January 4, 2013

Shinsengumi headband modification + stuff

Hi everyone.

I went to town today on the morning together with Jäätynyt Enkeli. First thing we did was that we went to his study apartment and ordered the train tickets for Närcon Vinter. Yay finally it's out of the way... sadly we couldn't get the Närcon discount herpderp. Oh well, after that we walked to the post office and I picked up the black ponytail clip-on I had ordered from eBay a month ago. It sure took its time to get here. ._. Better late than never... it was from China but still, never taken this long before for anything I've ordered to arrive.. except that one wig that got lost lol, I got a replacement wig though free of charge.
I must say that when I got the package in my hand I was... weirded out. My first thought was "is this now the right thing I ordered? It can't possibly fit into this... ó_ò" and then I started imagining all possible more or less bad scenarios. xD Oh well, I put it in my bag and went back inside the shopping center (post office is on the outside of the same building). When inside I remembered I needed to buy some cosplay make-up, namely some good concealer/foundation/whatever-stuff-to-cover-derpness-on-your-face (I'm soooo knowledgeable when it comes to make-up terms.. lolnope) because yeah, powder alone just doesn't really cut it and the one thing I have is just... well.. it takes forever to dry and doesn't fit my skin tone - first I look like Simpsons and then I look like I have airdried poo on my face.
So I wobbled into the make-up specialized store like "herpaderp I know like almost nothing about this shit -and I wouldn't put my foot in here unless my nerdy hobby called for it- but I need some stuff that gives me this effect herpaderp". Yeah, go figure. Luckily I got some guidance to some kinda promising concealer which I decided to give a try.. but the price wasn't as yummy: 25 €. My poor wallet cried tears of blood. *pats it* I'm happy I only use make-up for cosplays...  



When I got home I took out the package. It's sooo tiny!

package in size comparison with normal (bigger) scissors...
... but sure there was my ponytail clip-on in there!
It was tightly rolled inside. I must say I was surprised. XD I took it out and it unrolled like WROOM and I was all "mistä tämä pituus oikein tulee? : DD" no ei Saunalahdesta ainakaan. Highly space effective way of packaging lol.

Now over to the progress part. You might or might not remember that I did a shinsengumi headband quite some time ago. Yeah, I never wore it to a con because I noticed it derped. It was a bit too wide to wear on your forehead with a wig. It would look derp.. or at least on my face it did. Also the craft foam protector part thingy creased when bent and the glue didn't hold it super securely in place. So I've been thinking about modifying it for a long time and today it was time for it to finally get a long awaited make-over.

First things first. Rip off the craft foam part.
It left some glue remains.. not sure if gusta.
I then took the seam ripper and unstitched the whole thing open again. I didn't want to cut any fabric because who knows, I might need the extra fabric someday later if I want to resize the width again.
When I had unstitched the whole thing I wondered what to make the forehead protector part out of; I wanted something that was glossy and would bend with the fabric... and so my mind went to the roll of pvc fabric my mom has. "Why not?" I thought and went ahead to try. Oh boy little did I know what hell awaited me...

After cutting out a fitting piece of pvc fabric
I went to iron the headband itself, this time folding in the sides twice to get it thinner and after I just resewed it shut again.

Double folded and ironed sides before sewing.
Sewn shut.
And now to attach the pvc piece to the middle. I just thought that it would be easy peasy to sew on. The first few stitches went all good and I was positive it would work so I continued sewing. I noticed very soon that every second stitch I had to lift the presser foot because the fabric wanted to turn to the side and crease and fold up under the presser and ahgjfdskjadskgj. But I continued sewing... and when I was almost done with the upper part I finally noticed that the whole thing had turned into a fucking drunk banana crooked beyond all points of hope!!

"Tell me again how you were supposed to be a headband..."
(yes, that's the default form it took if I tried to lay it flat, go figure)
I raged silently for myself and here comes the seam ripper. But sweet Jesus! Dx The stitches were so small it was impossible to rip them up because the seam ripper's.. rip.. point.. thing.. seemed gigantic in comparison. OTL So I tugged the pvc fabric upwards and somehow, slowly, managed to unstitch it. But the hand position I had to keep hurt like fuck and it felt like my thumb muscles or something would disintegrate when I was done. Needless to say my feelings were nothing less than..


If you didn't figure it out already - I left it unfinished.
Maybe another day I'll finish that sucker up... now it can just go and... sew itself goddammit.

14 comments:

  1. That pvc headband trolled you bad. Hope you can find a solution to finish it someday ^^;
    (I still don't understand how Chinese guys did to roll that clip inside of such a tiny packet. lol)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was master troll. OTL
      I thought about using fabric clue but mom said we don't have any at home.. dafuq. So it will have to wait.. or if I come up with some other solution...

      (yeah, say that lol)

      Delete
    2. Yeah ^^;
      You prob mean fabric glue, right? XD I'm not sure it would work but then again, it glues super well. (I've tried)

      Delete
    3. Oops, yes of course. XD lol writing derp~

      Delete
  2. Åhlens/H&M brukar ha billigare concealrs/foundation. :3

    Lol minns då jag fick min frösta yoruichi peruk och den va i en sån liten lånad blev jätteförvånad. XD;;

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dom affärerna finns inte här uppe vad jag vet.

      Ja det är rätt lustigt.

      Delete
  3. It was so troll.

    Yeah, true that. But cosplaying without make-up is eww. :s

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOL!! Mun lisäke oli samanlaisessa tiukassa paketissa! Ellei ole jopa sama lisäke 8DDD Ja jos tulee muuten liian iso ongelma ton pvc:n kanssa niin itse tein tuon saman paksusta verhoilunahasta. Se ei jousta mihinkään suuntaan joten se on helppoa ommella! Ja sen saa aina maalattua jos tuntuu ettei kiilto riitä :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jännää. XD
      Joo mä saatan testata toimiiko kangasliimalla ensin, jos ei niin pitää löytää joku plan B. :D
      Verhoilunahka? Minkälainen se semmoinen on? En ole ikinä kuulutkaan. Eroaako se norminahasta miten? :S

      Delete
    2. Pääasiassa sillä että se on sellasta useamman millin paksuista tekonahkaa~ saa ihan eurokankaastakin. Ja itseasiassa tuli mieleen et jos haluat kiiltävää nahkaa niin ainakin meidän eurokankaassa on jo pitkään ollut tosi halpaa, kiiltävää ja paksua tekonahkaa. Saattais sieltäkin päin löytyä :D

      Delete
    3. Oookay kiitos! Pitää tässä katsella jos vaikka löytyis. Tosiaan pitää miettiä nyt ku tullut muutama vaihtoehto miten tän tekis. XD

      Delete
  5. Ouch on the wallet for sure. That better prove to be some seriously good make-up!

    You know, I ended up making my forehead protector from a piece of plastic I cut off of a hand soap refill bottle! xD Then I painted it a glossy dark gunmetal grey, added some faux paint touches around the edges (made it look more rustic up close), hand-sewed it to the headband, and wah-lah! -- a perfectly sturdy forehead protector that looks good and can withstand some beating. ;D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I hope it is.

      lolwat. XD That sounds... interesting. Might have to try it if everything else fails. xD

      Delete
    2. Yes, try it! Cut some plastic off of a plastic soda bottle (i.e., Pepsi). It is thin enough to flex and fit around your forehead. :) Oh, and paint the 'back' side of the plastic, lest it get chipped off the front. xD

      Delete

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