@clevermird tagged me to share some WIP! Thank you for the tag!
My family and I joined a D&D group at my Friendly Local Game Store, two weeks before their resident DM had to move to Korea (no shade! It's a great opportunity and I wish him well, nonironically, non-sarcastically, forreal, enjoyed both sessions I played). So my husband volunteered to DM because everyone wanted to keep playing. It's been a great group so far and I'm having a lot of fun.
The past month has been a flurry of character creation. Two for the previous DM's one-shots and my current one, a Warforged Fey Wanderer ranger who goes by Herne (as in Herne the Hunter, it/its). Here's what I shared on the group's discord about it:
It was a scout, sent ahead into the Woods and vanishing along with the rest of Maril's army. It emerged 64 years later, physically altered and no memory of what it did or what happened to it during its missing time. It spent the past year as a guide and hunter for folk along the Dales Road. It is known and welcome in the towns by the name given by the first person who encountered it: Herne the Hunter.
Herne is a Warforged: 7' tall, 320 lbs, constructed to be an imposing harbinger of the Empire. While still imposing, it is clear the Empire no longer controls it. The "muscles" and "tendons" beneath are root- or vine-like rather than alchemical. It has two principal eyes, glowing and changing color with its emotions. Six smaller eyes change with the primaries and complement their function. Its most notable feature are a pair of small branches like antlers emerging from its head adding another six inches to its height. Over the course of the day, they bud, grow and mature leaves, color as in autumn, and fall when Herne enters stasis, only to bud again in the morning.
A bit in character voice (and incomplete, so technically counts as WIP):
I was built for war.
Literally. I am built for war and my memories are of conquest and little else. Between wars I sleep, dreamless.
I saw much war.
I woke here in this forest. I didn't know why I--we--were here. I did not ask and was not told. Never told, unless it mattered. Never asked; if I needed to know I would be told, because it mattered. Otherwise it did not, and I would not be told.
I was sent into the Wood. I had a mission. A directive and a mission.
I... do not quite remember what they were.
I know they are no longer important to me.
I am changed.
and finally some doodles and session notes. but mostly doodles.
uh, tagging @serialephemera and @knamil and @figjelly if you are so inclined. And anyone else who wants to play; no pressure
hey, cosplay sempai, I am wondering if you have any tips or tutorials for doing very revealing cosplays?
I've been thinking about cosplaying Lelith Hesparax from Warhammer 40k and it's super outside my comfort zone (unsure if I can send links in asks, but she basically wears a leather thong and bikini top with thigh-high boots and some armor bits) and have no idea where to start.
I was thinking maybe about attaching at least the thong bottom to some skin-tone leggings or tights for modesty/warmth and to keep everything in place?
Sorry for the vague-ass ask, I've done some cosplay before and am a moderately experienced seamstress, but nothing like this and now I can't get it out of my head. Any advice or links to tutorials about construction and/or building up the confidence to wear such a thing in public would be much appreciated :)
Hello there!
Oh boy you have asked the right person about this!!
I have an entire panel about skimpy cosplay (slides can be found here), but it's a bit outdated and that's just the slides, not my commentary. (I have a different but related panel about underwear here.)
For this specific case, you have a couple of options, but most come down to attaching pieces to skin-tone fabric.
One option would be to construct or purchase a full bodysuit that the pieces attach to. I can't tell if this character has grey skin or if it's just stylized normal pale human skin tone, but if she has grey skin, a full bodysuit would be your best bet, since it would negate the need for bodypaint. (I assume you would have mentioned if bodypaint was an issue though!) You can also do a partial bodysuit that's open in key areas: cleavage and stomach. The rest would be covered by skin tone fabric that the garments could attach to.
The advantage of this method would be full security with no risk of slippage. The drawback is that the effect is a bit less realistic, since fabric isn't skin, and if you made a bodysuit (or depending on where you got one), there would be seams. It would be a bit more realistic if you did a partial bodysuit, since skin would show in key areas.
The second option would be exactly what you suggested -- attaching the bottoms to tights. I would 1000000% recommend tights for this costume for many reasons: modesty (you don't want your actual ass out at a con!), warmth, making your legs look better, preventing slippage, etc. Her bottoms seem to come up pretty high on her torso on the sides, so you may need to attach them to dance body tights rather than regular dance tights. You can also construct your own tights, but these would have seams (preferably on the inner thighs, since the seams would hide well there, especially given the shapes of the costume).
If you make your own tights or bodysuit, I'd go with either a matte milliskin (opaque) or non-compression power mesh (sheer, so hides better but shows more).
It's a bit hard to tell what's going on with the top, and different references seem to be slightly different. Some have a cutout with underboob showing, and some (like this) seem to cup under the breasts, so it would be up to you on what style you want.
You can also use a silicone or fabric and foam chestplate if you don't want your actual skin showing. There's nothing to hide the neck seam, so it would be a little more difficult with a fabric and foam one, but you would be able to attach the top to it, either permanently (sewing) or temporarily (pins, snaps, etc.). Here's a post I wrote about these.
You probably don't need these for security, but they would be helpful if you want bigger boobs for the costume and don't want your actual skin showing there.
For constructing the top, if you go with the style that cups the breasts, use an underwire. You can use two separate underwires with a busk (better if you want a more customizable fit) or a monowire (better if you want it to truly cup under and have a smooth line there). Either way, you might want to put some foam cups in there for a bit of extra support and coverage. You can cut into these around the cutouts to remove material and they keep their shape. (I did this on Spellbinder Angela SD3 lol)
I'd take a little bit of liberty with the design and instead of totally shredded, unsupported fabric on the bottom, put a band of lingerie elastic (silicone backed if possible) around your torso to help keep everything in place.
You can use the shredded bits along the red line I drew to kind of fake it. Putting lingerie elastic in the other shredded bits that come off the sides of the cups (the three just above the red line) would also helps hold it in place and support you. Bras are supported largely from the band, and hiding a bit of structure that encircles the torso would do a lot of this work for you -- as long as the garment encircles the torso fully with some sort of structure (the underwires, lingerie elastic in those center front bands, around the back), it will help hold it in place.
Another option, in addition to the elastic, is to fill in a lot of those little holes in the bra band with skin tone mesh, whether you do a full bodysuit or not. A full bodysuit means you can just sew them directly to the suit, and not means that you would have a solid piece of mesh in there to help hold everything together. (Basically don't chop up the mesh into little pieces for each hole, but rather make a solid band and sew the straps to that, and then cut the edge of the mesh band to shape so it doesn't show at top and bottom.) Since the back doesn't really show, I'd use the piece of mesh as the closure as well by putting a set of bra hooks and eyes back there, and making sure the black straps line up on either side. (Your other option, if not doing mesh underneath, would be to create three front hook closures, like front bra or swimsuit clasps, at the center front busk and the two straps.)
I'd also add a bit of boning to the top along the sides to help hold it closer to your body and give a little extra support.
As always, when wearing an underwear cosplay, wear underwear underneath it. Undies under your tights, pasties on your breasts. It never hurts to have a bit of extra security, and it'll help the costume lie nicer on your body.
As for working up the nerve, I have a few tips, which may or may not already be covered in the panel I linked above:
Wear it at home before wearing it out. This is both to make sure the costume functions how you want it to and to get you comfortable wearing it
If you can, wear a different skimpy cosplay out somewhere to work your way up to it
Making sure the costume fits your body well and doesn't have risk of slipping out of place or revealing too much will help a LOT. That sense of security in the costume is really key, I find.
Go to con with a handler, Just In Case. If anyone is being weird, the handler (could be a friend, partner, etc.) can help defuse the situation.
Bring something to cover up with. If you feel self conscious, too cold, etc., put on the cover up. Also good if you are doing a location shoot or leaving the direct con area, since a lot of places that aren't the con won't like that you aren't wearing much.
RE: problematic historic eras- I used to do reenactments at an 1850s historical site. It was a ton of fun to get dressed up in the huge dresses with all the underlayers (corsets are way more comfortable than you think!) and make bread and garden and play charades for the visitors. I'll always have affection for the victorian era because of that
My county used to do Civil War reenactments, but I haven’t gone to any in a while. Which is a shame. History, good and bad, is one of the universal things, outside of blood, that connects us all. We should all partake more often in these events.
I’d love to participate in a civil war reenactment type event! Something about 1800′s America just captivates me, and I’d love to have experienced it firsthand (even though I definitely would have gotten sick and died haha).
If you get a star ⭐️ in your inbox. It means your moot appreciates you, and your efforts in the community. Send this to 10 mutuals to continue the love! ♥
I love how friendly you are and how willing to just gab with people of all sorts!
//Well bless your sweet soul, darlin'! I'm so happy to have gotten to know you <3
clevermird replied to your post: clevermird replied to your post: ...
OK, good! I’m not great at picking up on that, especially online. I don’t have any sources (and all my books are still at my parents’ house), but I definitely recall several jedi getting horrendously sweaty and dirty at one point and not even considering that there was some way to deal with it besides a shower, so I’d guess that if there was a technique for it, it would be rare and not well-known
Awesome!
Well, not for the Jedi, but very good to know. It’s remarkably hard to work out exactly what the Force can and can’t be used for from things like Wookieepedia alone. And I haven’t read that many of the more Jedi focused books.
clevermird replied to your post: … Which brings me to an incredibly weird question....
Based on what I’ve seen in the EU, you cannot bathe using the Force. Or maybe this question was a joke, sorry if it was :P
Not a joke. I’m just weird enough that, when writing a fic involving Jedi hiding somewhere, I find myself wondering if they start to long for a nice long bath and hair that doesn’t itch, or if the Force can take care of it.
I’m somewhat reassured that some EU author(s) were equally weird and also considered this.
clevermird replied to your post: In A New Hope, Obi Wan states that “In [his]...
Don’t know how it affects your theory, but the comics that tie into KotOR feature a guy whose connection to the Force mostly manifests as his being able to unconsciously manipulate luck/fate/whatever you want to call it
Zayne Carrick? "The Force…does not want me dead. It does not want me happy, but it does not want me dead."
His beliefs seem to go to the second interpretation. But, really, it could still be either. (Or both.)
@clevermird submitted:
Hey, it’s the person with the question about sailor collars from earlier. First off, I’m sorry if it sounded like I was blaming you for the project not going right, that was not my intention.
Second, here’s a couple of pictures of what I’m talking about (and yes, I’m aware that the neckline is way further up on my left side, I’m basically just holding it on with my fingers and it slid. The problem is still there even if it’s in the right position.)
I could try taking the interfacing out (it’s iron-on that I did end up catching in the hem in a few places, but shouldn’t be too hard to pull out). The other option is to take some kind of darts in the shoulder area, but I’d like to leave that as the nuclear option, because I think it would be fairly obvious, even if I was careful about doing the trim.
No problem! I don’t feel blamed at all. :]
The problem appears to be in the pattern itself, sadly. It won’t be an easy fix. It isn’t sticking out too far (that looks to be okay), but see that large wrinkle in the middle that starts at the neckline in the center back and extends to the bottom? That’s cause by there being too much fabric in the pattern, and that fabric has nowhere to go.
Here’s how I would fix it: make a mockup of the pattern. Where that wrinkle is, slash all the way down the mockup so you have two halves, and then overlap them until there is no more wrinkle. (Sewing this together would make it easier to tell – make sure you don’t curve the seam. Pinning can also work.) Redraw your pattern based off of the new mockup, and make a second mockup. If this fixes the wrinkle problem, try again on your actual fabric. Judging from the side picture, the amount removed may end up being more of a wedge or triangle shape that is larger at the bottom than a rectangle shape, since there seems to be more fabric toward the bottom of the collar, creating a more pronounced wrinkle.
Sadly, I don’t think this is fixable on the currently made collar, since it would require a seam up the back, and you’d likely have to square the bottom edge again (so it isn’t at a funky angle from where you cut out the wedge shape), which would be near impossible on a finished piece. You can retry it in a mockup, though, and see if you can fix the fit in the pattern.
I hope that helps! sorry that your collar didn’t work out :[
