bleh (Posted 23rd January 2012)

Hastiest photoshoot ever, no time to get poses etc. particularly good, jewellery all over the place, but it's basically done. Improvements & semi decent photos forthcoming in the future.

Gah. Bit too close to the wire really.

)%*&"£*&%" (Posted 20th January 2012)

Forgot to pick up the earrings to work on this weekend... if I manage those they'll have to be a last minute job.

I'm also unable to work on the sword this weekend, it would have required taking too much stuff down to my parents'. All the blade pieces have been made up, but they need painting and threading on to the whip and the entire handle needs making. Depending on what time I get home on Sunday I might be able to make something up, but if I do it'll be right down to the wire on the deadline!

Thankfully the outfit itself is very nearly finished, just the fur cuffs to sew on and the buckle straps to finish and put onto the back. There's also a small fur detail on the back I may add.

Weaponry (Posted 18th January 2012)

Since I've made a lot of progress on the suit, I've made the (probably deeply foolish) decision to also attempt the sword. Ivy's sword is such an iconic part of her character design that I'd really like to have it to pose with.

After discussion with TheKillingDoll, we decided that the most sensible material to use given the time constraints would probably be card. I was thinking about some form of foam but that would need sealing with several layers before painting, and since I'm so pushed for time and not home most of the weekend that isn't really practical.

Instead, at his suggestion, I've decided to use card. It will be easy to paint, lightweight, and require little preparation.

We also decided that the whip form of the sword is much more recognisable. For the whip centre I've bought a sink unblocker from Wickes. I went in with the intention of getting a shower hose, but they were all too fat and far too expensive. However, the sink unblocker was a good length, the right diameter, and looked very similar, as well as being half the price of the cheapest shower hose.
I'm also planning to run strong garden wire through it so that the sword is posable.

I spent (again with consultation) about an hour working out the shape I needed to cut from the card to make the blade sections as 3D forms. Since maths/physics/geometry is far from my strong suit this was a challenge, but I eventually managed to work it out to my satisfaction (pic) and have cut all the card pieces. I'll be scoring them today and hopefully will be able to glue some, if not all of them tonight.

Since I won't be home from Friday morning, I'll probably have to paint the whole thing with acrylics rather than spray as I can do that when I have some time at my parents'.

Cosy! (Posted 18th January 2012)

Sewed up and stuffed the collar last night. With the stuffing in it looks much fuller and more plush - I just have to make sure I give the fur a bit of a brush before taking photos. I'm very happy with how it looks, I just have to try it on again to make sure it's still decent! I'll probably tape some PVC to myself underneath the suit just to make extra sure nothing becomes accidentally visible.
All that remains to do on the suit itself are the fur wrist and leg cuffs and the buckles on the back of the swimsuit. I'll make those up today ready to sew on. They don't need to be functional, which is helpful.

Getting somewhere! (Posted 17th January 2012)

Right! I finally did the last leg stripes last night (as per picture - check out mah bumblebee legs), and that allowed me to put the suit on again and pin up the swimsuit and collar fur. Thank goodness for the collar fur - because of the limited stretch of the PVC, the front has pulled further open than it should have done, but the fur keeps things "decent".

I sewed up some of it last night and hopefully will be able to do the rest at lunch today and tonight, when I'll put some padding in to make the fur look fuller. The fur cuffs and swimsuit back buckles will also be lunchbreak jobs, shouldn't take long at all. I *may* have a bash at making up the sword - if I can cut and glue the pieces and do the basic spray job over the next few evenings, I can put it together and do the detail work in my spare time when I'm with family this weekend. The outfit is obviously the priority as there's no point having a funky weapon when you have no clothes!

Coughing up hairballs (Posted 16th January 2012)

I'll never make a fursuiter. I have discovered that I am in no way a fan of working with fake fur. I keep finding bits of it in my mouth and nose!

Two of the small fur stripes left to do on the legs, incorporating the final PVC stripe as well. The rest have been slipstitched on by hand both to keep some stretch and also to keep the stitching as invisible as possible. Some of it could be tidier but I'm rushing a bit to catch the deadline D: I can always restitch it if I have time.

I also encountered a problem with what I'll call the "swimsuit", the gold PVC part that goes over the catsuit. The PVC tears pretty easily and I've almost none at all left. Since having a butt on the generous side is something of a prerequisite for an Ivy cosplayer, getting it on over said butt was causing a lot of stress on a few areas of the suit and I've already had to repair a couple of small tears. To combat this I've inserted two concealed zips in the side seams to allow me to put it on without my behind upsetting it too much!
The front seam area is still under stress and weak, so I'm going to reinforce it with a scrap of the gold/green leatherette I used to pattern with. It's similar enough in colour and a lot more resilient.

I bought some supplies to make the sword. However, at this point I suspect I won't have the time to make it, as I need to act as a carer for a family member this weekend, meaning I am away from my supplies and equipment. The clothing is the main priority, though I may be able to do some of it in my lunch breaks as it's largely hand-sewing. I will make the sword at some point anyway, as it will go with my previous Ivy costume as well as this one.

Tonight I hope to be able to pattern and possibly stitch and stuff the fur collar, ready to put onto the suit.

Fur trim (Posted 9th January 2012)

The fur I got for this costume isn't the greatest quality, largely in an attempt to keep costs down. The pile is fairly long but not very thick, so it's quite directional (ie doesn't just stick straight up). However, when it's brushed out it does feel quite nice!

Because of the pile length and directionality cutting it isn't as simple as it is for normal fabric, or very thick pile fur. If you just cut a straight line, you end up with blunt-edged fur, which looks really unnatural - a bit like blunt cuts on hair or wigs. It makes it very obvious that it's been cut and makes the fur look very artificial.

To combat this, I've been using a fine comb to comb partings into the fur, and then cutting along the parting. Combing the fur back down again afterwards not only eliminates the blunt-cut look, but also has the advantage of hiding the edge of the fabric, as well as allowing me to get rid of most of the loose fur so the house gets less covered in fur bits.

I'm hand-stitching the fur trim.

Ridiculous garment. (Posted 7th January 2012)

Corset... swimsuit... thing...?

Have also started the fur trimming, on which more later.

Tight Fit... (Posted 28th December 2011)

I really didn't have much of the snakeskin PVC left... took careful patterning and arrangement to keep the stretch in vaguely the right place!

Boobies (Posted 21st December 2011)

Unfortunately, when doing a character whose physical assets are one of the most defining features, trying to get them accurate is important...

Thankfully Ivy's SCV incarnation seems to have had a boob reduction since SCIV so I'm not worried about trying to drastically increase the size of mine to be more accurate. However, some structure and padding was necessary, because lycra bodysuits (even when worn open) have a flattening effect and the open front also separates them.
Obviously, because of the open front, a normal bra is out of the question. Even one of the bras designed for plunge dresses won't be suitable because the plunge is too deep.
There is a "corset" in the design that has a bra cup to it, so I could get away with inserting something, although the design as it stands isn't going to offer quite the right suppport either. However, it gives me scope to add a little padding and structure.

I took an old underwired bra that was too small for me and cut out the cups. Since it's not going to be placed like a regular bra (which would be visible) one in my current size would be too large, so it's as well that I still had this one. I padded the cups out with some old shoulder pads and have stitched them into the suit at a 90 degree angle to where they would normally sit. This means that the breasts are pushed inwards whilst still getting a little support from the underwiring without any of it being visible.

There's still not a lot of support as there's no strapping to hold them up, so I will probably also employ the taping method used by celebrities when they wear deep plunging outfits. Picture attached.

A snake and a mongoose had a battle, this was the result (Posted 19th December 2011)

Got everything I need for the costume now (hopefully). The snake jewellery is a little inaccurate but saves me a great deal of work given the close deadline for the competition.
The fur isn't particularly good quality either, but I intend to pad it out for the collar so it looks fuller, and it has more stretch than the good quality furs so will be easier to do the strips on the legs with. Some careful brushing should make it look OK.
I've made up the base catsuit using Kwik Sew 3052, my usual catsuit pattern. I tailored it to the right tightness around the legs. Because the lycra has slightly limited stretch the open front, where normally there would be a zip, already sits correctly.
I patterned out the leg stripes using some old leatherette with the same level of stretch as the snakeskin PVC. They're not as simple as strips - because they're angled down the leg the shape is actually more of an inverted "v".
The next stage is to pattern the "corset". I'm not sure what to do regarding boobage - she has definite cleavage whereas normally in this style of suit the breasts sit quite far apart. I may need to engineer some form of underwired/padded half-bra into the sides of the suit to push them together.

Fabrics (Posted 12th December 2011)

Who would have thought gold snakeskin lycra/PVC would be so hard to find?

I bought some lycra from ebay. It's a bit more bronze-toned than gold, but it's the best thing available. This will be used to make the main base suit, which is the darker gold, and the lighter gold parts will be added on top. I'll be using my standard Kwik Sew catsuit pattern.

For the lighter gold areas and corsetty part, I'll be using a gold snakeskin PVC. I couldn't find anything completely suitable in Goldhawk Road or on the interwebs, but back when I made Auron I bought a metre of said PVC to use for his belt and it's pretty much ideal. However since I have less than a metre of it left I'll have to be very conservative, though I suppose I could always butcher Auron's belt to get a little more. I'll be mocking up the parts that will be made of this in some old leatherette so I can cut the PVC in the most efficient way. Thankfully reusing fabric in this way keeps me under the £70 budget I set myself for this costume.

I considered trying to make the snake jewellery from scratch but really wasn't sure about the best way to go about it, so I have a quick nose on ebay and found some necklaces that should work for it.