| And 2009 continues to be the year of fitting flubs... |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|11:22 pm] |
Boy, I feel like a dunce. ._.; I cut out my fabric for a quick summer skirt last night and sewed for about an hour today before realizing it was too small. It was supposed to be a flared skirt with an elastic waistband and part of the problem was that the pattern called for 60” fabric and the stuff I wanted to use was 45”. There was a lot of ease in the hips and I found a smaller size would just fit my fabric when shortened 3”. Since the waistband was going to be elastic, I figured I didn’t need to worry much about it and forgot to make sure the measurement at the waistline would be large enough to get over my hips. -_-;; I haven’t got enough fabric left to try again with that pattern but could probably make a different skirt.
The extremes of my sewing this year seem laughable. I’ve managed to build my first corset, first panniers, and first hoopskirt. I made my phoenix prop in 3 weeks. I made Tamaki’s ballgown in 3 weeks. And yet I mess up on stupid stuff like this; this is the fourth garment where I’ve had fitting issues this year. o_O
On a more cheerful note, I finished my first project from the Omiyage book a few days ago. ^_^ It’s the pouch design titled “Candy Twist.” The pattern called for one light fabric, one dark fabric, and checkered fabric so I only picked the floral prints. (Colors are a bit murky in the pictures; it looks nicer in person.) I used more of the checkered fabric for lining and the bottom of the bag is gathered into a fabric-covered button. I want to try more stuff from that book and will probably do one of the flower-shaped pouches next.
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| Happy July 4th! |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|09:07 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  content | ] |
Hope those of you in the U.S. are having a nice July 4th. ^_^
It’s been a pretty uneventful day here other than me finally getting a sturdy, full-size ironing board for my sewing room. :-D (The previous ironing board collapsed while I was ironing something a few months back so I’ve been using my little tabletop ironing board lately.) After the fireworks, I’m planning to get started on a quick summer skirt, using some fabric I bought last year.
Tomorrow should be shopping with my family and maybe a trip to JoAnn’s. I want to make some cute summer clothes before I get back to costume stuff. Still have one batch of photos to post; that’ll probably be in a day or two since I don’t feel like doing it tonight. |
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| Photos, Part 2 |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|07:40 pm] |
Next set of photos includes stuff from Anime Boston and I finally have decent pics of my red Ayame! ^_^ (It’s the outfit from when he barges into Yuki’s parent teacher conference in the manga.)
I actually made that costume for AB 2007 but never got a proper photoshoot of it back then and haven’t worn it much because I ended up not liking how it looked on me. -_- Since I got picked as one of the kings for cosplay chess this year with the costume, I figured it would be a good time to get better pictures and wore it for like an hour on Friday morning.
( more of the flamboyant tailor )
And we took some Eugenie pics on Thursday evening. This one was taken under an exit sign and amuses me since it makes it look like I have pink hair. :-D (I still haven’t cosplayed a character with unnaturally colored hair after all these years!) The thing on my left is actually the piano in the Sheraton. I really wanted to get pics with it since Eugenie plays the piano in that dress. But it didn’t work out since the lighting there was bad and my brother didn’t pack a flash. :-/
( two more Gankutsuou pics ) |
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| Photos, Part 1 |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|08:02 pm] |
Yay! My brother gave me my photos from the past couple of months so I have stuff to post. ^_^ I’m going to split it up into 2 or 3 posts and start with AnimeNext stuff first since there aren’t many pics of my Tamaki costume yet. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get pics outside with the rain that day so these were taken around 1AM after the hotel cleared out. So, if I look tired, that’s why! ^_^;;;
Tamaki, you idiot! Poofy ballgowns aren’t meant for playing commoners’ games! :-P
( more pics of the Host Club King… Or should that be Queen? XD )
And I have one of Count D’s peacock dress with the phoenix prop. Old costume but I wanted to take a pic of it with the bird now that I have one. Even if it’s not the right bird to match the artbook picture. ^_^;;
My brother is still working on all his other pics from Sakura Matsuri, Anime Boston, and AnimeNext. I know he has pics of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) animeangel, neoangelwink ryoko sakuralenayuy usa_ko and yeu. Plus, some group ones from Sakura Matsuri press day that include neo2469. He says he’s planning to finally make a Flickr account and post stuff himself so I’ll put up a link after he’s done. |
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| Saturday Shopping |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|08:44 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | crafts | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | content | ] |
Last year, I bought a copy of this book about Japanese style gifts made from fabric. It has a lot of cute pouches and little things pieced together from different fabrics. Since I’m taking a break from cosplay stuff for a few weeks, I thought this would be a good time to finally try out some of the projects in there. I’ve been slowly collecting bits of fabric to use for them (both Japanese print handkerchiefs bought at cons and regular quilting cottons) but wanted some more before I started. So, I went shopping for supplies yesterday. ^_^
I went by Daytona Trimming first to pick up some cords to use as drawstrings. Wasn’t sure what colors I would end up using yet and they were 3 yards/$1 so I bought a bunch of different colors. I walked over to Kinokuniya next and saw a parade going up the street outside. Had tea in the cafe and picked up the latest volume of Trinity Blood for my sister’s birthday present.
My last stop was going to be near FIT so I started wandering downtown after that. I was rather surprised when I went by Toho Shoji and saw half of the storefront boarded up. o_O They were open and things looked mostly normal on the inside. But except for some broken fragments at the top, the glass on the boarded up side was all gone. The doors were also missing and the metal door frame slightly warped. o_o; Made me wonder if a car had hit the store but the fire hydrant and trees nearby seemed unscathed. Whatever happened, I hope no one was hurt. The shop was normal the last time I was in there to get beads for my Tamaki earrings so whatever it was must have happened within the last few weeks.
Kept walking down 6th Ave and found a street fair. Looked through some of the tables and picked up a pretty compact for $6. ^_^ Saw some glass pendants and beads for sale cheaply, too, but didn’t have ideas for things to make with any of them so that was the only thing I bought.
Finally met up with ifuritaoni, who I’d made plans to hang out with, and we browsed through The City Quilter on 25th Street. I’d heard it mentioned before by a friend who quilts but it was my first time actually going there. They had mostly cottons and tons of prints, some of them rather quirky or random. (among other things, Jetsons characters, chocolate covered strawberries, and handcuffs o_O) There were some that reminded me of lolita clothes, too. I ended up buying 1/4 yard each of 16 different fabrics, mostly Japanese prints. ^_^ (No, I’m not going to try to put them all into a single project. :-P) If anyone is ever looking for Japanese prints around the city, I suggest checking this shop out since I’ve never seen much of those styles in the fashion district.
Went downtown to get a ride home with my father. I guess I was lucky because as soon as I got in the car, it started raining and within a few minutes, it was pouring despite the sun still being out! Saw a rainbow after it stopped.
Got home and then went out again for dinner with my family and relatives to celebrate my sister’s birthday. It was a pretty nice Saturday. ^_^ I’d like to do this kind of stuff more often over the summer. If anyone wants to go shopping for fabric or crafty things together or have lunch sometime, let me know. I’m free most Saturdays (probably doing things with my family for July 4th though) and could possibly go out once in a while on a weekday. |
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| Adventures in a mini Chinatown |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|07:59 pm] |
My brother and I hung out with neoangelwink on Wednesday, which was fun. ^_^ We went out for dim sum, something I haven’t done for about a year and a half. We ate at a large restaurant where the servers pushed carts of dim sum around to the tables and customers selected from what was there. Carrie told me that she hadn’t seen it served that way before and I had a bit of trouble identifying a few of the dishes for her. ^_^;
After lunch, we walked around a bit and showed her the Chinese supermarket nearby. It was amusing due to some of the stranger Asian foods we found in there. (pickled grapes? O_o) And it was probably funnier because there would be mundane American products like Ragu spaghetti sauce mixed in on the shelves among the unusual stuff. XD We also saw lots of Asian snacks, including many flavors of Pocky and a mysterious metal bucket with Hello Kitty pictures but no indication in English of its contents.
Yesterday, I got my photo CD from Costume Con with pics of all the masquerade and fashion show entries. So, I now have a few pics of 19th Century D with Suioh. Not sure whether I’ll get to have the costume and prop together at an anime con sometime; the costume alone is cumbersome which is why I’ve been carrying the phoenix around with some of my simpler D outfits. I also got my DVD of the masquerades a while back. Have to see if I can figure out how to get my walk-on off the disc and posted somewhere. I never upload videos so I don’t know.
( a couple more pics ) |
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| AnimeNext report |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|10:19 pm] |
Kind of late but here’s my AnimeNext report.
The days leading up to the con were pretty crazy since it was only 2 1/2 weeks after Anime Boston. I really wanted a new costume to wear, considering I’d only finished one costume since last September, and I basically made Tamaki’s ballgown in 3 weeks. I only had the hoopskirt done before I left for AB so I didn’t get much sleep the last couple of days before the con. And I still spent about 3 hours at the con hand sewing. ._.; I’ve got to stop making a habit out of this; it’s already the second con this year where I’ve finished stuff at the hotel and I never had to do that before this year. So, things were a bit rough prior to the con but I still had fun wearing that silly dress and got to see a lot of friends. ^_^
I saw about a quarter of my friends list at the con, although there were a few I only saw in passing and never got to talk to. *waves to animeangelblue, blackjackie999, chienverde, dressdragn, hikaruchan, hystericraider, ifuritaoni, lady_ava, lampbane, loudnbothered, luv_blindly, natalie526, neoangelwink, nerdraeg, ryoko, sailormo, sakuralenayuy, selphie84, snuzzlebunnies, thedreamerworld, twilitesea, usa_ko, vikki, wildhorseranma, yeu*
( AnimeNext ramblings )
( impressions of the new location )
Now that AnimeNext is over, I’m going to take a break from costume stuff for several weeks. As much as I like cosplaying, it was too crammed having 3 of my 4 cons for this year within a month and a half. x_x (With only NYAF left, I almost feel as if I could write a year end post now!) I’ll probably plot for future costumes, pick up some little crafty projects, and maybe even sew myself a summer dress but don’t intend to actually make any costume stuff for a month or so. And I hope to have a chance to hang out with local friends more this summer. ^_^ |
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| A few AnimeNext notes and a meme |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|11:21 pm] |
Detailed AnimeNext report will come later but a few notes for now. Despite some problems like all the rain and barely getting Tamaki finished, I had an okay time and it was fun wearing the Ouran costume. The most amusing part had to be that I was supposed to be cosplaying a guy in that ridiculous poofy ballgown. XD Signed up to do a walk-on in the masquerade since I figured the costume would be good for the stage with all the sparkles I put on it. Won Best Craftsman Craftsmanship for it. ^_^
dressdragn just posted the pic above and ACP has video of my walk-on: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/vid/5270
A silly walk-on would probably have been more fitting, considering the scene from the anime but I didn’t have time to find silly music. ^_^; So, I used the finale version of “Night Waltz” from one of my favorite Sondheim scores, “A Little Night Music.” In a way, I guess it’s fitting, too, since that musical is basically a romantic farce with lots of love triangles and mismatched couples. The first part of the finale track is actually “Send in the Clowns,” where the main couple finally realizes they want to be together. The significance of my music choice was probably lost on the audience though for being so esoteric. :-P
Had a bit of back pain on Monday, which I assumed was just left over from the con (my brother said the hotel beds made his back hurt, too) plus being tired. But it got worse that night and kept me from sleeping well. My parents think it was from when I fell on Saturday night after getting my award. My foot slipped on the first step as I was leaving the stage and I sat down on the stage. ._.; Embarrassing but I didn’t fall hard and felt fine so I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. Not really anyone’s fault; I was just clumsy due to not being used to walking around in that giant hoopskirt. Went to the doctor yesterday morning and should be fine in several days. I was hoping to possibly hang out with people this weekend but I guess it’ll have to wait until next week now.
Meanwhile, I saw stillvisions post this and was kind of curious what people might answer…
Dress up doll Meme
You just received a brand new doll who makes their own costumes, me!
- What 3 costumes would you dress me in?
- What series / versions are they?
- Why would you want to see me in that costume? |
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| AnimeNext stuff |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|11:10 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cosplay | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  busy | ] |
I’ll be repeating my seam finishes workshop at AnimeNext. Like the one I did at AB, it will include French seams, flat-felled seams, bound seams, making bias tape, zigzagging, satin stitching, and pinking. There’s a $5 kit which includes a booklet with detailed directions and step by step pre-sewn fabric samples for each. If anyone’s interested in attending, I’m scheduled for 8:30-10:00PM Friday in Workshop 1. ^_^ (It’ll be listed on the schedule as “Cosplay: The Inside Story.”)
Not sure what I’m wearing at AnimeNext. If all goes well, I should have my Ouran cosplay done. But undecided about what else I would bring since I’ve only finished one new costume so far this year. I’d like to bring my phoenix along so that means some form of Count D. Sort of considering the 19th Century outfit since I haven’t worn it at Next yet but it has a lot of layers so I don’t know. Came across the shoes for my black Ayame costume last night and thought it might be amusing to teach my workshop as him since he’s a tailor; not decided yet though. Might bring my Terra since I haven’t worn it in so long and it ended up not getting packed for either Costume Con or AB.
And here’s the ridiculous, poofy pink thing in progress:
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| Anime Boston report |
[May. 31st, 2009|11:11 pm] |
A bit late but I’m finally posting my Anime Boston report. The con was busy but I had fun. ^_^ Hi to those I saw over there. *waves to animeangel, animeangelblue, blackmarth, doorknocker_dog, hystericraider, jezeroth, ngmaster, ryoko, sakuralenayuy, thedreamerworld, usa_ko, wildhorseranma, yeu* I know some others also went and I’m sorry I never ran into you. ;_; It seemed hard finding people this year and there were some I only saw for like 5 minutes the whole con. Also missed those who were at AB last year but attended different cons this year.
The seam finishes workshop went okay and cosplay chess was fun. For those who didn’t see the match, there actually was something to the little hints about chess in my earlier entries. Since Fruits Basket was important in the cosplot this year, I got cast as one of the kings with my red Ayame costume! :-D Didn’t enter any of the contests but still got hall ribbons from the staff vote contest for D’s tailcoat outfit and Eugenie. I wish I’d gotten to hang out and wander around more but my schedule just turned out to be more booked than usual due to the workshop and chess commitments.
( Anime Boston ramblings )
No pictures yet but there should be a lot eventually. My brother is kind of backlogged since he had finals right before AB. He has photos from Sakura Matsuri press day, the festival itself, and AB to process. Meanwhile, here’s a cosplay chess video I found that includes my entrance. (It’s a couple of minutes in.) That person has the rest of the game up, too.
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| Time for AB |
[May. 20th, 2009|10:48 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cosplay | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  okay | ] |
Still have some packing to do but I’m off to Anime Boston tomorrow morning. I’m bringing two Count D outfits (tailcoat and blue brocade plus the phoenix), an Ayame costume (the red one so I can show off the seam finishes inside during my workshop plus I still need decent pictures of that thing), and Eugenie. Not really sure when I'm wearing anything other than the tailcoat for the ball.
Those going to AB, I’ll see you this weekend! :-D If you want to know about seam finishes, come to my panel! (5:30 Friday in workshop 311) I’d rather not haul 40 kits back to NY after the con. >_>; And if you just want to laugh at me, come watch cosplay chess. I might actually get to do something this year. :-P
Those going to Anime North, Fanime, Animazement, or some other con this weekend, have fun! And for those not going to a con, have a nice weekend! ^_^ |
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| On my way to having a poofy red and pink dress... |
[May. 18th, 2009|10:39 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cosplay | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | busy | ] |
Went fabric shopping over the weekend and worked on this:
It has about 15 yards of steel hoop boning in it and it’s the first full hoopskirt I’ve made. Possibly would have been cheaper to buy a hoopskirt online but I wanted to make my own to be sure it would be sturdy enough for any huge poofy dress costumes I might want to do in the future. (I should probably nickname 2009 “the year of overbudget costumes.” >_>;)
Tried it on with my Cecelia dress to get an idea of how it’ll look under a dress. I think I’m going to make a bum roll to go with it for some more poof at the waist; right now it’s more of a cone shape up there than the bell shape I want.
Still need to figure out what to bring to Anime Boston and pack. I’m a bit undecided about costumes other than the one I need for chess since I don’t have anything new and need to save room for my workshop kits.
I guess I should bring my Eugenie costume so I can try to get pics with the grand piano in the Sheraton. And I need something dressy for the ball that I can also teach my workshop in since I’m scheduled right before the ball. Probably my tailcoat for Count D. I’d like to bring my phoenix along but will have to see if there’s room in my bag of props.
Still need to buy bus tickets, too. Should be taking the bus from Chinatown on Thursday morning as usual. |
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| Oops... |
[May. 14th, 2009|08:15 pm] |
Realized I posted the wrong time for my workshop at AB in my last entry. It starts at 5:30, not 5:00. ^_^;; If you’re going to AB and interested, I encourage you to come. ^_^ (Don’t feel obligated though if seam finishes aren’t your thing since there is a fee for the kit.) Tell your friends, too, if you think they’d be interested. I have 40 seats to fill!
Cosplay: The Inside Story
5:30-7:00PM Friday in Workshop 311 at Anime Boston
Tired of frayed messes inside your costumes? No serger? Learn what you can do with just a basic sewing machine! French, flat felled, bound seams and more! Attendees will put together a step-by-step guide with real fabric samples to keep. $5 kit fee
The booklet for the workshop has been written and is at Staples for copies. Final list of what I’ll be covering is:
French seams
Flat-felled seams
Bound seams
Making bias tape
Zigzagging
Satin stitching
Pinking
Each gets a page in the booklet with detailed instructions and corresponding pre-sewn fabric samples for each step. The workshop itself is mainly lecture and the booklet provides a reference for trying things at home later. ^_^ |
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| From one labor intensive project to the next... |
[May. 11th, 2009|11:33 pm] |
They’re not great but I took some pictures of Suioh yesterday. Definitely the most elaborate and time consuming prop I’ve made so far since I made all the feathers myself and nearly everything is sewn. The “eyes” in the tail feathers aren’t actually that dark; they’re the same green as in the wings with a spot of purple fused on and blue Swarovski crystals in the center. It got a bit rushed towards the end; I would have liked to do a nicer fan for the head and better feet if there had been more time. ^_^; But I think it turned out pretty well. I doubt I’ll carry this around with the 19th Century D outfit much since that costume is already rather hard to walk in. Maybe, I’ll use it with some of my simpler D outfits so people who weren’t at Costume Con can have a chance to see it in person.
Working on the seam finishes workshop for Anime Boston now. I’m currently scheduled for 5:00-6:30PM Friday in Workshop 311 and should have seats for 40. I’ve gotten all my fabric samples stitched and am writing the booklet now. Since I’m charging a materials fee, I’ll just take the booklet out for copies instead of trying to print 300-400 pages at home. It’s turning out to be a rather labor intensive workshop. I think it’s taken me about 8 hours over the past week to sew all the samples, cut them into little pieces, and stuff the completed sets into Ziploc bags. o_o;
Since there’s only a week and a half until AB, there’s definitely no time for me to finish anything new and it’s all going to be old costumes. Disappointing but I guess the workshop will help keep me busy plus I got cast in cosplay chess again. (Anyone else in chess this year?) Hoping to get PSOH photos with jezeroth at some point. And maybe, I’ll dig out my formal Terra since I haven’t worn it for 2 years; I was thinking of bringing it to Costume Con but was rushing to finish the phoenix and didn’t get around to gathering all the pieces.
Then, AnimeNext is two and a half weeks after AB. I should be repeating the seam finishes workshop there although I don’t have details yet. Have no idea what I’m wearing yet.
I’d love to have a new costume for Next but my options are pretty limited at this point. :-/ I can try to work out the pattern issues and finish Ekaterina. Or fix up the dress and make wings and accessories for the stained glass fairy I had originally intended for Costume Con. (This would probably be easiest because the dress is nearly done but I don’t really want to do it for Next since it has nothing to do with anime; plus the dress has a train so I’d want to avoid walking outside with it.) Third option would be try to find something I can make within the next month on top of finishing workshop preparations and attending AB; hard since I always end up liking elaborate designs.
Right now, I’m tempted to be silly and cosplay a guy in a big poofy dress. :-P I mentioned a few months back that I finally watched Ouran and was looking at Tamaki’s red and pink dress from the Zuka Club episode. Not my first choice of character since he’s such an idiot but it was the only dress I liked from that set and is probably one of the easier things on my list of costume ideas. The pattern I used for my Cecelia dress last year would be a good base for it so I don't think I would have patterning issues with it like all the other garments I've tried to sew lately. >_>; Plus, it’s been a while since I’ve made a dressy costume and I can make it sparkly. :-D |
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| Costume Con 27 report |
[May. 7th, 2009|02:37 pm] |
It’s been quite a while since I’ve made a real post so what I’ve been up to lately…
Besides rushing to finish my phoenix prop for Costume Con, I was at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last Tuesday to help with the Sakura Matsuri press day. The weather was lovely but ridiculously warm for late April; I was asked to wear my Sarah costume which wasn’t ideal for being outside in 80 degree weather. ^_^; But it was nice to get a chance to see the cherry trees since I wouldn’t be in town for the actual festival and it was fun chatting with people between pics. My brother tagged along since he didn’t have class that day so there should be pics later on.
And, of course, I went to Costume Con…
( Thursday: driving to Costume Con and finishing the thread-eating monster )
( Friday: Costume tea party )
( Saturday: panels and getting upstaged by a bird )
( Sunday: smocking workshop and watching more contests )
Met a bunch of new people over the weekend and got to see some who I hadn’t seen for a long time like kaijugal, sarcasm-hime, and sailormo. Less rushing around so it was more relaxed than an anime con. Overall, I enjoyed it and will definitely return when I can. Next year’s Milwaukee location is too far for me since I won’t fly but it’ll be in NJ in 2011. Anyone want to join me? :-D It’s rather different from anime cons but great for costuming panels and seeing awesome costumes.
Costume Con 29
Theme: Give my Regards to Broadway (theme is only for fun so there’s no need to costume to it if you don’t want to)
Dates: April 29-May 2, 2011
Location: Hilton Hasbrouck Heights; Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
I was talking to Dora Buck, the con chair for 2011 and they’re really interested in getting more cosplayers to come. Pre-registration rate at Costume-Con was $65 and I was told it’s still good for the 2 weeks after. The price will be going up after that but they haven’t decided exactly how much yet; they said they expect the price to go up every 6 months. (And I believe memberships are transferable so they can be sold to someone else if you end up not being able to make it.) Right now, I think they’re only taking mail-in registration with checks and I have a copy of the form if anyone wants it. (Don’t think they have a website ready yet.) |
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| Home |
[May. 4th, 2009|11:37 pm] |
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Got home from Costume Con around 4:30 today. Had a good time, took lots of pics of other costumers, and learned some new stuff. Picked up a workmanship award titled "Best Bird" for my phoenix ^_^ and somehow got an honorable mention for presentation. (my first presentation award ever o_o) Also got a hall ribbon for my Sarah costume. More detailed post when it's not so late and I've looked through pics. |
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| Rush, rush, rush |
[Apr. 30th, 2009|12:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  rushed | ] |
I've been wanting to post but haven't had any time to do it since the phoenix has turned out to be such a time-eating monster. I was thinking it'd take me 40-50 hours but it's turned out to be more like 70-80 with me hiding in the sewing room most of my weekends. o_o; I still have a couple of hours of handstitching left but should be able to take care of it in the hotel room tonight.
Anyway, I'm off to Costume Con after lunch so I'll try to have a real post and catch up after I get back on Monday. |
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| Phoenix feathers |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|10:12 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cosplay | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | okay | ] |
I put in about 15 hours of work on the phoenix over the weekend and a few more hours this week. A lot of that was making fabric feathers and using one of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine to embroider fabric so it doesn’t look like much so far. But I’m pleased. ^_^ It’ll probably be at least another 20 hours of work to finish it; it’s taking as much work as some of my whole costumes but I’m enjoying it after my frustrations with sewing real garments recently.
Still have to figure out my presentation, too. It’ll probably be a basic walk-on based on the idea of Count D arriving at the palace to visit the princess. But I’m stuck on music ideas since I live under a rock when it comes to pop culture and most of the songs I know are Broadway stuff. And I'm clueless about classical and opera, too. ^_^;; Anyone have suggestions of things to check out?
The scene from the manga where the costume appears is when one of Count D’s ancestors visits a princess and gives her a wish-granting phoenix. But the princess wished for D’s love, which was the one thing the phoenix couldn’t do. So she asked to be reborn so she could meet him again. Then, the princess ended up dying young and being reincarnated over and over. >_>; The princess keeps making me think of fairy tales but it’s not exactly a “happily ever after.” “Into the Woods” involves fairy tales going wrong but doesn’t really fit. “Once Upon a December” came to mind, too, since the princess’s reincarnation dreamed of her past lives. But that would make more sense if I had a princess, which I don’t. (And I never even saw the movie. I only know the song from hearing it on the radio back then. >_>;; Actually, there’s lot of animated movies I never saw or saw once when I was a kid and hardly remember.) I think an instrumental clip would be preferable (only need about 30-40 seconds of music) so I don't have to worry about lyrics not fitting or getting cut off.
At this point, Ekaterina is getting postponed to a later con. Not sure if I’ll try to finish it for AB or Anime Next or just postpone it until NYAF so that I’ll have the whole summer to work out the pattern issues. I’m disappointed considering the time and money I’ve already put into it with the intention of having it for Costume Con. I also feel a bit bad since the historical masquerade director was super helpful in answering the ton of questions I had and that I won’t have an entry for her after all of that. :-/ But I think I would just drive myself up the wall if I tried to finish it to my standards with only a couple of weeks left and the jacket not even started yet. |
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| Trying to be more optimistic... |
[Apr. 9th, 2009|10:48 pm] |
Okay, I’m feeling better now than when I wrote that middle of the night rant. Still don’t know if I’ll manage to finish my Le Chevalier cosplay for Costume Con but I went out today and picked up some more fabric, including a rainbow of silks to use for my phoenix prop. The text described Suioh as a rainbow colored bird but there’s no color pic of her; there is a different phoenix on one of the sequel covers so I’m going to use that as a starting point for where to put different colors but I might change it around a bit. Going to take a break from Ekaterina and play around with this stuff over the weekend instead.
I did a similar poll a few months back but I know some people’s plans have changed since then. Since it’s only a few weeks away now and people probably have a better idea, I’m wondering if I’ll see any of you at Costume Con. ^_^ (It’s May 1-4, near Baltimore.) The website has had a lot of info added recently, including a list of panel/workshop topics and parties. Should be lots to see with all the contests, too. The weekend pass is $100 for all 4 days. Plus, there are 1 day passes for $45 and evening passes for $10, which might be good if you’re local and want to check it out for a bit. I’m sure there’ll be lots of new people to meet but it would be nice to see some familiar faces, too. :-) My father is driving down with me the day before but he’ll just be relaxing in the hotel room over the weekend and my brother isn’t coming so I’m probably on my own most of the time.
Poll #1381016 Costume Con 27
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllAre you going to Costume Con? |
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| "Three weeks and it couldn't be worse..." |
[Apr. 9th, 2009|02:45 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | cosplay | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | stressed | ] |
I really wish all my posts lately weren’t about sewing fiascos. I know I can sew decently but I just feel like a failure these days since I’ve had such problems with everything I’ve tried to work on for about the past month.
( Three weeks to Costume Con. What a wonderful time to have a sewing meltdown. -_-; )
Bah, at this point, I’m not sure if Ekaterina is going to be done for Costume Con. It would be disappointing if it’s not since I wanted to get it judged there versus a regular anime con. Workmanship judging for the historical masquerade works a little differently; they recommend that people bring their costumes to pre-judging rather than wearing them. I’m pretty pleased with my corset and panniers and that would give me a chance to show them off to the judges which I wouldn’t be able to do if I entered it at an anime con. Plus, I actually have an idea for fitting music to use for a walk-on and I think it would be more appreciated at Costume Con.
I don’t really feel like it but I probably have to go fabric shopping in the morning so I can work on stuff over the weekend. I still need a bunch of things and don’t know if places will close this weekend since it’s Easter. Maybe, I’ll jump to working on the phoenix prop to go with 19th Century D for a bit. At least, I can’t really have fitting issues with that. >_> |
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