Vaporeon Gijinka - Bolero Jacket - Pokémon

It's finally here, the one you've been waiting for--Vaporeon. In terms of quantity of pieces alone this is perhaps one of the most complicated costumes I have ever constructed. Hence, this one will be broken up into 5 shorter posts.

First of all I would just like to my deepest gratitude for the huge amount of support I received working on this costume. This one was a long time in the works. Special thanks go to my friend Harriet who dedicated many hours of her time and hand-stitched on 95% of the beads, hooks and clasps. Seriously, this costume wouldn't be nearly as sparkly without her help. I gave her the official title of Bead-Dazzler. Another shout out to my friend Alex who accompanied me on my initial fabric shopping scavenger hunt and helped me pick out the perfect fabrics for this costume.

Secondly, a million thank you's to Elemental Photography for the wonderful photoshoot and the wonderful pictures. I wasn't feeling so confident in a costume with so much exposed skin, but Amanda made me look and feel like a million bucks! You rock!

Credit for this amazing design goes to Cowslip. I discovered the Pokemon Gijinkadex collection of designs about 2 years ago now, and I fell in love with them. There are so many beautiful ones to choose from--I knew immediately that I wanted to cosplay one eventually. Picking between them was a challenge. I think I narrowed it down to 4, and then I let you--the fans--give your opinions on which you wanted to see me do. The votes were pretty divided--the Moltres design was also pretty popular--but eventually the decision was reached that Vaporeon would be the best one to do. Perhaps I will revisit the Gijinkadex in the future and do another one, but for now I am satisfied with Vaporeon.

I started the costume in May of 2014, originally intended to compete in the Anime North Masquerade later that month. This was at the same time I was working on completing the last 2ft of embroidery on my Forest Guardian and also building Sakura (1st opening outfit) and Isabelle--both sizeable projects. You can definitely say that I over-extended myself, particularly because I hadn't planned to still be working on the Forest Guardian at the time--I had intended to complete that for CostumeCon32 in April. By the time I hit AN prep suffice to say I was already super burnt-out.

I knew from the start that Vaporeon would be a challenging build--there was tons of detailing on every single piece. And there were so many pieces. No seriously, this costume has 22 individual pieces. It is actually kind of amazing that this costume is the one with the most pieces, and the most layers, while simultaneously being the costume with the most exposed skin I've ever done.

Ultimately, I underestimated the complexity of the project, by the time Anime North rolled around it was still not even at a point where it was wearable. I decided it was not possible to finish on the timeline I had and decided to compete in Forest Guardian instead. So I made my new goal completing it for AN2015.

...Unfortunately due to my hectic job schedule, that didn't happen either. Hahaha I didn't even try I was so busy. I finally completed it for Otakuthon later that summer--it took another month to fully complete the costume. I am pretty happy with the end result. There are only a few small things I want to adjust with the sleeves, but the rest of it worked out fabulously.

(Credit for the above shot goes to Don Dolce Photography!)

Let's talk about the first part of the build--the bolero jacket. It is the first piece I started and one of the last things I finished.

I started by draping the pattern for the bolero. I first outlined the edges and the seam where the big collar would be inserted using twill tape, then I used scrap pieces of muslin to pin in place, following the curves of the body form and trace my pattern pieces. It created 4 pieces. I then tested this pattern by making a mockup.

The next step was to pattern the big collar pieces. I made the first upper collar mockup out of paper so that it would be rigid, which would give me a better idea of what the final wired collar would look like. I ended up altering it slightly, then I made the second under collar with the offset spines.

Below you can see the pattern for the upper collar with the under collar below it.

I cut my collar pieces out of their corresponding fabrics. The upper collar was made with two layers of white cotton, sewn right sides together along the spined edge and then carefully clipped and flipped right way out. I ironed it and top stitched 1/8" from the edge to finish it nicely.

The under collar was made in the same fashion-except that it was made with the bottom side in the blue silk to match the rest of the bolero.

Here you can see all the pieces that made up the bolero jacket. Since the blue silk was so thin, I decided to line the body of it with a leftover navy cotton I had in stock (leftover from my bicycle skirt).

The piecing together of the collar was exceedingly complicated. I will do my best to explain, but ultimately I will have to say that I barely understood what I was doing. hahaha

There are 3 collars: the blue silk inner collar, the white wired collar, and the white and blue floppy under collar.

First I flat basted the blue inner collar to it's navy cotton lining. (The raw edge would get finished with bias tape later.)

I sewed the bottom side of the top collar to the bottom collar along the unfinished edge. This was sewn to the silk outer part of the jacket body along the collar seam. (So: jacket body, bottom collar --both edges, top collar (bottom edge).)

I sewed the top side of the top collar to the inner collar and the navy lining of the jacket body. (So: top collar (top edge), inner collar (and its lining), jacket body lining.)

Pictured left you can see how this left the top collar wide open for me to add the channels for the wires. Which was the next step.

Once the wires were in place I glued some felt to cover the ends that would sit in the jacket body. The felt helped to both keep them in place and make them less likely to wear through the fabric. The wires have an angle in them and extend past the collar seam and into the back of the jacket so that they rest against my back and therefore actually provide structural support.

Then carefully aligned it and I sewed the collar closed--this meant all 3 collars, the jacket body and lining were attached. The order from bottom to top is: jacket body, bottom collar (both edges), top collar (now both edges), inner collar (and its lining), jacket body lining.

I ironed the seam, pressing the jacket lining down, which hid all of this construction on the inside--giving it a nice, clean finish. Then I sewed channels for the bottoms of the wires to sit between the jacket layers. Then I basted the lining to the body along the raw edges--including the armholes. 

I used a basting stitch along the sleeve tops and cuffs to create puffed sleeves, which I then attached to the armholes. A year later I would return and finish the sleeve hem with a simple rectangular cuff. 

Next I finished the edges with a silver bias tape I made myself. I also used bias tape to finish the armhole seam neatly. 

Here you can see the inside of the jacket.

After this I sewed on some frogs for the closure on the top collar.

This pointy edged navy bit was top stitched to one side of the front opening of the bolero. It has dome fasteners to attach it to the other side of the opening for easy removal.

Details such as gems and beads were added later, I will go into details on those in a later post.

11th Doctor - Jacket - Doctor Who

Lets take a look into how I made my 11th Doctor jacket! It's modeled after the one 11 wears in the anniversary special, except I have tailored it to be a more feminine fit (ex: for a woman. aka: me). This is my take on a female version of 11. Except for the fit at the bust, it's intended to be pretty much the same as the original. (Plus pockets, because seriously: why does this jacket not have pockets??) I have no real plans at the present moment to make the rest of this costume, but I do plan to wear this jacket on a regular basis in fall/winter/spring!

I had to look at many reference pictures before drawing out what I wanted to make. Proportions on Matt Smith would look different on me, particularly in terms of lapel, waistline and length. Accuracy is great, but I wanted the jacket to suit me first and foremost. As for colour/texture, I did my absolute best to match the fabrics on the Doctor's coat. My colour combo is a little less purple than 11's, but pretty close! I used a brown tweed, with a black velvet for the collar accent and a blue kasha lining. 11's lining is technically more of an indigo colour, but I couldn't find that, so I opted for blue.

To be honest, I rather dislike "Fem!Doctor" cosplay in which the Doctor is wearing a miniskirt. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be awesome if the doctor were a woman! Just, in my head-canon if the Doctor were a woman she would dress exactly the same. Meaning very cool and suave, as opposed to sexy. I just don't think miniskirts are very practical for adventuring throughout all of time and space...

Without further ado, lets turn to tailoring! I would describe this as my first official project that has been 100% properly tailored. Tailoring is a long and complicated process that includes a lot of hand stitching, but when done correctly the results are beautiful! I wouldn't pretend to be an expert here, so this will be more of an overview of the process than anything else.

If you are a beginner at sewing, a jacket may be a very difficult project for you to tackle. (I've been sewing for over 5 years now and I still found it a bit of a challenge.) I might suggest first attempting a tailored vest as first tailoring project. My best advice is to take a class (that's what I did). Also, the textbook I had for this course was insanely helpful. Really thorough, very detailed, lots of pictures with step-by-step instructions. It's called Tailoring: The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket. I bought the newest version on amazon for about 15$ CDN (the older edition that is out of print--but the content is exactly the same--is crazy expensive, don't buy that one!). Covers everything from pockets to lining, lapels to cuffs. (Aren't I a good salesperson? Hahaha)
The pattern was quite tricky to make. I drafted it from scratch based off of my measurements after looking at reference of both 11's coat and 19th century frock coat patterns. Pictured left is the final version of the pattern, after much slicing, dicing and re-tracing!

The top part of the coat is in 4 pieces, with a seam a couple inches below the waist connecting to a lower panel. The waist seam actually slants down towards the center front by about 3/4", which looks more flattering that cutting it straight across. The center back panel is where the vent is and actually runs the full length of the jacket uninterrupted.

It took a couple tries to get the pattern together, but once that was done I moved on to the mockup.

Using the mockup helped me to determine any adjustments I needed to make to the fit, and also how the lapel would lie on the body. This enabled me to determine the break line (or roll line.
Based on that I was able to pattern the sleeve, which I mocked up and fit successfully on the first try, no adjustments needed! Woo!

Following the welt pocket instructions in the Classic Guide to Tailoring I made a mockup pocket, ensuring I had the process correct before trying to do one on my garment.
I then patterned and cut out my pocket pieces. My one regret here is that although I made the pockets deep, I didn't make them very wide. If I were to go back and fix one thing on this project, it would definitely be the pockets. The inside of the pockets are made of my lining fabric, which is a kasha lining. Kasha feels like flannel on one side, but looks like a shiny lining fabric on the other. It's a sturdy fabric, warmer than most linings that will last longer.

I also patterned and mocked up my top collar piece, which took a couple tries to get right. I also made a pattern piece for the front facing.

Once I had gotten my mockups and patterned approved I went ahead and cut my pieces out of my fabric. I left myself lots of seam allowance.

For the jacket construction I started by putting the top pieces together. Then I pressed the seams open. One thing I can say about wool: it irons reeeally nicely. ;D
I put the pockets into the lower panels, then attached them to the upper panels. I was not necessary to finish my seams, because I was lining the jacket later.

Then I began to build up the structure within the front of the jacket. This was done with a horse hair canvas. This piece was basted to the inside of each front panel. You can see that it extends from the shoulder, down the armhole to where the princess seam is, and down the center front all the way to the hem. (Mine actually goes down too far into my hem allowance and I had to cut it by 1 1/2" later.) The piece is attached with a long diagonal basting stitch in a contrasting colour thread, which is later removed (it's easier to see it to remove it if it contrasts with the outer fabric.)
Inside the lapel there are rows of permanent diagonal basting stitches that help the lapel to roll and and fold over in the right spot. First I used a twill tape and marked the break line (where the lapel folds over). This was securely basted in (permanent stitch). After I filled in the triangle of the lapel with thee rows of stitching, parallel to the break line. These are all permanent so I used a brown thread that matched my outer fabric. My advantage here is that my tweed was a thick fabric, so it was very easy for me to do my basting stitches so they didn't show through. My one mistake here is that I accidentally overshot into my seam allowance when doing my stitching, which made the next step more challenging.

Then next step of course is to baste the stitch line to mark where the seam allowance is on the outer fabric and trim the hair canvas just short of that. This was a challenge for me because I had basted the two layers together and had to pick out the stitches.

Then I used another twill tape to mark the front edge of the lapel/jacket opening.

Then I bagged out the front edge by attaching the front facing.

The next step was to clip and flip the front facing, pressing it flat. Then basting in place so it wouldn't flap about. Again, more temporary basting stitching. I secured the raw edge with a permanent basting stitch.

Once both lapels were put together, I assembled the back of the jacket. I attached the 2 pieces, stitching down the center back to the vent, which I left open. Then I attached the back panels to the rest of the jacket and checked the fit. All good! :)

I used more hair canvas to reinforce the edge of the back vent. Then I measured and permanently cross stitched the hem up.

I also stitched up the shoulder seams at this time. I made sure the inside of the jacket was ready for the jacket lining.

The jacket lining was made using the same pattern and process as the outer shell, excluding the canvas reinforcement and pockets. I also left the shoulder seams open, so I could add in the shoulder pads later. This was then carefully pinned and basted in place along the vertical seams. One thing I should have done was added in a extra fabric for a pleat at center back, this would have made the jacket have more movement across the shoulders.

I measured the bottom and front edges and then basted them into the finished position before slip-stitching the edges down.

I then worked on the sleeves, which were done similarly to the back vent. First they were reinforced, then I cross-stitched the hem. However, I made the sleeve vents "fake", so at this point I permanently basted them closed and added the buttons. Then I lined up and slip stitched in the lining around the cuff.

Then the sleeves were eased and attached to the garment on the outer shell by machine. Then, I permanently stitched in the shoulder pads along the top of the sleeve and in the ditch of the shoulder sleeve. Then I turned the garment inside out and pinned, basted and slip-stitched the sleeve lining to the rest of the lining. This closed and finished the lining.

Next was the top collar. The collar pieces were all cut on a bias (the 45 degree angle from the grain) so they would stretch around the neck nicely. The under collar matched the rest of the jacket and was done in 2 pieces, the top collar was one piece of velvet to contrast.

There was 2 pieces of collar canvas attached to the under collar, both lined up to the center back, attached with a piece of twill tape. More rows of parallel stitching were done along the collar to help it roll properly too.

After carefully lining it up, I basted the under collar in place. Then I cross stitched it down, this was a permanent stitch, so I made it look nice. Then I removed the basting.

Then I pinned and basted on the velvet top collar. I slip stitched it down around all the edges.

Lastly I had to do the buttons and button holes.

As you can see, in the final stages of this project it was mostly hand stitching, which is what makes tailoring so time-consuming, however the effort pays off in the end! I now have a lovely wool long coat to wear!

Costume-Con 32

Just had a fabulous weekend at Costume-Con 32!

I really loved the calm, open atmosphere. Everyone was very friendly and willing to talk about their costumes! In a way I preferred the demographic that attended this convention much more than that of Anime North. Overall the attendees were more mature, and very relaxed, whereas the AN crowd tends to be much younger and frenzied.

I bought some coutil for my next 2 corsets I have planned. (In theory I will be making these sometime this summer.)

Friday:
Wore my Eleventh Doctor coat with some more casual clothes underneath. I was on the "Intro to Tailoring Panel", which went fine overall, though I felt quite out of my depth. I went to the Single Pattern Contest and Monster Social in the evening. It was really cool to see the different things the contestants made with the few selected patterns. The Monster Social was a really cool event, that worked really well for a con of this size.

Saturday:
Although I was unable to finish the embroidered panel, which was to be the centerpiece of this costume, I still wore the rest of my Elven Archer original design costume. I did not compete in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi Masquerade, but I did go to watch it and it was absolutely amazing! Congratulations to all the entrants, your hard work really showed! Other than that I attended some really interesting panels.

Sunday:
I wore my new Steampunk Corset & Neckpiece. I won a Hall Costume Award for the ensemble, which was unexpected, but made me really happy! I attended the Future Fashion Show and the Historical Masquerade. It was cool to see the variety of costumes and eras represented in the Historical Masq. I went to a few panels, they were pretty good.

Monday:
I wore my Kero gijinka costume, which was its Canadian debut (previously worn at Otakon in Baltimore). I was on the "Cool Anime Costumes" panel, which was surprisingly well attended for 10am on Monday morning! The panel went really well, so that was good. Brought in some costume pieces to show. (Because panels are always better with things for people too touch/look at.) Went to a Game of Thrones Costumes panel, maybe someday I will make something from that series... Someday.

Overall, I really enjoyed Costume-Con. I picked up many good tips and ideas over the weekend and I am more motivated than ever to start working on new things! Looking forward to Costume-Con 35, which will be held in Hamilton, Ontario!

Pictures of my outfits are coming soon!

Asymmetrical Marimekko Jacket

Taking a short break from costumes to show off an original design of mine using a Marimekko fabric I got from my sister as a gift. :) It was a really interesting experiment for me in making a fitted garment with a large print fabric. I really love the warm and cool grey tones in this fabric.

A summer project for me, though the only reason it took me all summer is that I kept stopping work on this in favour of more pressing cosplay projects! Hahaha

You will most likely notice that I used a black fabric  on the sides and under arms: this is completely intentional from the very beginning. (Meaning I did not run out of fabric.) I felt such a large print would be overpowering if it were used on the whole jacket, and I actually had designed it this way from the beginning. The black panels on the side make the jacket far more slimming. ;D

For patterning this I started with a modified basic block. I added in a seam down the back and the asymmetrical front overlap. I made a muslin mockup first before cutting my good fabric. Because this was a jacket, I had to make it a bit larger to ensure it would fit over other clothes (as a jacket should).

I also cut two pieces (inner and outer) for the collar. You will notice that the patterned outer piece is much wider; this is because of the folded fabric detail. Same with the sleeve.

My folded ruffle detail was pretty easy to make I simply pinched 1" sections of fabric together and sewed them, these were each 1/2" apart. They were then all ironed to the same side.

I also cut the 2 pocket pieces, and added the same detail there.

I added a black facing piece to each of my front overlapping panels. I sewed these right sides together (only along the finished edge, not on the seam edge where they attached to other pieces), clipped the excess, turned them right way out and ironed them.

Then I sewed the black side pieces to my sleeve.

The outer collar was stitched to the inner collar along the top and side edges, right sides together, then clipped, flipped and ironed.

I sewed my side seams together, then attached my pocket pieces to the sides along the bottom hem.

I also faced the bottom portions of the two back panels where the slit was in the back so they would have a nice finished edge on the hem.

I sewed the two back panels together up until the slit. When cutting these pieces I took great care to ensure that the pattern lined up along the back seam. It was difficult, but it turned out beautifully!

At this point I began to put it all together. I sewed the front, side and back panels together, and then the shoulders. I then ironed and finished all the seams. I also top stitched down the seams from the outside with black thread.

Then I added on the collar and the sleeves. After trying it on I then marked and hemmed the sleeves.

I marked (first on myself) where the jacket should sit when closed, then marked where the zipper should go. Funny story: normally I buy zippers for bags, skirts and dresses, not jackets. So the first time I bought a zipper for this jacket I bought one that didn't separate at the bottom! D: I had to go back and buy one that actually worked for jackets.

The zipper I separated into its two pieces, pinning them to the jacket separately. These were sewed down securely.

The last thing I did was add the black fasteners at the top with the velcro and metal d-rings/buckles.

I really need to buy a pair of black shoes so I can wear this in public...