[chiaroscuro-costume]

HEY FOLKS! Just a PSA that’s been a long time coming, but if you enjoy following me for cosplay, i’ve moved from this sideblog, to a new account just for cosplay! so now you can find me at @chiaroscurocostume where it’ll be much easier for me to interact with y’all! <3

and as a reminder, here’s everywhere else you can find me:

[chiaroscuro-costume]

Making a certain little space dagger for a certain little someone....

[sartorialonce]

Red’s cloak, requested by @aneternalepitaph, who asked for some input on this piece for cosplay

This is really a breathtakingly beautiful costume.

This is the second cloak worn by Red, and by far the nicer one. It’s a full-length cloak with short train, never closed (although it probably could be). I wish I had a shot of her from the back with the hood up to see how it’s constructed, but my guess is that it’s a straight piece of fabric with darts or gathers at the neck for shaping, rather than a circle-style cape. It is very full, so you might consider a gored design if you have difficulty finding fabric wide enough for this shape. The hood is rather oversized, but a good rule of thumb with hoods is always to make them bigger than you think you’ll need.

It’s constructed from at least three different fabrics. The main one is a damask which almost looks flocked to me. There’s a wide band of a different tone-on-tone fabric at the opening of the body of the garment. The hood does not have this band. Then there’s three even wider stripes at the bottom, one of which might have a bit of gold in it? And the bottom one is shaped as a short train. All of these fabrics are likely upholstery fabrics, from what I can tell.

All the seams I can see have decorative hand stitching in a khaki thread. You’ll want to use something pretty heavy/thick for that. The slits for the arms have bound edges.

I’m afraid I can’t give you any advice on the corset, but there’s a lot of resources online for that. If you want something approaching historical accuracy, try looking for resources from the Society for the Creative Anachronism (SCA). SCA guilds will have a lot of resources that are useful for cosplay in general, whether you’re looking for historical accuracy or not.

The skirt, though, will be relatively simple. It‘s three layers varying in how they’re draped. The top layer has several pleats at the front waist. I would guess it also has a petticoat.

I hope this is helpful to you! And if anybody reading this has some advice to offer, please chime in. :)

[sartorialonce]

@aneternalepitaph said:

Thank you SO much for this!! As far as I can tell, there are 4 fabrics in addition to the main cloak fabric (which is called Neiman Red and is available through decorative fabrics direct, in case anyone was looking for it!).

Reblogging for the comment. Great find!

[chiaroscuro-costume]

If i can find the reference picture’s i found for the back, i will add them later. But the back of the cloak has a pointed yoke at the back and there’s at least 4 if not 5 fabrics used. The main is Neiman Red, and the cheepest place i’ve found it is at Home Fabrics in the LA fashion district. But Decorative Fabrics Direct is great too. 

The fabric that i believe is the red and gold damask used in the patchwork is Covington Balenciaga in Morrocan Red. http://www.sailrite.com/Covington-Balenciaga-Moroccan-Red-Fabric

I searched everywhere for the more lattice style flocked fabric used on one of the front bands of the cloak and in the patchwork but the closest i found was Jaclyn Smith Gatework in Cashew which i then dyed red. One day I hope to buy some flocking powder and add that on top. http://www.joann.com/jaclyn-smith-upholstery-fabric-gatework-rot%2Fcashew/13144415.html?green=E88BB672-009E-59CD-973F-1D4C9F4A3791

The fabric used on the other front band of the cloak and in patchwork, i’ve never been able to find. Its a flocked, small scale damask in red on red. I got lucky and found a similar fabric in a clearance bin at Joann, but i’ve never seen anything like it again.

The remaining fabrics fabrics in the patchwork are just either plain red, or a very lightly textured red.

[chiaroscuro-costume]

Does anyone have any good blue contact recommendations for light blue eyes? My eyes are a light grey blue and i want to wear some blue contacts for a few cosplays to make them pop more but since a lot of contacts are made for dark eyes i don’t want anything that will end up looking too bright/weird.

[teamparaluna]

Tutorial time! :D How to tint your Transpa Art for all kinds of coloured visors, starring Tracer’s goggles. Transpa Art is from Minque <3 <3 If you have any questions, that are not answered in the explanation below, then don’t hesitate to ask!

Keep reading

[chiaroscuro-costume]

So my grand plan to buy thigh high boots for winter, and then to paint them back fired. The boots came in and the zipper is really ripple-y and i haaaate it. Thank god for amazon and free returns. Looks like i’m going to have to make bootcovers

[chiaroscuro-costume]

So, I was buying thigh high costume Boots and pleather Gloves today, to alter for use with my Winter Schnee cosplay... and lo and behold, Amazon sure thought i was up to something COMPLETELY different

i mean, i’m sure qrow wouldn’t mind one bit

[arkadykoshka]

how the hell does one use a sewing machine? like the basics? I want to start using it but I'm kind of scared of it tbh

I’m probably not the best person to ask about technical stuff, because I still consider myself a novice sewer and I only just got over the fear of my machine myself. I’ve learned with a combination of youtube videos, the instruction book that came with my machine, and a very nice friend sitting me down and literally watching me sew on scrap pieces and showing me how to tread it and what buttons to push and reminding me that it will not kill me. For me, learning from someone and watching people do it is the most helpful. I know Joann and other craft stores often have $20 beginner lessons, so I’d recommend looking into a couple of classes at your local store to get some hands on experience. Having someone next to me who could instantly correct me if I was wrong and tell me I was doing well when I was right was really helpful for me and made me less scared of sewing. 

Beyond that, the only things I feel qualified to tell someone else about sewing are pep talk-y stuff - You will get better and faster as you go. You will probably get frustrated at first but if you push past that and don’t allow yourself to give up, you will get it. It’s ok to have to check your instruction book constantly to remember how to thread the machine. It’s ok to cry if your thread runs out and you didn’t notice it until after you were done sewing a giant skirt. It’s pretty hard to hurt yourself with your machine. You don’t need most of the buttons on your machine to learn basic sewing, so don’t be intimidated by them. Name your machine so you have something to yell at when you’re frustrated.  

[thatcalamity]

I hope it’s okay if I hop in here.

I learned how to sew when I was 7, but mostly I’m self-taught from youtube, and blog tutorials. If you need to know how to do something other than a straight seam, google’s your best friend.

For machines, 95% of the time you’ll be using a straight stitch. 4% of the time you’ll use zigzag and 1% other stuff. Basically, you don’t need a fancy schmancy machine to start off with.

Things that will reduce stress and yelling at the machine:

Always test your stitch on a scrap of your material before you start sewing on the good pieces. That way if it’s not working right you don’t have to unpick everything or risk your pretty fabric

Don’t be afraid to rip out the stitches and start over. leather and pleather will keep the holes, but most fabric will be fine. I’ve done some seams 5-6 times before I got it right

Don’t pull the fabric through the machine, guide it in the direction you want and let the machine pull it through.

Don’t be afraid to go slow until you’re comfortable with the machine. Most mistakes are made while rushing.

Thread tension is the number one hair-pulling thing. Thicker fabrics will need less tension, thin fabrics more. But test it out on your scrap first!

Needles break. That’s okay.

when turning corners, leave the needle in, lift the foot, rotate then put the foot back down. Bam. seams line up perfectly.

press (iron) your fabric between steps when assembling things. it helps keep everything in place and reduces the chance you’ll catch a fold of fabric in your seam.

If you get too frustrated, take a break.

if your bobbin runs out, well, that happens to the best of us, like @arkadycosplay mentioned

I hope it helped?

My sewing machine doesn’t have a name… I should name it.

It’s a Brother, and a Bro type name is Chad. It is now called Chad.

[arkadykoshka]

Yeah, please, hop on! I know there’s tons of people out there who know tons more about sewing than I do! 

[chiaroscuro-costume]

Few More Sewing and Sewing Machine Tips

If your machine is acting up, always try re-threading both your needle and your bobbin, most problems usually come from one of them not being threaded 100% right (i’ve been sewing for years and it still happens all the time)

Like said above, Youtube and Google are you’re friends. There’s also some good websites out there like craftsy that provide “classes” on different sewing techniques. Most you need to pay for but there are many free ones! If you’re interested in learning how to sew zippers (which seem way more intimidating than they are) they have a great free video

Sewing Machine maintenance will keep your machine running smoother and make your life waaaay easier. Your manual should have a guide, but really its as easy as clearing out the dust bunnies from around the bobbin case and changing your needle out every so often (they get invisible little burs on them from use whitch can catch and pull on fabric, plus they can get dull)

Honestly the most important thing when you’re starting out sewing is to just get familiar with the machine. The best tip i can give you is to just get some scrap fabric and start practicing. Practice straight lines, curved lines, try out that zig zag stitch, try out seaming two pieces of fabric together.... just mess around until you feel comfortable. That’s how my grandma taught me when i was 7 and how my collage taught out sewing class too

Good luck! I honestly love sewing and I hope you end up loving it too! It can be very frustrating at times, but ultimately its worth it

[arwcnevenstar]

And that’s all my Padme photos! Photo creds to @readingbookswatchingfilms

[hustleandbustlecos]

Two queens were the closest of sisters until one’s betrayal unleaded a power and began…..a war

They’re here! And I’m screaming! 

 Queen Freya: me 

Queen Ravenna: @arkadycosplay 

 Photographer: @dappergeeknews101

[fluidfyre]

Make PVC Look Like Wood

I came up with this simple trick to give PVC pipe a realistic wood texture when I built a few plastic didgeridoos a couple of years ago. It would also work for theater, home decor or backyard tiki-bars! Send an invite if you build that last one.

[sewlastcentury]

It’s kind of a travesty that Ipsin Cosplay only has 40 followers because HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THIS CRAFTSMANSHIP ! !!!

Mary, Queen of Scots - @elven-king-thranduill / Ipsin Cosplay Photos - @dressingupasotherpeople / Houkakyou Photography

[chiaroscuro-costume]

A few pictures of my Weiss cosplay this weekend that I pulled from instagram. My Yang is @maedaecosplay and the Junko in several shots with us Cat’s Cosplay Couture on FB

Photo Cred to: another_scotch, balynstrial, livid.dreams, ericuniverse13 and darreljdelfin all on insta 

[chiaroscuro-costume]

Yay for bunkbeds!

[chiaroscuro-costume]

Taking a break from finals prep to share some Harley Quinn love. I’ve been seriously neglecting posting about cosplay lately both on here and my facebook, but that’s about to change! 

[chiaroscuro-costume]

Got to spend the day today with my fellow Cos-friend Cat, exploring fashion district. She also made it her mission to get me hooked on Danganronpa, and well... it worked! She’s already planning a Junko cosplay, and I hope to one day do a Kirigiri in all her purple glory

[toughtinkcosplay]

here’s all my cosplay tips! i don’t know if i’ll continue the series or not, but if i get interest maybe? anyways, below you can find links to their individual posts where i go into more detail about each tip.

have fun- because if you aren’t enjoying it, then what’s the point?

fake eyelashes- if you really want your eyes to pop on camera, falsies are the way to go.

comfy shoes- cosplay shoes can be hard to walk in and awful to your feet, so bring non-cosplay shoes along, too.

iron as you go- your seams will thank you.

carry junk- think ahead about where you’ll put necessities like money, phone, and ID while in cosplay.

plan ahead- don’t wait until the week of the con to start something new.

amplify your makeup- with bright wigs and over-the-top costumes, it helps to have exaggerated makeup, too.

give it structure- lining and interfacing your garments appropriately will help them fit and look better.

check your silhouette- you can get your character’s trademark silhouette, even if you don’t have their cartoonish figure.

good materials- varying your materials and picking the right one for the job goes a long way.

[cosplaying-on-a-budget]

Every single one of these is so important!