Corset Pattern Tutorial!
The full tutorial is under the cut but be warned that it is long. Grab a snack and get ready to learn how to draft some corsets!
a really good tutorial on corset drafting!
Anonymous asked: I'm terribly sorry to bug you, but I really need help... I'm cosplaying Ocarina of Time Princess Zelda from Legend of Zelda... I'm all set on everything except I can't find any pattern even resembling her dress, and don't feel comfortable making my own pattern... if you could link me to something even remotely similar, I'd be very grateful! Thank you for your time!
I’m assuming you mean this outfit:
It is an odd dress - the top looks like qipao but the bottom looks like a Grecian dress. You’ll probably have to combine two patterns. I looked at Halloween patterns, since they’re on sale right now. This would be a good base for the dress (you could remove the sleeves) but obviously the collar is wrong. This is really the closest thing I can find to the right collar, although it will probably take some imagination to combine that jacket pattern onto the dress pattern. You could also try this, although it’s a cassock collar and not a qipao one.
Anonymous asked: what kind of pants pattern should i use for the homestuck maid class outfit? and should i have to alter it? (altering is fine with me. i've done it plenty times.)
To be honest you could probably get away with any fairly loose pattern. You could even use a pajama pants pattern. The maid shirt covers the top of the pants, and the leg wraps cover the bottoms, so all that really matters is that the pants aren’t too tight on your legs. I would recommend cutting them off into capris and putting elastic in the bottom hem, so that there isn’t too much fabric to cover up with the leg wraps.
Anonymous asked: Do you have any advice on cosplaying as God Tier Eridan? I'm having trouble finding anything helpful on making his pants or hood.
The Prince hood looks very similar to a Thief hood. You could modify the back of my Heir hood tutorial to make it. For the pants, you’re going to have to make a pair of very wide shorts (make them several sizes too big) and gather the top and bottom edges until they fit you. Then attach a waistband to the top that actually fits your waist, and attach cuffs to the bottom of the shorts that are fairly tight to your legs (not too tight though - you want to make sure they can still get over your feet). I would recommend making the shorts out of a fairly stiff fabric so they stay poofy.
tortoiseshel asked: What are some good, but not overly expensive, leather substitutes I can use? I've heard about polyurethane pleather, but I wanted a second opinion before I go out and buy anything just yet.
I’m sorry for letting some questions pile up, so a lot of these are probably useless for your particular project, but I’ll try to clean out the inbox anyway.
Pretty much any leather substitute will be a bit pricey, although obviously not as pricey as leather. It really depends on what kind of look you want. Upholstery vinyl may be the only solution if you really want to imitate that leathery look. This isn’t terribly comfortable to wear (although most pleather/vinyl isn’t, since it’s made of plastic and doesn’t breathe well). There are lots and lots of options out there in the broad category of “vinyl or pleather” (which are similar, although not exactly the same), and really the only thing to do it go out and look for the texture that matches the look you want.
spookyscarymikechilton-deactiva asked: I apologise for being unclear! My problem is that the artist portrays "chitinous armour clothes" in a simple style. I'm trying to make Gamzee Makara's outfit from Act 2 of The Serendipity Gospels, and it appears to be casual clothes; however, the author describes it as armour. I've been deliberating over Wonderflex, faux leather, leather, or using a craft foam tutorial. When I referred to the body of the clothing as simple, I meant there isn't an obviously elaborate pattern.
Interesting! I personally would go with what the illustrations look like - which seems to be a t-shirt and loose pants. The armguards could be chitinous - I would make them out of craft foam or Wonderflex. You could perhaps add in some panels of armor on or underneath the shirt, but honestly I would go with what the illustrations tell us rather than a line of description by the author. After all, the illustrations are what everyone else who’s read it has seen!
Anonymous asked: hi! i'm planning on cosplaying as coco from tsuritama, but i'm not sure how to make her neck and skirt pieces. would interfacing work? or is there something else i should use?
Just from still images, I’d say interfacing is not going to give you the stiffness you need to keep those pieces horizontal. I would vote for sewing in a piece of posterboard or light cardboard instead (think cereal boxes). You can carefully sew around the cardboard, or even sew through it to keep it in place.
Anonymous asked: Uh hi! I'm pretty new to cosplaying and i was wondering if you could help me with my Eridan (Wig, pants and gills) and a little with the personality. I saw you at the panel (video) and i must say you make an AMAZING Eridan!
I’ve had a couple of people ask me for how I did my Eridan wig, and I’m not totally sure why because I think it’s fairly terrible - however, I’ll give what tips I can.
It started out as a black wig that was actually styled for Kanaya, so there were a TON of layers in it. I styled it after Alice’s hair from the Twilight movie, so that was about what it looked like in terms of layering. For Eridan, I essentially slicked it all back with hairspray and a blow drier and spiked it up in the back a bit. For the purple part, I cut a piece off an old wig and sewed it underneath the Eridan wig, so that when the hair was slicked back you couldn’t see the edge. I cut small holes in the wig cap for horns to go through. It has several bobby pins in various places to keep it slicked back.
For the pants, I basically just made a pair of jeans in terms of style. However, what I did for the stripes is take two colors of corduroy and rip them into about three inch wide strips. I then sewed them into one big piece of striped fabric and treated this as my fabric when cutting out my pattern and sewing the pants.
I haven’t seen any other Eridan cosplayers do this, and it would certainly be less time-consuming to paint stripes on. If you choose to paint stripes, be sure to use tape to get perfectly straight, crisp lines.
I…don’t really deal with gills. At one time I had small “fins” to wear over my ears that looked really great, but I’m not sure where I bought them (link, anyone who knows what I mean?) and I lost one of them soon after wearing them for the first time. I’m kind of shocked that nobody has bitched at me for this, but apparently nobody really cares?? We just don’t know.
In terms of personality…Okay, so for panels I’ve found that you get a much better reaction if you give the people what they want. I tend to play up the “fanon” interpretation of Eridan - i.e., a huge whiny douchebag who loathes landwellers and really really wants a date. That’s not REALLY what he’s like in canon (although it is if you paint him with broad strokes, which is what fanon tends to do), but when you’re doing a panel and you’ve got at most 30 seconds to answer a question, go for the broad humor over subtle character. Whine a lot about how nobody likes you, sneer at the audience and your fellow panel members, sulk if anybody insults you, take any opportunity to insult Sollux in particular, plead with Feferi to be your friend again, and beg Karkat for relationship advice.
On patterns.
It seems like recently we’ve gotten quite a few questions regarding finding patterns for making things. Patterns are very helpful for the beginning sewer, because not only do they provide a ready-made pattern for you to make, often with multiple sizes, but they give you step-by-step instructions for making the item. M-sewing and Burda have a large selection of free patterns (Burda also has a lot of patterns for sale, and they tend to be a little more stylish than other brands). McCalls is the main clothing pattern company. They have several lines, including Kwik-Sew (easy patterns for beginners) and Vogue (classier patterns with a lot of coats and the like). You can buy patterns online or in fabric stores. You can often find vintage, out of print patterns on ebay or Amazon.
However, don’t feel restrained by the pattern! Patterns are made for people who are perfect proportions and perfectly average height, and nobody really fits that mold. Do a test run for any pattern to know what you need to alter for a better fit.
I personally make almost all my own patterns, although I started out sewing exclusively from patterns. This is because 1) patterns are way expensive and 2) most cosplay items require altering a pattern anyway, and a lot of cosplay items I’ve made would be virtually impossible to find a pattern for. If you want to learn to draft your own patterns, this is an awesome youtube series that introduces you to patternmaking. Buying or making a dressform will also allow you to drape some items, which is immensely helpful for patternmaking. Finally, you can buy cheap clothing and tear it apart to “steal” the pattern - if you need just a set-in sleeve or a collar, this is much cheaper than buying a whole pattern!
Anonymous asked: Do you know where to buy Denmark's black coat from Hetalia? Or a tutorial on how to make trenchcoats?
I honestly don’t know what kind of place would sell you a coat like that, it’s pretty distinctive. You could try a site that sells cosplays, but you’ll more than likely have to buy the whole costume.
If you find a pattern that you can use for his coat (with some alteration) the pattern will come with instructions. Again, like the last question, search pattern websites. Searching for free patterns online is also good, but then you have to print the pattern yourself and the patterns are often not as good (you get what you pay for).
I’m assuming this is coat you’re looking for:
The most distinctive features, to me, are
- double breasted (this is the most important thing to match to the pattern)
- very long (fairly easy to alter)
- turned back cuffs (fairly easy to add to a pattern)
- very shallow angle of notch on the lapel (very difficult to alter - try to match the lapel to the pattern, if you care that much)
