The Unqualified Weaponsmith

Well I've decided on a costume.  I'm going to attempt Lady Sylvanas Windrunner.  This is going to take all year.  The most difficult part to her costume is her longbow:

I plan on starting the longbow soon.  Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures and post my progress.  I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures of things!

Looking at the stuff that I will be making, this costume will require very little sewing.  There is, however, a great deal of pattern making involved.  I've already hand sketched the bow into 1:1 scale pieces.  It's going to be an interesting challenge.  I have no artistic skills.  I can't draw and I can't sculpt (honestly I've never tried sculpting).  I'm excited, overwhelmed, and terrified all at the same time.  I do have a plan, though.  But like most of my plans, it'll change at least 15 times before I finish it.  

I don't want to abandon sewing for this project.  I would still like to do other side projects in between.  After my last project, I've decided that I need a dress form.  My sewing life will be SO much easier with a dress form instead of trying to fit things to myself.

I'm thinking about working on a shirt next.  I haven't done sleeves yet so it'll be an interesting learning experience.  I'm looking at Butterick 5857.

It's cute and it look works appropriate.  And it doesn't look all that difficult, either.  Since I'm (trying) to lose weight, I don't want to spend a lot of money and effort on something I'll (hopefully) not fit into in a few months.

I also would like to try my hand at making a coat.  Winter is coming so it would be a good project.  I saw a REALLY cute coat inspired by Doctor Who.  It was TARDIS blue and had an adorable tulle trim along the bottom.  I may do something like that.  So many projects in my head but so little time to actually do them...

So what next?

I have a lot of sewing project ideas floating around in my head, but I'm not sure which one to do next!  I do know that I need to come up with a good cosplay idea for next year.  I'd love to do Ms. Marvel, but that requires skin tight clothing and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that yet.

I have been Ms. Marvel before, but only in animated form:

Being a World of Warcraft player, I've always loved Lady Sylvanas Windrunner.  She is absolutely my favorite character in the Warcraft universe.  It would be a massive undertaking.  I have NO idea how I would do it, but it would be amazing to cosplay as the Dark Lady.  I'd also have to really focus on getting into "bare mid drift" shape.  That's going to be just as difficult as armor crafting!!

First things first: Halloweenizing my Twilight Sparkle costume.  I do need to make a jacket for it because late October is cold here in Pennsylvania.  I don't think I'll enjoy freezing my hooves off on Trick or Treat night!  And Lily needs a cute Spike costume.  I really should work on those things before I jump into another project.  It'll be difficult to find the perfect jacket for this costume.  I have enough dark purple costume satin left and I bet I could double line it with fleece to make it a little warmer.  I am not looking forward to working with costume satin again...

Being Twilight Sparkle for a day

I haven't posted for a while.  It's been a busy few weeks, but I managed to finish my costume!!!!!  I went to the Baltimore Comic Con as Princess Twilight Sparkle! 

An adorable Pinkie Pie and myself as Princess Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Twilight Sparkle with Doctor Who balloons!

Princess Twilight Sparkle (Laurel) with Steampunk Harley Quinn (Jenn)

I can't even begin to tell you how many little girls asked to have their picture with me.  It was so cute!!  I really wish I had gotten more pictures of myself though...  I plan on wearing the costume again for Halloween so I'll make sure to get pictures then.  I'm also planning on making a Spike costume for Lily (my chihuahua).

OK so now on to the costume.  The dress was modeled after the Twilight Sparkle from the MLP movie "Equestria Girls":

The dress was McCall 6283.  I didn't deviate from the pattern because I didn't have much time to complete it.  I originally was planning on a corset and steampunk inspired skirt until I saw the movie and realized I'd rather be that version Twilight Sparkle.  Unfortunately I already had lavender and purple costume satin in my stash because I would have gone out to get the exact color of the dress.  I still think it turned out well!

The wings definitely took the most time to complete.  I probably worked a good 20 hours on them.  I constructed the skeleton from 12 gauge wire, made the large feathers by from craft foam (they're also textured to look like real feathers), and hand dyed all of the other feathers.  It was a

The horn and ears were made from Model Magic and were incredibly lightweight (so lightweight that I didn't even notice them on).

I don't think I'll EVER want to make wings again - but I'm sure I will.  I loved having wings!!  I do know that I will probably never dye feathers again.  That was just awful.

So now begins the task of deciding what costume to do for next year.  I'm taking suggestions, so let me know in the comments!

More focus issues and steampunk costumes

Enough distractions!!  I am finishing this costume before I start any new projects (no matter how adorable those project ideas are).

Today I am inserting the busk for my corset.  I have truly been dreading this.  I ordered a 13" busk for a full length corset because I was told to use a busk that is long enough to stay straight and not poke me uncomfortably when I'm seated.  Now that I have it, I'm concerned that it won't be long enough.  It's a lot flimsier than I expected so I will make sure to reinforce it with boning.  My goal is to have my corset completely together tonight.  I may need to reevaluate the length of this corset before I start measuring for boning.  I'm not sure I need for it to be so long.  I love the elegance of long line corsets, but I may have to save that for another costume.  It really depends on how it looks with the kind of skirt I'm thinking about.

The next thing that I need to start planning for this costume is the skirt.  I haven't gotten the fabric OR the pattern for my skirt yet.  I've changed my mind on this at least 20 times but I think I've finally settled on Simplicity 1819 for the skirt.  Possibly the jacket as well.  With all the work I'm putting into this costume, the last thing I want is for it to look thrown together.

My bestie is doing a steampunk inspired costume as well, so it will be pretty cool to coordinate especially since the characters we're portraying have NOTHING to do with one another.  She is using Simplicity 1558 as the inspiration for her skirt.

We both have a lot to do and the convention is in two weeks.  Stress?  Maybe a little.

At least I started it

In my last post I mentioned that I purchased my sewing machine to make a costume.  The first piece of this costume is a corset based on Butterick 5662.  I have the back half sewn together as of tonight.

I still have a lot to go, but seeing this portion finally together makes me feel like I've made some progress (ignoring the fact that I haven't even started my skirt or jacket yet).  I have 20 days to finish.  No pressure...