Just like the last few videos here is the link to my most recent set of video’s covering costume construction.
For the purpose of not spamming my blog with videos, I waited until all 3 parts of this build were up so you can find them all in one place.
The next costume break down will cover SheRa!
Those of you that follow me on Instagram are pretty familiar with Eva, my 2 year old pit bull mix but for those that have never seen her before she is my sewing assistant/entertainment during long sewing sessions.
This project was inspired by the fact that during the winter Eva get’s rather cold due to her short hair and it’s difficult finding cute sweaters and costumes for her because of her size so I thought it would be fun to make her a vest that also doubles as a Dragon costume.
The fabric for this project was given to me by Shannon Fabrics specifically the cuddle fabric and trust me it’s extremely soft.
For the mock up I used $1 fleece I got at my local fabric warehouse, it’s not soft but it was a good thickness for the mock-up and that’s what I needed.
I also used Super Structure Foam
4” wide Velcro
For the eye’s I bought this embroidery file off of Etsy.
So let’s get started, I drafted a pattern using a vest we purchased for Eva but ended up being too small. I used the vest as a base for the pattern added 2 inches on each side to fit her better, and followed all the placement on the vest for the velcro pieces. I made a mock-up with all that information and 1” velcro I had left over from Sith and Jedi robes and it fit.
She seemed pretty happy in it so I was ready to move onto the real fabric.
For my real fabric I still needed to add 5/8” seam allowance for sewing lining into the vest. So I chose to use one color cuddle fabric for the top and another for the lining. Another alternative for the lining is lining fabric or satin but I just loved the way the cuddle fabric looked so I used it.
Once my fabric was cut, I pinned the Velcro in the places I marked on my pattern.
I also pinned the collar pieces together and stitched everything down.
Once velcro was attached I was able to sew the pieces to the lining.
Before flipping the piece I clipped the curves so the piece would lay flat around the arms.
The collar pieces were stitched, right sides together, then flipped.
Then the collar was stitched onto the top vest piece before lining was added.
The lining was then pinned and stitched leaving an opening at the top right piece.
The piece was flipped and the bottom piece was sewn to the top at the top right corner.
Time to try it on, in the future I will make the velcro pieces a bit smaller but other than that, it looks super snuggly.
Now onto the wings, I modeled these after wings on my Toothless stuffed animal, but a bit larger and more detailed.
I knew I wanted them to be about 24” long and 10”-12” wide so I started with pattern paper in that size and just sketched until it looked like I wanted it to.
I pinned the paper to Super Structure Foam so I could sew the “bone” structure into it.
Then I cut the wings out twice on fabric with 5/8” seam allowance.
Then I adhered the top fabric to the foam, stitched the two fabric pieces together, clipped the corners and edges.
I slip stitched the opening closed and then quilted the “bone” pieces on to the wings.
Finally, I stitched two large snaps to the underside and the opposite side onto the vest.
Moving onto the hood, I used the same hood concept that I have for my Kigurumi’s for the hood of this costume. To half pieces with a 4” by 26” strip around the front. I cut these out on both red fabrics.
While my embroidery machine was stitching the eyes out on the top strip, I was making the ears, and teeth pieces inspired by Toothless. I have never done embroidery on cuddle fabric before and it’s thicker than I’m used to so I made a few mistakes and it took a total of 5 attempts for both eyes and the final eyes are still not very perfect but I kind of love them.
Once the pieces were together, I stitched the lining to the top fabric, flipped them and folded under the neck seam to top stitch it closed. I hand stitched snaps onto the inside and the collar and then called the costume done.
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Welcome back to my blog, this is part 2 of my 1850’s ensemble where I will talk about using Truly Victorian patterns to make the flounced skirt and the Bertha Ballgown Bodice.
Part one can be found here and covers the walking cage crinoline.
The flounced skirt took about 11 yards of quilters cotton and 25 yards of this cording.
I started by cutting out the pattern, all the pieces and then I labeled everything. I also cut everything on the salvage so I would’t have to do with French seams for every single panel (there was a lot of panels).
Once all the panels were cut, marked, and sewing together I sewed up the hem of the base skirt on a 1” rolled hem, then all the flounces got a 1/2” rolled hem. Now it was time to encase the cording.
This technique of gathering is pretty new to me but I wanted to try it out anyway. It was so time consuming and probably not the best way to gather down all of these strips but hey I gave it a solid effort.
The trick to do this was to gather everything to the center front and then spread the gathers and pin it from there. This method of gathering and the prep work that had to go into it was the reason this took longer to make than the hoop.
Once the first one was attached I moved onto the next one, working from the bottom up.
Once I made it to the top, it was time at add cartridge pleats. I have never done cartridge pleats before and I found the pattern to be lacking in instruction for them, I tried twice to apply them and both times it made the waist over 7” too small so that it would not fit into my waistband. So I gave up and evenly pleated everything down and stitched it in the waistband. I felt like an epic failure at first but now that I look at it I think it looks really pretty and I am desperate to give cartridge pleating another try some day.
Moving on to the bodice, I am very aware that I chose a ballgown bodice to go with a “day wear” look but I’m standing behind my decision because I feel like the dress itself looks beautiful and I am proud of how quickly I finished it.
So for the bodice I used another Truly Victorian pattern and it happened to be one I have used before. I used the spotted cotton as the fashion fabric and I used white cotton for lining and interlining.
I started by basting the cotton to the fashion cotton.
Then I stitched the darts and bodice sections together at 1/2” seam allowance, I did this so I could skip the addition of adding boning channels and made channels out of my seams.
Once the lining and the fashion pieces were sewn up, I applied the boning and moved onto the sleeves.
The instructions for the sleeves are very straight forward and easy to understand but essentially there were was a lining and a sleeve and the sleeve pieces gathered down to the lining to create the shape needed for the sleeves.
Moving on to the bertha, I made the very simple bertha over the pleated one because I was trying super hard to go with a simple design. I did add one trim to the bertha to make it pop and I machine stitched that on so it took no time at all.
The final step was to sew the bertha on and attach the lining to the bodice, right sides together and stitching around all the edges and flipping it out through the sleeve. I used grommets to close up the back.
Here’s the finished bodice, the entire outfit took me 26 hours to make.
Welcome back to my blog, today I am going to share how I made my false front underskirt that goes underneath my Ariel Ballgown.
I’ll start by explaining briefly how and why I made the underskirt this way. I have been making this costume primarily out of materials from my stash and instead of purchasing an extra 3-4 yards of silk to make the entire skirt out of silk I chose to make the front panel out of silk and the other panels out of Kona cotton that I got on sale for $5 per 108” width yard. I don’t normally buy my kona cotton at Joanns because I absolutely love the Robert Kaufman Kona cotton but the extra wide white cotton is actually very nice quality and since I didn’t have enough silk for the skirt the cotton was a much more affordable option.
So to start off I used Simplicity Pattern 1728, 4 yards of 108” width Kona Cotton, 2.5 yards of “rolling fog” silk dupioni from Silk Baron and then a yard of trim that I painted and an assortment of beads that I also had in my stash.
I used this pattern for the underskirt and with lots of modifications. I will say there is absolutely nothing wrong with using this pattern if that’s what you want but I personally enjoy modifying patterns to get the results I desire.
For the purpose of this blog I just used the piece to make the skirt which was piece number 10.
I started the entire process by cutting out the cotton first and like most patterns I completely ignored the instructions and did my own thing.
Going into this project I knew I wanted a fuller skirt so using pattern piece 10 I cut out the front panel on the fold, then I cut “side” panels and “back” panels. I can’t remember but I am pretty sure the pattern called for only front and back.
After cutting out all the cotton pieces (this was actually how I found out that I didn’t have enough silk and would need to do the false front) I cut out the one silk panel which was the front on the fold.
From there I cut a waistband and I actually used the piece from this pattern as well.
Then I painted the trim, I didn’t have enough to cover the silk panel but I still had enough to cover the amount of space needed.
While the paint dried (I think it suggested 4 hours) I started sewing the cotton panels with french seams.
For the closure in the back I rolled the cotton inward and the base was basically done.
Once the paint was dry, I tacked down the silver trim onto the silk dupioni with 1.5” space from the hem so I could roll it later. It doesn’t look like I photographed that step but I did pin the silk front onto the dress form over the cotton before I actually added the trim to make sure it would cover enough of the under skirt.
Once the trim was applied to the skirt, I took the liberty to embellish the heck out of it. I did this before adding it to the cotton because the cotton actually acts as a lining and will keep all those pretty stitched concealed for a cleaner finish.
So now, it’s time to add the silk front to the rest of the skirt. The picture above is actually from after the silk application but you can still see the details which is important. So it’s very important to add the silk before adding the waistband.
I started this step by pinning the top of the center front of the silk to the top of the center front of the cotton. Baste those two together. Then went in to add my gather stitch but don’t gather down yet, just leave those be for a bit.
Once the top was together, I went down each side and folded the silk in half an inch onto the cotton lined up wit the seam from the cotton. Alternatively you could baste the two pieces together before putting the skirt together and then put the skirt together. Or you could also completely omit that center piece of cotton however if you do any embellishments you would be stuck with thread shown on the inside so the garment might not be competition level clean. All of these options are right though because in sewing there is no “wrong way” to do something, there’s just ways that work better for some then others.
Once both sides are done in this manor I actually go in and pin the entire hem to be made for half an inch rolled hem. I found that the front where the trip was had to be stitched by hand due to the embellishments but the rest of the hem was machine sewn.
Once the hem was done, I gathered down the top and slapped a waistband on it! I didn’t photograph this part since I have been putting waistbands on everything lately so I didn’t feel the need to show how that was done.
I did sew two hooks in the back of the skirt to put on and take off.
Finally, I went in and added my Patrons names to the hem of the skirt with this beautiful Robison Anton Thread Bright Jade
Once the skirt was done, I threw it over the hoop skirt to prep for the main dress. The entire build thread on this costume will be put into PDF e-book format in late June or early July and will be on Patreon first.
If you would like your name inside Constance Hatchaway like the names in this dress you can become a Patron for $1 or support me on ko-fi for $3 and anyone who buys 3 or more coffees for me on ko-fi will get the PDF Build Book on Constance Hatchaway when I release it on Patreon in September.
Don’t forget you can always support me while purchasing materials through TnT Cosplay Supply with no extra cost to you as well as Amazon when using my personal links to both.
Welcome to my blog, I often get asked about what corset pattern I use and I’m finally making a blog post about it. I love the Laughing Moon Pattern #100 I’ve used it for myself and my customers multiple times.
Like every pattern you should always start with a mock up, since I’ve used this pattern on several occasions I am going to skip that part for the purpose of this blog and get right into cutting my fabric.
I used a cotton print for the lining, a cotton blend for the interling and a light weight satin for the fashion fabric all of these fabrics were pulled from my stash.
I also cut a layer of fusible interfacing and ironed it onto the cotton lining.
Then I basted the interlining fabric to the satin on all of the sides to make it stronger.
At this point I marked the darts on each panel with a water soluble marker.
Now it’s time to sew the panels together with right sides together and on a 5/8th inch seam allowance.
Then I press all the seams open in order for the corset to lay flat.
I pinned the seams on the fashion fabric down to make boning channels and added three pieces of bias tape for the extra boning channels.
I sew them down.
Next I started making bias binding by cutting 1 3/4in strips on the bias of the cotton blend fabric.
Then I pressed the binding in half and in quarters.
Now for the boning, I measure each piece and cut it an inch smaller than the channel. Then I did the ends of the spiral steel into plastidip, allow it to sit for 30 minutes and dip it a second time. Two times are good but 3-4 are even better.
Now I installed the busk, I did this before I added the boning into their channel because that’s just easier for me. So I started by marking the busk on the inside of the lining fabric with right sides together.
I stitched the pieced together on the line and added the busk, pinning super close to the metal bar of the busk.
Now I sew the busk into place with my zipper foot.
I marked the second half.
Use an awl to poke the holes for the busk piece.
Once all the holes are punched then I pinned along the busk line and using the zipper foot I sewed the busk in place.
Now I can add the steel boning and bast along all the edges.
Now it’s time to add the bias binding.
Then I stitched in the ditch to stich down the bias binding, I normally hand stitch it in the back but I know stitching in the ditch is faster. My major issue with it was that I was going way too fast and not catching the back part of the binding. Needless to say this was my BEST busk installation and my worst bias application making it overall a mediocre corset.
Now time for the grommet installation.
Measure and Mark the grommet placement. I start 1 inch from the top and then do them 1.5 inches in between each.
I hole punch, use the awl and then set the grommet with the tool and a hammer (a mallet works better but I misplaced mine so for the purpose of this corset I used a hammer).
Adding grommets is the final step to making the corset but I realized after I was done that there should have been a piece of boning put in the back seam between the edge of the fabric and the grommets to help stabilize the grommets.
It’s not the worst thing in the world but it will definitely help to have it there.
Here’s the completed corset.
Thank you again for reading!
After a couple larger projects I really wanted to tackle something that was easy enough to finish in a weekend. Back in December I binge watched all of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and after seeing her Red Dress I knew I wanted to make it. I initially planned on just buying a dress off of Amazon and calling it a day but I really liked the buttons and collar in particular so I just decided to make it.
I bought a wig off Amazon, it’s no longer available at the time but it only cost $16 and the headband is the same one I made for my Alice in Wonderland wig.
I bought 2.5 yards of red suiting fabric from Joann Fabrics, 3 buttons and a pre-made lace collar off of Amazon. This exact collar is no longer available on Amazon but here’s a link to some that could work. Please note that all Amazon links in this blog are affiliate links and using them helps me buy materials for future projects. With coupons I was able to get all the materials and wig for less than $50.
I started with draping a pattern on my dress form for the bodice and skirt, I didn’t get any pics of this but I basically put the pre-made collar piece on my dress form and then started draping fabric from there. I lined up the neck with the collar and the shoulder where the shoulder collar piece was sewn. Then from there I chose where I wanted the gathered section to be on the bust. I put darts in the back panel and planned for a zipper.
For the skirt, I decided to use the end of the gather line for the front side seam of the skirt, then I followed the side seam for the side pieces. From there I just repeated the pieces for the back half of the dress.
I actually used a pattern for the sleeve because I am still very bad at draping fitted sleeve patterns and I was trying to make this in a weekend.
After cutting out this sleeve I realized it would have been faster/easier to use this pattern and just shorten the hem but whatever I’m glad I at least made an attempt at patterning this dress.
I didn’t really take the time to clean up the fabric pieces I draped on my dress form but they still look decent to me.
From there I detached the collar part from the fake shirt, I didn’t want the fake shirt to be seen and I thought it would just be easier to add the collar to the dress.
Then I cut out the skirt pieces and over locked all the edges of the dress pieces. (Not pictured)
I started with the front bodice construction by folding the front center piece over, pressed and stitched.
Then I added the buttons and button holes, as well as the gathers.
From there I moved onto the back and stitched the darts, I pressed them away from the zipper.
Now it’s time to sew the front to the back at the shoulders and sides.
From here I moved onto the sleeves, I started with the bottom of the sleeve and folded it up by an inch, stitched and pressed.
Then I stitched the sleeves right sides together.
The last thing I did for the bodice was sew on the collar and sleeves. Patterning to this point only took five hours which was way quicker than I expected.
Starting with the middle front piece I stitched the side panels on working my way to the back of the dress. It’s very important to press each seam open as you add the skirt panels or else you will create extra bulk in the skirt.
After sewing the back seam up leaving enough room for the zipper, I folded up the hem an inch and stitched it down. Finally I added the skirt to the top, installed the zipper which I forgot to buy so I had to baste in a hot pink separating zipped in order to take photos in the dress.
A few changes I would make differently in the future is lengthen the sleeves, I always forget my arms are way longer than most sleeve patterns. I’d also lengthen the bodice by about an inch and a half, make the buttons a half inch closer to the middle and then make the shoulder about 3/4” wider on each side. My arm movement was not very good in this dress so for the future I will have to make adjustments but I think it looks cute.
Here’s a few photos’s from my photo shoot in the dress. I think this is going to be a great “casual” cosplay for me.
If you liked this blog and would like to help me fund my D23 costume head on over to ko-fi and I will put your name in the costume.
Thank you all for reading!
“We’re all mad here.”
Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself to justify the 24-Hour madness that was our Alice in Wonderland build!
The goal was to create the dress, the chibi, the set, do the photoshoot and edit the photo from the shoot in 24 hours live on Twitch.
We slayed that goal and completed it in 19 Hours ending with this beautiful image by Alexandra Lee Studios.
I didn’t take as many photo’s during the process as I normally do and I cut many corners but let’s just dive right into making this costume.
To start I made a calf length petticoat that I covered in a video here. It was a four layer, three tier petticoat made out of a combination of tulle and organza.
The first thing I made was the headband. I made it out of black cotton, interfacing and black elastic. I used this blog and pattern on my Cricut Maker to cut the fabric and interfacing. I personally don’t like hard head bands because they give me a head ache but this one was soft and didn’t annoy me at all.
Also, since I had so many questions during the stream here is the link to the wig.
Now it’s time for the dress. I did this in basically two parts, the bodice with sleeves and collar which I used the pattern pictured below and a circle skirt.
Specifically I used the bodice and sleeves exactly like the pattern suggests and I modified the collar to look more like Alice’s but I also made a split collar so it was two separate pieces.
I made the bodice exactly like the pattern with the intention of over locking the seams but I ran out of white thread for my over lock machine and the black thread was noticeable through the fabric so I had to whip up a lining as well.
I made the lining exactly like the bodice and then set it aside to add the sleeves.
This required gathering the top and bottom of the sleeve and adding 5/8 inch elastic at the bottom of the sleeve to keep it fitted on my arm.
Next I made the collar. I used the inner curve of the “B” pattern collar to create the inner curve of my collar and then I just eye balled the outer edge of it and I thought it worked. Once the pattern piece was made I cut it out 4 times on my fabric and twice on my interfacing (my collar was two separate pieces). I attached it to the bodice and then I was ready to add my circle skirt.
Next, I added my circle skirt. I made this using my waist measurement and the length from my waist to the end of my petticoat plus 2.5 inches. I had to cut mine in two pieces halves and I really wanted to add pockets but it just didn’t happen since I thought we were running out of time.
I cut my fabric all the way to the salvage so I didn’t have to worry about the skirt being clean on the inside. For the hem, I marked 1/2 inch and 2 inches from the bottom of the skirt, then I ironed it and hand stitched it down. I probably should have used the bling hem stitch on my new sewing machine but I was on hour 13 and getting tired so I just hand stitched it.
From here I stitched the lining in at the neck and back through the zipper, flipped and pressed. From there I hand stitched the arms and bodice where the skirt attaches. Then I applied the zipper. It was supposed to be an invisible zipper but again we were close to 11pm and I still needed to make the apron so I said YOLO.
This is also where I stopped taking photos. So instead of going super into detail about the apron, I will just state the it was draped over the dress out of Quilters Cotton from Joann fabrics. I essentially made two trapezoids that I connected with a 4” by 60” strip of fabric with two 4” by 45” strips that tie at the top.
Now it was time to get into makeup and costume. Alex had spent this time making the chibi and the set as well as drawing all the amazing art for the White Board Wars.
Here’s a few BTS photo’s:
Finally, here’s the clip from when Alex did the before and after.
That’s a wrap on the 24 Hour Challenge.
The next blog will be a series on Stellagosa, I’m not sure if it will be a 3,4 or 5 part series for the costume but see ya in 2 weeks for the first blog on her which will be about sewing the sleeves, necklace, and bodice for her focusing on the detail stitches and what I did using my new Husqvana Viking Topaz 50 Sewing and Embroidery machine.
As always, if you live my content and want to support it further you can do so on ko-fi, patreon, or join me on Twitch Tues, Wed, and Thurs at 12pm EST.
Welcome to part 3 and the final part of making my White Christmas Red Dress. In this blog I will go over how I made my full dress with the rhinestone details on it.
If you’re interested in learning how I made my petticoat you can find that here or how I made the skirt and cape-let with the fur trim you can read that here.
Full disclosure I did not drape the bodice pattern for this costume, that work was done by Sarah who was Betty to my Judy!
I started by making a mock-up with some of the scraps left over from the skirt and cape-let.
The mock-up fit literally like a glove so I made no adjustments to it and then went ahead to cut it out and make it again but this time with lining and sleeves.
I didn’t take any pictures of this process but essentially I sewed the darts in first, then the panels together, then added the sleeves and actually over locked those at the seam in order to keep them clean.
Next I whipped up a quick collar for the neck to make it a turtle neck, I interfaced it and once again serged the edges to keep it clean.
For the skirt addition, I just cut out a second circle skirt but 6” shorter and draped it over my current skirt. From there I marked with pins where I wanted to cut the slit and I actually cut it too high for the fur but I just hid that with the fur application. It wasn’t the cleanest way to do it but it worked. Then I over locked the hem to prepare it for the fur.
For the fur addition I used the exact same technique described in part two, because I hand stitched the fur down it took about 6 hours to apply but looked lovely once it was done.
Finally it was time to apply the invisible zipper. This was my first time ever attempting to do an invisible zipper and I wont lie it was way easier than I had ever imaged. I don’t own an invisible zipper foot but I’m considering buying one for the future.
As per usual I over locked my seam before adding the zipper to “keep it clean”. I’m not going to go over step by step how to add an invisible zipper but I’m willing to make a video tutorial if that’s something people want from me in the future. So above is sewing the first side.
Below is sewing the second side.
It was so easy and look how good it turned out.
Alright now the sewing was complete! It’s time for rhinestones!
Sarah created a template for us to go off of and a general idea of where the placement should have been.
We used the hot fix tool and 3mm/10ss and 5mm/20ss to make the snowflake design on the dresses. Hot fix is not my favorite method to apply rhinestones but it definitely is a great way to apply stones! I’ll actually be writing an entire blog after this about my favorite choices of rhinestones and techniques so if you like this blog then stay tuned.
I applied the stones all over the dress, cape-let and ever on the bodice and sleeves and we were good to go. The red stones were very tricky to see on the red fabric but I knew they were there and that’s all that really matters.
That was it, the dress was done and I was ready to for epic amounts of twirling.
Thank you all for reading my blog.
I’ll be posting blogs every first and third Friday of the month so stay tuned!
Photo by Elysia Griffin
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