Category Archives: Costumes

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor

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Last weekend was London MCM 2017! I went all three days and had a fantastic time. I didn’t cosplay the first day, but I wore my french fry dress and got a surprising amount of complements as well as a photo request! If I am able to track down the photo, I’ll be sure to share it here!
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On the second day of MCM, I dressed as the fourth regeneration of the Doctor from Doctor Who.

Yes, those leaves are actually that size! Photo taken by: Alice the Insane

Most of the outfit is store bought, but I made both the scarf and the skirt. I knitted the scarf in fifty hours over the course of 5 months, starting on the first of January and finishing just last week on the 6th. My research for the scarf design was a combination of this site and meticulous combing through yarn websites. The scarf is a replica of the scarf worn by Tom Baker in the first half of season 12 of Doctor Who. I think I was able to find a very good color match with the yarn. It took a bit longer to make than I thought it would, and I made a few tiny mistakes, but I am very happy with it. I made it using US size 8 knitting needles.

Photo taken by: Alice the Insane

The skirt is actually one I made for my costume course at uni. It’s an Edwardian skirt with center back snaps and hook and eyes. I did a very good job of pattern matching each seam, which is especially evident in the back panel. The synthetic plaid fabric is backed on a black cotton, and every seam is piped with the same black cotton.

From left to right: 1 (Lee), 2, 3 (Lucas Hayes), 4 (me!), 5, 7, 8 (Reuben Roper), 9 (Dominic Murphy), 10 (James Sutton), 11 (Jamie Eve), 12 (Joshua Thunig)

I met many lovely people at the Doctor Who meet up, but unfortunately I didn’t take many pictures. I’m not really sure who took the above photo or who some of the people are in it, so please tell me if you know!

Photo taken by: Alice the Insane

If I end up going to LFCC this year, I’ll be wearing this cosplay on one of the days. I plan on adding a waistcoat and possibly some nice shoes to the costume before then.

 

Dolly from Luxury Comedy

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I’ve been watching a lot of Luxury Comedy recently, so my friend Alice the Insane and I decided to dress as Noel and Dolly.

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I made the dress and cut and styled the wig myself, too. The tights, shoes, and belt I found on Amazon and I already owned all of the jewelry and makeup.

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The dress was a weird thing to make. There’s one sleeve, a weird flap in the front, and shoulder pads. I patterned a shift dress and the sleeve using flat pattern drafting. To make the front flap, I cut out two shift dress fronts and sewed one to the back on both sides and the other on only one side. I then cut the top front (the one sewed in on one side) so that the free side slowly came in until it was about five inches from the side seam. Next, I folded over the side and sewed a hem using my machine. I also hand sewed the edge of the top of that side hem onto the side seam so that the flap would fall where I wanted it to.

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Instead of fully lining the dress, I made a facing to go around the neck and the left armhole.  It’s herringbone stitched in place to make sure it wouldn’t flip up or move around, and I used it to help keep the shoulder pads in place.

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I actually really like the dress and might wear it without the rest of the costume sometime. It’s a little dressy to wear to uni, and the shoulder pads are kind of a weird element, but I think I can find use for it somewhere.

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I think I made the exact same expression in every photo we took.

The makeup is still probably the funkiest part of this outfit. I spent a lot of time trying to get it just right, and I ended up needing some help with my eyebrows from my friend on the day of the con.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween! ?

 

Cosplay at Bournemouth Film and Comic Convention

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I wore two cosplays for Bournemouth Film and Comic Convention (BFCC), and wore the same dress for both characters.

Panty and Stocking Photo Taken by Nicole Cuddihy

Panty and Stocking Photo Taken by Nicole Cuddihy

The first day of BFCC (Saturday) my friend Ruth cosplayed Panty from Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt, and I cosplayed Stocking.

I wore those platform shoes both days of BFCC, and both days the shoes broke. The sole of the shoe tore off of the main shoe part, and I had to glue it back on. I did find out that using liquid super glue would permanently hold the shoes together after trying shoe glue and a different super glue that was more of a gel. I think the glue I used will hold up much better than the original glue on the shoes, and I’ll be wearing the same shoes to MCM in May.

Kylolita, Marsolo, and Bubbleia

Kylolita, Marsolo, and Bubbleia

On Sunday, I wore my ‘Kylolita’ cosplay, a lolita version of Kylo Ren. I’m not sure who took the above photo, Kris is dressed as Marsolo (Marceline/Han Solo) and Nicole is dressed as Bubbleia (Princess Bubblegum/Princess Leia).

Dreams Don't Work Unless You Do

Photo by Ruth Doulgeris/Alice the Insane

I had minor issues with the mask and hood – my neck kept showing and it was difficult for other people to hear me through the mask. I think I can fix the first problem by making a stretchy black tube to put around my neck, but the other problem can really only be fixed by taking off the mask or yelling. You might recognize the hood I’m wearing as the scoodie I made back in March.

Vote Kylo Ren

Photo by Ruth Doulgeris/Alice the Insane

I made the dress using a plain black cotton. It was super simple to make and only took about two days to hand sew the entire thing. The reason the dress was so easy to make is because the entire thing is rectangles and elastic. It took about 11 rectangles in total: two for the skirt, four for the ruffles, one for each sleeve, two for the bodice, and one for the bow on the back of the dress. I sewed elastic in the neckline, the hem of the sleeve, and the waist of the dress.

Dress Hem Detail

I used herringbone stitch for the hem, but did not hem the ruffle, and instead cut it with pinking shears to keep them from fraying. The edges of the neckline and the sleeves are just folded around the elastic and stitched down. I was having some issues with the raw edge of the fabric flipping to the outside of the dress, but I discovered that the edge can just be tucked under the elastic and it will stay in place.

Be sure to like my Facebook page to keep up to date on what I’m making!

Photo by Ruth Doulgeris/Alice the Insane

Photo by Ruth Doulgeris/Alice the Insane

Uchi-Con

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Hello!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve had a lot to work on! I just finished my portfolio for costume design, which can be viewed right here or by clicking on the link labeled ‘portfolio’ at the top of the page. Some of the garments are unblogged, but I hope I can put some information about them up eventually.

In addition to creating this portfolio, I have been preparing for Uchi-Con, which I went to yesterday. According to ravelry, I have spent about two weeks furiously crocheting hats for this convention.

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Our table right before the con opened

I shared a table with the Mangaka club from our school. They took up most of the table and sold buttons, prints, and commissions. I sold the hats that I had made over the past couple weeks, and I worked on crocheting more items while sitting behind the table.

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The view from our table (if you look closely, you can see cosplays of the Gorillaz)

I completed a total of five hats before the convention, and then I completed another hat at the beginning of the convention, making for a total of six hats up for sale. All of the hats were patterns that I free-handed, meaning I didn’t use a pattern and just made to fit my head. Three hats were pokéballs, one had cat ears, one had earflaps and bear ears, and the last one had a brim and a pom-pom at the top.

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Our table was pretty busy, and we often had big groups of people around our table. Many people stopped by to complement my work and to buy buttons.

Before the convention began, I was concerned that I would run out of hats, but in the end, I only sold two hats. The pokéball hats were my most popular item, and I’m thinking about opening an online store to sell these hats as well as other items that I have made.

I had a couple chances to walk around Uchi-Con during the day, and since this convention was kind of small, I was able to stop by every booth (there were about fifteen). I ended up buying a super cute cake charm from Dreaming Wings and a soft pastel barrette from Colour My World Creations. It was really hard to chose!

The Gorillaz

I don’t have a link for these guys, but if anyone knows a website to link this to, please let me know!

Overall, Uchi-Con was really fun and I loved seeing all of the cosplays and the work that the tables had on display. I would definitely suggest going next year!

Halloween Costumes!

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I realize it’s already November, but I’d still like to share the Halloween costumes that I helped some of my friends with!

IMG_4961Here you can see a picture of Genny dressed as Dirk Strider. As you probably remember, I made the skirt that she’s wearing out of a stretch knit, although the applique isn’t visible in this picture. I’m dressed as Jake English, another character from the webcomic Homestuck.

IMG_5009This is my friend Noah, who also dressed as Jake English this Halloween. I screenprinted both of our shirts in two colors, copying the design directly from the character’s t-shirt.

pokemon x any y trainer hatMy friend Laurel wanted to be a Pokemon trainer from x and y, so she asked me to make her this hat. I made the hat based off of a pattern by Pinar Vardar on Ravelry. I had to change the entire base of the hat because I used a very different weight of yarn.

pokemon x and y trainerThank you for reading!

Dirk Strider Cosplay Skirt

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Adelaide in Dirk Skirt (Glasses)
Here we see my sister modeling a skirt I made for my friend Genny’s birthday. It’s a reversible knit skirt with an elastic waistband. It’s based off of the character Dirk Strider from the webcomic Homestuck. I put an applique of Dirk’s glasses on the orange side and and one of his hat on the black side. Genny is planning to cosplay as Dirk later on in the year, and hopefully she’ll allow me to post a picture of her complete costume on my site!

Adelaide in Dirk Skirt (Hat)The applique on this skirt was difficult to attach because the threads wouldn’t catch during the stitching, and I’d take the skirt off the machine to find terrible seams. The issue might have been that I was trying to applique a knit to another knit. However, I was able to fix the applique in time for my friend’s birthday, and I am very pleased with the result!

Alice in Wonderland

Gallery

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This gallery contains 8 photos.

The Alice in Wonderland collection is a collection of garments inspired by the books “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and its sequel, “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” by Lewis Carrol.