6th November 2011: The earring I'm very late on writing this! Very sorry!

I started off with the circular part as I thought it was the center peice of it. I cut out a circular peice of foam that I thought was the right size and then looked VERY carefully at the reference artwork. I could make out that the large pattern in the artwork was also the pattern on the circular part of the earring. So... me being me and wanting to be accurate, I printed it out (to the right size that my peice of foam is) and engraved it into the foam with a PIN oTL Once I had done that, I painted it red and then painted the gold pattern on, again, with a PIN. oTL

The rest was pretty simple. I got my red satin string, added the 3 beads, then made the bow (used glue to make sure it wouldn't come un-done) and the tassel (again, used glue to make sure it didn't come apart). Street-Angel kindly sent me some spare clip-on earring bases (THANK YOU <3) which I painted red then attached to the string. DONE!

17th October 2011: Trousers finished The trousers are done! Hurray!

I used the same pair of picked apart trousers, as a pattern, that I had used for my Nihon!Syaoran cosplay. But unlike last time, this time I made sure I had PLENTY of sem line/fabric to work with XD

I've made them "flowy" much like the rest of the cosplay and they are fully lined, because the polycotton is so thin!

Although I did mave one little problem that didn't become apparant untill after I had made them... they are longer than the main jacket. Yes, I could shorten them, but I can't because then you can see alot of the shoes (and my socks) and the whole thing looks silly. Although people have told me that it doesn't look bad as it is so... I'll just leave it alone ^^; Although I really should have thought of that earlier >_<

And since the trousers are finished, I was able to complete the under-top. So now all of the sewing is finished! HURRAH!!!

Now all that is left is the earring~

10th October 2011: Update: Trousers and earring Right. So the trousers are in progress. The base and lining are all sewn and ironed (for the only reason that it's easier to put them together that way!). And I've just sewn the zip in, so now I need to make the waist band.

I've tried to make the trousers "flowy" like the rest of the costume, I just hope I've succeeded in doing so and not made them too "baggy". I will find out when I them them to the right length!

As for the earring; I've made the circular part out of foam so that it remains light-weight. I then engraved the details onto it (with a pin!), painted it all red then painted the details gold (also with a pin!) 8D I have all the other components for the earring ready for when I actually get to putting it altogether.

1st October 2011: About 70% complete Okay, so this is what is done so far. What is left to do...?

1. Make the trousers
2. Finialise the length of the under-top once the trousers are done
3. Make the earring
4. Decide what to do about the shoes I've brought

Yes, about the shoes... I brought traditional chinese shoes (they're also known as "kung-fu" shoes I think) but I dont like the huge white sole on them =/ I'm considering making them black, but I will wait untill I have made the trousers first and see how it looks altogether.

...I hate shoes >_<

1st October 2011: The collar Oh dear, how I hate collars. Made in my usual way and still not getting it right

*head desk*

It'll have to do >_>

17th September 2011: Under-top sleeves I actually made these some time ago, but never sewed them properly untill now because I didn't have the lining for it.

I hope the sleeves are "dangly" enough XD I don't want to make them TOO long because I don't want too much of my arms showing and... they'll probably get dirty from food I may be eating on the day 8D So I'll probably leave them at that length. It looks about right according to the reference anyway.

17th September 2011: Bias binding complete! Never again. It took me about 2 weeks to do all the edges! oTL

I've yet to do the other side of the poppers/fastenings. I will do it when I can be bothered to put my binder on ^^;

31st August 2011: Since I haven't got anything new to show... ...I thought I'd show you what it looked like on the inside!

I go through a certain process when sewing all this down by hand and no sticthing showing. I first sew down exposed black sections (that haven't got any bias binding on them) right along the very edge so that the overlapping gold bias covers it up. There are 2 sections I need to do this on that you can see in the picture (the parts with the black thread). I also secure the ends of any bias that are going to disappear under other sections of bias.

I then begin the process of sewing all of the gold bias down, which I simply sew through all the layers apart from the top one.

But me being me, I inist that even my hand sewing is as neat as possible, so excuse me while I go shoot myself oTL


Bias binding 70% complete

26th August 2011: Bias binding progress... STILL! NEVER allow me to hand sew this amount of bias binding EVER. AGAIN. Okay?! DX

The picture shows the progress of both the top and bottom swirls and as you can see, many, MANY pins are used. Good job I brought more or I never would have had enough =/

Apart from this picture, I have also now sewn the bias down the inside edge and have begun to do the bias that goes around the neck. So I estimate that I've sewn about... 60% of the bias binding?

oTL

18th August 2011: Change of design I decided to change the design on the cosplay. Well, maybe "change" is the wrong word >_> I'm adding a swirl in (mirroring the top one) at the bottom and since you can't see what it looks like at the bottom anyway, I think this is acceptable 8D

I just thought that Watanuki had a rather plain design compared to the others and needed something else on his costume ^^;

This will mean more work for me though in terms of hand sewing DX

9th August 2011: Arm detailing Or, as I've been calling it so far: arm "thingy" 8D Such technical terms~

I started out by putting the bias binding onto the black section (which wasn't easy when it came to those swirly bits, I can tell you) before attaching it to the sleeve. Once I'd sewn most of it down (I'd left some sections un-sewn so that it could fold around the sleeve base) I cut the sleeve base to the right shape. Millions of pins were then used to attach the arm thingy in exactly the right place 8D The bias binding I hadn't already sewn down, I sewed down first followed by making sure every part of the arm thingy was secure and wasn't going to fly off!

ALL of this was hand sewn D8 And hand sewn in such a way that no stitching shows on the outside. It nearly killed me and I still have another sleeve and all of the other black parts to go oTL

25th July 2011: Bias binding I've spent so much time on this and its killed my back several times D:

So, I am making bias binding the "proper" way with the gold satin, but it was made very difficult that this satin was particularly stretchy (is satin generally stretchy? I've not used it before now. I thought maybe it was because I'd brought really cheap satin) and not cut straight. Still, I have struggled through these issues and cut out all of the strips with my new scissors(!) and sewn most of them together.

It is now a big pile of... satin XD I will start ironing it into shape next!

14th July 2011: A little update Been awhile since I've updated!

I have been working on the cosplay but I don't really have anything new to show for it ^^; I've gotten all of the black parts to a size that looks good to me, but in the end I couldn't find a nice gold bias binding. So I'm going to make it from gold satin! A new thing for me XD I brought a bias binding maker thing from ebay to help and some metallic needles and metallic gold thread to match the satin. I'll begin making it on Monday!

As for the under top and trousers I brought lilac polycotton from Fabricland (It's IMPOSSIBLE to get lilac in cotton and at a sensible price) which is a really nice colour :) But since it is polycotton, it is terribly thin D: And so I will be lining it, another new for me XD I've cut out all of the peices for the under top and found that I hadn't brought enough fabric! I don't have enough left for the trousers! Oops! oTL

1st July 2011: In a change of plan... ...I've now decided to have 2 splits (both at the sides, obviously) because I've seen a video on youtube of this same cosplay and I think it's a much more sensible idea XD It allows me to move much more freely and I think it gives the cosplay a more... elegant feel? XD At least I think that's the word I wanna use >_>

I've also made the base sleeve and made slight alterations to my original paper pattern I was going to use for the black/gold detailing! It's now much more symmetrical *nod nod* Now if only I could find some gold bias binding that isn't a horrible brown colour... DX

24th June 2011: Starting off with the jacket I've had alot of time this week to work on this since my mum was on holiday and I was home alone XD

Since this jacket (I'm not even sure I want to call it that, but what else do I call it??) is similar to the 3D Land one, I've tried to learn from my mistakes I made on it. So I have done my best to make this jacket more fitted (and I'm using 2 darts on the back instead of 1), not have HUGE arm holes and I will actually have the shoulder of the sleeves ON my shoulder oTL So far it's been going well! Since I can't see how far down it goes from the only reference, I've decided to make it really long, down to my ankles! 8D

I also love the split on the side XD Such a man Watanuki :'D