Love Live Sunshine! Hanamaru Kunikida Cheerleader Cosplay - Skirt Tutorial Part one

Hey Guys,

So I've been super busy this year with cosplaying and so I thought I would let you all know what I'm planning on working on at the moment.

So I've decided to cosplay as Hanamaru Kunikida from the popular Anime Love Live Sunshine! but I am making her Cheerleader costume from the Love Live game, love live school idol festival (LLSIF). (If you guys aren't familiar with LLSIF it is a popular rhythm game, I love it personally)

Moving on, so here is a pic of the costume:

So I normally use patterns when I make my cosplays as I haven't had much experience (or any) making my own patterns but I couldn't find any patterns that were anything like either the skirt of the top (well that weren't on amazon and wouldn't cost me over $25 dollars including shipping :/). 

So I have ended up having to make my own pattern. 

First off I decided on the best material, I am going to be using Pique in fluro green, fluro pink, white and gold. It is similar to broadcloth and is extremely reasonably priced but it has some properties od spandex and Lycra which are expensive especially for a student like me.

So I thought I might as well write a guide to how i made this cosplay as I go so,
 You will need:

- 1m green/fluro green Pique (or spandex or what ever fabric you are using)

- 1m pink/fluro pink Pique

- 1.5m gold Pique

-2.5m white pique

- Iron on Interfacing

- Heat transfer paper and the flower and stars pattern (I made mine on photoshop and I will see if i can upload it in a later post as well as my pattern for the school idol festival logo on her shirt)

- 18cm Zip (I'm using 18cm but you can use a different length)

So lets start with the skirt (I haven't made me final skirt yet but I have made my mock up out of muslin and it fits perfect)

Measure your waist and decide how long you want your skirt to be.

My waist is 73.66cm or 74cm (29") and I want my skirt length to be roughly 40cm (16")

so I am going to take my waist measurement and divide it by the number of panels/pleats that I want my skirt to have which is 8.

So we now have 9.25 now we add a 2cm seam allowance. So my panel widths/pleat widths are going to be 12.25cm or 4.8".

Next step is to cut out our pattern pieces:

1. Cut out 7 panels of your dominant colour (in this case white) in the dimensions determined above so I cut mine out 12.25cm by 40cm.

2. Cut out 8 panels of your flash colour (or non-dominant colour) which is green in the same dimensions as the 7 you cut out in the dominant colour (12.25cm by 40cm for me)

3. a. for the back panel with the zip add 2.5cm or 1" to your normal panel width (I end up with 14.8cm)

3. b. Cut 1 panel out of your dominant colour (white) by the dimensions 14.8cm by 40cm

3. c. Cut wide panel in half so your dimensions will now be 7.4cm by 40cm

4. a. From your dominant colour (white) cut your waistband strip. Add 7.6cm (3") to your waist measurement. The width of your waistband will be 10.2cm (4"). Dimensions are for me 81.62cm by 10.2cm

4. b. from interfacing cut 1 piece by the length of your waist + 7.6cm or 3" and by half of the width of your actual waistband. So my dimensions will be 81.62cm by 5.1cm (2")

Next step: Sew together

1. take one of the narrow panels of your dominant colour (see 3 in pattern cutting) and with right sides together pin to 1 panel of your 8 flash colour panels and sew along the length of the 2 panels.

2. sew all the panels together - alternating between dominant and flash colour panels, ending with the narrower dominant colour panels on each end. You should end up with one long strip.

Looking something like this (in different colours and with more panels of course):

Before moving on to the next step make sure to measure the length of all the panels connected together. You Will Need this measurement when making the scalloped underskirt.

Next Step: Making the pleats

1. pinch the non-dominant colour together so it isn't visible and pin. if that isn't completely clear; bring together the 2 top edges of 2 dominant coloured panels and fold the non dominant colour underneath and pin in place

reference pic: 

(front)

(back)

2. Iron the dominant panels flat and together

should look like this:

(front)

(back)

3. sew each dominant coloured panel to the one next to it. (sew parallel to the waist edge of the skirt over the top of the pleat where you have pinned the 2 dominant pieces together)

4. sew vertically down 1.5cm from the top of skirt on each side of where the 2 dominant panels meet at the top of the pleat (at the waist). Make sure not to sew too far down though as this stitching needs to be hidden by the waistband..

reference pic:

So this is where I am going to stop for this post. The next steps are to pattern and cut the yellow underskirt and to attach the waistband. (Note: can't attach the waistband until the yellow/gold underskirt is made).

So until next time,

Becca

Little Patchwork Fox Cosplay 

(also please note that the reference pictures that I have included in this tutorial are not my actual mock up skirt, I forgot to take pics of mine as i went along so as i was writing this tutorial I found some pics that showed what i was trying to say. Link to where I got the pics: http://www.instructables.com/id/Little-Girls-Cheerleading-Skirt/?ALLSTEPS. Credit to the person who made the skirt in the pictures i have used)

Wicked: Galinda Thank Goodness Outfit

Hello Fellow Ozians,


So today I'm going to talk about another G(a)linda costume her Thank Goodness outfit.

So this outfit consists of a jacket and a skirt with a bustle sewn into the waistband. I believe that the fabric that the jacket is made out of is a two-tones silver/green/gold taffeta material, with a floral, kinda paisley pattern on it.

Pic (Galinda's Wardrobe):

So the majority of the skirt and the Jacket are made out of this material.

Another Pic:

But as you can see in the pictures above, the jacket has a different fabric for the lining.But the back of the skirt as a light emerald green tulle bustle

Pic:

As you can see in the picture above, the bustle goes over top of the taffeta, and has sequins in it. Previously I've come across something called, "Fairy Tulle" which is basically tulle that has had, not exactly sequins but sparkles of a similar type connected or attached to the material, so no extra work would be needed to be done sewing on sequins. You can also see how the skirt has been gathered along the waistband.

I think this varies from production to production but sometimes the Bustle can extend past where the actual skirt ends,

See Pic:

Okay, back to the Jacket. 

Close up pictures:

So basically, the neckline of this costume is very interesting, as it is asymmetrical and cuts across from the right shoulder to the left of G(a)linda chest. There is only one sleeve and the arm which doesn't have a sleeve on it is covered by a bedazzled skin coloured glove (pic under paragraph).

So if you look really closely at the second picture in the 3 above, you can see the bottom of a false blouse, in a dark turquoise colour (I believe this is Taffeta, like the majority of the fabric which this outfit is made from). So this is the same material that is used on the inside of the cuff and the collar, but the cuff and the collar have been covered in tiny light green and yellow beads.

Pics:

So the jacket normally has 5 (occasionally 6) buttons on the front, 2 on the cuff and the are 2 buttons at the back.

Pics:

I also found a close-up pic of the actual buttons:

With this outfit, G(a)linda also wears this light straw hat:

There is a light yellow ribbon around the middle of the hat, and the is a silver rhinestoned jewel or button of some sort attached on top of the ribbon, with a white feather.

This hat is worn on the left side of her head.

Pic: 

So anyway that all from me for now, but I'll write another post on this outfit.

Ciao

Becca M.

"I couldn't be happier. Simply couldn't be happier, because happy is what happens when all your dreams come true!"

Cry Baby: Allison Finale dress

Hello fellow Broadway Lovers,




So today, I'm going to be talking about another character from the Broadway Musical Cry Baby, Allison who is the lead female role. So to give you a quick run down of her character, Allison is a "square", a girl born into the high-class wealthy life during the 1960's which is when the Musical is set. Allison is basically the opposite of Lenora, who is slightly psychotic and has no objection to making a fool of herself, while Allison is poised and quiet and needs some coaching to fully bring her out of her shell.

So during the finale of Cry Baby at the opening of a new amusement park, Allison is performing a baton twirling set in accompaniment with a barber shop choir who had been asked to perform at the opening. For this scene and the finale, she is wearing a gorgeous bright blue dress, with red stars and ribbon attached.

Pictures:

I couldn't find very many pictures of her wearing this dress, but I still think its pretty cool. So i'm gonna do my best to talk about it anyway.

So in the pictures above, in the 3rd one down you can really see how the top of the dress appears to be cut in almost an "M" shape, with the straps being attached just after the points (and on the point is where you would normally expect the straps to be attached). Anyway I'm not sure if you can see it very clearly but the skirt of the dress is actually pleated. I found another photo, its kinda blurry but it shows the pleats pretty well.

I can't get a good enough look at the dress to determine what fabric its made out of (possibly taffeta or satin due to the way the light hits it but I'm not certain). I'm not sure if you could see it very well but the petticoat which Allison wears with this dress is a light reddy/pink colour (kinda like the colour of the dress the women is wearing in the picture directly above this paragraph).

So with this dress she also wears a large red headband. I was also trying to get a decent look at what her shoes look like; They're definitely heels but in some pictures they appear to be blue with a red bow or ribboning of some sort (Like in the first picture up the top - where they appear to have a peep toe and an ankle strap) and in others they appear to be light blue or silver (also like in the pic directly above).

But anyway that's all from be for now.

Ciao

Becca M.

"I'm afraid that I'm not gonna fit in here. You know, with your friends, and stuff."

Cry Baby: Lenora - Screw Loose Dress

Hello Fellow Broadway Lovers,


So today, I'm going to talk about a completely different character from a completely different Broadway Musical. Lenora from Cry Baby, the crazy, stalker girl. If you haven't seen Cry Baby, as it unfortunately didn't run for long on Broadway, just search on you-tube Screw Loose to get the gist of this Character.

So a quick run down of Lenora; she was played by Alli Mauzey, who later went on to play G(a)linda in Wicked. She is madly in love with the male lead of the musical, emphasis on MADLY.
Anyway, During this song Lenora is wearing this hideous purple dress  (I think it's either made out of taffeta or satin, either way it is still kinda ugly), that is in the typical 60's style. But to emphasize her "crazy" nature, she has tucked the top of the bodice of the dress into the bottom of her bra.

Pics:

In this picture you can see how she's tucked the top of the bodice into the bottom of her bra.

You can also kinda see the edge of the collar she is wearing with the dress.

You can see in this picture that she has a large black belt around the waist of the dress.

Okay, so this last picture isn't actually of the Screw Loose dress but this is how I imagine the top of the actual bodice looks like. As of course we can't see cause its been tucked into the bottom of her bra.

So, when Lenora wears this dress She wear long Black gloves that come up past her elbows. She also wears a black wig like the one pictured above, although she does wear this the most of the show, except for in the finale when she wears a wedding dress. When she sings this song, she also wears this leopard print collar thing that is separate from the dress, I couldn't find a decent picture that shows it, but you can kinda see it in the pictures above. The pink dress is another one of her costumes, which she wears later in the show.

Anyway that's all from me for now

Ciao,

Becca M.

"Bonkers! That's what they're calling me! Not, metaphorically... They mean truly INSANE!"