November Update

Salutations! It's November already? I'm on a pretty short turn-around between trips. I got back from New York on Thursday and I leave for Tokyo today. As I mentioned, there will be a 3-4 week hiatus from blog posts while I am in Japan, as I will not be bringing my laptop with me. Regular posting will resume on Dec 2nd. 

I had a pretty decent Halloween this year. Blayke and I carved pumpkins, watched movies and hung out with some friends in the evening. As usual, the weather was not the best so my friends and I decided to skip Church Street festivities. I wore my Toothless onesie so I could be extra cozy. Blayke made his first costume. It's Mister Chief. 

My New York trip yielded excellent results in the fabric shopping department, though my wallet is hurting from the steep exchange rate. I have the fabrics I need for my next 2 costumes as well as my accent gold fabric for Sakura.

I won't say what these all are for (the fabrics on the right here are for a secret costume I've been working on), but you can probably make an educated guess what the green jersey fabrics below are for. ;D The pretty buttons are going to be used on my next tailored jacket, whenever I get around to making it.

I saw some great shows in NYC--Shear Madness, The King and I, and Kinky Boots. I definitely recommend Kinky Boots. (Though Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder is still by far my favourite Broadway show I've seen.)

To follow along on my Japan adventures, be sure to check out my Instagram and Twitter!

Anime North 2015

Wow! Anime North is already over, my 11th time attending. This month has just flown by. I'm a little sad it's done already...

AN was a really weird/very different experience for me this year. Starting with the fact that my sister Alex--who took me to my very first AN 11 years ago--and her boyfriend Mike (aka EleventhPhotograph) both moved to Japan in the last year and did not attend the con with me. They were missed! D,: But I get the pleasure of taking my boyfriend Blayke to his very first Anime North! He had fun I think!

My other big regret is that due to issues getting Vaporeon (Pokémon--Cowslip's Gijinkadex) finished, I was unable to compete in the Masquerade this year--the first time in many years!

To explain; I suddenly gained full time employment working on a feature film (as a scenic painter) starting at the end of April, which took up the vast majority of my time this month. The course I took on fabric painting and dyeing took up the rest of my minimal free time. With all the interruptions, I am amazed I managed to finish 2/3 costumes. (Though admittedly they were the easy ones!) I am happy that I finally got to debut Toph (Avatar: The Last Airbender), and that I was able to throw together a Tomoyo Daidouji (Cardcaptor Sakura) outfit at the last minute.

An overview of my con weekend:

Friday: I arrived around 7, wearing my Toothless onesie because it was pretty cold/windy out and I was super tired from work. Wearing Toothless takes less than 5 minutes to get ready, so it's a pretty great casual costume. It's also very comfy.

 We had luckily gotten our badges through a group purchase and they had been shipped to our group leader--long story short, we already picked up our badges from a friend a week before the con and didn't have to line up when we got there. I recommend this method of getting badges, because not lining up rocks. I ran into several friends at the con, and got to hang out and chat for a bit. I got to look at 80% of the Artist Alley/Crafters Corner before leaving to get some much deserved rest. Not a bad night, all things considered.

Saturday: Perhaps this should go down in family history as the earliest I have ever managed to make it to AN on a Saturday. We were at the con by 10:30. Probably because my costume wasn't super complicated to wear, I wasn't prepping to compete in Masq, and I only had 1 minor costume piece to fix. I wore my Toph (Fire Nation Disguise) costume. I won't go into detail here, but the shoes I made for that costume are the comfiest cosplay shoes I have ever had the pleasure of wearing. Ever. No sarcasm.

Blayke and I toured the dealers room and Artist Alley, then went to a panel called Stupid Comics-- which was hilarious--before meeting the rest of the family for lunch at Swiss Chalet. We hung around for a bit more before heading over to the Masq to get our seats. I photographed the Masq, if you are interested in checking out the pictures go here! If you want to watch all the Masq entries go here! Or if you just want to watch the Masq highlights, go here! It was a bit weird for me being on the audience side of the Masq, but I enjoyed it anyway. Inspired to compete again next year. I really have to up my game! Was surprised by the change in MC this year. The new "Hawaiian shirt guy" wasn't bad, but I miss Gravely...

Sunday: We got to the con a bit later (noon), as I had 3 full costumes to iron, and I needed a bit of a sleep in (super burnt out). My sister Elanne and I were dressed up in our Sakura and Tomoyo pair! Super cute together! We had a photoshoot in the afternoon with Kevin Chan Photography which went really smoothly (except for the part where I stupidly dropped the Clow wand and chipped the paintjob...). Very excited to see the pictures from that shoot and look forward to possibly shooting again with him in the future! The rest of the day was spent hanging around and making a few last purchases. And being super over-heated. It was really unpleasantly hot. I left a bit early, as I had 2 major projects to finish and I had to get up at 4:30 for work the next morning.

Overall, a great con, if a bit unusual. Was glad to see all my cosplay friends, and some unexpected other friends! Good times were had!

Coming soon: detailed posts on Sakura (FINALLY), Tomoyo and Toph! (Not necessarily in that order.)

November Update

Greetings! Last month was a crazy month. It's safe to say that school has officially taken over my life, and so, for the next few weeks I make no guarantees on any form of regular posting schedule. :( School takes first priority. I'm nearly finished working on my 3rd of 4 shows for this semester, but homework has swamped me.

This Halloween was pretty quiet for me. The weather was cold and rainy so I chose to wear my Toothless kigu to school to be nice and cozy. By the end of the day I was a pretty soggy dragon. lol I spent my evening relaxing--eating candy and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas with my boyfriend. I'm a bit sad that this is the second year in a row that I didn't carve a pumpkin... I wish I get more in the spirit of Halloween next year!

Hopefully more posts on Sakura to come in the near future, but no guarantees. For now you can stay tuned to my facebook page where I will be posting some occasional progress shots on my current school projects.

That's all for now folks!

Toothless - Kigurumi - How to Train Your Dragon

Jumping up the schedule by popular demand: Toothless! I made this Toothless kigurumi (onesie) to wear to Atomic Lollipop this past July. To be honest, I had been contemplating buying a kigu for the longest time, but I had never seen a design that I really loved. So long story short, I decided to make my own. I picked Toothless because I really love the movie How to Train Your Dragon--Toothless is the most adorable dragon ever. Of all time.

An added bonus here is that because it was summer, all this fleece was on sale! Definitely worth it with the amount I had to buy. My recommendation is to never under any circumstance buy fleece in fall/winter. You will pay 3 times as much as you do in summer. For reference, I bought my fleece at Fabricland in July for 6$/meter, now (September) they are selling the exact same product for 17$/meter. Yikes!

I looked at kigu patterns online, but eventually decided to draft my own from scratch. It took me 2 tries to get the onesie itself looking how I wanted it and 5 tries to get the hood right. Lots and lots of mockups.

Below you can see the onesie version 1 and 2 side by side. The first sleeves totally didn't work, and my hood problems were always that it was too big and floppy.

 After finally getting a pattern I was happy with, I moved on to cutting out all the pieces. Here are the hood pieces complete with fins, below you can see the wings and tail.

I changed my initial design for the sleeve, ending up with a sleeve style similar to my Katamari cousin pattern. It is a mitten sleeve with a slit on the underside of the sleeve to slip the hand covers on and off. This means the sleeve top is made of one piece, and the under sleeve is made of 2 pieces.

The bodysuit is in 2 pieces, with each half (right and left) being cut on the fold along the sides. (Meaning there are no side seams on this garment!)

On each of these I first sewed up the leg and shoulder seams, then I basted the center back-crotch-front seam, stopping where the opening for the buttons would go.

I hemmed the edges of the opening, then the sleeve top and bottom pieces were sewed right sides together then flipped right way out. I made sure the hand cover was on the outside.

 I sewed the wings and tail fins right sides together, then clipped the excess in the corners and flipped them right way out. I top stitched on the details. (Not pictured here is the red fin!)

It took much deliberation, but I decided to line the hood in pink, to look like the inside of Toothless' mouth, as opposed to making it black to match the rest. I sewed the hood lining together; first I stitched the whole front together, then the back, lastly the side seam that divided the two.

I sewed all of the fins right sides together, then clipped and flipped them right way out. I made a whole bunch of triangle shaped ones in varying sizes that would go up the center back seam. 

Carefully spacing the spines, I sewed the 2 tail pieces right sides together, then flipped it right way out. (I had to make sure the spines ended up on the correct side during this process.)

 Next I attached the front pieces of the out hood together. While I was at it, I put two small spines on his forehead in the center seam. While looking at reference images I carefully arranged the fins around his face, pinned them in place then sewed the side seam, completing the outer hood. The reason why the hood is made of 6 pieces is partially because it made the shape better, but also because I needed seams that I could easily attach all the fins/spines into.

Next was detailing. Using leftover green fabric from Isabelle, I cut 2 ovals. Using black fabric paint leftover from Vaporeon I painted on the pupils. I pinned the eyes in place and then zig-zag stitched around the edges. This made the fabric ripple a bit, which I am not so happy about. I also zig-zagged on some nostrils while I was at it.

 Right sides together, I attached the hood lining to the outside along the front edge.

Blarg! What is this monstrosity? Looks like Dr. Finkelstein. D; The hood was not so thrilling at first, it took some cleverly hidden stitching to keep the lining tacked in its proper place, because it wanted to curl outward. Pulling the hood lining back inside the hood so that the outside over-hanged slightly I pinned it in place. Then I stitched the two layers together along the lower edges of the eyes and on the sides of the hood opening. Trust me when I say this helped a lot.

 Next I put cuffs on the pant legs. I also sewed the arms into the armholes at this point.

 With some difficulty I put a rectangle on each side of the opening for the placket.

I painted the viking skull on the red fin with white fabric paint. Way cool! Once this was dry I hand stitched these directly to the tail, which I had stuffed by this point.

Then I marked for the tail placement and spaced the spikes in the back seam according, picking it out to put the spikes in, and then going over the whole thing with a permanent stitch. 

 I measured and attached the wings, which were then tacked up with velcro so that they wouldn't flop down.
I pulled the kigu over an ironing board so that I could pin the tail to the back without accidentally catching the front. Making sure the tail was extra stuffed, I pinned it in place, then stitched around the raw edge with a zig-zag stitch to keep the tail firmly in place.

Lastly I added buttons and button holes to the front!

1 excellent kigu that made everyone at APop jealous. Sorry all! This kigu is one of a kind, but if someone were to commission me, I might consider making a second one. But not right now, because fleece is crazy expensive again!

August Update!

What do you mean it's already August?! D:<

Before I go any further, I am announcing that I am switching my regular post date from Tuesdays to Thursdays as of this month!!!

But really, I can't believe how time flies! This month is going to be particularly crazy for me, so be prepared for some late updates. Rest assured I will do my best! Currently in Ottawa for a long overdue visit to a friend in the capital. I expect many crazy fun times to be had!

This month I will be finishing up my posts on my Forest Guardian, Toothless kigurumi, an original design shirt and starting on the Sakura posts!

As you probably know, last month I attended Atomic Lollipop and had an absolute blast! You can read my con report here.

Coming up next weekend I have Otakon which I am almost ready for! This will be my last con for the cosplay season. Almost done Sakura's school uniform. (Fingers crossed my wig arrives for Toph with enough time for me to style it. Unfortunately, I had a case of the dumb, and forgot to order it earlier.) Very excited to visit the US again for one of my favourite cons! :D

My injured finger is on the mend, and shouldn't make finishing these projects too challenging. For those of you who want to know what happened, check out the end of my last post.

Unfortunately, I have write a final essay for school this week. Sometimes, school gets in the way of fun. But sometimes school can be fun. For those of you following me on instagram, you probably have seen the sculpted pieces I am working on for my prosthetics class. If not, I highly suggest you check it out! ;D My instagram includes lots of cosplay progress shots, but also food.

I am also taking a week vacation later in the month to Barcelona! Never been to Spain before, super excited for this trip! (And maybe I might also get a tan?)

My dear sister Alex just left for a teaching job in Japan today. I am both super jealous, and super happy for her! Wishing her good luck! (And also planning a visit next December...) Hoping we can cosplay together again when she returns. :)

In other news, I just started watching In the Flesh. It's about reintegrating formerly rabid zombies into society post-apocalypse. I highly recommend it.

One more month of summer, then I am back to school for my 4th and final year. Going to make the most of it!

Atomic Lollipop 2014

I surprised myself and impulsively decided to attend Atomic Lollipop at the last minute last Saturday! I went with my sister Elanne (aka SweetBoake) and we had a total blast! APop was a very different, very casual con environment that was completely opposite of what I am used to. But it was certainly a nice change. :) It was also nice to see the Science Center, which I hadn't been to in like 10 years!

I wore my Toothless kigurumi to the event (and only overheated a little bit). Lots of people asked me where I bought it, and I'm sorry to say I made it myself. :P (I think I disappointed at least 15 different people.) An in-depth look at how I made that is coming up sometime in August. (Though if anyone is interested in commissioning me to make another one this summer... just send me an email! ;D )

I think what impressed me the most about Apop was the amount of really crazy events and crafts that were offered! My sister and I attended a few crafting session, explored the Science Center and even played a few video games. :)

It was nice to see a few of my cosplay friends for a short time! Looking forward to seeing them at the next event. (Though knowing me that will be AN next year... hahaha)

Overall I really enjoyed APop and I will definitely be going again next year, even if it's only for one day! :)

July Update

Greetings all! It's shaping up to be a pretty busy month here, after a fairly lazy June. Debating attending Atomic Lollipop this weekend for one day, but still haven't decided yet...

In other news I finally joined the 21st Century and got Instagram! I've been posting lots of detail shots and progress pics, as well as cool fabrics I find and other random things. My username is bobbinsthread so be sure to check that out if you're interested!

Lots of projects on the go including my 2 new costumes for Otakon, which is coming up in August. They are Sakura (school uniform) from CardCaptor Sakura and Toph (fire nation disguise) from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Two easy costumes for the unbearable temperatures of Baltimore. :P I will probably bring one more costume to that convention, but I will probably leave that selection up to you guys!



Those following me on facebook or instagram know this already, but the kigurumi I was working on is finally done! Excited to take some finished shots of me wearing Toothless sometime this week. I've also finished the shirt I was working on and nearly finished the messenger bag I am making.

I have updated my Cospix profile, which now includes all of my costumes, including the ones I made for my sisters and the ones that are currently in progress. Check that out here!

I've begun posting my Forest Guardian costume (which will be presented in 4 parts), so stay tuned for more of that! More exciting things to come this month! :D