Leia Rebel Scout - Star Wars IV - Poncho

The second part of my Leia costume--let's talk about the poncho! I think this poncho is probably what makes this costume somehow so cool and so dorky all at the same time. I really love the neat cowl neck hood and the free flowing back as design elements. This is perhaps the most underrated Leia costume there is.

I hope to do a photoshoot of this later this spring out in the woods somewhere. For now you will have to settle for crappy mirror pics, as I don't even have convention photos of this costume yet...

To see how I styled the wig, go here!
















After patterning and mocking it up, I then cut out the pieces in the real fabric and laid them out. I used watered down fabric paints and splattered and sponged on some different tones in mixed greens and browns. I actually really like how the camo pattern turned out.

You can see below the difference between when it was wet and when it dried.

My one difficulty here was that my brown paint had expired and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. The paint kept separating and actually added some extra unintentional texture.

Right you can see the hood pieces laid flat. The hood is made of 4 "C" shapes that make up the outer rim, 2 rectangles (not pictured) that form the centre top of the hood and that one super weird piece the forms the sides of the hood and wraps around the front of the collar. The goal was to not have a seam up the front of the hood because there isn't one in any of my reference pictures. I think I managed to recreate it pretty accurately.

After everything dried, I ironed it to set the fabric paint and then sewed it together. 

The actual construction was super straight-forward--and unfortunately I didn't document it. 

I faced the side edges of the poncho and hemmed the front and back. The hood was first pieced together and then attached to the poncho neck hole. 

Some pictures of the finished poncho. 

The last step was to add the holes for the belt. Which secures the poncho in the front only. I faced and reinforced the hole. The process was similar to starting a welt pocket. 

March Update - A Belated Blogiversary!

Hey all! It's been a while. My 5th(?) blogiversary came and went last month and I didn't even notice. This is partly because I have been taking some time away from the blog to focus on 'adulting'.

The last few months have been really busy, and I am still trying to figure out how to balance work with my hobbies. And still have room to have a personal life and not become a reclusive hermit. Creating new content for the blog and documenting my most recent projects (Presea, Leia, and a handful of hats), has taken a backseat. Its tough when work is sewing and hobby is also sewing.

But I have some exciting news? I am moving out at the end of March! And I will be setting up my own studio space in the new apartment and saying goodbye to my parents' dining room table. I don't anticipate getting any costumes done during this time of packing and unpacking, but I may attempt some small DIY projects to decorate my new home?

Anyway, thanks for all the support! And hopefully I'll have something new up here soon?

Mischief Managed.

Koi Fish Fascinator

The first of my hat projects from my millinery course from this past fall--a straw fascinator! The goal was to take a straw capeline and freeform pin and block it into an abstract shape. I decided to make a fish?

It's not the type of work I would normally do. I'm a person who tends to plan out what I'm doing in advance. So taking on a project where you had to make up what you were doing on the fly was a bit of a challenge for me.

The basics of blocking straw is: you take the straw capeline and wet it with a watered down gelatin mixture. This will make it easy to sculpt and pin. Then you let it dry in that shape. The gelatin acts as a stiffener.

I don't have any pictures of this part of the process because I didn't want to get gelatin on my phone. Haha

The challenge with mine is that I didn't want to do a large fascinator, and only wanted to use half of the capeline. But you can't just cut a straw capeline, otherwise the weave will quickly start to unravel. Before you cut it, you must first do a zig-zag stitch on either side of your cutting line--so the part you want to keep and the excess both don't unravel. I had to do this before I sprayed it with the gelatin mixture so I didn't get that on my sewing machine.

The "head" of the fish is half the crown of the capeline.

I just blocked it on a regular foam wig head. I used pins and bulldog clips to hold it in place as it dried.

Once it had dried overnight I carefully hand-stitched it to a plain black headband.

As an afterthought, I added little fins. These were made out of some of the excess material. They are hand stitched on.

Overall I think it was a neat exercise and a cool project, but I will probably never wear it.

January Update

Hey all! I guess it's been a while. Happy New Year!

2016 was not a very productive year on the cosplay front. That's primarily because I've been getting more work in my industry but also due to me taking some time to step back from my projects a bit. I have not been as active on this blog as I would like, but that's partially due to a lack of finished material to post about.


For me this has been a year of learning and career progress.

I finished 2 costumes this year from my ongoing projects list and completed several more smaller projects (mostly hats!).

The first was Presea. This one was in progress and then on hiatus for several years--with the bulk of the work having been completed more than 3 years ago. I'm glad I was able to finally complete the battle axe this year with my current skill-level in painting. :)

The second (and final) costume I completed was Princess Leia from Return of the Jedi--her Rebel Scout outfit. I've been a Star Wars fan since forever and Leia and Han were always my favourite characters. It was nice to finally cosplay from that series. And also to step-up my wig game.

I still need to get some finished shots of this costume--aiming for late spring to do a photoshoot in the park behind my house.

So, what does 2017 have in store for me?

On the cosplay front: Completing the last 4 costumes I have left on the go! Plus 2 new secret projects? Secret mostly means I haven't quite finalized the list yet, and I don't want you guys to hold me to any promised future costumes. Hoping to complete the top row in the first half of the year, and announce my 2 new costumes halfway through the year.

On the personal front: Well, I have some product ideas that I am taking off the backburner. I've been working on some designs for a while and need to finish prototyping. Looking at debuting some things to sell early spring.

On the blog front: I'll try to keep up! Haha

That's all for now folks! Looking forward to 2017 with a positive mind! Gotta get back in the groove!