cosplay – Sew Becky Jo

October 1, 2019October 1, 2019

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!

October 17, 2017October 17, 2017

Final All Might Cosplay Post!

It’s done! Aaaaaah!

This is the last post for my daughter’s custom My Hero Academia All Might cosplay outfit! She loves it and it fits her perfectly.

She loves it, and really that is all that matters.

The top has a full jacket zip so she can wear the top casually, as I knew she’d want to later.

I used 3-inch elastic for the waistband and covered it with a really finicky yellow ribbed Lycra to make the belt easier to deal with.

The pants are fine cropped as she’ll cover a pair of boots with the remainder of the yellow fabric, but can also wear them whenever – because she’s 13 and can get away with that!

We’re both happy with the end result, and I’m SO GLAD to be done. I’m glad I CAN do something this epic, it was a lot of fun, but it’s exhausting! I need to make some easy stuff before I take on something epic again!

She was a good sport, and we walked to a nearby park to take some action shots in the fading autumn light.

For the most part, my pattern worked really well.

I laid them out and pieced them in what seemed to be the best logical blocks to then sew together.

There were a few adjustments on the fly, like removing unnecessary Y-seams (seams that come together in a Y-formation and are more evil than anything else on earth.) I top-stitched most seams, and when inserting the zipper, I used a Gutermann clear, nylon thread so the stitching wouldn’t be visible over the alternating colors. The nylon thread isn’t the easiest to stitch with, so I didn’t do the entire outfit in it…I’m generally not a fan of the thread, but it was perfect for the hem and the zip insertion. LOTS of hand-basting and tacking the zip in before sewing to get each of those pieced sections to line up across the chest! LOTS.

And we’re done! YAY! Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, and Post 4 if you’re interested in the entire process.

Are you done with your Halloween sewing?

October 10, 2017October 17, 2017

Custom Cosplay – My Hero Academia’s All Might – Part 4

Here we go. The last part of making the custom pattern. You’re going to need a roll of paper. I’m using an inexpensive roll of art easel paper from IKEA. You can use freezer paper, craft paper, Swedish tracing paper – whatever floats your boat. If this is something to be done again and again, Swedish tracing paper or brown craft paper is more long-lasting. I don’t use freezer paper anymore, and this is a one-trick-pony for me, so using the paint roll was the best option for me.

You’re also going to want a few more colors of pens/pencils that you didn’t use in your design.

I used a black Sharpie to cut my piecing lines. Naturally, I edited as I went x-marking out lines I decided against. I numbered my pattern pieces so that when I come back to this photo later with the pieces, I can see where it goes. You’re not going to remember all of your edits, so make sure you take a lot of photos BEFORE you cut, take notes if you need, etc. There will be edits on-the-fly as well…the better organized you are, the better you’ll be prepared.

I drew green lines across all of my pattern before cutting into pieces. These green lines indicate the direction of greatest stretch. You want the greatest amount of stretch in your fabric to go around your body, not up/down. This will be key in order to not get weird warping, and to make sure the garments will stretch around your body. Unlike in quilting, which lays flat, this will be 3-dimmentional around a body and needs to be designed that way. Quilting, you can make a bunch of strips on-grain and cut-to-length. Apparel, the grain must be in line with the body.

I used a yellow highlighter for areas I wanted to add extra seam allowance, such as the middle front of the top, so I could have enough seam allowance to add a zipper. I cut the pieces and glued them to the roll of paper. Using the edge of a ruler against the pieces, I added 3/8″ seam allowance for most edges, except the yellow, I added 1 full inch. Curves are tricky – I favor pivoting the ruler around the edge and making dots to connect. You CAN do the trick where you tape 2 pencils together and it will be about 3/8″ between each leaded point….but there’s a LOT of tracing here, and I wanted to be more accurate. There are also specially made tracing wheels and all that jazz out there, but I chose not to go that route.

I had my tape handy for any edits or pieces that needed more securing.

A mistake I made was forgetting to mark edges that already had seam allowance. Luckily I caught it before I got too far along – so don’t do as I did. Use another color, like I used orange here when I caught it, and mark edges that already have seam allowance.

Another option is to add seam allowance as you cut either by cutting with a ruler guide, or marking directly on fabric as I did above on my leggings pieces. This works if you only have a few things and you’re not going to be interrupted in the middle of all of your work because it’s difficult to remember all the details on the fly – and cutting is permanent. So…you make a mistake this way, you can’t go back. I don’t recommend it, in general. This was for an example, and I knew during cutting the leggings, I had the time to get it all done at once. Even then…I did make a mistake, but had enough fabric to correct it. Barely. It’s better NOT to leave things to chance, or to memory in this case.

Here is why we put the green lines of grain/stretch on the pattern pieces. Would you remember which piece goes which direction once you have them cut out like this? Not likely. And more importantly, why would you want to? For the red, I had enough strips that I cut a couple yards on grain, and a few on the 45-degree (remember I made all angles 45-degrees to be easier later?), and lined up patter pieces on the corresponding grain-strips. I have fewer patterns in the white, so they got cut out one at a time. All pattern pieces are cut on the doubled fabric, so I’ve got my mirror images for left/right sides cut at the same time.

I highly recommend you stay organized. Something you learn in quilting is the magic of ziploc bags. Keep your corresponding parts together. I have a bag for sleeves, one for shirt front, one for shirt back, and one for leggings. Pin your pieces to the paper pattern pieces and keep them organized. Take a lot of photos.

Next is piecing it all together.

Continue to the Final Post.

October 6, 2017

New York Comic Con and Sewing

I am SO inspired by New York Comic Con this year. Granted, maybe I would have been in years past if I was sewing cosplay then, but you tend to find things as you find them, you know?

See the comment on the IG post above about a “repair station?” How freakin’ cool is that? Sign me up to host a repair station at a comic con! I couldn’t find such a listing on their event site, but honestly, most event sites are pretty hard to navigate anyway, so I may have missed that one.

Singer is a sponsor, and…

Mood Fabrics! Incidentally, Mood is also running a prize for homemade costumes this month with the hashtag #MoodMadeCostume17.

AND….

Brother Sewing USA has a booth, AND, naturally, …

Simplicity has really been growing their cosplay/costume section lately, so that’s a given, right? AND…

Dritz / Prym. I could totally move into that booth. Click the link on the photo caption – there are 4 photos. My screen shot doesn’t do it justice.

There’s also a new-to-me company called Cosplay Fabrics. It looks like they have some pretty cool stuff on their site. I have no experience with them, but the more, the merrier.

This is great. I hope there are more and more people joining the sewing / DIY community. I hope to see even more sewing people and companies supporting the cosplay/comic-con/anime genres of art and sewing.

Alright, I gotta get back to my own cosplay pattern making, currently in progress!

October 4, 2017October 17, 2017

Custom Cosplay – My Hero Academia’s All Might – Part 2

Here we are in Part 2. In Part 1, we chose our base patterns to hack for a custom All Might cosplay costume. Being I want to get this done well before Halloween, we are truckin’ right along.

First, I altered the patterns to make the crew neck I wanted, and to widen the shoulder coverage. I sketched on the drawing the alterations I thought I would need and made those adjustments to the pattern.

Second, I made a muslin, or a fitting sample, of the pattern pieces to be sure they were where we wanted them. I drew directly on the muslin, while it was still on my daughter, the alterations that would need to be made on the final draft. The neckline needed to come down about a centimeter in the front, up about 2 cm in the back, and the leggings needed widening in the calves plus 2 inches in length added.

These alterations are pretty simple. I’ll be using knit fabric with a lot of stretch, which allows a lot of forgiveness. This isn’t like making a custom corset out of woven silk – I’d have about zero wiggle room there and would have to be much more precise. I’m going to be using a fairly thick ponte knit with rayon/nylon/spandex content. I chose a ponte because it will be thick enough to be opaque, and only have about 10% stretch so it won’t get all baggy, but will have enough stretch for movement and fit.

I let my daughter take a run at directly sketching the design on to the fabric. This route proved to be ineffective, albeit a great learning moment for her. I need more precise pattern pieces…and the ability to erase LOL. So….live and learn. As a 13 year old, she doesn’t have the experience to know what needs to line up, and where…and how pattern pieces are made. Letting her make mistakes and showing how it will be corrected is all part of the process.

I leave these here so you can see how this can go very wrong. There are ways of doing this correctly… I put tape down the centerline, because you’re only going to pattern half of the shirt front/back, add seam allowance, make a mirrored version, and combine (or add a zip if you’re making a body suit.) You *could* cut these pieces and use them as pattern pieces this way IF everything was drawn accurately. In this case, it was not, and that’s ok. There’s always a Plan B. 😀

However, I’m going to take this moment to say if you’re only making this once, which I am, don’t over think it too much. Although I will be making more accurate pattern pieces, I’m not making pattern pieces that will last. This will be a one-trick-pony.

Next post, Part 3, will have how to sketch directly on the base pattern to create pattern pieces.

October 2, 2017October 4, 2017

Custom Cosplay – My Hero Academia’s All Might – Part 1

My oldest daughter is 13 and is having fun with cosplay. I’ve coached her through sewing a thing or two…

…and she’s put together a cosplay outfit here and there…but now she wants to be All Might, aka Toshinori Yagi, from My Hero Academia for Halloween.

This is a screenshot from a site, EZ Cosplay, where you can order a custom-fitted cosplay of the character you want.

I don’t have experience ordering from them, but honestly, that’s really not a bad price if they really fit and it comes on time. My daughter wanted to be sure it would fit and on time, so she requested mom-help.

We have purchased things on eBay in the past, and have been perfectly happy there as well. These Attack on Titan belts were complicated, but worked out great.

Point being, however you get to your outfit is how you get to it, and it’s all about enjoying it.

For this adventure, however, we are going full custom. We looked at Simplicity’s many, many base costume/cosplay options:

This base pattern of a jumpsuit and leotard was a strong contender, but at the end of the day, I wanted my daughter to do a lot of the designing, and be able to use the restroom easily, so we opted to use a basic long sleeve t-shirt top and leggings patterns as a starting point. We have enough pattern hacking to do without having to remove panels, or deal with snap crotches. We’ve also borrowed The Hero’s Closet from the library.

It’s a great book with a lot of base patterns, and if you’re new to sewing and pattern hacking, it would be a great resource. In our instance, my daughter has me, and I’m not new to it, so we’re going to use what we have on hand.

Like I said, we’ve opted out of using a leotard or unitard, and we’re going to hack a long sleeve t-shirt and a pair of leggings. The basic t-shirt we are using is from the same Craftsy class the hoodie my daughter is wearing above, and the leggings base will be the Seamwork Manila leggings.

So, if you’re interested in following along, I’ll document our journey on creating a custom costume based off of these basic patterns.

Craftsy class on sewing knits by Sew Liberated

Part 2 is here.