at the back with a simple knot and bow.
This is the over Kimono, made from the Organza material, I chose it because after laying it on the Lilac satin underneath, it made the Lilac seem to turn almost a steel gray. I made three sashes for the over Kimono, the first, which can be barely seen in this picture was made with the Lilac satin, the second, was out of the pale green satin and a third and final one was made from a Lilac colored ribbon about 3" thick which I folded in half and sewed shut.
Viewed from the back, this is essentially how the sashes were attached on my friend. I literally sewed her into the costume every morning before we left for the con. The third sash was tied on top of the other two to hide the stitching.
Close up shot of the sash set-up.
And a close-up of the front.
And finally a nice detail shot of the sleeve of the over Kimono. I wanted something that would draw people's eye's to the costume so I intentionally made the long flowing sleeve see-through.
And thus brings this blog up to date on all past costume and prop attempts I made. Next post will catch up on my present projects, starting with the promised props that bogged down my 2011 year ;)
