Sewing – AJ Mullican, Author

Crunchy crunchy

Yep, Con Crunch is still on. Less than a month left to go before we leave for Dragon Con. On the plus side? I’m almost done sewing the boning channels for the corset. The negative? I have a shrug, a pair of Spandex pants, & a bodysuit to sew still. And I’ve never sewn with Spandex. Oh yeah, and when my boots come in the mail (I ordered the wrong size at first), I have to paint them black because they were out of my size in the black. So there’s that. Oh! And next Saturday is another propmaking session at our friends’ house (I feel like there aren’t enough thanks in the UNIVERSE to properly express our gratitude for their help and teaching).

I think I can do it, though, if I just buckle down. I’m trying to force myself to get to work and do more than I have been. It’s tedious sewing the channels because I have to pin thin paper to the fabric to allow the pleather to feed through the machine properly, which makes it hard to get even lines (and I end up with wider channels than I intended, meaning I’ll need thicker boning than the pattern calls for).

I think it’ll be easier for the pleather shrug, though, because I’ll be sewing the inside seams of the pleather and I don’t think there will be any outside seams to sew. That should eliminate the need for the paper pinning (I hope).

Enough of the whining for now. Off to the day job for a busy day, then back home for more sewing 🙂

Missing motivation

Celebrity, Convention, Corsetry, Cosplay, Interview, Work

I should be in the craft room. I should be sewing. There’s less than a month until we leave for Dragon Con and I still have a ton of work to do. So why can’t I make myself go into the sewing room & get cracking?

I guess part of it is that my husband is pressing me to finish. I have this tendency to “rebel” when pushed, and since he is adamant that I keep working on it I’m stubbornly not working on it. Self-destruction at its finest.

This past Saturday, my husband and I went to a friend’s house to work on prop making. It’s going really well, but we had to stop for the day and will be back to it next Saturday. Yesterday, I did a minimal amount of sewing on the corset. I need to finish the boning channels and order the boning, but my procrastinating self just won’t get off her ass and go into the craft room to get to work.

Adding to this is the fact that I have to write interview questions for a phone call I’ll be getting tomorrow evening. I suppose that should take priority, seeing as how the deadline for that is much closer than Dragon Con. I’m glad that the actress (and her “people”–I guess I should thank them, too) was willing to work around my schedule and do an evening interview. I get so frustrated when I can’t take any of the good interviews that Talk Nerdy With Us offers because I’m working all the time. Don’t get me wrong–I need and want the money–but I just miss doing interviews. The email ones are fewer and farther between, and they’re just not the same.

Yeah, I’d better draft up some questions. That’s a good reason to procrastinate on the sewing, and it also will help me get back in the swing of things, interviewingly speaking.

Cosplay Crunch

#design, Comic books, Corsetry, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Stress, Time, Work

Oops. I kindamaybesorta have been slacking on the cosplay stuff. I have a little over a month to get it all done, and I’m starting to get nervous.

The fabrication of the weapons we’re getting help on, but the sewing is basically all me. Which I can handle I guess, but I’ve got to motivate myself. I still have all the pattern pieces for the corset to cut out (I had cut out all the other pattern pieces & organized them earlier to save time, but I forgot the corset pattern pieces), then the fabric (of course), and then there’s all the sewing of stuff. And there’s the Spandex sewing. Still a little intimidated by the thought of that.

I don’t know why I put myself into this crunch all the time. I guess I just have an issue with motivation. When I first wake up in the morning I’m super tired, and messing around on the computer for an hour or so helps wake me up…which turns into two or three hours on the computer because I get sucked in by the Internet. Damn you, Internet!

I’ll probably get the pattern pieces cut out this evening (or maybe tomorrow morning) after we get back from out Poke-walk. Then I’ll cut the fabric & get to busting my butt this weekend. I think I’ll have to change out the needle on my sewing machine to a heavier-duty needle because I’m sewing pleather. Yeah, man, pleather corset. Hawt. Or something.

Well, I’m off to get ready for work. Gotta make that cosplay money. Oh, and money for bills, I guess. That, too.

I put the “pro” in procrastination

Comic books, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Time

Remember the post oh, almost two weeks ago, where I said I was going to start on the coat for the Shatterstar cosplay within the next two days? Yeah, so I just started the first mockup “blueprint” today.

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It’s not an exact science because the pattern we have is slightly different than the coat shown on the right, but I have the color blocking figured out now for the front and the Xs on the sleeves shouldn’t be too hard once I get to that point.

The pants turned out looking great (I don’t have a good picture of them right now) so I’m feeling pretty confident. Granted, I made the pants pattern once before–just without the color blocking–so I knew how to go about it better this time, and I’m doing some pretty heavy modifications to the coat…okay, maybe not 100% confident. Like 75%. Maybe.

I’ve got to step up my timetable if I’m going to finish both cosplays by the time we leave for Dragon Con. No more slacking off in the mornings. Gotta push-push-push. Gogogo. Muy rápido. Etc, etc.

With this three-day weekend I might be able to step it up a notch and at least one weekday off before we leave, I might not be as strapped as I think I am. Also, I need to start utilizing my time after work for cosplay instead of messing around on the computer or watching TV. Thankfully it’s the summer viewing season & there’s less to watch. Lol

Today will largely be spent in Tucson going shopping for–you guessed it–more cosplay stuff and tomorrow will largely be spent at my parents’ house doing laundry and hanging out with the family, but I think I’ll have enough time to get cracking and hopefully get at least a few seams taken care of. I know I won’t get the whole coat done this weekend, but I should be able to cut and pin most of the outer pieces (probably not the lining) and get started on the sewing. I may even try using my serger for the seams. It’s such a nifty thing…just need to get the right thread on it & not frustrate the hell outta myself in the process of threading.

Fingers crossed!

Coat of arms

Comic books, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Writing

Next up on the cosplay list: the coat for Shatterstar.

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More color blocking to work out. I’m going to start either tomorrow or the next day on the mockups for that part. The pattern I have is kind of complex, with lots of pieces, so it should be interesting to see how the color blocking will work into that. I may have to do some big modifications to the pattern. I’m feeling more confident about that sort of thing with each new thing I sew.

Very excited to get my serger later this week. I’ve heard that it makes things much easier (once I get the hang of it). It should prove interesting to say the least.

All of this cosplay is putting my work in progress on hold, but it’s given me time to reflect and realize that I really wasn’t ready to start it yet. Some of what I’ve written is good material, but it doesn’t have a solid foundation at this point. I need to reflect more on it and build up more of the world before I try to lay down a story in there.

Tomorrow I start again.

Lost momentum

Comic books, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek

I’ve been trying to figure out why I can’t seem to get anything done in the mornings before work (which used to be my most productive time of day), and then it hit me: without cosplays to work on nonstop, I’ve lost steam.

With so many mornings of gogogogogo in preparation for Phoenix Comicon, my brain doesn’t know what to do with nothing to do. Well, I guess I don’t have nothing to do. I could write, draw, read, color in my coloring books…so there are things that can keep my mind occupied–I just don’t have the drive to do any of them. My inspiration on my new novel has evaporated, so until that comes back to me I’m a little at a loss there.

Once we get some fabric for my husband’s coat and pants for his next cosplay, I can get back to spending all my free time in the craft room frantically cutting, pinning, and sewing.

Well, maybe not frantically. I have three months, give or take a week or so, and I got the Naruto cosplays finished in a month. So one could theorize that I have some breathing room here. I’ve already used the pattern for my husband’s pants once, so I know how everything goes together; I just have to do some mockup work to get the color blocking I’ll need to do. That’s going to be the interesting part of making these–his costume has some cool color blocking, and mine will have a lot of modifications to the designs of the patterns I’ve purchased for it.

The good news is that I found several pairs of boots that might work for my cosplay, so that’s one less thing to worry about. I think those boots are pretty much the only things (aside from my husband’s boots as well) that we won’t have to make from scratch. This should be fun.

Now if I could just find something to do until we get that fabric….

De-con-pression

#nerd, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Learning

Yeah, yeah, the con titles are getting old. This should–maybe–be the last one…for a while. Possibly.

So as my husband and I decompress from the convention, we’re catching up on TV that we missed and discussing our next cosplay pairing for Dragon Con in September. Being that I have an awesome husband and mom, I’ll soon own a new serger and be able to sew knits and Spandex for more cosplays. We also attended several panels on cosplay design and creation, so we’re hoping that gives us a start on accomplishing bigger and better cosplays.

You’ll be seeing progress photos as my husband and I get to work, partly because I get super excited and geeked out over it all, and partly because I like to see the progression myself. It’s fun to see what started out as, say, a couple bouncy balls from the toy section in Wal-Mart to a larger-than-life prop gourd that got tons of compliments during Phoenix Comicon.

We only have a couple of photos of our cosplays so far, so I’ll wait and see if I find any more of them before I post the “finished” looks here. (I put “finished” in quotes because we’re already brainstorming ways to improve on our first attempts.)

On to interview transcription and article writing! (That’s right, I didn’t forget that I was attending as a member of the media) 😉

A good day for a Song

Celebrity, Convention, Cosplay, Fandom, Geek, Sci-fi

Today will be Day 3 of Phoenix Comicon for me, and I’m most excited for today. Why, you ask? Because I have my first ever official con photo op (not just a selfie at the guest’s booth), and it’s with the one, the only River Song (aka Alex Kingston)!

River Song is my favorite Doctor Who companion, hands down. I cosplayed her as my first cosplay, and ever since they announced that Alex would be at the con I’ve been eager to get a photo op. I’m debating having her sign the photograph later in the day, because sometimes you get a little bit of time to chat with the guest at the autograph table (as opposed to the photo ops, where they have you move right along to keep the line under control).

I’ll be dressed in my Star Wars/Doctor Who mashup cosplay today, complete with Ultrasabers lightsaber:

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I got a lot of compliments on my costume Thursday evening when I wore it, and I’m hoping Alex likes it. (Of course, being an actress and all she’ll probably say she loves it regardless of her personal opinion on it haha). I could have done a River Song cosplay again, but I don’t have a good wig for it anymore and my hair is shock-straight no matter what I do with it.

If you’re at Phoenix Comicon today and see me, feel free to ask for a photo if you like my costume. If you don’t like it or don’t want a photo, just wave and say “hi” 🙂

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.

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.