The first rule of sewing is you can fix anything if you have patience, creativity, and a little bit of extra fabric! The second rule of sewing is AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

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@elycium-cosplay
The first rule of sewing is you can fix anything if you have patience, creativity, and a little bit of extra fabric! The second rule of sewing is AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Types of Sleeves Infographic from Enerie.
*3 images because Tumblr still cannot seem to host clear and sharp images of vertically long images.
Writers continue to reblog these infographics for their useful terminology. If you’ve missed any here they are:
Know Your Bras Infographic
Know Your Collars Infographic
Know Your Hair Buns Infographic
History of Hairstyles Part 1 Infographic
History of Hairstyles Part 2 Infographic
Fashion Pattern Vocabulary Part 1 Infographic
Fashion Pattern Vocabulary Part 2 Infographic
Know Your Sunglasses Infographic
Know Your Shoes Part 1 Infographic. Lobster Claws anyone?
Know Your Shoes Part 2 Infographic
Know Your Necklines Infographic from Paper Blog
Sleeves and Necklines Infographic
Know Your Hats Infographic
Know Your Collars and Cuffs Infographic
Know Your Necklines Infographic
Know Your Skirts Infographic
Know Your Nail Shapes and What’s Popular on Instagram Infographics
Know Your Eye Liners Infographic
Know Your Wedding Dresses Infographic
History of Swimwear Infographic
So a couple days ago, some folks braved my long-dormant social media accounts to make sure I’d seen this tweet:
And after getting over my initial (rather emotional) response, I wanted to reply properly, and explain just why that hit me so hard.
So back around twenty years ago, the internet cosplay and costuming scene was very different from today. The older generation of sci-fi convention costumers was made up of experienced, dedicated individuals who had been honing their craft for years. These were people who took masquerade competitions seriously, and earning your journeyman or master costuming badge was an important thing. They had a lot of knowledge, but – here’s the important bit – a lot of them didn’t share it. It’s not just that they weren’t internet-savvy enough to share it, or didn’t have the time to write up tutorials – no, literally if you asked how they did something or what material they used, they would refuse to tell you. Some of them came from professional backgrounds where this knowledge literally was a trade secret, others just wanted to decrease the chances of their rivals in competitions, but for whatever reason it was like getting a door slammed in your face. Now, that’s a generalization – there were definitely some lovely and kind and helpful old-school costumers – but they tended to advise more one-on-one, and the idea of just putting detailed knowledge out there for random strangers to use wasn’t much of a thing. And then what information did get out there was coming from people with the freedom and budget to do things like invest in all the tools and materials to create authentic leather hauberks, or build a vac-form setup to make stormtrooper armor, etc. NOT beginner friendly, is what I’m saying.
Then, around 2000 or so, two particular things happened: anime and manga began to be widely accessible in resulting in a boom in anime conventions and cosplay culture, and a new wave of costume-filled franchises (notably the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings movies) hit the theatres. What those brought into the convention and costuming arena was a new wave of enthusiastic fans who wanted to make costumes, and though a lot of the anime fans were much younger, some of them, and a lot of the movie franchise fans, were in their 20s and 30s, young enough to use the internet to its (then) full potential, old enough to have autonomy and a little money, and above all, overwhelmingly female. I think that latter is particularly important because that meant they had a lifetime of dealing with gatekeepers under our belts, and we weren’t inclined to deal with yet another one. They looked at the old dragons carefully hoarding their knowledge, keeping out anyone who might be unworthy, or (even worse) competition, and they said NO. If secrets were going to be kept, they were going to figure things out for ourselves, and then they were going to share it with everyone. Those old-school costumers may have done us a favor in the long run, because not knowing those old secrets meant that we had to find new methods, and we were trying – and succeeding with – materials that “serious” costumers would never have considered. I was one of those costumers, but there were many more – I was more on the movie side of things, so JediElfQueen and PadawansGuide immediately spring to mind, but there were so many others, on YahooGroups and Livejournal and our own hand-coded webpages, analyzing and testing and experimenting and swapping ideas and sharing, sharing, sharing.
I’m not saying that to make it sound like we were the noble knights of cosplay, riding in heroically with tutorials for all. I’m saying that a group of people, individually and as a collective, made the conscious decision that sharing was a Good Things that would improve the community as a whole. That wasn’t necessarily an easy decision to make, either. I know I thought long and hard before I posted that tutorial; the reaction I had gotten when I wore that armor to a con told me that I had hit on something new, something that gave me an edge, and if I didn’t share that info I could probably hang on to that edge for a year, or two, or three. And I thought about it, and I was briefly tempted, but again, there were all of these others around me sharing what they knew, and I had seen for myself what I could do when I borrowed and adapted some of their ideas, and I felt the power of what could happen when a group of people came together and gave their creativity to the world.
And it changed the face of costuming. People who had been intimidated by the sci-fi competition circuit suddenly found the confidence to try it themselves, and brought in their own ideas and discoveries. And then the next wave of younger costumers took those ideas and ran, and built on them, and branched out off of them, and the wave after that had their own innovations, and suddenly here we are, with Youtube videos and Tumblr tutorials and Etsy patterns and step-by-step how-to books, and I am just so, so proud.
So yeah, seeing appreciation for a 17-year-old technique I figured out on my dining-room table (and bless it, doesn’t that page just scream “I learned how to code on Geocities!”), and having it embraced as a springboard for newer and better things warms this fandom-old’s heart. This is our legacy, and a legacy the current group of cosplayers is still creating, and it’s a good one.
(Oh, and for anyone wondering: yes, I’m over 40 now, and yes, I’m still making costumes. And that armor is still in great shape after 17 years in a hot attic!)
Hang on a minute. I recognize the name “penwiper”. Let me check– Ok, yeah, I’ve heard of this person.
OP also invented armsocks.
Y'all might have noticed that your friendly community moderator has been slacking a bit lately. No updates. No organizing. What the heck was
OP I have been thinking about YOUR IMPACT since 2011. Do you know what you did for Homestuck lmao
I'm so close (and yet so far lol) on the second sleeve!
@namelessennes
@sandstonesunspear
Jesus Tapdancing Christ... THIS is a good welt pocket and the people who designed Simplicity 2895 ought to be blasted well ASHAMED of themselves for the crap way THEY wanted a welt pocket made. *SNARLS*
This is how I learned to do it and a good example of what you want to see in a short form tutorial: pinning, pressing, seam finishing, good fabric handling.
I would mention that you can make the pocket facing with a small panel of your matching fabric that is visible and the rest in a lighter fabric to reduce bulk. That's a lot of denim layers for comfort.
This reminder brought to you by me having to resew all the hooks on a theatre bodice that someone else did very incorrectly 😤😝
Peer-reviewing tags by @dickwitch
I'm in tears... The bawawa...
I just want to start off by saying your mollymauk cosplay is amazing, the embroidery in particular is so cool. Did you use a commercial pattern for the shirt and if so would you mind sharing it? I'm trying to make a similar style of shirt for my senior collection and yours is the closest I've found to what I'm looking for.
thank you so much! The shirt is actually taken from an old cosplay that I got for xmas a few years back and is one of the few things I didn't make. I don't even know what it would be called to search for a pattern, I'm sorry 😅
"If I should die, I'd want to die by poison."
cosplay: Maomao - The Apothecary Diaries (sewn by me)
photos taken by Kara Mel Photography
I've got the first sleeve attached to the body of the partlet. y'all, it's heavy! 😂
The stars finally aligned back at Galaxycon and I was able to do a full Mollymauk photoshoot. Kara Mel Photography really killed it with this one!
Taking a break from the embroidery of Mollymauk's sleeves to start working on Keyleth's leaf mantle.
I'm making my own leaves out of silk, edged with gold thread. Each one takes about 6-10 minutes to make, so hopefully I can make some decent progress on this in between the embroidery
Unfortunately coletterie.com does not have a tumblr, but this image is so helpful I had to share. So often people ask us what fabric they should use for a certain cosplay, and two things you should always ask yourself are: 1) how much does it need to flow, and 2) how heavy does it need to be. Sheen and texture are obviously important as well, but picking a weight and stiffness is the first thing you should tackle.
From The Coletterie’s awesome blog post:
When you choose a fabric for your sewing project, ask yourself these questions to decide on an appropriate weight:
Should my fabric be sheer or opaque?
Will a light fabric be difficult to sew for this project?
Will the fabric be sturdy enough to tolerate stress on the seams?
Will the heaviness of the fabric cause bulky seams?
And to decide on an appropriate amount of drape:
Will the fabric have enough drape to flow the way I want?
Will the fabric have enough stiffness to have the structure and crispness I want?
Hi! I loved your Mollymauk embroidery patterns but Im struggling to find a way to transfer the patterns to the fabric 😭
Could you please tell me which method did you use? 🥺
I use white graphite transfer paper (w/JoAnns gone I can only get it on amazon, but check your local craft and quilt stores as well). It works great on cotton, linen, and most satins. Silk like dupioni is harder to use it in, and a plush fabric like chenile or wool it hardly works at all so be sure to test it on a scrap first.
also be very sure of where you want to draw your marks, once its on the fabric it doesn't come off until run through a washing machine. pro: it won't fade during the embroidery / paint process. con: if you mess up you're kinda stuck.
I hope this helps!
Update on Elizabethan-inspired Mollymauk! We're at hour 132 and almost done with shirt sleeve number one!
I am begging you. Please learn about stress/discomfort tolerance. Practice raising it. You need this to survive. If someone online can ruin your day with a throwaway comment, you desperately need to understand discomfort tolerance and consciously, systematically build that shit.
Also! Stress tolerance is such an important skill that having a learning disability in that area is a major symptom of a whole lot of other disabilities/mental illnesses! Struggling with it is a huge part of life! It sucks!
Am I saying everyone with misophonia needs to listen to chewing noises all day? No. But you need to find ways to tolerate it enough that you don't treat others like shit if they make a mouth noise near you.
No, you don't have to read the fic with your trigger tags. But you do need to be able to handle scrolling past the tags without being upset.
It is hard! But not having it also makes you so so so easy to manipulate. That grandma is racist AF because her mom raised her to be uncomfortable around black people and she never fought that discomfort. Trans people make so many cis people uncomfortable and that discomfort turns into bigotry real fast.
Letting your discomfort dictate your actions and beliefs about things is a great way to become a terrible person. Learn. Discomfort. Tolerance.