Nero from Devil May Cry 5 Custom Cosplay

I’m not a gamer. I can’t even play Frogger to save my life. That also dates me, as that is likely the last video game I’ve ever played, not counting Angry Birds after a pitcher of beer. That aside, I do absolutely love themed clothing, costumes, and above all, editorial styling. When I sew or design something, there’s a full editorial spread in my vision.

My kids don’t always get what I can do…they know their mom sews and can make stuff, but that’s really as far as their understanding goes. I don’t often make complicated things, or tell them about it when I do – I’m just a mom at the end of the day to them. So when my college-age kid, Zane, said his cosplay maker closed up shop, I said, “You know…I can do that…. and it won’t cost you shipping & customs, plus I can make it to fit you exactly.” And that is how this challenge was set.

This was a process. I don’t have a male block, only female blocks I use for Workhorse, and I’m not ready to delve into men’s patterns at the moment, so I used the Colette Albion as a block. It’s a solid unisex coat block, and it let me set in all the style lines I needed, plus already had lining pieces. This likely saved me a good week of work.

From there I raised the yoke up 2.5 inches, added in shoulder/arm yokes to line up and match, added a collar, added in front and back shaping seams that have darts built in, a welt zipper pocket, changed the shapes of the pockets, adjusted sleeve fit to be narrower and have zippers to the elbows, changed the lining to have matching shape, made a broad-back adjustment, changed sleeve lining to be pieced and allow for corduroy cuffs, added in a front zipper, drafted side and front buckles/straps, and added side vents.

Whew! So, while I did use a” premade block,” as you can see, it has been completely re-designed and customized. In addition to all of that, there’s shoulder pads (necessary for structure/weight of coat), rivets, industrial & professional equestrian hardware, underlining, and real leather work.

All in, it still cost upward of $500USD in materials including the rivet and grommet dies, the hardware, the leather, the twill, zippers, etc. So, while he didn’t really save money (quote from custom cosplayer was about the same), there’s no way a long distance coat would have fit as well. We did one muslin/trial fit. Here’s a shot from Instagram I posted:

Being that I’m not a gamer, most of my reference material was what I could glean from screenshots and other cosplay on the internet.

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Zane told me, as we were shooting in the park, the backstory of Nero, and how shooting in the park was hilarious. Woops. 😀 Pretend it’s a hell park, ok?

There were some new-to-me challenges. Sewing real leather was a first. Thankfully Karleen, owner of the Sewing Studio, had recently sewing similar weight leather and tipped me off to using a 90 Microtex needle. I’m sure she saved me a few hours of crying there. I had to quilt all of the leather, and once you put a hole in leather, it’s there to stay, so mistakes are not optional. That and I was doing precision work lining up the leather yokes across the chest-back-sleeves. OH! Pro-tip. Easing in leather sleeve heads?!?! HAHAHA. Not like anything else. It took me awhile. Normally I can easy in a sleeve head of any size or type – but steam doesn’t work the same on leather. Noooope.

Here’s some close up photos w/o the stylized desaturation so you can see details:

Also new to me: setting in rivets and grommets. I’ve set grommets in lighter materials, but 10 oz twill, in multiple layers? Not the same at all. Plus I was using professional grade tools from Oregon Leather. Entirely different than your Dritz crafty options.

The coat is entirely lined in Bemberg rayon. I didn’t redraft any part of the hood from the Albion. HUGE props to them – the lining fit is spot on. That hood is damn sexy inside and out. TBH, all of the lining was spot on. I bagged out the lining and it was flawless. I transferred my adjustments to the body/sleeve lining pieces but the main drafting there was all Colette. Ditto armscye and, like I said, basic block was all Colette. So credit where credit is due there. You can see some of my pattern and sewing work on Twitch, but I’m just starting to feel my way around Twitch and haven’t started transferring video to YouTube yet. That’s another post. 

Those buckles are made for saddles/horse leather work, and are a bit too heavy for this twill. I may still swap them out. Undecided there. I can’t really put more layers at the area of attachment without using an industrial machine, which I do not have. The sweater was from a thrift store, and we spent about $50 on hair bleach and toner getting the hair just right.

All materials were bought locally at Sewing Studio, Mill End Store, and Oregon Leather. Even the Colette Albion is local!

So, tell me, do you cosplay? Do you sew in editorial? Have you worked with leather? Currently looking for large round slide buckle to make 80s leather belt the bit leftover. I’m also thinking this tie belt from Burda. I think I have enough leftover. What are your favorite leather projects? I’ve got dies I’ve invested in and hundreds of grommets, and discovered Oregon Leather’s scrap bins!

Zane as Zane

FRIDAY PATTERN COMPANY: Garamond Top

This is the Friday Pattern Company‘s latest top, the Garamond. Do you follow Chelsea on Instagram? You should. Super cute, fresh patterns, she’s adorable, and super amiable. I love friendly, approachable people, and she’s that kind of people.

Chelsea let me get my hands on this pattern before release, and being I’m a total pattern-testing addict, I couldn’t resist digging right in. The PDF was a breeze to put together, and it sewed up REALLY fast. This is the knit top you want to sew if you don’t have, or don’t want to use, a serger. I didn’t touch my serger. This is all machine sewn.

I used a ponte with about…. 10% stretch. You could totally use a stretch cotton woven too. As you can see here…I could have even gone down a size or put in additional lower darts if I wanted to make it more fitted. I cut a large for my bust, graded to a small waist, and a medium hip…I got the curves, what can I say? I like pizza.

Here it is from the back. Plenty of ease…but I’m not swimming in it. It runs a bit short…not quite cropped…like, if I lift my arms, I’m not going to make any children cry…

Here I am, adjusting my waistband, and no wardrobe malfunction.

If you wanted to add a few inches in length, or wear higher waisted bottoms, it would be adorable tucked in. Dolman sleeves make for easy wearing and easier sewing.

Pretend casual walking shots:

Fun, casual shirt. This is one of those patterns where you could easily sew up 5 versions over a weekend, and have that basics slot filled.

Real talk: my teen daughter already has plans to steal it from me. Seriously. I had to tell her to wait until I took photos….and then I’ve worn it 3 times in the last, ahem, 2 weeks since I’ve sewn it.

Bonus: Friday Pattern Company donates 5% of all proceeds to a rotating collection of the top-ranked charities in the world. That’s right. You buy a pattern, other people benefit.

White girl dancing… side notes. These are Colette Juniper pants…unblogged but often worn. Also..I’m playing around with a shooting set-up indoors in prep for the Pacific Northwest Rainy Season…Not quite there yet, but I’m working on it. If you have tips, I’m ALL EARS. Less time in photo processing = more time sewing. Also…need to figure out a set-up for indoor video – if’n y’all like the sewing machine tinkering I do. I’d like to share more…thoughts on that?

A Refashion and A Scrap Bust

Two nightgowns based on the Seamwork Savannah pattern, more or less. I’ve been tinkering with the arm/bust area and have narrowed it by about an inch at the top on both sides to prevent the gaping I was getting. I also paid more attention at keeping the bias tape facing taut as I sewed. I added 4 inches to length with some leftover Britex linen I experimented with over-dying.

I also have been getting more comfortable with the knew-to-me rolled hem foot.

I don’t quite have it perfected. This time I hemmed before I put in the French seams – the foot does not like to have bulk of any kind roll through it. It worked a bit better, but I’m not quite there. I’ve got a few warbly spots, and a couple spots where it has rolled back on itself, and at the side seams it’s not quite right. For my 2nd time, I’m pretty happy with it, but will need to practice much more.

Linen & wrinkles. Like peanut butter and chocolate. Not my best dye job either… I over-dyed the Burnside Bibs too after this, learning from this blotchy mess, and they came out almost perfect. I used Rit black, a cup of salt, hot water, and was much more patient with the bibs.

The second is a refashion. My mom loved this nightgown for over 10 years and asked if I could salvage some of it. It really is a very soft cotton. I’m not sure how long it’s going to live after the refashion, but some is better than none.

I started with my Savannah-turned-nightgown pattern. Since it was originally a very full henley nightgown I didn’t think to take in much ease, but that proved to be a mistake. There was a huge gap at the back, even with crisscrossing the straps.

I had already put on the binding. Whoops. In hindsight, I should have made a figure 8 with the binding and straps…Live and learn. HOWEVER. I have an excellent jumping off point to re-draft this as an original design from scratch.

Crappy iPhone photos showing gap-mishap. It was was WAY worse on. Dress form linen is a bit sticky, not slinky, and grip the fabric.

I went with the crisscross straps, then I took my rotary cutter and cut an 8 inch wedge down to zero at the hem, and ran it through the serger.

It’s a little slap-dash, but I feel it has a lot of potential. I really like the back. I’m going to start from scratch next time, but I think I’ve got something here. You can probably visualize better here the figure 8 that the binding and straps should be making, and they’d just cover the back and front binding ends so neatly.

I left the original hem on the knit gown.

I had to cut the binding from the sleeves, so technically the stretch is in the wrong direction, but it turned out great. Really flat and solid.

Overall, I’m happy with my double wearable muslins.