Dying fabric.... EPIC FAIL (Posted 13th June 2010)

So I tried dying one of the layers that go on the bottom of the top, and it failed miserably. Then we realized (myself and my mom)that the lining fabric I'm using must have too much nylon in it, so it didn't take.

Soooooo! What I'm going to do instead is keep the white layer I've already added, then do two layers of navy blue fabric under that. At least it's still more accurate than just doing all white layers. ^^

stitching day 2 (Posted 11th June 2010)

So I started with the hand sewing at half 12 this afternoon and didn't finish until half past 6 this evening. So it's no surprise when I say that my hands are really numb lol!

Anyway, as you can see in the photo next to this journal, the base top was a halter neck and I had to create a whole new back that went right up to the nave of my neck so it completely covered my back.

I thought I was going to have trouble with this if I did it on my own and would need the aid of my mother, yet surprisingly I managed to do it myself whilst my Mom was at work!!

How I did this:
1) I measured the width from the half back on the halter top from seam line to seam line to get the bottom half to the correct width on the blue material.
2) After pinning the material along the bottom in the correct place, I looked at a screen cap of the back view of Yuna's top to see the shape of hers. I got a blue pencil and drew a rough line on the mannequin on either side of it to create a "arm hole" so I knew what space I would need to fit my arms through.
3) I pinned the piece of material at the top connecting it to the neck part of the base top, and pinned it all round.
4) I took the whole thing off the mannequin and tried it on for size to see how well the material will stretch round my body shape-perfect first time! woo!
5) Putting it back on the mannequin I began sewing and tidying up all rough edging by folding it over as I stitch!
6) then I just kept stitching until the finished product is finished, as you see in the photo!

Fabric bought, top in progress (Posted 10th June 2010)

Okay, as you can see by the photo, I still have abit to do. Although the other side front part is done, just needs finishing when I get more blue thread.

The entire lot of stitching is done by hand as I still do not own a sewing machine. ^^ As you can see I do a really basic stitch as it's all I know lmao.

What still needs to be done:
1) Put top on and with aid of my Mom, create the panel for the back of the top
2) with that panel, stitch it onto the top from bottom up. Then stitching the top of the back panel onto the neck part that you see in the picture
3) Dye one layer of the flowy bit that goes on the bottom of the top grey.
4) stitch the three layers from white to grey, to blue onto the top

Then it SHOULD be all done! I'm not going to modify the boots just yet, until I know I can replace them with a new pair as they're currently my Gwendal cosplay boots.

Shorts bought (Posted 21st May 2010)

I managed to find some comfy cotton shorts today (all hail primark! lol) I just gotta get the lace now to go over them to turn them into the skirt. Which shouldnt be too difficult.

Last night I managed to get royal blue organza for the sleeves from ebay. (trust me.. SO much cheaper than going to a haberdashery store! 1metre of organza is £2 including postage.. in store its about £8 for 1metre if anyone doesn't know! ^^)

Sing sing sing! (Posted 18th May 2010)

Managed to get a microphone from the 99p store today. Now I just need to get some craft foam from wh smiths or somewhere to modify it into the mic that she uses! yay! Photos will be going up shortly

Top (Posted 16th May 2010)

Hoozah!
I wasn't planning on working on this cosplay for a little while, but by luck and chance when in a charity shop I found the EXACT top that she wears (minus the long frilly bit) in white. My cosplay mind instantly kicked in, and I bought it!

Now I'm now waiting until I can get some nice blue organza for the sleeves and I'm thinking of using blue fabric to cover the main part of the top, so it guarantees the frilly part doesn't get dyed blue.