Category: Cosplay

A step in the right direction

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Insomnia, Sewing

I finished yet another piece of our cosplays this morning. Now I have my husband’s pants pretty much finished (just need some buttons) & my kimono is done. I’m pretty proud of the sleeves–I didn’t have a pattern for them, so I made something up. They’re not perfect, of course, but they’re even and the shoulders are comfortable, which means I measured somewhat right.

I’m about to get started on the red sash, and sometime in the next couple of days I’ll probably start on the shoes.

Okay, so I might not get started on the sash just yet. My body has just reminded me that I’ve had like an hour & a half of sleep. So later today. Or maybe tomorrow morning. But I will start soon.

A stitch in time

Convention, Cosplay, Sewing

Y’know, I think I may have used this title for a post before. And y’know what else? I’ll probably do it again. Unoriginal? Yes. Lazy? Yes. But it’s 4:31 in the morning and I do what I want.

Anywho, I think I’m going to do some hand sewing this morning. I have a few things that need it, so that’s going to occupy my time before work today. I’m hoping to get my kimono as close to finished as possible before the weekend. I can do it, but it’s those damn sleeves I’m worried about. Sleeves are enough of a bitch with a pattern, and I have to just make up a pattern for them. Oh, well; don’t know what you can/can’t do until you try.

Here’s hoping!

Bang my head against the wall

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Health, Sewing

Oh…my…Goddess. I’ve had recurring headaches the past couple of weeks, nearly every day, usually in the evenings. It’s getting annoying.

As long as I catch them early and take some acetaminophen within the first half hour, they stay under control. I know from experience, however, that if I let a headache go without taking something it’s going to end up at near-migraine levels, if not a migraine itself.

This afternoon I had to stop working on my Naruto cosplay because a headache reared its ugly, well, head. I took something, but it’s still lingering.

It doesn’t help that I keep noticing little things that I need to make for the cosplay. Gotta make gloves, gotta either find cosplay shoes online or buy some sandals & modify them to match, gotta make some straps of fabric to go around the shoulders, gotta make sleeves for the kimono (because the pattern I found didn’t have sleeves)…lots of little things, but things that make the character.

I still haven’t started on the hardest part–the coat–and the vest that I need to pretty much design from scratch. Then we’re going to use some hot-glue cosplay magic to make my husband’s sandals, because the only ones he can find online that match his character don’t come in his size.

Oh yeah, and there’s the painting of the gourd, making some kind of sling for him to carry it, and figuring out some way for us to carry our things (because the patterns I have come sans pockets). All this with barely 5 weeks until the con.

It’s no wonder I’m getting headaches.

Conundrum

Cosplay, Musings, Sleep, Writing

Well, it’s Monday–that dreaded day when you can’t seem to decide whether you want to get out of bed, let alone what you want to do with your time before work once you get up.

I kind of want to write, but I’m not really “feeling” it right now. I know I need to sew, but I’m a little burned out on that one after a busy weekend working on cosplay.

Or, there’s a third option: I could just dick around on the Internet until it’s time to get ready for work. Not exactly productive (okay, not at all productive), but maybe that’s what I need…to not be productive for a little while. To just lie here with my laptop and breathe.

Or maybe sit here and breathe. Damn sunburned back. Ouch.

An object in motion

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Sewing, Sleep

Geez-o-Pete, I’ve been tired this weekend. Napping almost every time I stop doing something. It reminds me of a Tumblr post I saw one time explaining why it’s easier to stay up late than get up early:

“An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest.”

Well, when I rest lately, I really stay at rest.

Just woke up from a nap that was probably 2+ hours long. My husband let me sleep, for which I’m grateful, but I wonder why I was so tired.

Hopefully I can get my momentum back, fast. I have a busy work week this week, plus I’m still working on the Naruto cosplays. I’ve gotten the pants nearly completed, but I’ve barely started on the kimono, need to buy more fabric for the sash (because I miscalculated), and haven’t even started on the coat and vest. Oh, and we need to paint the gourd. Whew. Maybe that’s why I’m so exhausted! Just thinking about all that is making me sleepy.

I have nearly conquered the pants

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Sewing

Just a little bit more! I have almost finished the pants that have been plaguing me for what, a week or more now? Anywho, I just need to slipstitch the waistband & then hem them & a couple buttonholes, a few buttons, and BAM! Pants.

Trying to decide which to do next: The kimono for my Temari cosplay, or continue with my husband’s stuff–the coat and vest. I think I’ll do the kimono, partly because I want to switch to something easier and less stress-inducing, and partly because I’m too lazy to change out the thread on the sewing machine. (The kimono is the same color as the pants.)

Today my husband and I started the paper mache on the gourd prop for his Gaara cosplay. It was predictably messy and slightly stressful, as he got annoyed with me trying to give instructions. I was trying to make things more clean and efficient, and I guess I didn’t take into consideration that he might just be wanting to do things his way. I suppose I just assumed I’d be taking point on the project. It’ll be okay, though. Tomorrow we’ll have some more time to work on it, and we have plenty of time before the con to get it finished.

My fighting fan prop may not happen before the con, though. We have to buy it because making it is just too time-consuming and complicated, and our budget might not allow for the purchase until after Phoenix Comicon. That’s fine, though; I mean, we’ll have plenty of time before Dragon Con, which is a bigger con anyway.

I feel good about being nearly finished with the pants. Onward to the next project!

Early Morning Confusion

Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Learning, Sewing

I have no idea what to do next on those damn pants. The next step involves “ease stitching” at the top of the pants, where the waistline will be added. Wtf is ease stitching…and how do I do it?

This is why I shouldn’t allow myself to try this crap at 0200. I keep waking up early, all excited to get to sewing, only to be reminded that I mostly don’t know what I’m doing. Oh sure, I can slap two pieces of fabric together and stitch ’em, but when it comes to terms like ease stitching I’m in the dark. (Ha! Pre-dawn pun!)

I’ve reached out to a Facebook group that’s generally helpful for cosplayers who want to learn about sewing or share cosplays that they’ve made, so I’m hoping that when people start to wake up I’ll get an answer. As for right now, I guess I’m going to write a little more. Got some creative juiciness going on here; might as well not waste it.

As I finished that last sentence someone answered my question. Turns out it’s not as complicated as I thought, but now I’m in bed and comfy. I’ll ease into it tomorrow morning. (Ha! Another pun!)

I hate pants

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Learning

So frustrated right now. The current pants pattern I’m working on isn’t as complicated as the first pair I did, but this next step in the instructions is confusing me. I can’t figure out how to pin/ stitch it, so I’m taking a break until it clicks.

I had this same problem with the first pair of pants that I made for him. That pair was a semi-historical pattern–well, a costume pattern for some pirate pants, which had a front flap and used a lot of interfacing. It took a lot of looking over several times before it hit me how to do it.

I’ve been forewarned by a friend of mine that the coat I’m going to make will possibly be equally frustrating, so there may be a post in my future that is titled “I hate coats.” But I’ve made sleeved scrub tops before, and the first one had no real “pattern,” just an old scrub top that I had seam ripped to see how it was put together. Still, I’m going to do my best. As Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame would say, I’m going to “make it work.”

It’s sweet that my husband wants me to make his cosplay pieces. He takes such pride in my work that he loves showing it off to friends when he gets the chance. I’m even going to make a prop for him. He’s going to help, but I’m going to do probably most of the work because my OCD will make the paper maché turn out smoother. I don’t mind, though. It’s crafty stuff. I like being crafty, and it gives me a chance to try my hand at fabricating props. I’m not making the prop for my character–it’s too large and complicated–but I’ll at least be able to say I made the majority of the cosplays.

It begins again…

Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Sewing

I’m back to it starting this afternoon: more cosplay!

I was going to start this morning, but I woke up kind of late (for me, anyway) and didn’t feel up to pinning and cutting fabric just yet. I’m going to tackle the pants for my husband’s cosplay first, then my kimono.

From what a friend of mine (who has more sewing experience than I) says, the coat is going to be a bitch. Oh well. I managed the complicated pants for the Sith Time Lord cosplay, so this will hopefully be okay. It’s not a Simplicity pattern so there’s no guarantee that it will be something I can do, but I’m going to give it my all.

The good thing is that even though my husband wants all this done by Phoenix Comicon, I have made no promises that I’ll be able to finish. I honestly don’t know if I can, but I’ll do my best.

My hopes are to begin pinning and cutting–hopefully on my lunch break–today, then the task of sewing. We’re buying the fabric in stages, so the coat will not need to be started until the end of the week when we get paid. Also at the end of the week comes more work on the gourd prop for my husband’s cosplay. We’ve got two big bouncy balls from Wal-Mart duct taped together in the general shape of the gourd, and on Friday when I’m off comes the start of paper maché-ing over the balls and tape to make it more gourd-ey. Once that’s done and dry comes the painting.

Oh yeah, and I need to sew the cosplays. Hubby’s getting a wig for his and we’ve bought a headband for me, but I’m divided on whether or not I want to get a wig or try to style my hair for it. It’s going to be difficult to style my hair, but we’ll see. I might be able to swing it, or at least some reasonable facsimile.

Here’s to more cosplay!

Off the Track

Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Sewing

I was doing pretty good. Tooling along, going at a good speed…and now I have to cut some of my time to write for something equally creative: cosplay.

Yes, I’ve started it again. I had almost finished with the Doctor Who/Star Wars mashup cosplays when my husband found the next cosplays he wants us to do for next year. Okay, great, plenty of time to work on it and still get some writing in.

Except the cosplays he picked are pretty easy (mine is, at least), so he decided that we can get them done by Dragon Con in September. Still no problem. I can do it.

Now? Now we’re going to shoot for Phoenix Comicon. In a month and a half.

I got this. I think?