#cosplay tips and tricks

[telekineticmaniac]

You DO NOT have to have good craftsmanship to be a good cosplayer and have a great time cosplaying! But if improving your craftsmanship is something you're interested in, you may benefit from learning a bit of creative theory. In this video, I've simplified this very broad topic into some starter steps, so check it out and learn how you too can "get good!"

[bigimotikcosplay]

[thefandommind]

Welp Rachel Aaron told me to send pictures if I make an Eli Monpress cosplay, so now I guess I have to find a pattern to alter so I can do that.

So here's a little post about how I find my patterns.

First, finding any, and I mean ANY type of pattern for a masculine cut/shape/fit pattern of any kind, is going to be difficult. Menswear has never had the variety or market that yields many unique patterns like women's fashion does. So finding specific garments can be really hard, and if you're working in the realm of costume and cosplay, impossible. I started out cosplaying masculine characters back in 2018, lot of suits I tell you, and while I'll point out some men's patterns here, spoiler alert: its so much more fun to alter women's patterns to get the level of serve, that fictional characters tend to provide. It's a sad fact, men's patterns suck, they suck so much ass.

Modern Patterns, this includes modern costumes: Simplicity, Butterick, McCALLs, Vogue. All of these are available at Joanns. And hear me when I say this, don't buy it if its 20 dollars, all of those brands go on sale seasonally, and tops you should be paying for those is 3 bucks. With the exception of Vogue, they go on sale for like 5.99, but you shouldn't be buying from Vogue anyway.

Butterick: I haven't made many of this company's patterns, they don't have a lot of costumes that service my needs, and their clothes tend to be too modern for my tastes-BUT I used their pattern for a priest's cassock and that was very easy to follow and I still wear that garment.

McCALLs: Tried and true, great costumes, I use their patterns as bases for my costumes a lot. Easy to use and just have very interesting garments.

Simplicity: Some gems, some shit, and you won't know till you try. I do have good patterns from them but other's that don't actually fit together. Only thing going for them is price, so again get them on sale, and make a mock up to test the pattern. But if you find a pattern that works, you'll be able to do a lot with it, they have a lot of versatility in their designs.

Vogue: Do not buy Vogue. Vogue patterns are known in the sewing community to be fuckers to sew. Needlessly hard, sewing Vogue patterns is like being handed written directions on how to make ice cream in an ice cream mixer, but then the picture directions are how rewire a car, and half the language used is in french and a third of the pictures are missing. And for what? a garment that has fake pockets. Vogue doesn't like you sewing their patterns let alone alter them, and I've been sewing costumes since 2017 and its the only pattern that made me run crying to my mother. Don't make my mistakes, do not buy that pattern.

Now all of these companies are sold in Joanns, with the looming threat of that company closing possibly in the next year or so, all of these pattern brands are also online, you just gotta look.

Etsy: Great place to buy costume patterns, somewhat alright for getting old discontinued patterns from the brands above.

Etsy Patterns will come one of three ways, resold (you'd get an original branded packet in the mail), PDF Print out (great if you have access to a printer), or fabric pattern pieces shipped to you that you then lay out on your fabric just as any pattern.

The most common will be print out, but you can find anything from vintage to costume to antique to modern, and you can look at reviews and see what people have made with the patterns.

Most of the costumes I made in 2024 were from Etsy shops: HistoricalAtelier, BlackSnailPatterns, and RabbitAndHatPatterns.

(Note, when buying historical patterns, be very careful to check the measurements, a lot of Etsy sellers, and historical pattern sellers in general, don't offer size ranges in their singular patterns. And sizing up or down can be a hard sewing skill to learn.)

Altering Patterns: Once you find a pattern you like, it can be easy to change it to fit your costume. Changing a sleeve shape can mean drafting a new pattern piece or simply swapping out one sleeve piece for a second pattern's piece. And once you get that process down, the world's your playground, changing bodice shapes, lapels, closures, pleat this, dart that. Have a grand old time.

It's through this process I make most of my cosplays, but it is specifically helpful for making masc characters. Because as I said, it's hard to find options when men's fashion has barely changed through history, but anyway

The most important step when making costumes in this way, is you want to dress from the skin-out.

What does this mean?

When you are altering a garment to fit you, you need to have your body in the exact shape you want it to be when you wear the finished product, you need your proper foundation, or what you build on top won't look correct. SO if you're say, sewing a jacket, and you know underneath you will have a dress shirt and vest, you can't be wearing a tee shirt or something, or you'll risk the clothes not fitting later.

This also includes if you are choosing to wear shape wear that alters your body in anyway: sports bra, binder, tape, undershirts (this ofc goes the other way, if you're padding your chest, you gotta keep track of fit and measurements so your finished clothes fit).

In my Miranda cosplay, I made it knowing okay, shirt, vest, jacket, and even with the waistband of my pants, I made sure to wear each layer as I sewed the next so that everything would lay neatly and perfectly when I had the complete outfit on. I knew with that cosplay I wasn't going to wear my sports bra cus the vest is sturdy enough and the extra layer would be hot, so that meant it had to go when I tried on my alterings.

Drafting: Drafting is making your own patterns, most of the time from templates, measurements, and a fuck ton of math. It can be very hard, it gets harder the more complicated your design gets. But you can find hundreds of videos on how to draft patterns for hats, props, capes, belts, skirts, and full costumes on Youtube, with step by step instructions.

And, if I'm being completely honest with myself, I will probably be drafting the patterns for this Eli cosplay, as all my previously highlighted methods of pattern sourcing have lead me to dead ends.

Anyway here have some ideas I found an hour into my three hour search

My first thought had been mayhaps I match Eli to Miranda and go with a 1890s silhouette, but I forgot how disproportionate the level of serving was between genders. Like the beautiful gown with meaning and inspiration, a work of art really, and then oh yay a tailcoat penguin looking headass(I do want to make a tailcoat but like that's not at all Eli's cover art jacket).

And then these were the wrong era to match with Miranda anyway, but they were pretty fun. Maybe one day I'll remake the left one from 1826 in Sparrow colors, like magenta or turquoise. cus dayum thats a dandy yk

(EDITOR FANDOMMIND HERE, LOOK AT THIS FANCY GENTLEMAN I FOUND

I take it back, if I make a Sparrow cosplay I want what these two are on. this was the first thing that came up when I googled Dandy just to fact check something, and this is from 1831 so I wasn't far off.

And then just because it's so much easier to find cool fem patterns and ideas, I have wanted that sweater for years, one day I'll make it and we'll get to add another dash to the Miranda cosplay tally. And oh look another bicycle suit

[7amonathursdayinoctober]

What do we think chat?

(I have no fucking clue how to arts and crafts any cosplay shit)

[briar-rosesleepingbeauty]

welcome to my blog ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

briar-rose!!

she/ her

> avid sewer, i LOVE sewing

> a creative at heart, natural performer

> gemini sun, leo moon and aries rising

> COSPLAYER

cat lover and who-niverse fan

> aspiring costumer

> phantom (poto) phan + love never dies defender

> MUSICALS MUSICALS MUSICALS

! finnick odair, john price, simon riley, phantom of the opera men

( ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ )

divider creds : aqualogia

[bangbangneko]

💙🐾 Cosplay Tips & Tricks Tuesday 🐾💙

Here's a quick video I did on using thermal plastic for Cosplay.

Additional tips I forgot in video 😅💙 : WATER 💧 is your friend for helping make thermal plastic not stick to your fingers and stuff. Also, GLOVES to keep your fingers from burns when the plastic is too hot. [ I use bare hands but extremely careful with loads of water to coat my hands/ fingers. I still get burns sometimes, FYI .

🔥 HOT PLASTIC WILL STICK TO ANYTHING POROUS/FABRIC 🔥

[cosplayresource]

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A post shared by ☽ cyber saku ☾ (@cybersaku.cos)

[wetandtiny]

Soon, I wanna find a way to have black hands for a cosplay and I don't want to have to wear gloves all day, I'm not that great at makeup and I feel like it's going to smudge everything if I put it on my hands.

For the nails in fine

Kinda like this

If anyone has any tricks for me I'd be really grateful.

(picture taken from Pinterest)

[friday411]

🧵 So you want a 🪡 Renn Faire costume...

[last-of-cheese]

For those of you who like the dark red syrupy fake blood but kinda hate how a lot of the store bought shit stains your clothes... boy do I have a thing for you! Best at home fake blood recipe I've found that washes out.

1 part chocolate sauce

1 part liquid laundry detergent (I've found it better if it's the blue colored ones... any brand works though.)

Red, yellow, and green/lime food dye to color. Obviously you're going to be using more read but you get a more realistic turnout if you add the other colors.

You can literally make buckets of this shit just remember to do equal parts of the chocolate sauce and detergent. You'll smell like a tootsie roll and it washes out of clothes. Even when it sits in it for YEARS! Like my train fall Bucky shirt had this in it for like five years before I washed it out and it came out spotless when it was finally washed.

This is what it looks like on clothes. I wish I would have made it a little darker before applying it to my skin, but this was also before I became a professional makeup artist, and I didn't know shit... but overall, it's steller.

[velociheroviridi]

trying to put together a s4 flashback Ranpo cosplay for an upcoming con and uuggghh why is it so hard to find any decently priced gakuran or black cloak jacket thingies that aren't from a shady website 😩😩

guess I'll have to buy a jacket from goodwill and just modify it, and just sew my own cloak. I'm not really knowledgeable with anything beyond basic basic sewing and classes start up next week so let's hope I have enough time and motivation to do all that tho le sigh

[telekineticmaniac]

The video that no cosplayer asked for, but most cosplayers need — let's talk about cosplay crafting safety!!

[bigimotikcosplay]

[hushedhowls]

Intro post ૮ >ﻌ< ა

(last updated 5/5/25)

@sillymuddy - agere side blog [little age 4-7]

@shymintymuffins - mlp fiction kin side blog

@genderlesscommie - side blog for anything that's not related to being altar human(art, cosplays, politics, music, sexuality and gender)

-_-🦴🦷¿?WHAT WILL I POST ABOUT?¿🦷🦴-_-

non-human stuff [mostly]

Autism

gender stuff [maybe]

-_-_-_-_-_-🧷🦇🧷TAGS🧷🦇🧷-_-_-_-_-_-

#DIRT is not human [talking about the non human experiences and giving tips]

#ask a bat [responding to asks]

#pawtism [post related to autism]

#Howls growl [angry/annoyed posts(usually arguing with someone)]

#DIRT learning🦇 [talking about courses I'm taking]

#WORKING BAT?? [talking about my pet sitting/walking business]

-_-_-_-_-_-🐾🫧🐾AGE🐾🫧🐾-_-_-_-_-_-_

I'm 18

I love receiving messages, but please don't personally DM me/try to be friends with me if you're under 16.

🦇🐺🦴🐺🦇NON HUMAN IDENTITIES🦇🦴🐺🦴🦇

Trans species/physical theriotypes:

black Flying Fox [species of megabat]

Jaguar

brown and white Border Collie pup

Other main theriotypes:

Black Shuck/ghostly black dog

Dire wolf

Secondary theriotypes:

ghost cat

Black Sable German Shepherd

KINSIDERING dragon

Tertiary theriotypes:

flutterbat [mlp]

KINSIDERING robot dog [like zoomer zuppies]

pibble [baby French bulldog]

espeon

Otherkintypes:

vampire

ghost

demon/fallen angel [like 95% sure of this but idk]

KINSIDERING Alien

Fiction kintypes:

Mlp-

[ mlp fiction kin side blog - @shymintymuffins ]

Fluttershy [G4]

Fluttershy [equestria girls]

Minty [G3]

Derpy hooves/Muffins

South Park-

Kenny Mccormick

big mouth-

Jay Bilzerian

Otherhearted:

Bird

Pitbull

Fox

_-_-_-_-🐾🐺Pronoun page🐺🐾-_-_-_-_

https://en.pronouns.page/@Hushedhowls

-PRONOUNS I COULDN'T ADD TO PRONOUN PAGE-

in preference order (I always prefer it/its and other neos):

bat and wolf/puppy bioterms

thing/things

fang/fangs/fangself

that/thats

vamp/vamps/vampself

pup/pups/pupself

ze/zim/zer/zimself (I made these up)

-Sexuality stuff I couldn't add to pronoun page-

12/2/23 i <3 my bf

Homoromantic (NWLNW / MLM)

I don't date anyone that's fully gay or fully straight

T4T

_-_-_-🐾🫧🐾What can I send in asks?🐾🫧🐾-_-_-_

ask about my kins

ask for tips/tricks

send me the name of your theriotype or any animal and I'll make a post telling you all about the animal! [animals I've already done are linked at the bottom]

literally anything I love talking

_-🦴🦇🦴HYPER FIXATIONS/INTERESTS🦴🦇🦴-_

body mods

TMNT

punk history & music

animal diets

clowns

rubber ducks

pirates

diy/sewing

GREEN

South Park

oddities

animals

MLP

monster high

the path

Garfield

Scooby doo

_-🫧🐾🦇🐾🫧RANDOM/OTHER🫧🐾🦇🐾🫧-_

I'm a witch!

I'm vegan

I'm pagen

I'm ancom

Feel free to ask me questions!

Want new friends!!:3

Feel free to ask for other socials after becoming moots!

vv animal fact posts vv

⋆ Siberian-tiger ⋆ spotted-hyena ⋆ black-flying-fox-[bat] ⋆

⋆ coastal-wolf ⋆ cuttlefish ⋆ jaguar ⋆

[mmelete]

Ranking the LU Links on Social Media

Wild and Hyrule. Wild would be a a YouTube vlogger. Hyrule is his usual guest and they explore abandoned hospitals/schools. nobody knows how they’re still alive, but hey, they’re making bank so—-8/10

(Wild also has a cooking channel that Hyrule is notoriously banned from.)

Four. I want to say that Four does video essays about random topics, never really shows his face and gains thousands of followers. Sometimes, you can really tell which Color created the video (Blue is notoriously known for hating on badly done smithing techniques and Vio slanders every YA romance book known to mankind). Also has an ASMR channel (fire crackling and 2800 hour loop of metal pipe sounds). 8/10

Time wouldn’t know how to upload a video erm ugh uh I mean, Time would def just video silly clips of his animals or pretty scenery and upload it. Not really one for the views, just for vibes. 4/10 (the video quality is grainier than sand)

Speaking of silly animals…Twilight either just post little snippets of his goats or he’d totally have a channel dedicated to his strangely very intelligent, very strong “husky”…and if Twilight and the “husky” have never been seen in the same room together, well, that’s their problem…5/10

Wind. Girl vs. Boy challenges and trick shots. Occasionally streams a Minecraft SMP. Has over one million subscribers. Need I say more. 7/10

Sky. ASMR and Woodcarving tips galore. Sun runs the social media behind the scenes. Has a bunch of random tips and tricks for very niche things, but he’s super chill. The Bob Ross of Everything but Painting. 10/10

Legend. There is absolutely no way that you will convince me that Legend DOESN’T do fashion/cosplaying stuff. Makeup tutorials, design reviews and color palette challenges…Warriors is his usual guest and the fans LOVE their snappy interactions. 9/10

Warriors. Is a model on the side but only really does YT for his friends. Part of me wants to believe he’ll do some makeup tutorials, but I have a gut feeling this man has a whole channel dedicated to hair care and sewing/knitting. Artemis found his channel one time and that’s why Warriors joined LU and went through Dink’s portal /jk. 5/10

[alphajocklover]

I'm a cosplayer, as you can see on my profile picture. It's a mix-match of everything I like from the wolf-bone mask, the balaclava, and the snazzy blazer and slacks with gold pins. Added latex gloves to really feel eldritch for Halloween.

But of course, under that blazer still needs a layer of fabric to absorb my sweat, so I got this tank top from a nearby bundle I wear.

I'd like to know what tricks you can put up my sleeves.

You were never one to pat yourself on the back, but you couldn't help yourself. This had to be your best cosplay yet! You didn’t have a specific character in mind like for some of your past cosplays, but you were loving how this one was turning out. You had known this was going to be a great cosplay since the moment you saw that wolf bone mask in that store, and you were right. After all your work, all you needed was one last thing: a tank top.

You were honestly a little embarrassed you hadn’t thought of it earlier. As an experienced cosplayer, you probably should have guessed that the heavy blazer would need something under it to absorb sweat, but it hadn’t crossed your mind until you had tried on the costume the day before you were supposed to show it off at the convention! Now you were scrambling to find a well fitting, absorbent tank top that wouldn’t make the sweating worse. That wouldn’t be so hard… if you hadn’t had this realization around one in the morning, when most shops were closed. You had been in a bit of a panic at first, but in a stroke of luck you had found a small second hand clothing store nearby. You were a bit surprised at first, since you thought you knew most of the thrift stores in the area, but you were too relieved to properly question it. You grabbed the tank top, a classic white wife beater, and went into the changing room.

You did you best to ignore the mirror in the room as you stripped off your regular shirt. You never talked about it, but you were fairly insecure about your body. There wasn’t anything wrong with your body. You weren’t overweight or even particularly scrawny, you were just… average. But whenever you looked at yourself in the mirror all you could focus on is what you weren’t. You looked at your body and saw a body that was too small, too lithe, too awkward and just… not enough, in any way. That was one of the reasons you never cosplayed athletic characters. You always worried people would make the comparison. You pushed these thoughts to the back of your head as you slid on the wifebeater. The second it settled on your body, you felt like everything changed.

You stared at yourself in the mirror in shock as muscles began to pack onto your body. Your shoulders widened, giving your body a manly v shape as your pecs shoved out into a beefy shelf. You felt your stomach cramp as abs popped into existence, and almost drooled as your biceps grew absolutely huge, flexing them experimentally as you felt a smattering of hair grow across your body and on your face. You couldn’t believe it. It was like your body had been completely inverted. Everything you used to hate about yourself was gone, replaced by pure masculine sexiness. You even felt your mind change, memories of sports and confidence mixing in with those of cosplaying and creativity. You were still you, just… idealized. You were perfect, absolutely perfect. You swaggered out of the changing room, paying for the wife beater with a generous tip and a flirty wink, before heading out to the gym. You had to see how well this thing absorbed sweat, and how hot your muscles looked with a nice pump.

The bad news is that you’re going to have to make some emergency alterations to your cosplay so that it will fit your new, beefy body. The good news is that you're so hot that you could wear anything and still look good. Maybe you’ll just go to the party shirtless. It’d definitely be a good way to pick up chicks!