WIP July 2015 Edition

Another month has completely flown by! After the craziness of my early summer cons, I decided to take July slow(ish) with my workload. It’s been nice to take a few breaks and not rush projects!

Hanie Mohd Wonder Woman: 60% complete

This has been my big personal project for the month. I finished hemming the skirt over the weekend, and I also knocked out the other big component of this costume: the corset. I went back and forth on making an actual corset. With this style, a boned bodice probably would have been more appropriate (not to mention cheaper). That said, I really wanted to try out some different corset making methods to figure out how I want to make Lulu. So corset it is! All that’s left is making the “armor” and painting my shoes!

Lulu: 6% complete

Oh, Lulu… I didn’t really get around to doing anything with Lulu this month other than shopping for EVEN MORE LACE and a few other materials. After some thought, I decided to bump Lulu up on my costume roster. I’m still planning to make Shulkie soon (and maybe squeeze in one more simple costume this year), but this is going to be my primary costume build for more or less the next 4 months. I kind of just need to make this costume and get it out of my system. So look forward to lots and lots of lace and belts in the near future! My goal for next month is to make  her corset and a hoop skirt as the base for the belts.

Commissions:

My first commission this month was a Codex corset for Callula Cosplay! To pattern this, I made a mock-up of my trusty TV110 in her size. I marked the top edge while she wore it.

The fashion fabric for this is a burgandy upholstery fabric I found at Jo-Anns. I cut the fabric on the cross-grain (technically a corsetry no-no) to match the appearance of “stripes” on Felicia Day’s corset. The fashion fabric is fused to duck cloth which acts as a strength layer, and I used muslin for the lining. The whole thing is constructed using the welt seam method, which is pretty forgiving of cutting errors and also very durable. I bound the edges in pre-made gold bias tape. The front white panel is made of casa satin fused to duck cloth and lined with more muslin. It attaches separately with snaps. Overall I’m pretty pleased with how this turned out, and Dana looks great in it!

My other commission this month is a bodysuit for Kevin Dale. He’s the guy who made my fantastic Captain Marvel cowl! I don’t really want to mention what this is from since he hasn’t announced his plans yet, but with all that red, it should be pretty easy to guess (Hint: it’s a spin on a classic Marvel character with a recently released show 😉 ). I constructed this suit pretty much with the same approach I used on my Grihahim commission.

Once we got the mock-up fitted, I drew in seam lines for some visual interest. The base of the suit is red moleskin, and the side panels are high performance red spandex. I interfaced and topstitched 2″ faux panels on the sides and under the arms. I also topstitched the edges of these panels and extra seam lines for more visual interest. I can’t wait to see all of this come together!

The other major project I completed this month was making the initial run of product for my Etsy shop! I’ve accumulated lots of geeky prints over the last few months, so I sat down over a 3 day weekend and sewed up 18 clutches. So far, I’ve got Avengers, Batgirl/Supergirl/Wonder Woman, Disney villains, Anna and Elsa, and 2 different Star Wars prints. I picked up some Dr. Who fabric recently and will add a few samples to the shop soon!

Do you have any requests for specific clutches? I’m always on the hunt for geeky themed fabric. If you’ve got suggestions for other products you’d like to see (clutches without bows, coin purses, pillows, etc.) let me know!

What have you been working on this month?