So how do
you make a costume that looks good, is wearable and won't fall apart? It's
a matter of work, planning, knowing yourself and finding the right materials
- and some trial and error. Costumers gathered on Friday at NekoCon to
share their experiences and help others learn the way to make things right.
If there was a common theme from their stories, it's that costumes don't
always come together correctly the first time. A plan that seems as if
it will work the first time has to be changed when that perfect piece of
fabric doesn't create the desired effect. On the other hand, they'll just
stumble on something unexpectedly that works great.
Jung Park
basically made three costumes to create this outfit, starting with muslin
which he used to make a pattern. "Then I shopped around for fabrics and
decided I wanted velvet, it looked pretty shiny." The flaring sleeves were
made by extending a basic sleeve pattern, he said. As he moves, you can
see flashes of an inner lining in a complimentary color. "If you learn
how to make the inner lining for a jacket you can do this. You make an
inner costume and an outer costume and put the two together." Park then
modified a cap for the hat, found a convincing wig and the effect was complete.
On the costume's construction, "If you have to do some precision work,
hand stitching is best."
Marty said
she spent less than $100 on materials for the pink dress, which she assembled
in a long overnight sewing session. "There's not much you can say about
it - if you've seen a typical dress pattern you know what I did was to
rip it off," she said. "Most of it is machine sewn." The ruffle cap was
made from an elongated piece of triangular fabric to which the lace and
frills were sewn. Not seen in this picture are pink ribbons that crisscross
on the skirt, which Marty made by sewing the same pattern over and over
again. The roughest parts of the dress to construct were the sleeves, a
combination of gauze on the elbows and satiny material around the wrists.
"They're regular puffed sleeves, but you have to open up the sleeve, puff
up the pattern, add the netting and sew it all together." The pink doll
is an essential prop for the outfit, but it wasn't custom-made - she got
the doll in a general store for $13.99. If you see a prop like this, get
it - I'm huge on props," she said.
This is
one of Christy's simpler costumes, made in one hour for a Halloween festival.
It's a really simple dress," she said, adding that it was simple because
she had to make it as a replacement for an outfit which her car ruined.
"I think this one turned out better than the other one. For simple costumes,
if you have a grasp of what you're doing you don't need a pattern, but
there are plenty of patterns out there that you can alter. The wig was
deliberately stringy because the character's supposed to look like she's
been in a well for 200 years. The outfit includes dead-look contact lenses,
"one of those extra things that people won't notice if you don't do it."
Erica Door
found that she had to overcome some limitations of the spandex fabric she
used for this Garnet costume. It was too thin at first, so she made a second
layer that went under the first layer. "I used a basic quick-sew body suit.
It had a full collar and sleeves and I basically ripped it apart." Like
other costumers, Erica has learned that anime characters often seem to
be born with their clothes on because there aren't any seams, zippers,
buttons or other ways to get their clothes on or off - but Garnet was different
because the outfit had extra seams that she had to create by adding panels
of cloth. After trying to figure how to make Garnet's necklace, she found
a chandelier company that sold decorations and ordered it's a pentalogue
from that company. "It's pretty and it looks great," she said. The top
of the jewel is half of an Easter egg with sculpy placed on it. The gloves
are mens' leather work cloves recolored with red acrylic paint.
Also on
hand was Bob Baranek, who retold his story of how he can't sew, but has
developed a foam and hot glue technique to make his costumes. The other
costumers agreed that hot glue is a great friend of cosplayers.
So how do
you make a costume that looks good, is wearable and won't fall apart? It's
a matter of work, planning, knowing yourself and finding the right materials
- and some trial and error. Costumers gathered on Friday at NekoCon to
share their experiences and help others learn the way to make things right.
If there was a common theme from their stories, it's that costumes don't
always come together correctly the first time. A plan that seems as if
it will work the first time has to be changed when that perfect piece of
fabric doesn't create the desired effect. On the other hand, they'll just
stumble on something unexpectedly that works great.
Jung Park
basically made three costumes to create this outfit, starting with muslin
which he used to make a pattern. "Then I shopped around for fabrics and
decided I wanted velvet, it looked pretty shiny." The flaring sleeves were
made by extending a basic sleeve pattern, he said. As he moves, you can
see flashes of an inner lining in a complimentary color. "If you learn
how to make the inner lining for a jacket you can do this. You make an
inner costume and an outer costume and put the two together." Park then
modified a cap for the hat, found a convincing wig and the effect was complete.
On the costume's construction, "If you have to do some precision work,
hand stitching is best."
Marty said
she spent less than $100 on materials for the pink dress, which she assembled
in a long overnight sewing session. "There's not much you can say about
it - if you've seen a typical dress pattern you know what I did was to
rip it off," she said. "Most of it is machine sewn." The ruffle cap was
made from an elongated piece of triangular fabric to which the lace and
frills were sewn. Not seen in this picture are pink ribbons that crisscross
on the skirt, which Marty made by sewing the same pattern over and over
again. The roughest parts of the dress to construct were the sleeves, a
combination of gauze on the elbows and satiny material around the wrists.
"They're regular puffed sleeves, but you have to open up the sleeve, puff
up the pattern, add the netting and sew it all together." The pink doll
is an essential prop for the outfit, but it wasn't custom-made - she got
the doll in a general store for $13.99. If you see a prop like this, get
it - I'm huge on props," she said.
This is
one of Christy's simpler costumes, made in one hour for a Halloween festival.
It's a really simple dress," she said, adding that it was simple because
she had to make it as a replacement for an outfit which her car ruined.
"I think this one turned out better than the other one. For simple costumes,
if you have a grasp of what you're doing you don't need a pattern, but
there are plenty of patterns out there that you can alter. The wig was
deliberately stringy because the character's supposed to look like she's
been in a well for 200 years. The outfit includes dead-look contact lenses,
"one of those extra things that people won't notice if you don't do it."
Erica Door
found that she had to overcome some limitations of the spandex fabric she
used for this Garnet costume. It was too thin at first, so she made a second
layer that went under the first layer. "I used a basic quick-sew body suit.
It had a full collar and sleeves and I basically ripped it apart." Like
other costumers, Erica has learned that anime characters often seem to
be born with their clothes on because there aren't any seams, zippers,
buttons or other ways to get their clothes on or off - but Garnet was different
because the outfit had extra seams that she had to create by adding panels
of cloth. After trying to figure how to make Garnet's necklace, she found
a chandelier company that sold decorations and ordered it's a pentalogue
from that company. "It's pretty and it looks great," she said. The top
of the jewel is half of an Easter egg with sculpy placed on it. The gloves
are mens' leather work cloves recolored with red acrylic paint.
Also on
hand was Bob Baranek, who retold his story of how he can't sew, but has
developed a foam and hot glue technique to make his costumes. The other
costumers agreed that hot glue is a great friend of cosplayers.
