#costume tutorial

[squeakadeeks]

some information about how I shape my cosplays!!!

[streetmaille]

Start the new year with a new hobby! Learn to weave chainmail fabric and chains with one of my DIY kits or downloadable tutorials 📓

DIY Chainmail Kits: https://streetmaille.etsy.com?section_id=26148962 

Digital Tutorials: https://streetmaille.etsy.com?section_id=32313335

[justgarb]

I present to you Lady Caterina de Savona's classes on patterning a tunic or gown, which I just used

And then the fun mash-it-up part with layers and accessories!

[cat-cosplay]

How to "Wash" your cat

[bastart13]

How did you go about redesigning the clothes in you remaster?

Ooh great question! I'll go into more detail below, but the gist is that I broke down each character into their vibes and general aesthetic and tried fitting it to my design biases.

I tend towards more grounded designs than the original JRPG-inspired armour and clothes, so I referenced a lot of medieval fashion for the setting. You'll usually see me covering bared skin in battle outfits or toning down extra details I struggle to draw

Then, using those references, I'd try to thumbnail basic shapes and colours to figure out which works best

(More specific character notes below)

For some characters like Iseul, I didn't feel much need to change his outfit so I mostly toned down the detail to suit my style. I shifted the colour scheme to something warmer and removed the fur and extra armour to serve his image as animal-loving and battle-avoidant. This serves as great contrast to his timeskip outfit where he then commits to being both a warrior and a prince, with more ornamentation and practical armour

I designed Helena and Alain as contrasts. They have very similar themes and designs, so I decided to smooth Alain down into the picture-perfect metal knight while Helena's wilder and asymmetric. I referenced more realistic armour for Alain but overall I wanted to keep his clothes similar.

For Helena, my design style is more practical and thematically I want to avoid Helena baring skin and vulnerability so I extended her corset into more of a chest armour and covered her other thigh. To add to her duality of magic and metal, I gave one arm armour and bared the other to show off magical scars.

August and Altea's designs are where I start to venture off into more vibes-based outfits. August is humble and traditional, a knight with proud loyalty to his Lord and family, so I gave him medieval colours to represent both on his tabard. The armour is still there, but it's less focus on metal and more on "cheaper" materials to serve as a contrast to his timeskip where he becomes a proper knight in shining armour. For that reason, I took away the cape and other unnecessary decoration.

Then Altea is flashy, wealthy, and bright. I kept the focus on light armour, with scalemail as the only obvious protection. I've mentioned before but I took inspiration from south east asian fashion (mostly cambodia and malaysia) as a grounded but ornate basis for her magical girl theme. Here the colour scheme and fabrics are what mostly connects it to the original

Similarly, Lennox is where vibes rule and the overal aesthetic changes quite a bit. He's often described with "choir boy" hair, so I wanted to combine choir robes with ornate priestly outfits to sell him as a vain cult-leader. I kept the symmetry, long coat, and lack of obvious armour, but I wanted him to look less modern and stick with less structured outfits.

One thing specific to the generals, is that I wanted to give them more of a variety to colour palettes to sell that while they're working together, they're not exactly happy about it. While they all have a focus of blue and silver to keep them cohesive, they each have a motif: Alain - silver, Helena - pale blue, Jinhai - brown, Lennox - dark blue, Magnus - turquoise

[the-merry-otter]

How To Make Medieval Fabric Buttons

You will need:

• fabric (I’m using a medium weight wool)

• a sewing needle

• cotton or silk thread (it MUST be strong)

• a thimble

• dressmakers pins

Using this style of button as a fastening technique was very prevalent in 14th century Europe, on both men’s and women’s clothing. It was used for anything from sleeves and openings on the front of garments, to the iconic liripipe hoods (which is what these are gonna be for!).

They were usually made out of leftover fabric from the same material that was used for the garment they were intended for. As well as using every scrap of material possible, they also save you from having to buy metal buttons, which… aren’t cheap (both now and then).

The trade off is of course having to make them, which can be a painful process (literally - try not to get stabbed by the hedgehog ball at step 4!!). I thoroughly recommend a thimble to push the needle through as you form the ball - this is hard enough without having to pull it through.

Making buttons in my experience is 10% knowledge, 60% spite, and 30% hatred. It is a contest of wills between you (who wants a button) and the fabric (who doesn’t want to be a button). I wish you luck soldier.

To start with, cut a circle out of your fabric. How big will depend on what fabric you use - if it’s linen, you’d cut a larger circle than you would for wool. Mine is about 30mm.

Using a long long thread, bind on and then sew running stitches around the outside, about 5mm from the edge (may vary with fabric).

Pull this thread tight like a pouch, and turn the raw edges inwards in one direction. Try and tuck them inside the “bag” section. It will likely be more of a squashed oval at this point than a sphere.

Now, get your dressmakers pins and go absolutely ham. Continue to squish it “inward” (towards where the opening was) as you pin. The button should now resemble a very unfriendly little creature now (good luck with not getting stabbed, it can be a bit of a prick).

Next, basically use your needle to try and get it to stay in that shape. I usually do a bunch of stitches around the edge of the “back” end, and then spend some time criss-crossing the back. Try and put your needle in close to where it came out, so that you don’t get long pieces of visible thread.

Once you are confident that it will hold A Shape ™ (but also isn’t so stabbed that you can’t refine it further!), remove the pins. Your button will most likely resemble a little tiny messy wool brain at this point, but that’s ok!

The next step is to use your needle and thread to continue tucking the ball inwards to the centre of where the opening was. Above illustrates how I’ll flip the open part of a fold inward, by coming up through the fold and then levering it downwards so it gets tucked away. You can also just use the thread to pull errant folds inwards. Use the hand holding the button to squash it into form, and then sew it into place.

Once the button is actually a ball shape, crisscross the back of it a bit so that everything is firmly held in place. It should now (all things going well!!) actually be a sphere.

Once you’re happy with the shape and firmness, take your thread to stem out of the centre back. Bind off, and then slide the needle off the thread, leaving the long end. This can then be used to sew the button onto the garment.

The back will still be somewhat messy, but the front should be smooth, and the whole shape roughly spherical. When the button is sewn on using the remainder of the thread, you won’t be able to see the back!

I wrap the remainder of the thread around the finished button so it won’t get tangled, and then pop it in a jar with the rest while it waits to be sewn onto the garment.

Good luck with your crafting! Feel free to ask any questions in the notes, or straight into my inbox :)

[categorised-art-tutorials-tips]

How to draw clothing material folds, creases, tension points and depth

Credit: Cvenart

[badassindistress]

It is Sunday morning, the rain is cooling everything down nicely and I'm going to turn a halfmade half failed Victorian chemise into a half lenght Italian 17th century chemise

[badgertracksart]

Here's an overview of how I think about Character Clothing Concepts.

I'm not an expert in any of these areas, I just use them to drive my design decisions, researching further into choosen areas to better understand them.

Anyway, people kept asking, here it is!

[christabelq]

I was going to post a cosplay photo today, but decided to do another of my tutorial type things instead👩‍🏫. This time it’s for the steampunk handgun I used in my recent Typhoid Mary shoot and also seen in a few of my earlier pics. I’ve found it super useful to have, as it suits a bunch of different characters. If you want to rustle one up yourself, you’ll need these ingredients…

1 x Nerf gun or similar – Choose your gun carefully, as it will dictate what your finished weapon looks like. I went for something small, but chunky, which I picked up cheap in a thrift store (💜 my bargains).

Sandpaper for prepping the gun.

1 x can of black spray paint (or possibly more depending on the size of your gun – tbh I regularly misjudge how much paint I’ll need for stuff and end up having to make extra trips to the craft store to stock up 🚶‍♀️😩

Silver acrylic paint and 🖌️🖌️ to give the gun a metallic look (or gold if you want to bling out).

Assorted fixtures for decorations – I used some gears left over from another project, a bit of an old speaker and some circuitry from a broken tablet, but loads of other stuff will work. Btw, if you haven’t tried it, it’s super therapeutic pulling bits out of an old tablet, especially if it’s one that used to crash on you a lot like mine😈😈😈 

 Plastic knob – Replacement for the cocking thingy at the back of the Nerf gun, as this totally gave away that it was a toy. My piece was stripped off a toy gun I used in another project, but you can use whatever’s available.

A piece of leather – Trim for the barrel to add to the steampunk vibe and (hopefully) make the gun look a bit more realistic.

Needle and thread 🪡 – Most of my projects involve sewing in some way, as it’s something I like doing. Here it was used for finishing the edges of the piece of leather.

Fixative spray – Used to try and ensure I don’t accidentally scratch off any paint when I’m using the gun in a typical display of klutziness 🥴

Normally when I do these tutorials, I start rambling on at this point about whatever bits of the project pop into my head, but this time, I’m totally going to be structured about it, so here’s a step-by-step guide…

Sand off any logos and stuff on your gun, as these always make them look toy like. If the gun you’ve chosen has any smooth surfaces, you might want to sand these as well, as the paint will go on better that way. Top tip here is not to use really rough sandpiper or you’ll end up with nasty scratches.

Strip off any fittings on the gun which don’t look realistic and replace if necessary. In my case, this included replacing the thing for getting the gun ready to fire (I’m sure there’s a technical term for this, but it beats me what it is). I screwed the new bit into the end of the mechanism, so it still works, which is pretty cool.

⛫💨 Spray the gun matt black to prime it, plus any of your fittings which need to match. Usually this has to be done in a couple of stages, as if you’re working on a table or something you won’t be able to turn anything over until it’s dry. Also, no matter how good a surface looks at the time, you often come back to find the paint hasn’t covered something properly 😠😠. Here’s another tip… go off and do something else between coats rather than waiting around for however many hours it takes the paint to dry 💡

🎨 Add the metallic distressed look with the arcylic paint. For this to work, you need to dust the paint on super lightly. I usually wipe my brush on a bit of paper each time I dip it in the paint to get rid of the excess.

Once the paint is dry, attach your fittings. The trick here is to try to make them look like they have some kind of purpose and aren’t just window-dressing. Glue is the easiest way to stick things on, but I use bolts and screws when possible 🪛🔧, as these are more secure and allow gears and stuff to spin around if you want them to. If you’re using leather like me (or any other material), you’ll probably want to sew in a folded overedge before attaching it to stop it fraying 🪡.   

Touch up any damage you did to your paintwork when working on step 5. Maybe you’ll be luckier than me, but no matter how careful I am, there always seems to be some.

⛫💨 Spray on your fixative for protection. This should be done in steady lines with the can about 30 cms away from the gun. It’s best to do a few coats, sometimes working from side to side and sometimes from top to bottom, so you get good coverage. My tip for this stage is to shake the can well before use and do a quick test spray first to make sure the fixative is coming out evenly.

Pick up the finished gun and start rocking it /̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿💥

So there you have it. Hopefully if you’re new to projects like this, it will give you a good starting point. I think you get good results for some pretty easy steps. Let me know if you found it useful or if you have any questions 💬, and stay tuned for more cosplay stuff.

Luv your friendly neighborhood  cosplayer, Christabel ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

ko-fi.com/christabelq instagram.com/christabel.simpson/ deviantart.com/christabelq

[aeternum-lupus]

super easy realistic tail tutorial!

A Therian that doesn’t want a taxidermy tail but still wants realistic look and feel? Or just need a quick tail for a costume and don’t want to spend money/get one of those ugly Walmart tails? This is a super easy tail tutorial, using scrap material and very basic sewing skills that I also direct how to do if needed. It can be completed within an hour if you already have basic sewing skills, and will only take 3 hours max even if you’ve never sewn before! The end result moves like a real tail and looks like a real tail if you use realistic fur.

I make a wolf tail, but this method can be used for almost any animal with fur. 

Possible TW- Real taxidermy tails shown, and an up close picture of the leather in a tail for reference

The middle tail is the fake one I made in this tutorial, next to my tanned coyote tails. 

YOU WILL NEED

Scissors

sewing needle and thread

a strip of fur (i’m using scrap fur from a coat hood and will show how to use that), twice as wide as you want the tail and as long as you want the tail, plus at least 5 inches for doubling it over if you’re making a coyote/wolf tail- for cat tails you won’t need this, for fox tails you will need it twice as long as you want the tail. Ex.- mine was a 5 inch wide, 26 inch fur strip. my tail ended up being 3 inches thick not including the length of the hair and 19 inches long.

optional- seam ripper, they can make it easier but you can just use scissors if you don’t have one

STEP ONE (if using a hood)

cut the fur off of the hood- make sure not to cut any of the actual fur! Leave some of the fabric from the hood on when making the first cut to make sure you don’t cut the fur fabric, or you won’t have enough fur for the tail. Cut close to the fur, but not the fur fabric. Then, cut about half an inch off each end of the fur, where the thick seams are- this is to separate the fur fabric from the hood fabric. now you will be able to remove the fabric of the hood- you can probably just pull them apart but you may have to cut the seams. 

make sure not to cut the fur strands or you’ll have weird square cut fur on the tail! 

STEP TWO 

-skip to under picture if making a cat tail or one you don’t have to fold widthwise-

now that you have your fur, mark where you want the bottom of your tail to be- so if you want your tail to be 20 inches long completed and you have to fold the fur halfway up to be thicker at the end than the top (wolf and coyote tails are shaped like that) Then mark at 20 inches. this should leave 10 inches to be folded. Now, to make your tail pointed you will need to cut it into shape. To do this, draw two triangles like so-  

And cut them off. when folded, the tip of the tail should look something like this-

If you’re making a cat tail, fold the fabric lengthwise and cut the corners off! you do not have to fold it horizontally, only vertically. 

STEP THREE- skip if making cat tail

Now you can start sewing! you will want the fur sides in, the fabric side out to sew. it doesn’t have to be sewn well, you won’t see it from the outside at all. Starting from the tip of the tail, use a basic straight stitch, which looks like this-

and is done just by sticking the needle through both layers from one side to the other in a pleated pattern and then pulling the thread through. the fabric should be flat after you pull it through, or you pulled the thread too tight. You can just pull the fabric flat usually, if you have enough thread to go through all the fabric. Make sure you leave about 1/8 inch of the edge of the fabric, or if it frays your sewing can come undone.

continue sewing until you get about 2 inches from the edge of the folded piece, here- 

And cut the corners off, so it’s triangular. sew only the one side of the triangle to the side you’re sewing. Now end the stitch, by going through only the top layer of fabric with the needle, pulling the thread only halfway through, and then putting the needle through the thread loop. Then pull it tight. Do this two or three times, then cut the thread. Leave about half an inch of thread on the knot, so if it comes loose it doesn’t completely undo. 

repeat on the other side, getting all the way to the end of the folded fabric. If you made a fox tail, then you’re done until Step five because the whole tail is folded like that, there is no skinny part.. 

STEP FOUR

For the skinny part of the tail, or for the whole tail if making a cat tail, fold the rest of the tail horizontally- 

and sew up to the top. Make sure to leave an opening of about 2 inches to flip it right side out! 

My cat decided to join me here, so he’s become part of the background XD

STEP FIVE

Flip right side out/ fur side out!

For realistic movement, you DO NOT want to stuff it with anything. Real tails just have a little piece of leather in the center, nothing else-

If you want it to be poseable, you can put wire in the middle. You’ll want to add a dab of hot glue to the ends of the wire so it stays put. The top of the tail will still be open, you will want to sew it closed by folding the very edge of the fabric in and sewing it like that, so you don’t see the edge of the fabric-

sew it shut using that method every stitch. Now you can sew any type of fastener or clip to it to attach it to you. And it’s done! 

[six-costume-refs]

Do you know if you can buy the ankle straps the queens wear on their boots?

Hey!

You can't buy them directly, unless you're able to find someone you can commission for just the straps. But you can make a set yourself pretty easily!! Here's what you'd need to do: - The base material. Six used to use the same leather as the base of their boot, but they've since switched to a suede to hold the crystals more easily. You could use a suede, leather or faux leather, or even a felt. Do note that you'll want to make sure you choose a material that allows you to punch holes for your buckle, and you definitely won't want something stretchy. - You'll also need some sort of interfacing. The interfacing depends on the material you want to get, but I'd suggest something decently thick but still flexible. Off the top of my head without any sort of actual samples in front of me, I'd suggest a Pellon 809 or similar (that's for the US, unfortunately I'm not sure on international availability). - And of course, buy a small set of buckles (Six's are ~1.5cm/5/8", but you could also use 1/2 or 3/4") + small black ribbon or elastic for their loop. - To get your measurements you'd measure the circumference of your ankle with the boot on, and choose where you wish the straps to start from there. You can make a basic pattern using that length measurement, a width of about 4.5 or 5cm/~1.75-2" for the main wider section (use your crystals to determine this too), and then make sure your smaller ends fit into your buckles. - From there, sew together your straps and add a hole through which to buckle on your strap once they're added. - The only things left now are to embellish the strap (which I'm assuming you already know how to do from the heels), attach the strap (you can sew, glue, or even add snaps), and attach the buckles.

And voila! Your very own straps.

[miasiegert]

CATS Tied Tail Tutorial

Hi Folks, I know many of you already make these and have tutorials and already make these, but my friend Andre (Mungojerrie/Macavity at Suncoast) asked me how to make a Mungojerrie tail so I thought I'd post my tied-tail tutorial (as opposed to a wrapped tail tutorial) here for convenience. Everyone has their own variations. We also do wrapped tails (for sleeker cats) but mostly tied because we like the way it swishes and cats are all about coming for that booty. NOTE: I'm copying/pasting so this is customized for Mungo and specifically our mohawk Mungo costume shown below. Bonus shoe painting.

For the shoes I painted, his are in the center, bottom, between Cass and Gus--his Macavity are next to his.

TUTORIAL TIME.

What You Need: Different Types/Colors of Yarn including one Acrylic Yarn that’s strong to braid base/core.

Mungo Color Palette: Black, Different Oranges, little Yellow, little Red, OPTIONAL: little bit of White or Gray, can be added later.

WAIST BELT (Option: Get thick cord for around the waist, if nylon burn the end with a lighter so it doesn’t fray). 

Directions: Take Black yarn and wrap it around your waist about three times. You probably will shorten it but can always shorten, not lengthen. Cut 6 strands of yarn, 3 Black, 2 Oranges, 1 either red or yellow), and tie at one end. Separate into three pieces of two strands each and braid normally. You might need to tie the end onto a chair or use your toes to hold it taut. As you braid, periodically check it around your waist to see if you can tie a comfortable knot with extra hanging down. At the bottom, tie another knot. You can let the ends be loose and frayed for aesthetic. You can do this with 9 strands as well.

TIED TAIL DIRECTIONS: 
Step 1: Take a strand of yarn between your toes and stretch your leg out. Use the distance of leg to hip joint as a guide. You can always shorten a tail but can’t make it longer. Stand up and see where it falls from waist down. *Remember braided it will be a little shorter but yarn will add ~3” length. 
Step 2: Take 3 strands of yarn (Black/Orange) and braid normally, checking periodically about length (remember it adds 3”). Tie a thick double knot at the bottom.

Step 3: At the top, fold the tip of the yarn over so it forms a small tail loop. Tie a knot.

Step 4: Wrap yarn around the width of your hand many times then carefully cut one side of it. You should get ~5-6” pieces. Do this for all colors. You will need more than you think, a lot of black and a lot of oranges especially.

Step 5: Take 2-3 strands of yarn, go to the bottom, and just above the knot, tie the yarn in half so both ends dangle down. Single knot should be fine. Continue to do this but change where you tie the knot so there aren’t weird gaps. For stripes, have Big sections of just one color before changing. Mungo is mottled so mostly oranges for the stripes with black, then some reds/yellow mixed in in a few spots for variation. You can optionally have a TINY bit of gray and/or white if you’d like but not necessary.

Step 6: Tie all the way to just above the top knot, then slide the tail loop through. CONGRATS, YOU HAVE A TIED-TAIL and should have extra yarn if you want to make warmers.

[cat-cosplay]

I've been the worst on Patreon the last few months due to Family Emergencies. Apologies to all our supporters.

But I just posted a Helmet Mask tutorial. And I'm hoping to get it kick started back up and creating.

[hercarisntyours]

his ass is NOT turning!! (human! Oplita/Arion Hadestown au)

[ropesbypatricia]

Let's tie this full body shibari spider web harness...together!

It's designed as a self-tie and I like it as a semi-spicy diy Halloween costume 🪢🕸️ 🎃

I just got my new YouTube channel up and running and I appreciate you sharing and giving my strange channel some love 🖤