Corset Making Sew-along Part 1

Today we covered sizing, cutting out the pattern, adding seam allowance and cutting out the fabric for our under bust corset. Since we did all this live, I’m going to be very brief in my descriptions.

For sizing, I followed the instructions on the corset pattern and I took off 2 inches and another 2 inches for cinching so that made me a size E on the pattern. The easiest way to start cutting it out is start with page 1 and match the piece with it’s counterpart.

Once I found and cut the bottom piece I made sure to leave the bottom 1/2” or so of the top portion so I could tuck it under and then placed tape over the two pieces once they were lined up.

I repeat this process on all the pieces.

Now time to add seam allowance. Anywhere from 1/2” to 5/8” will work for the seam. I went and grabbed my hem marking tool (set at 5/8”) and my tailors chalk. Starting on my Duck Canvas I pinned all the pieces with enough space in between to add seam allowances.

I marked the edge on both the left and right of the pieces but DO NOT add allowance for the top it is already included in the patter.

Repeat for all the pieces and cut your fabric. I cut my duck canvas on a fold so I could cut both pieces at the same time.

Once duck canvas is cut I cut the pieces out on cotton (my lining) and silk dupioni (my fashion fabric) with the same seam allowances.

For the modesty panel, I marked the two side pieces again on the duck canvas but I unfolded it so I will only have on piece of canvas instead of two.

Then I pinned the duck canvas onto the silk dupioni and cut while on the fold so I would get two pieces.

That’s all for this week. Next week we will interline the fashion fabric, sew the panels together and discuss embellishments for the corset.

Corset Making Sew A long 2019

It’s finally time for my first ever Sew-A-long!

To kick it off we are going to be making an under bust corset using a FREE pattern from Aranea Black she has so much knowledge of sewing, corsetry and patterning and she is sharing her corset pattern FOR FREE!

After a lot of thought and chat with some of my regulars in stream we have decided on doing an under bust corset that can either be worn as a statement piece with a blouse or underneath a dress to give you that cinched waist look.

As many of you know I am not new to making corsets, stays, bodies etc. However, this is my first under bust corset which is exciting. With most of my gowns I have not needed an under bust corset but I have a future costume coming up where I would love the option so here we are.

Let’s start with the pattern.

Please download this pattern from Aranea Black’s website. It’s not necessary to print the Letter unless you absolutely want to but it is important to have the pattern printed and your measurements taken by the first session.

Which leads us to our Schedule:

How it’ll work is I will stream the process on each of these days, answer questions that come up on the steps of the process being covered. I won’t be jumping ahead to finishing if we are still cutting out the pattern. At the end of every live stream I will export the VOD and upload it as is to you-tube. Give me 24 hours after each session to upload the video, I will answer the questions via You-Tube as quickly as I can each week and repeat.

Materials (all links are the specific items I am getting):

• Pattern, which should be downloaded and printed by the first day.

• 1 yard Duck Canvas

• 1 yard Fashion Fabric (this can be whatever you want)

• 1 yard cotton for lining

• 44 sets of grommets

• 10 yd 1/4” spiral steel boning

• heat shrink tubing for boning capping

• busk (the size will depend on the length of your torso)

• bias tape 3-5yards, you can make your own if you want.

• corset lacing

• embellishments, this could be anything from lace trim to applique, whatever your heart desires but please note that I will not be able to cover every method of applying embellishments so you might need to do some research on the side.

Tools:

• sewing machine

• pressing iron

• needles for your specific fabric (don’t know what needles you need, Schmetz has an app for that)

• awl (for the grommets and the busk)

• grommet pliers

• boning cutters/metal cutters

• candle (for capping the boning)

• pins, scissors, anything else you need when you’re sewing garments.

Please purchase materials ahead of time so that you can participate in the actual sew a long in September. I will be working as hard as I can to answer any and all questions throughout the month.

You can reach me at Instagram or Twitter feel free to invite your friends to make a corset too and hopefully I will be able to make weekly updates here on my blog for those that cannot make catch the Sew A Long live. If this is successful I am more than willing to host another Sew A Long in the future.

Making an 1850's Flounced Skirt and Bertha Bodice

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.

Making an 1850's cage crinoline/hoop skirt

Quick Edit: For those interested in video content on making a Cage Crinoline here is my video on making it:

Welcome to a new blog, this time I will be talking about my 1850’s hoop skirt or also known as a caged crinoline. I don’t talk very much about my fiance on here but I am making us 1850’s ensembles for Homebrew Con at the end of June. We are speakers and we are doing a skit/panel on the history of the Imperial Stout otherwise known as the Russian Imperial Stout, although it’s origins come from England but I digress.

We will be hosting our panel as time travelers and acting as though we spent some time in the 1850’s to learn about the origin on the Imperial Stout, in our panel we will be serving home brewed Imperial Stout and we will be dressed as the working class would in the 1850’s. I’ll be in a cotton dress with a hoop and he will be in knicker bockers and a grey cotton shirt.

When I was documenting this process I initially was planning to make a step by step photo documentation to help people use the pattern. I was super successful until I got to the hooping wire and then I just stopped documenting all together because of the space the piece took up in my studio and going between the cutting table, ground and sewing machine began to get difficult. So I will start this blog off with the step by step documentation I did at the beginning and then once I get to the hooping wire section I will talk about the issues I overcame and how I over came them but there wont be any photos of that segment.

To start out I used Truly Victorian 142 for this piece. On their website they actually link you to where you can buy all the materials for these and that makes it super helpful when constructing your first one. I purchased hooping wire in bulk for multiple projects, as well as hoop casing and I used scrap cotton for the bag and cincher. I am desperately trying to go through my scrap fabric so I will be talking about fabric scraps quite a bit in the summer months.

So let’s just jump right into the instructions for this and how to get started on this piece. If you plan to wear this over a corset consider making it the size in which your waist is cinched in the corset. I went with the size D for a 26” waist because I plan to wear this in and out of corset and when it came down to it, the 26” waist fits me cinched down to 24” so it’ll work for several sizes.

The first two steps are obviously to cut the pattern pieces out and then cut the fabric out. I choose to cut all my pattern pieces to the largest size and then mark my size on the fabric. This way I can use the pattern again for clients. Also, these patterns range from $13 to $21 and it’s kind of a waste of money to buy them again for clients since the pattern paper these come on are very durable and could easily be used over and over again. So let’s save some trees friends.

From here on out, all of the quote sections are the instructions and then after the quotes if necessary I will add commentary and share the photo of doing the step.

“Step 1: Cut out 3 of bag on fold, and 4 of each cincher piece.”

I also took this time to cut out the twill tape.

“Step 2: Mark the stitching lines for the bone channels on the bag as shown on pattern pieces, onto the correct side of the fabric.”

I took this time to just mark everything.

“Step 3: Make the bag.”

“Step 3a: Sew all the Bag sections together along side edges, making one long piece. Do not sew into a circle yet. Make sure the marks for the stitching lines are on the correct side of fabric.”

I actually had all the markings for the bag on the “wrong” side of the fabric since I was sewing white fabric I could see the lines through the fabric and that was really helpful for me.

“Step 3b: Press seam allowances to one side and zig-zag over allowance to keep it flat. This will help the bones slide into the bag channels easier.”

This step is a game changer for me, I have never been instructed to do this before and I am so glad I learned this because it’s something that I personally will use in the future.

“Step 3c: Fold the bag sections in half, right sides together, so the fold becomes the bottom edge, and the raw edges the top.”

I also pressed it, I know that’s obnoxious because it gets flipped but I wanted to press it, so I did.

“Step 3d: Sew along the top edge, leaving 6” on each end unsewn.”

“Step 3e: Turn the bag right right side out and press.”

I know I always say this but pressing is just so important, so do it, or else.

“Step 3f: Match the ends of the bag, right sides together and seam the ends together. Press. Flip seam to inside of bag. This seam will be the center front of the bag.”

This part get’s a bit tricky to press the inside of the seam but I used my pressing ham and had no issues getting the entire seam pressed open.

“Step 3g: Stitch along each boning channel line, as marked. Make sure to leave an 8” gap in the stitching at the center front to be able to insert the hoop wire.”

I actually left the entire 6” gap on each side. I remember with the elliptical hoop inserting the wire was really hard because the gap didn’t feel wide enough so I just did it this was and it worked really well for me.

Before moving onto the next step I took the liberty to adding a pretty little lace trim to the bottom of the bag. This is by all means not historically accurate but I loved the trim so I added it and again I needed to get rid of stuff in my stash and what better way to do so.

“Step 3h: Starting at center back and working towards the front on either side place a mark 1/2” from center, and then each additional mark as shown in the chart. This will mark the placement of where the ribbons will attach to the bag.”

So apparently I took less photo’s than I remembered but after marking the bag and the twill tape placement I actually stitched it down.

“Step 4: Ribbon/tapes”

Instead of going over all the instructions in this section I’m just going to say that I followed the markings and stitched the ribbon on in the manor I thought they went and after reading this section it just confirmed my placement and the steps I took to add these.

So moving onto “Step 5: Make the waist cincher.”

Before getting too much into it, the images given with the pattern were rather confusing and contradicted the instructions so I used the instructions for this part and ignored the drawings that came with it because the didn’t help at all.

“Step 5a: Sew the center backs together along the center back seam, correct sides together, making 2 sets: one for the outside and one for the lining. Clip and press.”

I should also not that I stitched these all on 1/2” seam allowances and that I did not clip any of these and it turned out fine. I did in fact press everything though, because you should. I’ll also note that the fabric I used for the cincher is a different printed white calico than the one I used for the bag but considering they were undergarments I wasn’t too concerned with the fabric not matching.

“Step 5b: Sew side backs to center backs, correct sides together. Clip and press seams.”

This is where their diagrams don’t line up, side backs go to center back and side front goes to center front.

“Step 5c: Sew side Fronts to Side backs, correct sides together. Clip and press.”

“Step 5d: Sew fronts to side fronts, correct sides together. Clip and press.”

At this point I also pressed everything another time to make sure those seams were flat.

“Step 5e: Match the two sets together, outside layer and lining layer, with correct sides together. Place the top ends of the support tapes in-between the two layers, matching the top end of the ribbon to the edge of the fabric. The Center back tape should be centered on the center back seam. The side back tape should be centered on the back/side back seam. The side front tape should be centered on the side front/side back seam. The front tape should be centered on the front/side seam.”

The placement of each tape was pretty easy but I had major issues figuring out the placement of the tape in relation to the sandwich pieces. So hopefully this image will show you how I did it and help with that confusion.

“Step 5f: Sew across the bottom edge of the cincher, and each center front end, with 1/2” seam allowance.”

Sewing this part actually attached the ribbon onto the cincher and once you fold it over and press it you will see how the bottom edge attaches the ribbon to it.

“Step 5g: Clip the corners, turn correct side out, and press. Sew five 3/8” wide boning channels into your cincher. One at the center back seam, one at each side seam, and at the front edge.”

For this step I honestly just stitched a 1/4” on each side of the seams and that created a large enough channel for the bones to be placed into.

“Step 5h: Sew 2 rows of stitching from the top to the bottom at each seam line, and 3/8” in from the front edges.”

I combined this step with the previous one.

“Step 5i: insert bones into each of the channels from the top of the corselet, and baste the top of the cincher closed.”

“Step 5j: Finish the top edge of the cincher with zigzag, binding or a trim to cover the raw edges.”

I used binding and then placed the grommets and this is the last photo I took of the progress.

So the rest of the steps are on the hooping wire and adding the hoops. It was so difficult to photograph this section but the instructions are pretty straight forward. I will note that instead of having a 2” over lap on my wire I created a 5” overlap so they would stay secure better. In the past of making hoops I had issues with the overlap not being enough and them popping out.

Another adjustment I made was the bone casing, I added about 6 inches to the casing would actually meet. I also machine stitched each hoop casing on as I added the hoop instead of pinning it all and then sewing it. I used a zipper foot to sew it on and had no issues with sewing it alongside the metal boning.

Those were the only adjustments I made, I chose to use tape to bind the metal together and I just made sure to feed the taped pieces past the first tape so that the stitching would keep the wire from moving.

I also tried Ariels underskirt on over the hoop and it seemed to fit nicely so I plan to use this hoop for future ballgowns as well as displaying pieces.

If you found this blog helpful please consider supporting my work on Patreon or Ko-fi, both places help with material cost on costumes and allow me to continue to spend the time to write these blogs and make videos.

How I made my False Front Ariel Underskirt

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.

Making Historically Accurate Megara part 1

Welcome to a new blog on making Historically Accurate Megara from Hercules. I made this costume in three weeks leading up to Momocon so I take a lot of short cuts and don’t exactly do things historically accurate but this design has been on my list for over a year now so what better time to make it then now.

To start off, I used silk instead of linen because I had never used silk shantung before and I really wanted to, I know now that it doesn’t give the drape that I need from the image but the color of the fabric was still stunning so I stand by my choice.

I purchased three yards of silk shantung from mood, three yards of silk habotai and three yards of silk shantung from Silk Baron. I used embroidery thread from Robison Anton in 24k Gold, as well as sewing thread from Intressa for sewing the garments.

The embroidery design was already programmed in my Husqvana embroidery machine in the exact size I wanted it so I chose to go the easy but inaccurate route vs digging for something more appropriate.

This blog is going to cover the shirt and skirt, while the next blog will cover the accessories and wig styling.

To start out I draped the chiton over my dress form by gathering the sleeves and neckline by hand, I did this on stream so naturally I forgot to take photo’s of it. There’s only two a bodice front and back to this piece so it goes together rather simply.

Once I had the shapes I wanted I cut out my fabric and serged all the edges to minimize the fraying.

Now I went in with my embroidery machine and stitched out the design, over and over and over again.

I’m aware this is not a historically accurate choice but this is the choice I made so after 6 hours of placing, pressing go, stitching, and starting all over again I finally had this design all over my costume.

So now it was time to gather down the sleeves and neckline and then sew the pieces together.

Next I made a strip of fabric out of the Mulberry silk shantung the length of the hem by 3 inches. I folded over the edges and baste the strip down.

Then using my embroidery machine I satin stitched the edges. This greatly worked against the drape but still looks good. If I were to redo this, I would not fold the edges inside and I would not do such a wide satin stitch.

Then I made a belt out of the Mulberry silk shantung, I cut a piece of it 5” by 30” added interfacing to it and then sewed snaps on the back.

Now it’s time to make the skirt, this part was really easy and basically mimics what I did for my Jafar skirt. So I took my 3 yards of habotai and created the 5” strip at the bottom just like I did on the hem of the shirt.

Then, creating a french seam I stitched the two edges together in the back leaving a 6 inch gap from the top. I gathered down the 110” to 28” made a waistband, and attached the skirt to the waistband.

That’s the skirt, it took longer to stitch out the embroidery than it did to sew both the top and bottom of this costume. I would say about 15 hours have been put in so far.

The next blog will cover the accessories and wig styling.

For those that want to help support my creations you can always join my Patreon or donate to my Ko-fi.

Using Laughing Moons Victorian Corset Pattern

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!

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Red Dress

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!

Project Ebon Blade Part 2: Stellagosa Skirt

Welcome to part two of my Stellagosa construction blog. I have decided to only cover the sewing bits of this costume since the other pieces didn’t quite turn out how I planned and aside from the 3D printed pieces from Hoku Props the other pieces are just not as good looking.

So let’s jump into the skirt, if you missed the blog about the bodice, necklace and sleeves you can find that here. Up until this point I was not sure if I was going to make a bodice and skirt or a full dress, I went with making a full dress because it just made sense in the long run.

I started by draping trapezoid like shapes on my dress form to be the dragon scale underskirt as well as the main skirt sections that will have all the details. I use basic cotton to drape, and typically start by just pinning stuff to my dress form, marking it with sharpie and then cutting it out.

Once I was happy with how this looked I transferred it over to my silk taffeta, silk habotai for the hip cut outs and then some cotton broadcloth for the skirt interlining. I chose to interline the skirt because I was afraid the lighter weight fabric would not hold up with the heavier details.

I then copied my front pattern piece onto pattern paper and began to sketch out the design that was on the front of the skirt. There was no back image of the costume so I just repeated the design on the back to make it so it didn’t look like I forgot or didn’t put thought into how the back of the costume looks.

From there I cut the piece out of the paper and began cutting all the applique pieces out on the cotton fabric.

All of the gray cotton in the costume are left over from my Slytherin Bustle dress.

Next I sprayed the back of the applique pieces with 505 spray then pinned the pieces to baste them to the silk taffeta.

After basting it was time for my new favorite step, satin stitching.

I used Robison Anton embroidery thread in Saturn Gray for the satin stitch on the setting pictured below on my Husqvana Viking Topaz 50 machine.

Next it was time to embellish, as many of you know this is basically me signature style. I love adding beads, sequins rhinestones you name it.

Once the applique were done I moved onto the runes. These vector files were given to me by my friend Arielle who used them in her very own World of Warcraft Paladin. They look great with the costume and I stitched them out with Robison Anton thread as well. I started off with tension issues and it took me a few tries to get it right but I am also still very new to using my embroidery machine so I’m not stressing out too much on how perfect these stitches are just yet.

I will say the texture Arielle designed for these runes are out of this world, I can’t wait for everyone to see it with their own eyes. From here I cute the strip of fabric the size I needed.

Then with the right side of the runes to the wrong side of the skirt I sewed the runes on, flipped them, pressed the front seam and then satin stitched the visible edge on.

From there I did a little bit more of embellishments by adding bugle beads to the outer side of the stitch, I lined everything up to sew the skirt pieces together. Not pictured I rhinestones and added the silk habotai cut outs at the hip.

The final step was to add the bottom rune strip in the same manor as the top, bugle bead applied and then this part was done.

More not pictured parts was draping the silk habotai “ripped” pieces, as well as the silk shantung “ruffle” and “sashes” that draped down.

However, I do have a fun close up of soldering the edges of the silk habotai to make it look singed. This was a rather fun part of the costume. There isn’t a ton of distressing involved in this costume but this part was distressed and so much fun making it look so.

For the purple shantung “apron” I just draped a trapezoid section to fit onto the cotton trapezoid base. I have zero proper draping training so I just pin, baste, take out, and repeat.

Let’s move onto the dragon scale section really quick. So I designed a basic dragon scale cut design on my cricut maker. I cut out about 60 of them on vinyl. I added the names of my patrons and ko-fi supporters on the back of them.

I individually painted each scale using Deco Art Acrylic Paints.

Then I glued them onto the cotton, I tried sewing them on but no matter where I stitched there was a potential to see the stitching so hot glue FTW.

Then I stitched the apron piece to fall low enough to cover the top row of scales.

Finally, it was time to sew all these pieces onto the bodice. I did this by lining up the hip habotai piece with the side habotai piece with the right sides together.

I added a 22 inch long zipper into the back so the entire thing could get on in one go. I’m so glad I did it this way.

The last thing I did just to make the layered effect stay in place was whip stitched the dragon scale “underskirt” panel behind the rune, this will keep it all in place when I walk and really allow for the multi skirt illusion to happen.

That’s all for the sewing of Stellagosa.

I made an official announcement over on Patreon earlier this month that I will be writing and releasing my first eBook costume build. I will be documenting the entire process of a costume (the costume is a Patreon secret that I will debut at Momocon). I will be releasing WIP, video and write up content over there and finally once the costume is done I will be releasing an eBook in the $10 tier that will later be available to purchase here on my website for $12.

The goal with the eBook is to better document costume construction as well as answer some of the major questions that are asked over and over.

Thank you all for reading, the next blog post will be on my The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Red Dress.

Project Ebon Blade Stellagosa: Part 1 Sleeve, Bodice and Necklace

New Costume time! This one is a little different than I am used to, it is not historical, Disney or spooky but it does have a bit of sewing and it is very beautiful.

This blog will cover how I made the sleeves, necklace and bodice for Project Ebon Blade Stellagosa artwork by Zach Fischer This entry will be covering just the sewing parts but I will do an entire entry on all the sculpting and thermoplastic parts. My intention is to make this costume light up but it might not get done for C2E2 (now less than 3 weeks away) so if I get it done for Dragoncon there will be an entire blog or video on that at a later date.

There will be either 2 or 3 more parts to this blog which I will link at the end as I complete them. But lets jump in.

I started the entire process with the sleeves, I made a duct tape and clear wrap sleeve around my arm (like people do with their duct tape dress forms) and cut it open where I wanted my seam. I don’t have photo’s of this process but I transferred that onto fabric.

From there I refined my sleeve design and then began to draw the separate panels onto the sleeve. I found it very hard to draw and erase on the fabric so I quickly switched to pattern paper and accepted that this was my design.

Once I had moved to the paper I was also able to start drawing on the stitching design I was going to attempt.

Now that I basically had the plan for the design it was time to do a test of it. I made an entire sleeve design test before working on the official sleeves because I wanted to make sure the design read as the design from the image as well as I wanted to get good at doing it on my machine.

So to create the curved design I used two design stitches in my Embroider/Sewing Machine. I have a Husqvarna Viking Topaz 50 and I am still very new at using it.

Using Rayon Embroidery Thread from Robison Anton in Saturn Gray I used the curved stitch at a 26mm length and a 42mm length to create the design, I stitched it out on the slowest speed and stopped after one curve was stitched. I use this same design, stitch length and method on both the necklace and the bodice.

Then I used a satin stitch (which is pre loaded in my machine) to attached the grey cotton but also to attach the silk taffeta to the silk habotai.

As you can see there was some spacing issues and a lot of control issues with both the design and the satin stitch so it was actually really beneficial to make the practice sleeve.

At this point I repeated the entire process but for the real sleeves. Then I cut out the habotai and satin stitched the taffeta piece onto the habotai.

From there I over locked all the edges, applied rhinestones to give it the sparkly look and at this time I had no intention of adding further embellishments. So I stitched the seams together, folded in the top seam, added elastic to help hold it on my arm, folded the bottom seam and that was that.

But later on I decided I did want to apply embellishments so here they are. Note the diamond cut out at the tip of the sleeve is for gem placement once I have made those.

Next up is the necklace. I did some basic drafting of the necklace and the bodice on my dress form. I didn’t take a ton of photos of the draping or necklace making process but it was fairly easy.

So from my pattern above, I cut that out on taffeta and cotton as well as made some bias tape out of the cotton. I drew the design onto the fabric with fabric colored pencil. Then I did the curved design stitch over it.

Then I cleaned it all up with bias, added hooks in the back and that was that. Later on I added beads and sequins to the necklace as well.

Finally the bodice, which was kind of all over the place but I will try to make sense of it all. So I started with the piece that had the curved design on it. I cut that out on taffeta and cotton, made binding for it and I also left the stabilizer on the taffeta when I stitched the cotton on to help give it structure. This bodice has no boning and very little interfacing due to the nature of the see through habotai that is true to the drawing.

I had some issues with the bias in the “V” part of the piece, I have since figured out how to do it right but since at this point I already knew I was going to spend several hours adding embellishments I just let it stay this way.

Now it was time to work on the purple shantung and I couldn’t find any embroidery designs in my machine that looked like the image so I kind of did my own thing with it. This is probably my least favorite part of the costume and probably my least favorite thing I have made in a really long time but I chose a swirl design and just repeated it in a fashion that “made sense”. However, I am not very good at my embroidery machine yet and I was incredibly impatient so the design does not line up very well and it really looks horrible in my opinion.

But I moved forward and just did what I could to make everything else look better to make up for my mistakes.

I serged all the seams I could since I opted out of lining the bodice because of the see through nature of the art. I really wanted to recreate that but also while staying in my comfort zone. I made sure that the top piece lined up before finishing the garment, I didn’t want to add embellishments to it while being attached to the rest of the piece.

I interfaced and “lined” the top taffeta piece and the side taffeta piece for structure and also since I plan to add grommets when the skirts are finished and attached. In the middle of making this piece I decided it would be better as a dress then a top and bottom.

Finally it was time to embellish and I couldn’t do that without my assistant Eva to sniff and make sure I was using the good beads.

Once embellishments were done I hand stitched the design piece onto the bodice.

Overall, despite some bad embroidery line up, some bad sewing and lack of boning I think this piece looks pretty good. There will be straps added from the bodice to the necklace, I will most likely talk about those in one of my last blogs about this costume.

The next blog will be about the skirt portions of this costume. It will include the dragon scale underskirt as well as the skirts that get attached to this bodice.

Thank you all for reading, I release blogs every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month and you can catch video content on my Youtube on the 2nd Friday of the month.

If you would like your name in my current project then you can become a Patron for $1 a month you get early access to blogs, WIP and costume tests!