Quick and easy bow

Bonjourno!

I made a tutorial on how to do a quick and easy bow

with one length of fabric (instead of cutting & sewing bits together)

If you get it right it looks damn good but it took me several attempts to get it right

myself  =__=

I'll be using this bow for my white magnet rin cosplay! 

I hope it's ok and not too confusing! Enjoy anyway.

Cosplay tips: Beginner's sewing

For my next convention I will be sewing my own cosplay for the very first time. Being in LwL I have been fortunate enough to have Bal sew our costumes but it is no longer fair to do this so we are all sewing are own cosplays now. I have just started to sew mine and will be picking up my pattern, material & interfacing up on monday to start sewing :S I wanted to share with you any tips I've found useful so far for you beginner sewers!!

1.) The cosplay

Choosing your cosplay is a key part. You will want to choose something simple. I would not reccommend going all out (assuming you've never sewed before) and thinking you can handle it because most likely you won't be able to! I know this from experience! You'll need to first asses how easy the piece will be to make. Even easy looking cosplays may be hard to actually sew (what seems a simple skirt may be extremely complicated and require different sewing techniques). Trial and error is important. I originally wanted to do Senbonzakura Miku, but upon adding up how much it would cost I realised that it would extremely expensive despite it's simpler look. If you have someone to help you then go ahead and ask them if they think a certain cosplay will be easy to make. If you like elaborate costumes then maybe choose something with easy sewing but an impressive prop which would be easy although a little time consuming to make.

2.) Choosing a pattern

Don't run away the second you look at your pattern. It may have lines and jargon printed all over it but you can look these up, ask for help or figure it out yourself. You may not even need to use all the funny lines etc printed on your pattern. Before you choose your pattern try and think mentally if the picture looks like it has lots of componants that need sewing together and if the shape is quite complex as this will help you pick a simpler, easiser pattern. When choosing a pattern as well you may look in a pattern book in a shop. If doing this try and overlook the original purpose, colour or print of the pattern and imagine the basic outline. Is this the right shape? Will this work? For example; what was originally a granny-style suit turned into Bal's Seras dress! See here!

You can easily use a pattern just based on it's shape, not it's purpose/colour etc

3.) The buisiness of sewing

So you've got your pattern, material thread and any other things you need. Now it's time to sew it all together! STOP! Firstly, you need to get used to your own sewing machine (unless you plan to sew the whole thing by hand...). I took my sewing machine apart and couldn't get it back together for a whole hour. I had to find the pdf of the manual to my outdated sewing machine online after much finding. However I did learn how to change the base thread at the same time and in the end I worked out how to put it together myself as the manual was no use. You'll need to learn how to thread the bottom and top thread and try experimenting with the different types of stitch your machine is capable off. If you are a beginner then a steady pace will help you keep a good sewing line to avoid the threads getting tangled or worse: OIL ON YOUR THREAD D: I was sewing something white just today and I'm glad I did a quick practice on some scrap fabric as because I wasn't good at sewing (so kept jamming the threads etc.) there was oil on my white thread. Not good if you are sewing light or even white fabric.

I'd also recommend practicing hemming etc. on some scrap fabric. It takes a while to get used to your machine and to learn to sew in the line that you want! Remember as well that depending on your fabric you may need a different needle in your machine (special ones for thicker fabrics) and if the fabric is a different colour then don't forget to change both top and bottom threads. Unless you're going for multi-coloured because one colour is too mainstream. Books as well can be usefull (no, not for beating the crap out of the sewing machine in a moment of desparation). Books on sewing can be very informative on clearing up any jargon and showing you techniques and tips that you'll find usefull. I picked up a bit of an outdated sewing book from the library. It was free and it had pictures and plenty of information. So just go on down to your library and take a look!

Also if you wish to sew a pattern then do not just make it shorter. This may make it fall in the wrong way. You can google this but on your pattern there should be a special like that you fold along and this is the line to make it shorter! Also pay close attention to your pattern, it'll come with instructions on how to sew it. Read it over and over until you can map out in your head what you're going to do which'll stop you making silly mistakes. And google anything you don't understand :) 

4.) Tools

This is simple. You'll need pins and scissors of course. But other things might come in handy such as glue, tweesers, a lighter and tape. You might be able to burn any hems (but omg be careful don't set fire to your cosplay or anything else!) if you're too lazy or you messed up and forgot to hem a bit or if you forgot to hem something too you could try dabbing glue on the edges so it doesn't start fraying (this won't be noticable on small pieces like accessories or gloves). You never know what you will need so expect the unexpected (I had to use tape to tape some cardboard back onto the machine which kept the thread tension right).

5.) Time

It's a lot more time consuming than you think, especially if you are a super beginner like me! It took me half an hour just to sew a hair bow. So make sure you leave plenty of time if you're wearing your cosplay to a convention as you never know when you'll have lots of homework/work/problems/exams to deal with.

This is all I can think of so far, so I'll more with you when I come across them!

Past cosplay

I haven't really covered much of our other cosplays on this blog. So I thought I'd do a short post with some of the previous stuff we've done!! This post will be good as well because our last cosplay will be the last cosplay that Lucy herself has sewn as we are all flying the nest and learning to sew for ourselves now! I'll post our previous cosplays in the order we cosplayed them.

Air Gear - 2009

 Our first cosplay was air gear. Donnie wasn't with us then!! Lucy, Chaz and I were all 13-14 and Harrie must've been 15-16. This was our first ever cosplay, Lucy made it of course. I think Simca is still my favourite cosplay because I get pink hair and a sailor collar!!

Naruto Anbu - 2009

Our second cosplay. Anbu was fun but it was quite chilly for Oct!! This time Donnie joined us and LwL became 5. We took these pictures at Bowood, which will also be a usefull place to shoot when we do LOTR in Oct xD. It has bamboo and a water fountain but also perfect english countryside trees & house. This cospay was certainly the most expensive for wigs. And the most pain in the a$$ for wigs too. Poor Harrie had to deal with her wig spontaneously blowing off in front of every one. Chaz's wig was super spikey so had to have hairbands tied round each spike! We've gotten good use out of the Sai wig though! 

Usavich - 2010

 This year Charley and Harrie couldn't go to MCM Expo so it was just me, Lucy and Donnie. We decided to do Usavich as we were into it at the time. I will always love this cosplay because of the fact that it is Usavich and it's frickin awesome!! 

Hellsing 2010

Hellsing was a big step for us. The Alucard coat and Seras' dress were certainly good sewing practice for Bal! This one was great and everyone looked awesome. We did the shoot at Bowood but Chaz who was cosplaying Young Walter was not available so I only have a few pics of her saved on my laptop! But she was a very sexy young walter I can assure you! 

Highschool of the Dead - 2011

 This was was pretty awesome. I got to be a boy and wear TRAINERS!! It looked great too with the colourful wigs and school uniforms. We haven't done a photoshoot for this one suprisingly, we need to find a place ruined/scabby/derelicht enough for us to shoot! I definately love this one though.

The Last Unicorn 2011

This one was done because it HAD to be done. We all either loved or get seriously weirded out by The Last Unicorn so we thought we should do it! Harrie made a very nice Bishie Prince and I went around as a sorta lolita red bull (even though the red bull is meant to be all angry and fierce xD). The red bull cosplay was hard because we had to think it up. I was originally gonna wear a sorta playsuit but the pattern was for stretchy fabric so that was no good. We had to comprimise at the last minute and buy a dress pattern to use for the amount of fabric we had. I loved Donnie's dress, as she got to be the Lady Almalfia.

So these are all the past cosplays we've done! We did Hakuouki in May but I've posted our pics from that :) You can see our progress along the years. It's weird but it doesn't feel like it's been that long. I am looking forward to trying to make my own cosplay now. I'll be doing White Vocaloid (Rin) and Donnie will be my Len. I'm going to try make the headphones light up but I'm searching for a LED small enough to fit in it! Lucy and Charley are doing Wanda and Cosmo from fairly odd parents and Harrie will be doing Johan from yu-gi-oh GX. On saturday-Sun we will be doing a group though. We'll be doing LOTR which will be SO MUCH FUN! I'm very excited so stay tuned for more then.

 

Hakuouki photoshoot!

So we finally did a photoshoot for Hakuouki!! We did it in this really beautiful Chinese garden outside of Westbury. The garden is only open 3 days a year but we contacted the lady who does private openings and she let us come for the day and we had the whole garden to ourselves. I met Bal and Donnie at the train station and then Donnie drove us to Westbury station to pick up Chaz and Harrie. With Chaz, Harrie and I crammed into the back we drove down a narrow, twisty country rode and Donnie drove pass the entrance twice!! Netherless, we arrived at the garden in good time.

Despite the fact the garden was Chinese and not Japanese it still gave the same theme that we needed and ir was the perfect location! So, onto the photos!!

So Bal made our cosplays once again, but Chaz & Harrie along with their mum made the blue coats. Unfortunately as Chizuru I did not get a dashing blue coat!

Chaz as Hijikata & Bal as Okita

Me (Imo) as Chizuru and Harrie as Saito

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donnie as Heisuke!

We had a great day. The people there were really nice and interested in what we were doing. It rained on and off but there was sun too so we snapped a lot. We also for the first time got a larger majority of serious shots than crack shots so we have plenty to use xD We had tea and biscuits before we left at the couple's house which was nice :3 We also got to see their lovely piglets. At 15 weeks old(!) they were HUGE. They were a lovely ginger with black spots. As well as this we saw their chickens too. We left in the early evening around 6 after an accomplished day!
Here are some group shots!!

The Shinsengumi

All of us!!

We got loads of pictures, you can find more around on our Tumblr: http://lunaticswithlemonade.tumblr.com
and our dA:  http://lunaticswithlemonade.deviantart.com/

Convention tips: Hot weather

I decided to do this post with all the hot weather we've been having here in the UK recently. I was reminded the other day of how hot MCM expo had been this May just gone and I wanted to share a few tips on how to survive in hot weather in cosplay or at a convention.

1. Makeup

Oh my god. This was my worse nightmare. I was walking around with my face sweating and it was horrible.

It wasn't until the second day that I discovered my saviour: Powder! I'm not one to use powder as it feels cakey to me. With powder you might want to apply it after your makeup and/or carry it around with you. I found it was great padded onto shiny patches as they were instantly mattified and I appeared less wilted and my shine was gone! You can pick powder up cheap (£5 or less) at a beauty shop and it last for a while. You don't really need an expensive one if you just wanted to remove spots of shine i.e. T-zone or chin. Experiement with them as well. I was lucky in that the powder I was using did not clog my pores. No matter how many layers I slapped on it didn't get cakey or cause irritation or acne. I just used Rimmel Stay Matte which worked a wonder. There are also blotting sheets you can use to blot excess oil off of skin.

As well as powder I would also recommend waterproof eyeliner. Unless you need to create a smoky look, stay away from Kohl. Even 'waterproof' Kohl will smudge in hot weather and you're better off using gel, liquid or felt tip.

Another way I have heard to ensure makeup stays is to apply hairspray over your face. This doesn't sound very safe though so I'd recommend picking up a proper makeup finishing spray.
If you are going out in the sun it would be a good idea to apply sun protection. Use one that protects against UVA and UVB. Face creams/bb cremes/foundations etc. that have 'spf' in them do not count as valid sun protection. They won't last as long as normal suncreams and there's no saying how much of them you actually have to apply and wether or not they protect against UVB as well. It's easy to take some non-greasy face sun cream and apply it, you might decided to use it like a moisturiser too.

2. Staying cool

Not as easy as it sounds. In a crowded convention venue it can be hard to stay cool amongst the bustling crowds of people. When we arrived at the convention my friends and I were quick to scout out the coolest places where we could go and rest once it got too hot. We also only visited the really busy crowded places for short times and drank plenty. Tiled places low down will be the coolest and if there is a nice breeze then you can just step outside. Let's not forget fans either. They sell them at the convention we usually attend and we usually end up picking one up by the end. These are good for keeping yourself cool whilst you walk around the crowded places (hand fans not massive motor ones).

We thought we had considered what we were wearing. It was suitable for cold or warm weather. But not hot. You can't really plan that far in advance but the most you can do is know that if it's in summer than you will want to cosplay something with minimal layers. It's also warmer inside due to the amounts of people, so make sure if you have a heavy/thick/furred/layered costume to keep cool and drink plenty of fluids.

Let's not forget your place of stay. You might wanna check it has more than one window, or a window which opens wider than a tiny fraction. You'll want to get as much sleep as possible to cope with trekking around the next day in the heat.

3. Staying fresh

It is hard after a long day to stay looking and smelling fresh. Make sure you apply plenty of deodorant, but during the day if you do feel you smell either spray some deodorant outside or if you're inside then use some nice body mist so as not to suffocate everyone around you. Or you could just pop to the loo and put on some roll on. As well as this, if you find you sweat then you might want to wear a vest top to absorb any sweat so it doesn't come off onto your cosplay.

Well I hope I covered most of the points. These are the important ones which I can remember, so hopefully they'll help you out too!

MCM Expo May 2012

So we all went off to MCM expo this May in London.

It was fun as always. Met up with all our great friends and this time we also entered the masquerade, which was something new and exciting. We'll definately do it again in the future!
 However, we'd been praying the month-long-rain would stop

and obviously we weren't careful what we wished for, and yes the rain did stop

but it was also BOILING!

Especially in the centre of London it was VERY hot. It didn't help that

we had many layers on. xD So unfortunately we didn't get to go outside much, so most

of the pictures of us are indoors. 

But yes, here's a pic of the finished cosplays! Lucy (far left) made them all by herself, and Harrie and Charley + their mum helped to sew the blue coats. Kudos to them. The rest

of us maybe sewed one white belt or something as we're still learning to sew XD

But yes, it was definately fun doing Hakuouki, although it took me (Middle of the pic) ages to get my hakama on and off. It took us all a while to get ready in the morning, surprisingly though less than it did for our hellsing cosplay. We are going to do a shoot for Hakuouki hopefully in the summer, especially as we have found a nice

privately owned Japanese Garden which the owner will kindly let us use. So that'll be good. Stayed tuned for more pics on our tumblr: 

http://lunaticswithlemonade.tumblr.com/

Cosplay coming up!

It's May at the moment, and around 20 days until our group hurries up to London for MCM Expo.

We're all so excited, and I wanted to show you what we're cosplaying this May!

Hakuouki!!!

Balbal:Okita Souji Harrie:Saitou Hajime Chaz:Hijikata Toshizo Donnie:Heiskue Todo Me:Chizuru

I am so excited, it's very different to what we've done so far, and I think als

o is another big step we've taken in the quality of our cosplays. We're also getting better at sewing and so hopefully soon we'll take the load off the main sewer (balbal) who basically makes ALL the costumes! She's a fairy though. We've all been ordering our swords and painting and lacing the handles. Who knew a piece of wood could be so expensive though!? They're like £18 per piece. It's very hard

to find cosplay props, so they tend to be expensive :/

I'm looking foward to my wig, although I am jealous of Chazza's as she has a massive ponytail, much longer than Chizuru's so no, I won't be the prettiest pony :(

Here's the progress so far. The top half

And the blue coats which look a bit like gospel/choir singer's coats! xD

 So yes, look out for pics!! Also you can find our Tumblr (which is a little more active than this blog)

here: http://lunaticswithlemonade.tumblr.com