Dragon Makes Stuff

85% Cosplay WIP; 10% Cat pictures; 5% Pie.

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Tutorial requests?

I’ve spent the past week (literally. hours. every single day) rebuilding our website from scratch – new database and everything – and I’ve determined that several of our tutorials are obsolete, mostly because technology has moved on (really, who still needs a tutorial on how to neutralize the yellow tone of a 613A wig to make it look more gray? We can just BUY gray wigs now! They actually exist!).

So since I’m making more space on our tutorials page, are there any tutorials people would like to see? I’m looking for specific how-to topics that can be addressed in a few photos and step-by-step instructions, rather than broad or general topics (I don’t have time to write a full course on how to sew, sorry). :)

If you have something you think falls within my skill set, reply or send me a message and suggest it! (Note: What actual tutorials I am able to produce will depend on time and other resources, but I’ll try to entertain reasonable suggestions, or at least point you toward a decent tutorial if one already exists.)

[tokozdragon]

How to make your own piping / how to sew in piping to a seam and to a hem would be really cool! 

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Doing dye tests today. Everything I have is coming out too navy. Can anyone recommend a true royal blue dye for cotton? Looking for something intense, almost ultramarine.

#dyeing #fabric #wip #cosplay https://www.instagram.com/p/BslhSgOD67Y/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=u3nub6d5gs7k

[tokozdragon]

Have you tried contacting somewhere like Dharma Trading or Jacquard directly for advice? I’ve had really good luck contacting Jacquard itself when I had a question about the results I’ve gotten with their basic and disperse dyes. 

[tokozdragon]

Progress!

[tokozdragon]

Also holiday pie happened way early, because there was a killer sale on apples. Harmony and Justice are about 22 inches high by the way, and the containers are about 1.5 quarts each. 

[tokozdragon]

Sleeves assembled! I need to baste the top of the horsehair to the underlining, but otherwise, not too shabby. No pictures, but I also managed to dye-match well enough the replacement pieces of the overskirt so that’s happening now too finally. Winter depression makes it so hard to work on this stuff... 

[the-scottish-costume-guy]

Tips to make hand sewing easier on yourself if you are new to it/get joint pain very easily:- -Use a thimble           -Preferably an open top one since those dont press on your nails and they often have the added bonus of a snugger fit. Find out your size and wear one whenever you have a needle in your hand. There are tutorials everywhere for how to use one. Honestly it’ll make your life so so much easier.  -Good lighting           - A good lamp will let you see your threads easier and it’ll make it simpler to stay where you should be. -Only double thread if necissary           - If its not bearing weight or strain use a single thread. Its quicker to thread up and less likely to tangle.

-Dont knot your thread          - Its quicker to do three very small stitches on top of each other to start and finish. Its also much much more secure.

-Make sure your thread isnt expired         - Threads have an expiry date. If your thread is snapping a lot its probably expired, do yourself a favour and get a new one.  -Sew on a flat surface.          - Use a table for support, takes the strain off your other wrist and also keeps your stitches neater. -Invest in arthritis gloves or thin fingerless gloves         -These keep your hands supported and also trap in heat, letting your joints be a bit more flexible for longer. Its like warming up before working out - its better for your hands to be warm, if they get cold it’ll hurt more. -Mark your lines.        - Use chalk on the wrong side of the fabric and mark where you are trying to sew. This is more important if you are new or dont sew a lot (I mean a lot a lot - you start being able to estimate measurements pretty well after a while and know your own seam allowances).

[tokozdragon]

Dyes and pies, dear tumblr! Both in the same location, but NEVER at the same time. I finally got around to dying the overskirt panels, in part because there was a sale on apples and if I wanted to make PIE, I first had to be done with dying. 

It took a lot of test strips, and even then my first batch had some uneven parts. My dyepot is only a soup pot and thus I could only fit one panel at a time into the dyebath. For having to basically dye-match myself on every panel, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. I ended up with three (out of 12) panels that’re too different to work out, and the front part of the shirt. The rest will do. 

I was able to overdye the shirt with a little bit of blue to fix, but the skirt panels are too bright. I tried discharging them with Rit Color Remover (which is supposed to be effective on disperse dyes), and while it did discharge somewhat, it still wasn’t close enough to work for what I wanted.  I ended up recutting and redying three new panels instead, and of course this was almost a week later and dye-matching myself after a week didn’t go very well. :(

So, now I’m taking a break with pie before I try to figure out what to do next. I don’t have enough fabric to recut and redye them a third time.

The pies are mincemeat and miniature apple-cranberry-ginger.  

[tokozdragon]

I have so many of these, and I need so many more, and I don’t even know how I’m going to attach them...

[tokozdragon]

I am finally getting to the cutting of the real fabric for this. Amusingly those three different tracing paper patterns are not the final ones. I easily went through 5 different paper patterns trying to get the curve right. :/ 

[tokozdragon]

Hello again tumblr, only half-forgotten this time. It’s been a lot of muslin and paper prototyping since the last post. The sleeve went through about two iterations in paper before moving to scrap fabric, and from that I thankfully only had to adjust one part before moving on to cutting my real fabric. The skirt parts got cut onto real fabric too, and all of that got prepped for dying (serged edges and machine-basted any weird stitching guides) The shirt body had three paper iterations, one of which I just sewed as paper because I was so tired of it, and two fabric iterations.  I ended up with a pattern that’s a mash-up of three different patterns, but it fits and the armscyes aren’t weird.

Only one paper version for the waist cincher, but I had to do 3 fabric versions because I kept getting the parts confused. Now that I know it fits, I can start adjusting it to match the character. whee.   And also my cat. because cats. 

[tokozdragon]

Top gem is working pretty darn well, too! For this I cut out the shape, cut that in half, flipped the parts around and glued the curved edges together. Then I put a chunk of craft foam on the bottom and trimmed it until it sat flat. And now sanding. so much sanding. I like the close-ups that show all the different layers. 

[tokozdragon]

For the skirt underskirt gem, I needed something that was curved, but not too curved. I actually bought an 18-inch beachball, but ended up using my desk fan. Some measurements and my flexible curve later, and I think it’s looking pretty good! 

[tokozdragon]

The back patterning went super easily. I’m suspicious. ... 

[tokozdragon]

Well, I decided that the shape of the hoop was wrong and cut down all of the steel boning in it. Now it looks really wacky and small on its own, but looks right with a petticoat. 

The underskirt is doing most of what I want it to, so hurray horsehair braid. I could probably have used smaller stuff, but I’d already redone it 3 times by this point, so I’m just letting it go.

The overskirt drafting is going suspiciously well. Like seriously, it took me less than 4 hours to draw out the curve, slice it into pieces and bang out a muslin mock-up that I actually don’t hate. I need to draft the back parts yet, so it could still go horribly wrong.  

[tokozdragon]

Did I post these? I don’t remember if I posted these. I have made several press molds, both out of moldmaking rubber like here, and out of paper mache clay when that ran out. I am now mass producing (well, for me) a ton of things for the skirt and other armor bits. The circles are just 2-part plastic christmas ornaments from Hobby Lobby.

[tokozdragon]

Hurray forgetting why you bought fabric and thus having to overdye it to the correct color using dye you found in your laundry closet!

[tokozdragon]

I am the best, most seriousest cosplayer evar.