May 29, 2012

Ichito cosplay tekkou pt.1

 Hi guys!

Sorry this post is actually from 28th May, I didn't have time to write it earlier so now I'm writing it in the middle of the night.
While I was working on Ichito's 'flap' I was actually working on his handguards, tekkou, also.

Kind of shows his tekkou... and how he likes to threat killing people right and left..
 Earlier during the same day I had googled around for some information about tekkou and I had found this Youtube video that gave me some kind of ideas of what to do.


And then I also found this nice little helpful picture:

(found in Google)
So filled with a basic idea of what to do I went and got the roll of pattern paper and started drawing a tekkou pattern. My first prototype turned out to be a fail so I did another one. I kept tweaking and changing it forever until it finally had a not-completely-retarded fit.

The pattern I ended up using (own measurements)
Then it was just to go get that brown leather fabric we had at home and cut out two pieces. Good thing with leather is that you don't need to do a shit to it. XD It doesn't fray.

Cut out pieces (they are darker in reality)
I wanted to do a seam around the edges for decoration... (sorry dark photo)
Mom suggested using push-buttons for fastening. I found that a better option than velcro.. I don't really know why but I don't really like velcro...

When I tried to continue sewing in 2 centimeter of the sides on one of the tekkous (to strengthen the push-button and to get a better fit) I noticed the sewing machine left those ugly markings again on the surface... ugh. So mom came with the idea to use pattern paper under the leather. It worked perfectly and the paper was easy to rip away afterwards. But. When I was sewing the sewing machine suddenly decided to be an ass and quit. It started sounding weird and gave warning signs and then it made this huge tangled bobbin thread mess that got half-way stuck inside the machine. Great. Needless to say no more sewing after that.. I hope I can continue tomorrow.

That's all, bye!

Ichito's 'flap' pt.6

 Hi everyone!

Sorry this post is actually from 28th May, I didn't have time to write it earlier so now I'm writing it in the middle of the night.
I FINISHED THIS SUCKER TODAY!
Err, let's go back a bit and go through what I actually did today... and excuse me for the crappy yellow-ish lighting again. 

Remember last time when I pinned the lining? I continued from there. Obviously the next step was to sew a straight seam all around the top part so that the lining was finally fully attached at all sides and couldn't live its own life anymore.

Mr. Lining, no more derping for you, Mr. Sewing Needle takes away your freedom BOHAHAHA
Sewing seen from another angle
Now it's on
And now the next step was to fold in the right (white) side into the lining side along the straight seam I just had made. So that earlier seam served as a mark for this fold I was about to do.

Fold it over and sew again
Fold sewn on, it's close to the goal line now ~
Then I went and got some white elastic band. Yes, I decided to use the elastic method.
Mom took my hip measure and cut out a fitting piece. I went and zigzaged the ends of the elastic so they wouldn't fray.

Zigzaged ends
And now the part I was too afraid to do myself because of messing it up... so mom did it. Yayness. It went alright.. except that one sewing needle broke. The front doesn't wrinkle like an elephant's ass when I'm wearing it so it's good, the back is a bit more wrinke-y but it's ok.

Finished 'flap' (elastic is of course on the lining side, only fastened on the upper part)
IT IS DONE. Finally. I almost want to puke rainbows now. <3
What did I learn? Well, one thing's for sure... lining is a bitch to work with, it has its own life and hates cooperating with your plans and enjoys bringing you cosplay misery in the form of never perfect fittings.

See ya!

One day in town... with cosplay in mind!

 Hi everyone!


Sorry this post is actually from 28th May, I didn't have time to write it earlier so now I'm writing it in the middle of the night.
So today I finished school very early and instead of walking to town and directly taking the bus home I decided to look around for cosplay stuff. The cosplay stress has been gnawing inside me very much the last day and it didn't help when I realized Desucon is not this weekend but the weekend after that... oh mama save me.

Oh well, when I got to the shopping center I went into Tiimari and the bookstore.. Tiimari didn't have anything for my cosplay needs (and even if they had I could probably find the item for half the price somewhere else...) but from the bookstore I bought some black thin round elastic band. I will use it for his bead bracelet. He only has it on his left hand.

Oh yes, bad guys have nail polish ~
Öblöblöb.. err, then I went into Citymarket (general big store with food, clothes, make-up etc) and bought a bag of make-up sponges and Herbina brand fragrance-free hair spray. Both of course for cosplay purposes... and the hair spray I'm not even going to use on hair... it's going on my face. I'm so cheap I don't buy proper make-up sealers. lol

After that I left the shopping center and headed for a second-hand store, the one I'm most familiar with. I was looking for some shoes with a slightly upwards pointing 'nose' that I could modify... had no luck. Went to the next second-hand market that is called Vaarin Vintti ("grandpa's attic") where I've only been, hmm, three or four times now I think. The judo jacket I saw there weeks ago was still for sale, 10 € lol. Oh well, I was looking for shoes, not judo jackets! But I didn't find any good enough shoes.. everything that was semi-ok (not pointy though.. so still kinda wrong) was too small for me and when I found one with right size it was way off in design. I looked around the whole place at least three times to make sure I didn't miss anything.. I didn't. Bleh.
So after I had dug through the two second-hand stores I knew of in town I decided to try and find again that one fabric store I found last Saturday when I was in town with a new friend. Turned out said fabric store was in front of me when I was standing facing away from the other second-hand store's entrance. The fabric store mostly only had curtain fabrics and not so much clothing fabric... but I found a yellow brown-ish kinda mustard-y but not quite colored fabric that could maaaaybe work for Ichito's obi. I got a free test piece of it. Yay.

It doesn't want to photograph it's real color.. it's not that shiny and a bit more yellow (flash photo)
After that I started walking down a street I had not walked down before and when I got to the corner I passed by something that looked like a third second-hand store... with the exception that I didn't even know of its existence until I walked by it, stopped right in my tracks and went inside. XD
I didn't have to search for many minutes before I found the shoe part of the store... and my eyes spotted these beige mocca-ish (I guess) shoes with a nice upward-ish nose. It's not sharp but at least it points upwards. I tried one of them on and noticed they seemed just a tiny bit too small but still okay. These were by far the best shoe candidates I had seen today (and only cost 5 € and were in good shape) so I decided to buy them. Hey I'm running out of time and I highly doubt I'd find something better for this emergency so let's go with these. As the Finns say, "cosplay ilman tuskaa on teeskentelyä" which translates to something like "cosplay without pain is pretending".

Close enough shoes... now just to make them green somehow...
After that I paid a visit to another fabric store, this time searching for a dark blue fabric for Ichito's kimono. I found one that I thought was fitting so I ended up getting 3 meters of it, lol the store owner was soooo confused when I tried to explain I was doing a kimono and I wanted it done a certain way... guess that's why mom was like "lol you bought like 1 meter too much fabric, she either tricked you into buying more or is just generally bad at what she's doing". Yeah, mom used to own a fabric store too... I tried to call her prior to buying but she didn't answer ahjfsgjad. Oh well, I at least have extra fabric if I mess up... and if I don't I probably have enough to make a vest or something like that. *shrugs* 
I also bought a tiny bit of this light gray very stretchy fabric because I figured gray elastic bands do not exist, just white and black ones. I will use that gray fabric for his eye wrap thingies and possibly even hair tie.

Let's finish with a photo of the rest of the purchases of today:

Make-up sponges, hair spray, black elastic band, gray stretchy fabric, dark blue fabric.
Goodbye for now!

May 27, 2012

Ichito's 'flap' pt.5

Woah, feels like I've been working on this thing forever... and I'm still not done. :c

Oh well, today I got the bottom of the front 'flap' sewn closed so a little bit closer to finish it. So I started by folding in the edges like I did on the back piece some time ago. I had started sewing it closed half-way when I noticed that it derped.

Not cool...
Turned out the lining is a bit too short so the white fabric made this fugly bump in the corner that was just eww do not want.

So my plan A didn't work out on the front as well as it did on the back piece. Let me show:

My original plan (finished back piece)
So when that didn't work I went and asked mom for advice and she said to try and fold the front (with the paintings) over to the lining side and nothing more. It did seem to work after a pinning test.

Pinning front to check...
And then just sew. I folded in the excess lining neatly (it was longer) and then folded the front slightly over the folded lining.

Lining side of the front
Front of the... well, front
After that I stroked the lining to try and get out bumps and shit and pinned it in place, at the top part, so that later I can sew the lining completely attached.

Pinning lining..
But I have one problem... I can't decide do I want to do a wide elastic on the top so it stays on my hips or if I want to do some kind of ties...

Sayonara!

May 26, 2012

I'm ready for Uppcon! + Desucon panic

 Alrighty, so I just bought err, mom bought a train ticket to Uppcon (or well, actually to my dad's town because I'll be sleeping there) so now I have the sleeping place, con ticket and train ticket ready! Now only to finish the cosplays in time...
Oh, and you guys have no clue how stressed I am for Desucon!!


I only have 12 days to finish one and a half cosplay pretty much and during that same time I need to deal with my final school rush too lol. Wish me luck... I'll be needing it.

Bye!

May 23, 2012

Animecon cosplay plans + con ticket arrived!

Here is my Animecon (14-15 July 2012, Kuopio, Finland) cosplay plans!

Saturday

Character: Masamune Date (kimono version)
Series: Sengoku Basara

Ah sweet, this will be my first Sengoku Basara cosplay ever! For not too long time ago I watched the anime and I found it really enjoyable actually. Masamune and Hanbei are my favorite characters and I will eventually cosplay both of them, but for now I'll start my journey into the Basara world by doing kimono!Masamune. Small steps now and next year badumtssh armor version! I will be part of a cosplay group with some other Sengoku Basara cosplayers, both friends and new people! I'm excited!



Sunday

Character: Hajime Saitou
Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

I'm in a total Hakuouki obsession currently! For Animecon I decided I'm probably going to be Saitou so that he will be seen in both Sweden and Finland at least once this year. It seems that two of my friends (who will also cosplay Sengoku Basara the other day) will also cosplay Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan characters on Sunday so we will hopefully have a mini group. Yay!





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This pretty thing arrived today:

Con ticket yayness~
I am so hyped! Now I just need to order the train tickets to Kuopio and back and then it's shalalalala~

May 21, 2012

Immortal spirit's ninja pants pt.4

Finished my 'ninja pants' today!

So here is today's progress ~
First off I continued with the ties. I ironed them prior to sewing to make life a bit easier.

Ironed and ready for the sewing machine
Started sewing, folding in the edges...
 And several meters of ties later I just had left to pin it onto the pant's top part and sew it on.

Front pinned
I made sure to cover the "pleat seam" on both the front and back. That's why the ties are not as wide on the body...

Front sewn (back pinned)
And after that I had a pair of almost complete 'ninja pants' for our immortal but kinda psycho spirit.. namely Ichito. xD

Front
Side-ish
Back-ish
Now I need to make the feet wrappings and also finish the 'flap' and after that I'm off to try and find another dark blue fabric for his kimono because, as I said earlier, I didn't find more of that one we already had at home. So I will most likely have to buy a whole different fabric.

See ya!