26 posts tagged “cosplay”

Wow! It's been entirely TOO LONG since I updated. I'm going to officially kick this back into gear! To start, here is a brief photo update (to be followed by an actual post).

Anime Expo 2008 was by far the most fun that I have had at a convention since 2003. I decided to go it alone that year figuring I would run into someone eventually, which was apparently the right decision. Fluffy was there working as Merch Manager and I was able to crash with him and hang out for a bit (although not as much as I would have liked, but oh wells... he was busy). I ended up running into some old friends from Sacramento that I hadn't seen in ages. I also had the chance to meet up with some new friends that I had previously only known online.

I entered the karaoke contest this year, but was *totally* unprepared. I ended up having no time to memorize lyrics so tried speed memorizing them and surprised myself by remembering more of Love Hina than Noir, but I digress. For the preliminary round I sang "Broken My Heart" from DDR dressed as Alice. For the semifinals I sang "Copellia No Hitsugi" from Noir dressed as Mirielle Bouquet. This song I ended up faking 1/2 the lyrics cause I went completely RETARDED on stage, but apparently it was enough to advance me to finals where I sang "Sakura Saku" from Love Hina dressed in an original design. I was shocked that I nailed all of these lyrics considering that I didn't know them much at all 24 hours prior. Aaaaaaaaaand (drum roll please) I placed 4th and took home about 5 DVDs, a CD, shirt, hat, and some Naruto figurines that I gave to the 1st well dressed Narutard that I saw. XD

LACC was probably the best venue for AX. I *know* that all of the Anaheim Nostalgia Junkies will be stomping their feet at this, but it's true. There was no need to travel to multiple buildings for different events as LACC is large enough to accommodate ALL AX activities. The after con entertainment around that area is fantastic seeing as it is Downtown LA not to mention the great selection of places to eat. Since the hotels were a bit of a walk they provided a shuttle service to the surrounding hotels all weekend. All in all I rate the LACC as a 9. My only gripe is the seeming unavailability of shooting locations. Ho hum. Maybe I didn't look hard enough. But OMFG *so* many good cosplayers this year. I was blown away by the overall quality of the cosplayers this year. Well done everyone!

The San Diego Comic Con is in a few days and I cannot wait to go! It will be a record breaking year for TGG attendees as well as the epic debut of season 2 of GGTV. This is my 1st year at Comic Con where I will be free to run amok and I have the best people to do it with. Each day will feature a different costume. My cosplay line up looks a bit like this:

• Thursday: Cammy White (Delta Red Version) - Street Fighter
• Friday: Faye Valentine - Cowboy Bebop
• Saturday: Cammy White (Alpha Version) - Street Fighter
• Sunday: Mirielle Bouquet - Noir

Thursday is going to be a pretty big day for me. From 3pm-7pm I will be with G4TV and starting at 9pm is a party with G4 and The Wonder Women of America, whose cosplay book is being released this year. My friend, Ivy, and I are in it so I can't wait to check it out! We got to invite one guest and I chose Heather, who will be making her cosplay debut as Kirika of Noir. Woo hoo!

My one major disappointment is not being able to finish my Tandem Twin catgirl in time, which means I will not be cosplaying with Annisse. T_T Oh well. Maybe next year. I also had to push back my Emma Frost, but next year it is happening for real!

ANYONE GOING TO COMIC CON FEEL FREE TO HIT ME UP SO WE CAN HANGOUT. :)

Remaining Tasks
 

• kimono (50%)
• obi
  
• accessories (10%)
• contacts (100%)
• wig
• mask
• plugs
• socks
• shoes

I started this costume sort of on a whim. I had finished as much as I could on Quistis for the time being and still wanted to sew. I had been meaning to do this cosplay and always envisioned waring it for some sor of New Year's thing cause it is her Festival Kimono so I chose to wear it for Anime LA in the first week of January. I went to see what fabric I had and shock & elation (!) I had *all* the fabric I needed. I will finish this costume without spending over $50.

First thing is first! The muslin mock up was completed and marked and assembled and the adjustments were thusly made. The length was the first thing to be adjusted; the kimono fell a bit below the knee, but that was easily changed. After the length was determined, I cut out the fabric and lining (if you look in the sleeves you see a red lining). The lining took a bit of time for the amount of fabric I was working with and the fact that I wanted my raw edges to be completely concealed.

First I stitched the lining to the outer layer with the right sides facing together all the way around save for a good 2"-3"  to turn it right side out. Iron flat your seams and secure with a top stitch for a cleaner look. This is the point where you sew closed the opening that you had left; make sure the raw edges are inside the garment. The main three pieces of the kimono took a little bit of time, but nothing too long. These were then sewn together and the sleeves were then begun.

The design on the sleeves and the red band at the top I decided to do in vinyl to keep to the plugsuit sort of feel. It also makes a nice contrast to the kimono fabric. First time around I measured out the  fabric and forgot to add the seam allowance so they turned out a 1/2 size too small so these will need to be redone. Boo. I left those and moved on to the neck band with was a simple rectangle of ed vinyl "ditch stitched" into the top stitching of the kimono so it looks like it is peeking out from a 2nd layer underneath. Since the sleeves are the only thing left for the kimono I will be finishing these up and then starting on the obi and accessories. 

After drafting my muslin mock up and assuring a well fit, I got to making the skirt first. I figured I'd get the very basics done first. It was a very simple procedure that I will not be covering in full detail as I believe I have done over simple skirt construction once before in these archives. At an rate, cut the fabric, added the zipper, pr-pressed the hemlines and am awaiting final assembly of stitching secure the hems and attaching it together at the side seams until I do the embroidery. My thoughts are that about 1/2" embroidered striped will look far more professional than using a fabric marker or doing the lines with a straight stitch on my machine. Both other ways are suitable alternatives, but a friend of mine has an embroidery machine that I would very much like to get my hands on for this. :)

The shirt took a bit of altering at about the shoulder points after the final fabric had been cut. I marked it with a water soluble pen, made my cuts and re hemmed it. This time it came out very well. Next I cut strips for my seam lining around the armholes and outer shape of the garment. These are to be added later as I cannot entirely assemble the garment until after the embroidery has taken place. Hopefully I will be able to do that sometime this weekend. However, the are ready on stand-by. I have a temporary zipper in place, but it is too log by a good 8" or so. Bleh. I plan on picking up a 10"-12" reversible black zipper at the fashion district soon. I also ended up redoing the collar. I made it thinner and taller to differentiate it from the Mandarin Collar look that it had going for it. It was very successful in the end and I am pleased with the outcome.

Since there was nothing left to do with the bulk of the costume, I worked on gathering the accessories and found that I already was in possession of most of the items I needed for this. Awesome! All that is left on his from are the hip chains (a cinch to get) and her whip (which will be super easy to make after a trip to Home Depot). I next focused on making the sleeves with fabric I found that fit perfectly. I am very glad I have a collection of such extras now for such on occasion. Anyways I started out making maroon pleather sleeves because I dug the weight and look. The fabric was initially for a Kula Diamond cosplay that I have since abandoned. I later found a canvas type of fabric which I thought would be better suited so I scrapped the first set and made the new set with no trouble. My suspicions were right; the new sleeves came out looking much better. They moved better, had less shine, and just *fit* over all. I will be attaching them to the shirt with a hidden hook-eye clasp under the shirt so the sleeves will be removable and I can thusly incorporate them into my day to day attire as I see fit. :D

That's pretty much it for Quistis right now. She is looking fabulous thus far and I'm sure I will be even more pleased after embroidering it all and piecing the last of it together. Gleeee. Cannot wait for Heather to be my Rinoa!

I'll be getting better pics at a later date. For now all I have are some snapshots from a party. Anyways, Halloween is long since past and the secret has yet to be revealed! So here it is, from Metalocalypse, Dr.Rock the rock & roll klown and a dethklown dancer.

/elation

My boyfriend is a breakup artist for Metalocalypse so I had been watching a lot of it as of late. While I love all the characters, Dr.Rockso never fails to leave me in a fit of giggles. The first time I saw him and heard him speak I felt a massive grin spreading on my face. I knew immediately that I wanted to make my friend, Phil, a Dr.Rockso costume at some point because he was just to perfect for the roll.

Here she is! Sadly, the karaoke event that I was supposed to be competing in was a bust because a friend of mine hijacked my CD with all of my tracks on it and didn't pick up his phone (apparently he was *sleeping* instead of working his volunteer post at the con). So that fell through, which made me fairly steamed (to say the least), but at least I made myself a spiffy Noir cosplay so the whole experience wasn't a complete waste. I had been meaning to cosplay as Mireille for a while now; besides, there is always next year...