October 15, 2012

Falkner's mini hakama pt.1

I was bored and decided to start sewing on Falkner's hakama-ish pants to get some progress done, after all Skecon is slowly closing in; I have only 17 days left to get everything done, heuheuheuheu...

Last weekend mom helped me cut out the parts for my pants. We were lucky, the fabric we had at home was just enough for Falkner's kimono style shirt and mini hakama. Phew~

Oh, and before I start. This is not the authentic way to make hakama, just for costume purposes. The patterns are just originally these huge pant's patterns which I shortened and modified later on. The modifications I just did what my brain told me to do.

Front and back pieces cut out, two of each obviously
I started with zigzaging around all four pieces. I decided to save the blue thread so I used white thread for this.. it doesn't matter anyway because the zigzag won't be seen on the outside. After I had zigzaged all pieces I took both back pieces and started folding in at the sides to get these hakama style openings.

Impromptu folding (both back pieces)
I tried to get both of them the same size and depth. After I had got both back side opening folds like I wanted them I put away one of the back pieces, took one front piece and copied the back piece's folding over. Must try to get them as similar as possible. Repeat for the other front piece and then just iron the opening folds flat and stitch them in place.

After ironing and sewing it in place
(I folded in the edge closest to the opening so that the zigzag won't peek out)
But upon closer inspection I noticed something...

SKIPPED STITCHES. WHYYYYYYYYYYY
I tried re-threading the sewing machine at least thrice and switching the sewing needle but nope, the problem didn't go away...
I find it weird how I didn't get skipped stitches at all when I made Falkner's shirt earlier, it's the exact same fabric and I used the same needle...

I see you little troll...
I decided to screw it and sew anyway. I just want this thing done, if it bothers me in the future I can just undo the seams and remake those failed parts...

Next thing to do was to sew the outer side seams closed and after that sew the inseam/inner-pant-leg-whatever seams closed.

Outer side seams sewed, obviously one front and one back piece
Inseam sewed closed
Next thing to do was to align the crotch, right sides together of course, and then sew along the curve.

Crotch aligned, before sewing
 Now I had something that resembled pants... or not. Instead of mini hakama I now had these humongous ultra XXXL sized granny pants! I don't see anything "mini" about them right now... Aren't they sexy?

Ihan helevetin maukasta..
Errr, maybe not so...
Oh well, it's not like this sucker will stay like this forever. I have yet to pleat it, add the ties and hem the pant legs. I'll fix that another time.

This is good progress for tonight. *yawns*

October 13, 2012

Pokéballs! + Falkner progress

 Hiiiiiiiiiii!

Earlier today I decided to check if I could find my old candy container Pokémon figure pokéballs.. and I did. Now I at least have some kind of fitting prop to go with my Falkner cosplay, yay! It's kinda hard to come up with poses when you don't have props.. I also decided that if Jäätynyt Enkeli and Sairu-chan want to borrow a pokéball I'd lend them one each so that we all would have different but still matching pokéballs!


I thought that Jäätynyt Enkeli could use the Lure Ball (left) because it's.. well, blue, and kinda similar to a Great Ball which Silver has in this official art. Also it was introduced in Gen 2 of Pokémon so it kinda fits. Sairu-chan could borrow the Repeat Ball (middle) because it has the same color scheme as Erika whom she will cosplay. I would use the Heavy Ball (right) because it was also introduced in Gen 2 of Pokémon and it fits Falkner's color scheme somehow too.

Today I also finished Falkner's kimono style shirt. Not so much to say because it's really simple and straight-forward. I took some few pictures though.

I hemmed the arm openings, nothing special.
Cut out the collar pieces, sewed them together at one end so I got one long piece and ironed it.
Pinned the collar in place and started sewing..
Collar done
After I had hemmed the bottom. Finished.
One part of the cosplay finished, yay! And I love how my camera fucks up the colors. None of these pictures show the real color of the fabric, trolololo. Hopefully soon I'll start sewing Falkner's mini hakama.

That's it for today.

October 10, 2012

Falkner wig

On Monday this week I went to the post office and picked up my Falkner wig. It arrived some days earlier but I couldn't go get it then. I didn't have time to open and try it on until recently but I must say I love the color; it's this awesome mix of a lot of different colored fibers like different shades of blues and grays.
The bangs could have been a bit longer but I don't mind because they're good enough (aka they cover my eye) and I was expecting them to be a bit shorter than what the character has anyway because this wasn't a wig specifically meant for Falkner or anything. XD

Now some try-on photos. I woke up pretty recently so I look like a mess.. oh, and I'm wearing my silk robe as usual.. I'm always wearing it on mornings and some hours before going to sleep. lol




Outdoor light
I don't feel a need to style it because it looks pretty good as is. It is very easily fluffable too so I can arrange the fibers, tease them and have them keep the wilder style without falling flat directly. I'm wondering though, should I roll with black eyebrows (like on photos) or should I go get something blue instead? I think black seems to look just fine but.. I'm not 100% sure.

October 8, 2012

A third photoshoot

Actually, yesterday after getting home from Kemi's manga day and after eating dinner me and my twin had a third and final short photoshoot for the day. It was already too dark after dinner so we had to shoot indoor. I figured we could use the sliding doors as a nice background. Random info: there's one sliding door separating the guest room from the living room and another sliding door separating my room from the guest room. Yes, my room is linked to the guest room and you have to enter the guest room to get to my room.

The lights weren't that great so all indoor photos got a kinda blurry/grainy texture. Oh well,  I don't really mind because I think it fits the mood of the photos rather well~

Cosplayer: Valkoinen Samurai
Photographer: Jäätynyt Enkeli









After we had taken enough pictures I went to change back into everyday clothes.
Buuuuuuuuuttttttt.
Me, being the derp I am, I of course had to take a few *cough* "few" self-photos before reverting back to 'normal'. Like I ever am normal TROLOLOLOLOLO PROBLEM?


Sayonara~