12th February 2012: Almost there... Today I sat myself down in front of my machine and just sewed until I ran out of thread. I'm feeling a lot better than what I was in my last journal entry and I can now definitely see the end!

My jacket is almost complete, it's just missing the trim, fastenings and detail. I have one sleeve completely finished and I just have to hand sew a seam on the other before it's attached and finished up. I decided to make two small belts for the arms just to ensure that the sleeves wont fall down! They didn't take me too long and were made by cannibalising two Primark belts. My gohei had to be fixed yet again, it was such a mistake using plastic thread for the structure and I'm really paying for it now!

My makeup and eyelashes are all on the way and I'm now just sat waiting for some more bias binding to arrive. Tomorrow I plan to have some time off from sewing and attempt the hair beads which I've been avoiding like the plague.

7th February 2012: Less than two weeks away D: I feel like for the past couple of weeks progress has almost ground to a halt and I've had very little motivation to finish this which has also been mixed with university work and feeling ill.
However I sat down tonight and I made a little progress.

I haven't really gotten much further with my jacket. I started painting the pattern on to it 3 weeks ago and it seems to be never ending! A first I didn't buy nowhere near enough dye so I then had to wait for more and it's taken a ridiculous amount of coats to get it looking how I want. I was also completely unaware of how much Dylon fabric paint bled and whilst I've done my best to neaten all the edges I could, I'm still not 100% happy. However (hopefully) the last coat went on tonight and I also did the first coat for the sleeves. Once the dye is dry I should really be able to start some of the major work on the jacket. I've had trouble with the eyelets and it's meant ordering a large size than I had original bought so as soon as they arrive the chain trim is getting finished up and then I'll start piecing the thing together.

My gohei had to be fixed and re-glued as the plastic thread I'd used originally had stretched and melted with the hot glue. That's however all sorted and hasn't caused me too much of an issue. The wig was cut today and is pretty much complete. At some point I'll try the wig on just to double check the cut sits okay but I doubt it will need major altering.

So overall things are getting there just at a more slower and sluggish pace than I would have liked. However with only 11 days left I'll fight through my 'sewing' block and getting this thing done on time!

16th January 2012: Reimu and her stupid jacket SO I may have had some jacket trouble.

I was originally using what was essentially a trench coat pattern but as I said in my last journal entry I bought the entirely wrong size. It fit awfully, as was expected, but despite it being an 18W it was still too narrow around the petticoat. The petticoat has caused my no end of trouble as I had to add an extra panel to my dress so it would fit.

So scraping that coat I spent most of Saturday night/Sunday morning devising (note:worrying) a method of how to make a new jacket. I actually used a jacket pattern I'd originally bought for my Secret Police costume which hadn't turned out right in the end. However with some serious thinking, maths and help from my flat mate I've finally managed to get it to work! I've drawn up an entirely new pattern and I couldn't have asked it to work better. Especially as last night I was worrying that I wouldn't be able to make the jacket it all!

In these progress pictures the jacket is merely pinned. I do however have it sewn and the whole lining has been altered and pinned. I'm feeling MUCH better about this costume now and I plan to rage on ahead tomorrow!

12th January 2012: Progress so far! I have actually been really proactive with this costume but at the moment progress has really halted.

I bought all my fabric on Christmas eve and since then I've been slowly gathering materials so the cost doesn't put too much of strain on me. The wig I purchased way back in November and I plan on using the contact lenses from my Rei cosplay.

The under parts are mostly finished, I just plan to add a few more details to the shirt collar if I have enough studs left over. My pattern pieces are mostly cut out but as I've gone back to University I don't have the time or energy to quite tackle the coat yet, but I hope to this weekend! As you can see I bought a TON of red fabric and what you see in the images isn't even the entire thing!
I also made a stupid mistake and bought my sewing pattern in an 18W when I am in fact a size 6/8 ):. Hopefully though I'm hoping the wideness should work to my advantage for the bottom even though it needs some serious altering! The lovely RohanFox is modeling my altered pattern here :)

I have the craft foam for my Gohei so I shall most likely start working on cutting out the 100 'diamond' shapes I need for that :)