Fox Embroidered Beret

My first project for my millinery class--the project outline gave us a choice of a number of styles of sewn hats. I chose to do a side sloped beret. And since decorating was required and beret tops have such a nice flat surface area I decided to turn this into an embroidery project.

I patterned the hat from scratch. And mocked it up to ensure I liked the style and fit. Then I sketched out my design for the top. Once I was satisfied with that, I moved on to the real hat.

I first cut out all my pieces. I picked a beautiful green wool for the fashion fabric and the lining is leftover silk from my Steampunk Corset.

Then I embroidered the top. I had to finish my embroidery completely before moving on, so that the back of the embroidery stitching could be protected by the lining and interfacing layers. That is the part that obviously took the longest.

I sewed the center back seam on my sidebands--lining and fashion layer.

I constructed the hat in the "pancake" method. The tip (top) of the hat has 3 layers: the outer layer, horse hair canvas interfacing, and the silk lining. I basted the 3 layers together.

Next I made some piping trim. This was stitched onto the top layer, piping to the inside, and seam allowance to the outside of the stitch line.

Then I basted on my outer layer of the side band. This was basted to the top, on top of the piping trim, following the same stitch line. Then I flipped it over and sewed the lining sideband to the bottom side, through all the layers.

The next step was to properly grade and notch my seam allowances to cut down on the bulk. Then I flipped the outside sideband over to the bottom. I carefully pressed it--without crushing the piping trim. Now the top of the hat was completely constructed and lined, and I could move on to the final part--the headband.

I basted my sideband layers together along the bottom seam allowance. Then I sewed one edge of the headband to the outside. I graded and notched my seam allowances before ironing and folding over the headband to the inside. This was pinned and then carefully slip-stitched in place by hand.

Presto! A fabulous beret!

Vaporeon Gijinka - Wraps, Bracers & Gloves - Pokémon

Part 5 of the Vaporeon saga! Let's talk about wraps, bracers and gloves! This was probably the most time consuming and difficult part of the entire costume to construct. Lots of hand painting and hand stitching was involved. The end result ended up looking even better than I had envisioned! >:D

Links to Part 1: Bolero, Part 2: Under Layers, Part 3: Wrap Skirt Tail, and Part 4: Wig and Hairpieces!

Thanks to Elemental Photography for the wonderful photoshoot! Credit for the original costume design goes to Cowslip!

The way I started drafting the pattern for these was super scientific! Not really. I literally traced my leg onto paper. This is so I could figure out the relational distance between my ankle, knee and thigh. This was purely to use to get the proportional heights of the bracers and wraps correct.

From there I was able to mark how tall I wanted the bracers and wraps to be. Then I drafted the pattern for the wraps and bracers separately. I also drafted the arm wraps and bracers at this time.

I'll start with the bracers first, since I finished the construction on those first.

I cut out my pieces in the various fabrics. I had an under layer in a shiny synthetic navy blue fabric and an over layer in a light aqua cotton (which was leftover from the Suppi costume).

I nearly cut out the wrong amount of pieces when I was laying out my pattern. Every piece has a backing because I needed that to properly finish the scalloped edges on the top and bottom. This meant every piece was doubled. The navy under layer was backed with the same navy cotton as the bolero lining because I ran out of my other navy fabric.

I assembled each of the fronts and backings separately, sewing them along the side seams. I ironed the seams open flat.

At this point I took the front over layer pieces of the bracers and painted on my scale pattern. I lightly drew this out in pencil and then traced over my lines with navy blue fabric paint. It sounds simple, but it took a really long time. I ironed them to set the paint before moving on.

Next I pinned each piece to its backing right sides together. I sewed them together along the top and bottom edges, leaving both sides open to turn them right way out. Before turning them out, I trimmed the excess seam allowance on the inside. I top stitched along the edges to neatly finish them.

I also added in my top stitching detail on the tops of the under layer at this time.

I aligned my side edges, zig zagged stitched over the raw edge of the fabric and then turned that to the inside and top stitched it down.

Then I used a punch to punch out the holes to put the grommets in for the laces. At this point I still had access to the grommet press at school, which I made good use of.

This was the point where I laid the project to rest for a year, because one of the main hurdles was the leg wraps, which I was positively stumped on. I didn't know how to rig them, I didn't know how to do the detailing and I didn't want to rush them and do a crappy job of it.

When I returned to the project, along with replacing the wig to fix the colour matching issue I also found another thing that was bothering me. The bracers were too teal for the rest of the costume, especially now that I had replaced the wig.

After re-evaluating, I decided to upgrade the paint job on the bracers, and in the process change the colour of them to be bluer. I added in depth to the scales, but also dry brushed over the whole thing to tint it. You can really see the difference it made in this progress shot.

The gloves I bought in Kensington market. I made gloves for an earlier project and decided it was by far the most horribly tedious thing to do ever. So I decided to buy and alter a pair. I cut out the hole that encompassed the index and middle finger on each glove, then zig zagged stitched the edges to finish them so they wouldn't fray all over the place.

The gloves were painted in the same style, except instead of laying them flat, I had to wear them each on my left hand in turn to paint them.

By doing the scale pattern and adding the depth to both the gloves and bracers it helped to meld them together visually and also give the false impression that they are even remotely the same shade of blue. Because they really weren't.

Now let's travel back to the beginning of the project when I traced my leg and started patterning. For the wraps I was venturing into an area I didn't have much experience with at the time--stretch fabric. In this project I can freely admit that I had no idea what I was doing and problems I encountered in the construction of these wraps are one of the main reasons I stopped working on the project for a while.

I will start with my first mistake: I bought fabric that was one-way stretch. Somehow it was more unpredictable than stretch fabric. I don't know, I just didn't like working with it.

I patterned out my pieces, figuring out the overlap at the top. In this picture you can see the two pieces for a leg wrap on the left and the two pieces for an arm wrap on the right.

I took them to school to assemble them with the serger, because this fabric frayed like crazy. I ended up making them slightly uncomfortably snug, but since I had serged off the seam allowance I couldn't let them out, and I used up all my fabric so I couldn't remake them.

I used the silver silk bias tape I had made for the bolero to finish the top edges.

At this point, I had no idea how to rig them. They were super snug, but not enough to stay up without slipping. This is when I threw in the towel on the project.

Zoom forward to one year. I am one year wiser. And I have ideas about how to finish this project.

First I decided to actually add the floral pattern to the fabric, which I had originally decided to not bother with (because of time constraints).

I decided to make stamps to create my design, rather than hand painting on the floral design. This is much quicker and easier if you are making repeating patterns/patterns with repeating elements. Based on the barely visible details in the reference image I sketched out some suitable flower and leaf designs, then traced those onto craft foam and cut them out. I glued the pieces onto a foam backing creating my stamps.

I laid out my wraps and began stamping. Using a blue fabric paint, I used a brush to apply the paint to the stamps and then pressed the stamp into a spot of my choosing on the wraps. I made the paint application purposely patchy. I didn't want the flowers to be solid. 

I wanted the flowers to be random and sporadic. There is no science to the design. I just made sure not to have too many of the same stamp to close to each other. 

I had to wait for them to dry before flipping them over and doing the sides and back. When everything was painted and dry I heat set the paint with an iron.

Next I decided to finish the overlaps differently. My original plan was to make the overlaps a functional closure. But it wasn't working--it pulled the fabric on a weird diagonal, and looked super bad. So I decided to sew it shut and just fake it. I sewed the frogs on top as decoration.

Next I used bias tape and hand stitched on all the fancy loops and detailing on each of the wraps. This took forever.

Lastly I had to rig them so they would stay up. As I mentioned in my wrap skirt section, the rigging for the wraps was attached to the inside of the skirt's waistband. At the back there is an elastic strap that attaches to each wrap using garter hooks. They are stretched to be pretty tight, but not so much that I can't bend or sit. Then I have a second backup strap made of webbing that doesn't put as much tension on it. This is for the sake of redundancy--if the first strap fails, the second will keep it up. You can see a bit of the rigging system in the picture below. I tried to keep it as invisible as possible.

The arm wraps are attached to the bolero with simple buttons and loops. Unfortunately they tend to pull the bolero sleeves down oddly. I plan to remedy this in the near future by stuffing the bolero sleeves.

Vaporeon Gijinka - Wrap Skirt "Tail" - Pokémon

This is the third part of my Vaporeon Gijinka costume. If you want to see how I made the Bolero, go here! If you want to see how I made the under layers, go here!

Thanks to Elemental Photography for the great photoshoot! Credit for the original costume design goes to Cowslip!

One thing I loved about this design was the way that the tail was incorporated into this wrap skirt.

The "tail" was made from the same blue silk as the bolero jacket. It has a really nice shine to it--without being overly shiny. The fabric itself actually has a salmon-y pinkish colour woven in, which you can see in the shine. It helps to break up a bit of the blue overload.

This piece took a bit of adjustment before I was satisfied. It was first draped and pinned in muslin to create the pattern--a much less scientific method than I am used to.

The tail itself ended up being over 5ft long. It was a bit cumbersome, so I pinned it up to walk about the con.

You can see how it tapers from the waistband down.

The next step was to finish off the edges. I neatly rolled them over and top stitched it. I wanted to make sure it looked neat from both sides, as the inside would be quite visible. Also, this fabric frayed like nobody's business. I wanted to make sure the edges wouldn't get destroyed.

I gathered it to the desired size and attached it to the waistband. The waistband was a simple rectangle of beige cotton that had a hook and eye closure. I would later reinforce the waistband with nylon webbing I had leftover from my Splatoon Inkling harness rig. This reinforcement was necessary, as later the leg wrapping rigging would be sewn into the waistband.

The tail fin pieces and decorative waistband ruffle were sewn right sides together, clipped, turned right way out and then top stitched to finished them off.

I used 4 long pieces of navy cording as my detailing on the train. I hand stitched them on at the top and tacked them at various points as they wrapped around the tail. There is easily over 12 yds of cording on this costume (including all the lacing on the bracers).

I pinned the tail fin to the end of the tail, arranging the ruffled look how I wanted it and then tacked it on with my most invisible hand-stitching. It's basically like a giant bow.

It was around this point that I realized I would not be meeting my original deadline (AN 2014) and gracefully admitted defeat. I took a year-long break from this costume.

The next step was to attach the decorative waistband ruffle. I arranged it and pinned it in place until I was satisfied with the look then tacked it on with hand stitching.

Then I went about creating the brooch that attaches to the waistband, covering the clasp. It was all made of scrap materials--leftover cording, fabric, beads, etc. I used some of the yellow silk from the hairpiece flowers to create a matching kanzashi style detail for the petals (I will go into more detail on my wig and hairpiece post for this costume.). The entire thing was sewn to a felt backing that was glued to a brooch pin.

Extra cording was used to decorate the waistband and create more dangling bits near the opening at the front.

Then I had my friend Harriet (the official Bead-Dazzler) sew on tons of beads. Props to her for her hours of hard work (in exchange for food)--I certainly have the skills to sew beads myself, but I definitely lacked the time.

The detailing is what really makes the design. There is such richness and embellishments, and I had a lot of fun realizing those little details.

Next I had to create the leaf detail that sticks up from the waistband of the skirt. The problem was, it need to be rigid, but also sheer. The fabric I had was nice and sheer, but super flimsy. 

On the Splatoon project I was introduced to this magical stuff called "heat n bond".  I essentially used it to fuse my fabrics together around a central support structure made of leftover corset bones. I have to say--I had no idea if my crazy idea would work, but it did, so YAY! 

First I traced out the shape I wanted on the paper side of the heat n bond. I cut this out and then ironed it to my first layer of silk. Then I used fray check and applied it all around the outline of the leaf shape and let it dry before cutting it out--this way, when I cut it out it would not fray. 

Then I laid the leaf shape heat n bond side down on the second layer of silk. I carefully lined up my corset bones where I wanted them and pinned them in place. I carefully sewed around them using the machine's zipper foot. The bones were now sandwiched between the two layers of silk. 

Then I ironed the whole thing, fusing my layers together.  

The next step was to apply more fray check, around the edge of layer two, allow that to dry and then cut it out.

The finished leaf feels completely different than the fabric I started with.

To create the veins on the leaf I used a similar process. 

First I traced out the desired shape in heat n bond. I then cut that out and used an iron to apply it to the first layer.

Then I fused it to the second side. I fray checked the outline, allowed it to dry and then cut it out.

This was then tacked on the leaf by hand in a few key spots.

The leaf was simply tucked into the waistband when I wore the costume.

Vaporeon Gijinka - Under Layers - Pokémon

Let's talk about under layers!  This includes the front drape--with its built-in bra--and the navy booty shorts I constructed. If you want to see how I made the Bolero Jacket, go here!

Once again many thanks to Elemental Photography for the great photoshoot! I love this reflection shot. :) Credit for the original costume design goes to Cowslip!

Since the design only shows how the front looked I had to design a suitable back for the costume. I decided to make a second drape at the back, since it seemed logical and would cover more skin. Also, the design itself was originally designated as one of her "male" designs. I made a slight alteration to the design of the drape at the front for the purposes of female modesty--I changed the proportion of how the drape sat across the chest so it came further back towards my armpits at the top and would therefore properly cover my bust. This is one of the few minor changes I made to make the design work for me.

I started by using twill tape to outline on Molly where I wanted the gaps at the sides to be. I used some cheap broadcloth to drape the pieces.

I pinned and trimmed the fabric until I was satisfied with the way it gathered. I used these to create my pattern pieces.

The fabric I bought was pretty see through, so I double layered both sides. Each piece was sewn rights sides together along the side edges and turned right way out. Then I top stitched those edges to keep them from shifting about. This fabric was fairly uncooperative...

I created shoulder straps for the drape piece in the same beige cotton. The close using velcro to make them a bit more adjustable.

The bottom edge of the drape was finished with a band of beige cotton. On both sides where it overlaps it has velcro to adjust the size around the hips and allow me easy on/off.

 

I had to build a bra of sorts into this costume. I bought nude coloured bra cups in the right size. Awkward shopping moments include me trying to find the right size by holding them up to my body and comparing. Hahaha

Using beige cotton fabric and elastic I made the bra layer to fit comfortably. It opens at the back of the band with hook and eyes. I tacked the bra into the draped piece at the front so it would shift and be revealed. The band at the side peeks out a bit when I lift my arms, but it is not the end of the world.

The bra itself provides moderate support--I am not super busty, so I don't need that much support. Mostly it needed to be something that I could a) sew into the costume, and b) choose the placement of the straps so they wouldn't stick out too much and look weird. Had I used a regular bra bought in a store, the band would be clearly visible at the sides. This one I made comes up higher in the sides and back than a typical store bought bra--which is why it doesn't give maximum support. Also I didn't give it an underwire. Because I didn't think it would be super necessary.

The last detail was the cording. I bought tons and tons of navy blue cording for this costume. It wrapped around the gather at the center front and looped to the back. It's tacked in place so it doesn't move. The ends of the cord were dipped in clear nail polish so they wouldn't fray.

The other under-layer for this costume was a pair of booty shorts. Somehow I didn't clue in until the very last minute that the wrap-skirt did not actually cover all at the front and I didn't have anything suitable to wear underneath. Hence, I decided to make a very simple but unobtrusive pair of matching shorts.

They were made of some navy blue jersey I picked up at the last minute. I patterned them based off some leggings I own. I pieced them together at a friend's house so I could use a serger.

The hem was done with a zig-zag stitch on my own machine. The waistband had a roll-over where I inserted an elastic band.

I think this is one thing that convinced me I needed to get a serger of my own... I have been avoiding stretch fabrics for so long because I lacked the equipment to work with them.

Floral Cream Underbust Corset

Hey all! I made another corset this past winter. This is not an obsession I swear... This one is an underbust corset that is going to act as a waist cincher/posture modifier, to be worn under my Phoenix costume (which is currently on hiatus). I also made it with another future steampunk outfit in mind... 

Showcasing here the new pistol prop I bought in Austria last month. Also worn with my Long Pleated Skirt.

I like how the shape of this one turned out much better than my black corset. Instead of using a fashion fabric on the outside, I just used the coutil. Except this time my coutil has a cool floral pattern on it! I picked up this fabric from the Farthingales booth at CostumeCon32 last year. It's super strong and super pretty.

 First I used twill tape to mark out my seam lines on my judy. Then I draped muslin over those sections to get my pattern piece shapes. I used a pen to draw the shapes on the fabric, unpinned the pieces and then cut along the lines I drew.

The pattern I ended up with looked like this. I numbered my pieces from 1-7 (center front to center back).

After making a mockup and tweaking the pattern to reflect the changes I made, I reduced the pattern so that it would have a 2" gap at the back. This means that I divided 2" into 7 parts and shaved off that amount from every seam. I shaved off just slightly more at the waist so that part could cinch even tighter. 

Then I cut my pieces out of my coutil. Remember you need 4 of every piece, a pair for each side.

For the center back panels I first sewed the pairs right sides together along the CB edge, then turned them right way out and pressed them. I flat basted all my pairs together (excluding the center front panels) and top stitched all the boning channels. The 14 panels looked like this.

I added in the busk to the center front, then flat basted it and added the last boning channels. If you want a tutorial on how to insert a busk, go here!

Then I began to sew the panels together. This is done very carefully, lining up the flat basted lines and the waist line. Accuracy is your friend.

Then I cut my spiral bones to length and inserted them.

I made my own piping trim from leftover fabric from my Steampunk Corset. If you want a tutorial on how I make piping trim, go here!

I attached the piping, then hand stitched down all the seams on the inside. Then I put the eyelets/grommets in the center back and added some cord to lace it.

Presto! Another corset! ;D