Blog Thirteen: ... wish me luck?!?!

Okay, so now that we've caught up again, time to talk about how things have changed since January. Obviously, teaching is a really hard job, and I have had nowhere near the time or energy I expected to have for sewing this year. But when I look back at my goals from the start of the year, I haven't done that bad! 
- I went to the cosplay picnic, and the Hogwarts trip.
- I didn't do the Steampunk festival, and to be honest, I don't have the technical ability or the right mind at the moment to design Steampunk. I guess I don't get it properly? But the genre really appeals to me.
- I may not have done the "Four days four costumes" challenge that I set myself, and school production isn't even an excuse - I just would not have had time to make four costumes. NZLARPS have a booth at Armageddon and I wish I could join them there, but with only being able to do one day of Armagaddon this year, I REALLY need to go as Cait Sith. I'm nowhere near finished, and I have less than three weeks. But I am determined.

So my goals have changed now...
1. Have Cait Sith ready for October 22nd.
2. Have my Teonn (LARP) costume ready for November 30th.
3. Events to attend next year: Cosplay Picnic, Hydra and Chimera (Hydra being Wellington's version of Chimera), Auckland Armageddon, and possibly, if time allows, the Hamilton and/or Wellington Armageddons. Oh, and let's not forget Battlecry either! It's a tabletop gaming con and they had a Steampunk day earlier in February this year, but not having a Steampunk imagination, I couldn't dress appropriately. But it was good fun, I highly recommend it to any gamers!

With all those events, I guess I really don't have any definite ideas yet of what costumes I will wear. Obviously with the LARPs I have to wait to find out, but in terms of Armageddon, I guess half the problem this year for me was that last year, after cosplaying for the first time, I was so excited that I started planning all sorts of costumes based on things I was really into at the moment (eg. Codex from The Guild). But when my interest in those things waned a little (simply because there weren't any new episodes of The Guild or Doctor Who to keep me going) my enthusiasm waned also. And yet, because I started working on Cait Sith so early, I have decided to keep going with him. Maybe it would have been different if I hadn't started? Hmm. Who can say?

Anyway, I'm sure I'm boring you. What I really wanted to show you was what I've done since January on Cait Sith. I don't expect you to be wowed, because honestly, it's not much. Just the head of the moogle. I'm currently working on the body, and then after that the arms, the feet, the wings, and then putting it all together. Why do I do this to myself???

I won't bother with a diagram, but this is how I did it: essentially it's a tube of fleece with a light fabric lining on the inside, stuffed, made to measure on my waist so it sits above my hips (not easy to wear for guys!). The ears aren't right yet, I'm going to do them again. The eyes are black felt, and the  mouth I made by drawing it on with pencil, sewing around the outline, and then actually colouring in between the lines with sharpie. You absolutely cannot touch it for a couple of hours after having done that! I'm pretty happy with this, it's actually a really comfy cushion, so it's multi-purpose!

Also, I thought I might show off Cyril the snake, just for the benefit of my friends who were in Ophelia Thinks Harder, a feminist Hamlet by Jean Betts. The season is already finished sorry, but it was a lot of fun. Poor Cyril had to put up with a lot every night (eg. being used as a whip) but he became the mascot for the show. Sorry I don't have a better picture of him... For more info about this show and others, please visit www.mairangiplayers.co.nz

Cyril materials: green fur (he's about 1.5 metres long!), red ribbon, oversized black buttons, and 500 grams of stuffing!!!

Blog Twelve: Happily Ever After? The White Rabbit

The following costume took hours and hours of labour and gave me nightmares. In fact, trying to get my head around how to tell you about it is giving me a waking nightmare right now... so let's try!

First off, I'll tell you about Happily Ever After. It was the 'flagship' LARP for Chimera 2012 and it was amazing. It was basically a fairytale murder mystery. Yep, it was that awesome! I played the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. I played it kind of androgynously, and also totally hysterically. Most people remember me for running around trying to deliver a package to someone non-existent, and squealing when I cried. It was good fun.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from the actual night! My camera ran out of battery. My makeup was much better on the actual night.

Anyway, let me break down what you see here. On my legs and arms I'm wearing white tights. Underneath the red coat I'm wearing my own creation, a kind of "fat leotard". Then there is the red coat itself. Now for how I made it...

Materials: leotard: white fleece, thick elastic, oversize white buttons
Coat: black felt, red brocade, oversize black buttons
(Sorry, there aren't any good pictures of the pleating, it's hard to photograph because it's all the same colour... but it looks really good! You'll just have to take my word for it)

The only thing I wasn't very happy with was that the four black felt pieces at the bottom weren't very obvious. But if you can't tell, it's the four suits of cards! (except I forgot clubs is supposed to be a three leaf clover, not four... but four is cuter!!)

I had the time of my life at Chimera and had so many compliments on both the costumes I made (and the one I didn't make, LOL...). I can't wait for next year! I'm going to be at Teonn for the weekend in December, for those of you not in the know that's another LARP, medieval fantasy themed. I can't wait! But I'm not sure how much sewing I'm doing for that one... I may be a bit sewed out after Cait Sith...

Blog Eleven: more costume... Bear Tribe!!!

Okay, more posts, as promised.

Just recently I have taken up LARPing. I've been having the time of my life and can't recommend the experience enough. My first start was Chimera, Auckland's annual LARP convention. The first game I played I actually hired out the costume for, one, because I had a voucher for free costume hire, and two, because it was pre-French Revolution styles, and I soooo did not have the time, money or skill to sew a gown for a pre-French Revolution courtesan...

So this is my costume for Iya, midwife and cook of the Oso (Bear) Tribe, a tribe of Aztecs who, many years ago, were visited by a lone Viking warrior who took over and changed them forever. Yep, totally made up, but kinda cool when you think about the fact that the Vikings may have found America first!

So I sewed the brown dress, won't get into that though because it was just a boring, generic shape so I can re-use it for all sorts of costumes. I then tied that printed fabric around that, and then belted it. Obviously though, the most interesting part was the hood/shawl!!

Materials: brown fur, coloured beads, earthy pendants, and FEATHERS!

The hood, obviously, was a little too big, but still, I was quite happy with this, and since we were the Bear tribe, I had to have ears!! The beads I just sewed straight on, but the feathers I hot-glued and sewed on because I was pretty scared they'd come off (and in the end, only one feather came off!!)

In the end, pretty proud of how this costume came out. And we ALL looked awesome!! Go Oso Tribe!

Blog Ten: The return... with a Pikachu hat!

Hey guys!

Man has it been a long time! Having a really busy year, but what with it being Armageddon month, I thought I ought to tell you all how my goals for the year are going. A little update on Armageddon: I have school production that weekend, so I will only be attending Armageddon on the Monday. I'll be there for the contest, but I don't know if I should enter it... But anyway, I'll update you on my progress with Cait Sith soon enough. I'm in a bit of a rush, less than three weeks!!!

Anyway, here is one among the many many projects I have completed since I last wrote here. I have a friend that we call Pikachu. We call him this because he saw an empty light socket backstage at the theatre I act at and he stuck his finger in it while it was live. Luckily he only got a small shock, but he has paid for it dearly since in many bad electrical puns. But to cut a long story short, I had to make him a Pikachu hat!

Materials: Yellow fleece, black felt, red corduroy (literally stuff I just had lying around spare) and oversized black buttons.

This was so easy to make. I didn't line it or anything. Just two semicircles, I actually sewed the ear triangles into it straight away before putting them together and stuffing them, and I sewed them on the outside (that's why they look like they have outlines). In fact, I probably cut the ears a little bigger than my instructions say. The black pieces I cut afterwards. The red cheeks look like octagons because this was the best way I could get it to sit right folded in on itself (the material frayed very easily so I absolutely had to double up the edges). To be honest I didn't approach this one very scientifically, I just did whatever dimensions felt right. It actually ended up a little too big for his head, but it still looked kawaii ^_^

More posts to come!!

Blog Nine: Annual Cosplay Picnic

Hey everyone, I had a great time at the Annual Cosplay Picnic! Thanks to everyone who posed for my camera and took pictures of me too. Here are my best pictures from the day. Hope I can see you all again!

(click on the pictures for a bigger view)

 

 

PS. Big thanks to Val for teaching me how to do the invisible hem stitch!!

Blog Eight: Hogwarts Field Trip: McGonagall and Trelawney escort students to Honeydukes

 

(click on the pictures for a larger view)

My friend Val and I went along with other members of Cosplay NZ to The Candyman in Mt Eden... or was it, Professors McGonagall and Trelawney escorted Hogwarts students, including Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, on a trip to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade? Either way, it was a lot of fun!

My interpretation of Trelawney was youthful and summery, not movie accurate. There’s no way I could have worn a massive black dress like Val did! I guess I look like a generic mystic hippie or something. It was a closet cosplay mostly, with clothes and jewelry I normally wear. But I did make a small velvet pouch for my crystal ball, and the glasses chain that I made with copper wire and semi-precious stone beads which you can see in the pictures.

Hopefully Val will write something about the massive process she went through to arrive at her costume! It was a very epic costume.

Thanks so much to The Candyman in Mt Eden for letting us come in and putting up with all the noise we made in our excitement!

Please visit them, either physically or online: http://www.thecandyman.co.nz/

Blog Seven: Just for fun: Ba-ba-ba-bwaaaaa! Presenting the Earl of Lemongrab! (Adventuretime)

The second toy I made my brother for Christmas was the Earl of Lemongrab from Adventuretime! He was a lot harder than Oglethorpe and I really struggled with making his arms and legs.

 

Here’s the pattern I used:

I cut his body out of yellow fleece, and his clothes out of black leather-like material. His eyes and mouth are just cardboard!

Sew the two pieces of the body together and stuff it. The place I chose to stuff it was under the arm, a very small hole, then sewed that together. Then I sewed the legs of the suit up, slipped his legs in, and then sewed up the back of the suit. Then I sewed the sleeves into tubes, slid them on, and then attached them to the shoulders of the suit.

What I’m happy with: His expression. It freaks me out.

What I could improve on: the arms, legs, and the suit. Very hard to make and so I didn’t make them as well as I could have if I were a more patient person.

Now THREE HOURS DUNGEON!