21st February 2010: 19/02/2010 - Final tweaks! My computer wouldn't accept my memory card last night, so I'm having to upload photos now... After the Expo! (Which was amazing btw 8D)
I basically restyled the wig (used a round brush handle to wrap the hair around, hairsprayed it bit by bit along the way and used the hairdryer on it so that it would heat-set it in place). I only used light sprays of hairspray though which is why the curls didn't survive throughout the Expo (it did not help it was shoved in a bag as well!)
Ah well... Wig needs to be washed anyway because it got seriously tangled ;___; (You'll see why when you see the Negi-Ramen photos!!!)
I also made the choker. I was lazy, so it's a piece of ribbon with velcro on it :'D
I sewed on ruffles where places were missed out as well. Like on the waistband of the skirt.
Costs: 20p for ribbon (I think? This is approx)
Time Taken: 1-2hrs?
26th December 2009: 26/12/2009 - Cuffs! Woohoo! More update 8D
Cuffs are now sewn - ribbon with white polycotton sewn around the edges and then it's held together with hooks and eyes.
I will now be putting this in complete because the choker is an eBay job lolol~~ (That or I may just buy some black velvet and use that as a substitute, because I really cannot be bothered to make it perfect anymore =o=)
Time Taken: 30mins
26th December 2009: 26/12/2009 - Gloves! Really getting a move on with this costume now, I just want it done and dusted so I can move onto other costumes!
I caved and decided to buy some dylon dye (Tulip Red) for the gloves and dye white ones I got from a pharmacy. Luckily for me it's actually the perfect colour so saves me from making shoddy non-fitted gloves from cotton drill, winnnn!
Costs: White gloves - £1-2
Red dye - £3???? I can't remember, I bought it ages ago and only now could I be bothered to dye them xD;;
25th December 2009: 25/12/2009 - MERRY CHRISTMAS 8D Here have some progress, finished the other boot earlier xDD Then opened presents and forgot about it lolol~
Time Taken: 1hr
Trivia: Second boot is not as neat as first one ;_;
Trivia 2: Couldn't be bothered to put on the whole costume :'D
Trivia 3: I'm sleepy but too hyper chatting away to people :'D
24th December 2009: 24/12/2009 - One boot down Getting there slowly! Here's one boot done, just need to make the other one which err, can't really be bothered to do right now because they get rather tedious if you ask me!
I made it in two parts, the part that actually covers the shoe is really just a funny oval-like shape which needed to be fiddled with to shape the shoe so that it was as smooth as possible. Then was the ankle cover which was a trapezium shape and it folds over each other to give it the baggy look.
The little strip across that resembles a belt thing for the shoe is sewn on separately. After everything was sewn together I hot glued it onto the shoe.
The base of the shoe is actually my school shoes I use to wear when I was at secondary school! I don't wear them anymore so I could use them as boot covers : D
Time Taken - 1hr
Trivia: These shoes boosts me up to 5'5'' 8D
Trivia 2: With my top hat AS WELL I'm like 5'9''-ish 8D
11th October 2009: 11/10/2009 - Top hat complete! Waheeeey, finally got my butt round sewing the rim onto the actual hat bit and making the bunny ears.
No pink bits on the ears... mainly because I can't seem to find my felt in ANY colour let alone pink! Must solve the mystery of the disappearing felt someday...
Lets just say this is a cross between manga and anime Meroko, because in all the artworks in the artbook Me-chan doesn't have pink bits on her ears =P
Ears are made from fleece with craft foam inside it to hold its shape.
Time Taken: 1hr
28th September 2009: 27/09/2009 - Gloves I forgot I had no talent in making neat gloves with non-stretch material damnit. Soooo at the moment it looks like a horrible mess, hopefully it'll improve! I remembered exactly why I hated making gloves so much, ahahaha how I love to torture myself :)
Panels are cut out, I'm just sewing the panel inbetween each finger now... 1 down. 7 to go, with two thumbs!
This makes me want to do more ruffles, I had more fun making ruffles! (Just hurt my neck, t'is all =P)
Time Taken - 20mins?
15th August 2009: 14/08/2009 - Top hat 90% I probably shouldn't really be working on this costume because it isn't really much of a priority until AFTER Fuyucon. But it's really fun to make and I need a breather xD;
The top hat structure was entirely made from craft foam, cardboard and hot glue lolol. It's supposed to fit my head WITH my hair pinned up and a wig over it so it's a bit big on me without it! The red fabric WAS fitted until I sewed on the black and white ribbon/ruffles but I'm not desperate to change it right now.
Most of it was sewn on the machine apart from the rim which was hand sewn because it was way too fiddly to machine sew it >_<;
All I have left to do is sew on the bunny ears then that's the top hat done : D
Time Taken - 2hrs
Uuuurgh, my fringe needs a trim. It's so long now X_X
29th July 2009: 29/07/2009 - Top 100%! TOP COMPLETED~
Much nicer fit now. I'd put it on but I look terrible right now 8D; - Next progress photo where I complete something I will don the whole costume. But for now you don't want to see my ugly mug 8D;
Anyway, ruffles are 100% complete, I changed the zip so that it's grey. Much more accurate! The red zip was annoying me a lot and I didn't feel very safe in it - so I destroyed my Riku [Kingdom Hearts 2] cosplay for its zip, cut it, used a lighter on it to stop it from fraying and sewed it on here~ I am so much more happier now that it's more accurate! ^_^ [It's not 100% accurate - I can't get the seams right... But I'm not going to be picky about the seams LOL]
R.I.P. Riku cosplay. I shall remake you one day.
I've started the top hat as well. Basically cut out a piece of cardboard for the top and the rim. I'd do more but I need red thread >____<;;
Time Taken - 1hr
26th July 2009: 25/07/2009 - Top 80% Getting there! I decided not to do the top ruffles tonight because I am seriously running out of thread [used it all to fill up a bobbin]. So can't do more till I buy more red thread. At least you get to have a close up of what the ruffles look like. I also made the back bit smaller bit you can't tell in this photo.
I usually copy the seams however for this case I had to add in darts because I was using non-stretch material! And yes... the darts are different lengths 8D;; I cannot be bothered to change them lolol.
Time Taken - 1hr
My neck will drop off after all these ruffles...
23rd July 2009: 23/07/2009 - Skirt done, top 60% done This is cosplay is way more time consuming than I thought.
For the skirt I measured the circumference of my hips and multiplied it by three. Then I made BIG pleats, it was fun but a real pain in the neck to add the waist band on. The good thing was that I didn't have to iron them so I was able to double roll the hem~ I used cotton drill for the skirt.
For the belt I used normal black ribbon, a metal circle thing which I cut off from an old pair of jeans that no longer fit and the ruffles is polycotton doubled over so that it's opaque. The ruffles took the most time to do X____X and when I got near the hoop I had to hand sew through goodness knows how many layers of fabric! But it's over thankfully!
For the boob tube it was mainly done through guess work. I made it in a rush so that I could show off the skirt so it's not done yet. I need to add darts at the side so that it's fully fitted and then make the back smaller. The ruffles I will do another night X______X
If I can get better stockings then I will, but if I run out of money then I will live with these I guess. The shoes I'm wearing in the pic are the shoes I will be modifying~ I cannot be bothered to do anymore tonight xD;;
Time Taken - 3hrs
Cost:
3m Red cotton drill - £12
White polycotton - Already had it
2 6" red zips - £2.80
1.5m black ribbon - £1.31 [Need to buy more >_<;]
Must tone up arms, uuuurgh >_<; And get rid of stomach podge! [I'm sucking it in in the photo hurhurhur] I'd say I'd try and get rid of my dancer's legs but I physically can't X_X
21st June 2009: 21/06/2009 - Wig! My wig arrived on Friday! Only just managed to style and try it on. People weren't kidding when they said it was for people with small heads X____x I only -just- managed to squeeze it on! If only I had short hair again, then I could wear whatever wigs I wanted to D8
Those curls were a pain to style, the left one would just not stay in place [i.e. the one I'm holding in one of the photos] - right one is perfect though!
Wig is lovely quality, I love it to pieces! It's so thick too *___* *must.. refrain... from cutting up and styling it into something else...*
Cost - £18 [Got discount >8D Reason why I bought it NOW]
Time Taken - 10-20mins
Time to tone up mah arms and stomach X____x; [Although the angle in these photos magically makes my stomach look alright 8O I won't always be at that angle though X_x;]