Princess Dreams: Making Princess Tiana #3

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!!  Tiana has a bodice (I hope you were reading that in Professor Farnsworth's voice)!!  I've been working on piecing this together over the last few weeks!!  When I first started this, I honestly didn't have much idea on how I was going to create the top of her gown.  But I took a good look at pictures of her actual gown, and also other cosplayers that had done her, so I could figure out what they did, and what I wanted.  I chose Simplicity 5006 for the bodice, and came up with a piece that I hoped would work for the leaf-like front.  A friend suggested I try using suedecloth for the bodice.  I found a really pretty green that reminded me of the color from the artwork.  I bought a Kelly green cotton fabric for the lining, because that was all Joann had at the time (or maybe I didn't look hard enough, one of the two), but I later found a different green for the lining that looked a lot better.

A few of the pattern pieces I originally came up with.

I also used the center front pattern piece of simplicity 5006 to come up with the petal pieces, and then an extra piece for the third petal.  I made these out of some of the same brocade fabric as the skirt, and ordered some super pretty beaded lace from ebay.  I love the beaded fabric, it was so pretty I didn't want to cut it!  I literally apologized to it before finally mustering up the courage to do it, lol. I added lining and interfacing to everything, and the center seam of the petals on the left and right have a piece of white steel boning sewn in.  The center petal was going to be topstitched on.

The original petal fabric: Main fabric (top), beaded lace added (bottom).

Two weeks ago, I turned my attention back to the bodice and re-cut the lining pieces.  I also used my serger to finish the edges on the main fabric.  I added interfacing to the lining pieces and sewed them together.  I ordered some white steel and spiral steel boning, because plastic boning is really pretty meh.  I decided that since I was going to be going all out for this version of her dress that I was going to put good, lasting boning into the bodice. :)  I decided to try using twill tape instead of boning casing in the seams where the boning would go.  Joann didn't have the width I actually wanted, so I used some one inch twill tape.  I laid a piece of boning on top of each piece, and drew lines on either side of the boning with tailor's chalk so I'd know how wide the channel needed to be.  I also made sure that when it came to ordering the boning, that I took seam allowance into account because steel boning is NOT easy to cut.  I definitely like using twill tape to make channels, as opposed to previous bodices where I was fussing (and cussing) with sewing in the casing.

One side of the lining, with twill tape added.

I originally thought I was going to be able to sew everything together as-is, but I realized that the petals were going to need something behind them.  So I made a center panel for the petals to be sewn on to.  After I made sure each side of the panel wasn't going to interfere with the boning channels, I used a zig-zag stitch to sewn in the panel.  Figuring out how to put in the panel was a little tricky!

OoOo-la-la! XD  The center panel sewn in!

Petals added to the center!

A test fit on my dummy. :)  Isn't she lovely?

The petals have been sewn on to the panel, and the boning has been added in.  I think two of the pieces might still be a little long, so I'll either have to try to cut them, or just re-order them a little shorter.  It needs a zipper in the back as well as a hook and eye (probably), and I will be tacking it down in various places.  After all that is done, it's on to the leaf skirt!  It might be a little while before I update on that.  I'm trying to get the embroidery figured out.  But hooray for progress!!

Things I need to go back and finish:

-Bedazzling the other shoe

-Adding horsehair to the skirt

-The monster petticoat

Princess Dreams: Making Princess Tiana #2

WOW!!  Sorry it's been so long!!  I'm going to try to get better about updating this blog!  I'd been considering moving this to a different site, but for now I will stay right here.  :)

Recently, I worked on the main skirt for Tiana's dress.  The skirt was made from Simplicity 1728, and it consists of three layers (all were made using the same pattern).  The first layer is some gorgeous upholstery brocade I found at Joann a long time ago when I first started this.  I chose this fabric because the fairy tale artwork for the doll depicts the base skirt with a flower pattern, and I wanted something similar.  Initially, this was going to be the only layer, but after seeing so many live action Cinderella gowns, I got inspired.  I added a layer of glitter tulle over the brocade, and then I added a layer of shimmery organza over that.  The organza has fishing line sewn into the hem, to give it a look like flower petals.  I love looking at the subtle sparkle from the tulle!  I ordered some 2 inch wide horsehair braid, which came in the mail the other day, and that is going to be sewn into the hem of the brocade layer.  The skirt will be completely finished after I sew that in, and put a hook and eye on the waistband!  I got 9 yards of fabric for each skirt layer, and the patterns calls for something close to that amount, so the skirt is made of roughly 24-27 yds. of fabric all together.

I will be starting on the leaves, next.  That will be the next update (which I swear won't be several months later, lol)!

Onimusha Soul Morrigan

Happy New Year!  It's been a bit since I updated this blog! I've been waiting to have some costume progress, and now I do!  I've been working on a new version of Morrigan Aensland.  Capcom apparently developed a game called Onimusha: Soul for the PS3 a while back, I came across the artwork for Morrigan by chance and loved it.

I wanted to put my own spin on this artwork, so I've been taking a lot of creative liberties. :)  Today, I finished the main kimono.  It's made of silk Dupioni fabric four the sort of beige-ish color of the main fabric, and I lined it with a red paisley brocade for the lining and details.  Here's the result, so far:

I used Simplicity pattern 4080 for this kimono, and did some modifying to suit the look I'm trying to go for.  This is a fairly decent pattern and the first kimono I've ever made, but the sleeve instructions had me a little confused for a while.  I found a video on YouTube of a girl demonstrating how to make the sleeves, and once I started working on the first sleeve I finally figured out what the instructions were saying.  I took pictures of the sleeves as I went along, I'll try to do a separate post with instructions.  Now that the main kimono is done, I'm debating on whether or not I will make the outer skirt part that has the big flowers on it.  If I do, I think I've found a lovely brocade to do it in!

The other thing I've been working on for this costume are the wings.  When I was trying to figure out how I wanted to do this costume, I knew that I wanted to do something really cool with her wings.  I came up with the idea of making a flower crown headband for her head wings, and a friend of mine also suggested that I give it spikes.  I did NOT know this was a thing!  I need to make some of these headbands now, just because they're awesome (Minus the bat wings, lol).  The head wings aren't quite done being painted, but here's how they are looking right now: 

The head wings on top of the wig I plan to wear.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but they are painted in metallic red and purple.  The red paint was a little difficult to work with, and I might try to bring out the color a little more.  The back wings were the next thing, and I came up with a really awesome idea for them.  I wanted the back wings to look like a painting, and decided that I wanted to paint cherry blossoms on them!!  Cherry Blossoms are one of my favorite flowers, and I'm REALLY happy I decided to go this route with them.  They came out SO PRETTY!!!

A close-up view of the flowers

The wings are made of 9 gauge wire, craft foam, plastic plumbing tubing, and Fimo Air Light clay for the claws.  I like how light the Fimo is, but I may go back to using Sculpey because it's not as fragile-feeling.  The metallic colors match the head wings, and then I painted on the cherry blossom branches and blossoms.  I went back over the branches with some Tulip puff paint so the branches could have some texture. :D  This costume is turning out just the way I want, so far, I'm SO EXCITED!!  The big wings are the reason I'm debating on whether or not I will do the outer skirt on the kimono, I'm trying to not go absolutely overboard with the details and keep it balanced.  We'll see what happens!!  <3 

Princess Dreams: Making Princess Tiana #1

So right now, one of my current cosplay projects is a Princess Tiana costume.  First off, I want to talk about how much I adore The Princess and the Frog.  Disney did a really good job with this film.  If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching!  A friend of mine described it as being really "pure," and it really is.  The main protagonists have simple desires: Tiana wants to make her dream have owning her own restaurant come true and works extremely hard to accomplish that, and Prince Naveen simply wants to enjoy a life of little responsibility.  The villain, Dr. Facilier, simply wants money and power, he's not after anything else.  In the end, Tiana and Naveen end up finding something they never knew they needed: each other.  Naveen begins to understand being a more responsible person, and Tiana learns to loosen up and do more than work constantly.

Tiana's lily pad dress is absolutely iconic.  It's a gorgeous reflection of nature's beauty and elegance.  There was also a special edition doll, and the artwork for her is amazing.  The artwork is by Steve Thompson for the Disney Fairytale line of dolls

I actually started this dress a while back, but I'm starting over because as I learn more about costuming, I have found things I want to include to really do my best to give this dress justice.  Thanks to the 2015 Cinderella film, I'm OBSESSED with impossibly big, floofy ballgowns.  So I decided to start with trying to make a petticoat to go over the hoopskirt I have, and give her dress as much volume as I'm able.  Yeah, I did say "make a petticoat."  If you think I'm crazy...  you would be absolutely correct, lol.  Initially, I was thinking I'd need like a nine-layer petticoat, but thankfully that's not the case!  I started out by buying a TON of stiff netting from both Joann and Hancock, and after a lot of searching, I found a petticoat tutorial that sounded good.  After a lot of math, I figured out the dimensions of my hoopskirt at the largest hoop, and calculated the dimensions for my tiers.  The petticoat has three tiers, and so far, I have made three skirt layers.  It currently looks like this:

I was going to do a six to eight layer petti, but for the sake of my own sanity, I'm sopping at five.  The fourth skirt layer is going to have extra ruffles attached to it, so that will give me my five layers and keep me from completely pulling my hair out. XD  So far, I've used about 50 yards of netting for this!  I might make another post at a later date with what I did for the petticoat since it's not finished yet.  I've already decided that I might use crinoline, the next time I need to make one of these bad boys!  

More progress is on the way! <3