Hi!

First off, I'm totally new to cosplay, I just signed up today so please have some patience with me but I'll try to do things step by step, or else I go nuts!

So basically, I really adore Jill Valentine and besides that I'd love to cosplay her... as a male version of Jill's BSAA, that costume is very unisex to me hehe and I love it.

I'd like to start from the shirt/jacket (whatever you call it... what do you call it? ) I thought it would be best to start from the beginning instead of buying a similar shirt/jacket...

Do you have any suggestions? What material for instance? It's only two color so it's not such a big deal i guess.

Thanks for your time, I appreciate the help Peace!

Jill Valentine BSAA Picture:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_C8Dz6RfvNhM/S-AeyAUywcI/AAAAAAAACQI/1iwFAV3DQV8/s640/jil-hottoys-03.jpg

When I made my BSAA jacket, I just bought a blue top and my sister customised it for me She sewed the black bits onto the top and put a zip down the middle. It was the simplest way I could think of haha.

Alias.com on here made her BSAA top from scratch, may be worth taking a look at her costume journals to see her construction progress. It's really well made.

hi there thanks for the idea!

Yes I saw what she did, was pretty neat! She did a great job.

I'll look for ideas with having a ready shirt and adding the black onto it. Thanks again

I have to second Mungojerrie on that I also bought a tshirt and modified it. I basically cut out the sections of the top that would be black and used these pieces as the pattern for the cutting out the black sections. You will need to add a a 1cm border to the piece you cut out of the blue tshirt base for seam allowance.

Hope that helps good luck.

Hi gaming_goddess!

Thank you too for your feedback, I will most definitely try and find a shirt now, I'll try finding it with a dip up. Also, it seems like a very good idea to cut out the pattern to make the black, thank you for sharing!

No worries I look forward to progress I seem to remember using stretchy fabric for the black which is harder to work with but a little more forgiving if you forget seam allowances ;p (like I always do ^_^

I'll remember that! I probably need to gain some experience too so mistakes are good to learn from but I really want to do this right! I'm going through youtube videos to learn this and that, hard but not impossible

Youtube videos are good but so is hands on Try maybe practicing with old clothes that you haven't worn for ages and are going to throw out or cheap tshirts from charity shops or primark. Things often make a little more sense once you've had a go The main trick to remember is sew everthing inside out then turn it the correct way and all the sitching will be hidden. Are you sewing with a machine or by hand?

Well I might be having a sewing machine, by hand must be difficult or time consuming?

I'd like to ask, what do you personally think about this top, do you think it would come good (getting colored and stitched with black lol, it looks fat? I'm an idiot lol

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=1273104&image=543988256&images=543988256&formats=0&format=0

Hand sewing does take longer but I also find it much more relaxing and personally with my first 10 cosplays or so I didn't have a sewing machine. So each have their merits really.

I think the fact the top is made from fleece means that it will be quite hot. Also the fact it is white in the photos I'm guessing your going to attempt to dye it? If it's synthetic fleece it would be quite hard to dye.

I would imagine something like this would be better:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/k-mens-thermal-cotton-turtle-polo-neck-skivvy-turtleneck-sweater-stretch-shirts-/320938786990?pt=UK_Men_s_Hoodies_Sweats&var=&hash=item4ab97140ae
(not necessarily this one mind as I know the blue is lighter) but if you get something cotton based it's much easier to dye

Thanks for sharing, really appreciate it ^_^, when I said fat... I meant fleece yeah, you're probably right, would kill me so I'll focus on cotton

I'm currently trying to find a bloody shirt with long sleeves and half zip, gosh it's so difficult. A turtle-neck might be good actually if I do the zip myself and the link you send seems good as it's blue seems similar to her's, I'll keep searching hehe.

Something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FRUIT-OF-THE-LOOM-HALF-ZIP-SWEAT-GENUINE-/261097248213?pt=UK_Men_s_Hoodies_Sweats&var=&hash=item3cca9bd5d5 but maybe I find better.

BTW! big big thank you for your patience !!

No worries We've all gotta start somewhere I like the link - though its got 20% polyester in the cotton mix so theres a chance it would dye weirdly. There are ways to dye polyester but it's slightly harder. I seem to remember though the ends of the sleeves that I cut short is what I used to make the neckline. This is very faffy but I just used a bog standard round neck top. Adding zips are simple. Just make sure there closed when you sew them in and they'll sit flat. Also when you cut the round neck make sure you hem the end before adding the zip - it will just make it much neater. Plus ebay you can pick up bulk lots of 10 15cm zips for a few pounds so not expensive at all.

Hmm thats the thing with shirts, they don't have the neckline, thanks for the tip ''am writing everything down'' haha ^_^

I'll also be more careful about the fabrics as you mentioned they dye differently and the link does have two types.

I'll also go have a look at public stores tomorrow, i might have found the boots, not perfect but pretty close, i'll just have to ''design it'' sort of with fabric i guess.

I really cant wait to start the bloody journal haha ^_^ first timer here

yeah the boots are a pain but Alias has a gorgeous BSAA Jill so might be worth checking her Journal for tips and things Good Luck

I noticed! haha, the ones i found were not my size damn, yes I saw her boots! They were really amazing.

Well at the moment, didn't find much of anything but stopping. You helped a lot, thank you once again