Started working on Ichito

Pfhah. 

I Finally stopped procrastinating working on cosplays and actually did something.
Oh sweet, I have the whole April, May and beginning of June to fart out an Okita and Ichito cosplay from scratch.. here goes!
I decided to tackle Ichito first because he is the more complicated of them two and will take longer to make. Surprisingly when I showed mom a picture of him she went "oh god that's SO PRETTY!!". You know, I was pretty sure she'd kill me because it was yet another kimono wearing character.. but nope, she didn't.

Okay, so to my joy we already had 3 meters of white fabric lying around in the house that I could use for his "kimono jacket". It rocks to have a mom who used to own her own fabric store and be a former sewer... that means we have an outside storage full of leftover fabric and more sewing supplies than I can use up in my whole lifetime. XD Love you mom. lol

So, this is what I'm trying to make:

The game he is from is very unknown and err, I don't have many references to go by. But I'll find solutions to everything~

And well, this is my new friend, say hello to mom's overlocking machine!

Saumuri on hyvää puuta~

I've never used one of these things before and I was scared to use it at first but gosh, this thing makes sewing so much easier! It cuts of excess fabric automatically and it makes the seams look professional and stuff. I'll need to use it more in the future.

So, regarding the costume... me and mum cut out the pieces for his "jacket" today and it's starting to look as it should, but I still need to fold in the hems or what you call them, the edges. The collar is attached but the sleeves are not. No decorations are done yet and his flap thingy we haven't cut out. I'm sorry but I don't really have any progress pictures more than one shot of the sleeve.

Wide sleeve is wide.

Sorry not so much more to say, hopefully more progress photos next time!

Desucon 2012 cosplay plans!

Alrighty. Here comes my cosplay plans for Desucon in Lahti, Finland, 8-10 June 2012!

Friday 

Character: Jushiro Ukitake

Series: Bleach

It seems our Finnish Bleach group decided Friday to be our group's "main day" so I'll bring my signature cosplay, Ukitake, then. He is my favorite character from Bleach! I will do the default captain version complete with shikai swords.

Saturday

Character: Ichito

Series: Asaki, Yumemishi

Oh sweet Jesus. This will be one of the most obscure cosplay choices I'll ever do... but I don't care because I drool buckets over his design, period. I don't care that he's a cursed psychopathic immortal missunderstood forever alone spirit... he is awesome.

Sunday

Character: Souji Okita

Series: Hakuouki

Ah, Okita. One of my favorite shinsengumis, if not my favorite. I decided to do this version for now because it's a chill "Sunday cosplay" and yeah, Ichito will be quite some work... and I'm a procrastinator.

Got my wig for Saitou

Whoops, just realized I forgot to make a blog post yesterday about my Saitou wig... sorry about that, ahah I will do it now instead. Two posts a day, wow.

So err, what to say... got my Saitou wig yesterday and because I got home pretty early I had to try it on. Hey, no one was home and I was simply too excited, couldn't resist!

Most of this cosplay is actually done, I just need a juban/shitagi/under kimono/whatever (I'm just using a random white t-shirt as a substitute on the photo) and fix his white hair tie... I had one but it fell off after a while and I didn't bother to tie it back again. I do have the scarf too, but it kept being mildly annoying so I took it off.
I still need to make the iconical sky blue shinsengumi haori of course and the headband thingy that he only wears when wearing said haori. Otherwise than that I'm done. It was a pretty easy cosplay because I managed to find a good condition cheap vintage tsumugi silk kimono.. and a black one at that that was of a decent length for me to wear. Yay. You know, men's kimonos have incredibly boring color choices 85% of the time, if you find anything else than blues, grays and browns you should grab it. Black kimonos are often formal and have kamons on them.. but I found one without.
I already have two swords (metallic, but dull) that should work decently for it even though they are dark blue and not standard black and I have shoes and the sash too. At least it seems that the con where I'll debut Saitou at accepts dull metallic weapons (seems most cons don't) as long as you only unsheath it for photos and yeah, not swinging it around and being a threatening noxious idiot. Common sense.

Hajime Saitou derp.. err, I mean update

ARGHJGGJHGDFJHS SAITOU WIG I WANT YOU SO BAD, Y U NO HERE YET?
 Eh, sorry about that. Great way to start a blog post neh?

Well, anyway... home again from school early and a ridiculous desire to try on my vintage kimonos that I ordered from eBay some time ago. What I do? Put them on.
It seems they both would work for my Saitou cosplay, but I think I'll go with the tsumugi black one. I don't have the wig yet (like you noticed...) and I still have the shinsengumi haori left to make.. but I tried what I had on anyway, just to get an idea of how it will look when finished and if there is anything I need to fix. 
WARNING FOR A TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE BELOW.

Oh god ain't I pretty? lolnope.

Eww mirror shots. Do not like. But there aren't other options to take full-body pics when home alone...

Yes, I censored my head with a meme face because it was derpin' herpin'.
Ignore the weird pose and the walrus that is me. I put everything on very quickly and so it looks like crap. :'D Oh, and yes, if anyone noticed I didn't take off the basting threads.. too lazy.
I noticed I will probably need to get myself a new white juban for this because the sleeves are too big on my current one and they bunch up and won't behave and just generally looked fugly. Oh, and the black kimono's sleeves are kinda short on me and they look extra short on this shot because I'm holding my hands awkwardly, but it's hard to find a perfect match vintage kimono... *shrugs* And there's no kitsuke police at conventions anyway.
I'm surprised my random long cotton sash thingy held up both my (metallic) swords... but I guess it will loosen when I walk around a whole day at the con and well, I won't use these swords for the cosplay anyway. And if anyone have missed it Saitou is one of my coming Närcon cosplays for this year.

Nothing more to say, see ya.

I might be able to attend Uppcon after all

My twin told me earlier today that our father won't be going to Thailand this summer after all... and that means if I decide to go to Uppcon in Uppsala (Sweden) I could sleep at their place instead of having to pay my ass open so I can sleep at a hotel. I'm too nitpicky for "sleeping accomodations á la class room floor"... And that's a huge save for me because the tickets to Uppcon are ridiculously expensive compared to all other cons we have in Sweden/Finland.. it's like... I can go to 2-3 other cons for the same ticket price I can go to just Uppcon. Bleh, my poor wallet doesn't approve. But Uppcon is awesome anyway and has a special place in my heart because, after all, it was the first con where I ever cosplayed and the first "proper" con I went to.. not to mention all the awesome memories and people I befriended there!
I will try to go there this year (if I do it will be my third Uppcon!), despite the fact that Uppcon starts the day after my last school day before the summer vacation. D'oh! Bad date is bad. I will have to get to Luleå somehow and take the train/airplane down that very same day after school has finished, ahaha I will need to hurry... but it'll be worth it.
Now I just hope mom approves me going to both Desucon and Uppcon... why? Desucon is held the weekend before Uppcon and err, one is in southern Finland and the other in southern Sweden. Go me, I am crazy. But what won't you do for cons?

My cosplay plans are pretty much decided too, although changes are still possible.

Byakuya's scarf finished

Hi!

So, after dinner I started working on Byakuya Kuchiki's scarf. Oh lord we had this whole pretty white fabric at home and I ran around the house wrapping several meters around my neck in front of the mirror, with the bolt in my left arm, testing it and asking mom if it draped good enough. I probably looked silly. ._.
Oh well, then I just measured around 2,5 meters of that fabric (yes, the whole width, huge scarf is huge) cut it out and sewed it, very easy.
Damn, it feels like I'm having a curtain or something wrapped around my neck! xD I hope this thing doesn't get hot... and it keeps slipping of my shoulders. I hope I won't need to pin it in place. lol Damn you Byakuya and your über-precious-family-heirloom-crème-de-la-crème scarf...

Bye!

Early cosplay WIP is early...

Eh, I stayed home from school today because I've been feeling really down lately. I had the house for myself most of the morning because mom is working like usual and stepdad has morning shift so he probably won't be back until lunch time at the earliest. I wanted to test my new navy blue kimono that I received a few days ago and hell, it's close enough for a Masamune Date cosplay from Brave 10 and besides that guy is cool and I want to cosplay him anyway. I already had the wig so I took a few quick WIP photos just because I didn't have anything better to do.. and cosplay cheers me up. There is lots of stuff still left to do like his belts, eyepatch, pants, that weird hooded cape thingy and whatnot, but it wasn't too bad I guess...and the funny thing? This cosplay isn't even part of my summer cosplay plans! The heck man, the heck. -.- I can't start working on Date until earliest at the end of this year and maaaaybe finish him for a con 2013. Needless to say early WIP photo is early.

Oh, and yes, it was blowing like hell outside. Actually, it's been blowing like hell the last three days or so I think.  I keep hearing the wind pretty much all the time even though I'm inside...

Bye.