Pouting Time

Grrrr!  I’m a little, ok more than a little, miffed right now.  It’s my third try to get Yuna’s skirt how I want it.  (Luckily, I haven’t cut the fabric just yet since I have one chance to perfectly make it.)  I’ve tried a circle skirt, but I don’t have enough fabric.  I’ve tried a 10 gored skirt, but I don’t have enough paper for the pattern.  I’ve tried a pleated skirt, but I’m not sure it’s going to lay like I want.  Ho-hum, maybe I must make a pleated skirt since it’s the only skirt that theoretically would turn out well with out more fabric or paper.  I hate sewing sometimes.  >_<  It’s so fun and rewarding yet so annoying at the same times.  >_<  I’m going to pout in a corner for a bit. 

Back on Track

I salvaged a few feet from my previous sewing machine, which thankfully fit perfectly, so I’m back to sewing now.  Sadly, I had to spend around four hours searching for the replacement feet so I lost precious sewing time.  That was honestly one of the biggest time wasters I have ever experienced.  Nevertheless, I am very happy to finally be able to sew again.  ^_^

Sewing Machine Trouble

What a hassle these machines can be.  It’s barely a week till Halloween and my darn machine blows a fuse and stops working.  Darn thing!  Now I have three costumes for make pieces for and no machine.  *growl and pout*  Nevertheless, I’ll get them done.  I’ve already finished hand sewing my sister’s Lucy pants, and she might wear another shirt for the time being.  I’m still trying to figure out how to make the rest in time.

Wig Styling

Who knew wigs could be so easy and challenging at the same time.  So far I’ve styled one wig two different ways.  The first time I made Sheeta from Castle in the Sky only I didn’t get the bangs done because of lack of time and funds.  I still had a blast wearing the wig though and a few people noticed my character. 

Back on track, it took me three tries to make this hairstyle.  The first time I had the style perfect but the wefts showed in back waaaaay too much.  The second time it was absolutely perfect only I made the braids too tight and couldn’t get the wig on my head.  @_@  I found that out the night before the first day of the con and the cosplay was due the next morning.  The third time was done, literally, at three in the morning the night before the con while the wig was on my head because I didn’t have a wig head, my unofficial wig head was asleep, and I wanted the wig to fit.  That was fun.  Not really.  I learned a lot about what not to do when wearing a wig.  Example; trying to see the back of your head via two reflecting mirrors while one of them is in one hand and the other hand is trying to singlehandedly, literally, braid a 40” wig is not a good idea.  Neither is pulling so hard on the wig that it falls off your head in the middle of braiding because your arms are too tired to hold themselves up.  Never style a wig either late at night or just before the con unless it is an absolute emergency as you will humiliated with out that wig.  Real hair works too sometimes.

The second styling of the same wig was an attempt to pull off a Civil War era hairstyle two hours before the fashion show where I was modeling my Civil War ball gown.  Again bad idea.  Not as bad as styling a wig late at night but close.  Give yourself at least, at least three to four hours to complete a Civil War hairstyle if you are styling it yourself.  Again I had to style it by myself while trying to, somehow, see the back of my head.  I didn’t have as many, if any, disasters as I did with the Sheeta restyling, but I ran in to problems later on.  Half way through the fashion show, the long worked on hairstyle started falling out.  By the time the second fashion review was over, the hair style was practically shot and the wig had to be hastily restyled every few minutes.  I now have to work all the knots and rats out of my wig once again. 

On a lighter note, my third wig to style/ restyle is my Toph wig.  On the third day of the con a very nice experienced cosplayer/wigstylist styled my Toph wig.  The only thing is, is I didn’t put the wig on straight before she styled the wig so the bun came out lopsided.  So I have to restyle it to A) have more volume and B) not be lopsided.  I’m really looking forward to this one since the same wigstylist sold me her spare wig head so now I can use a wig head to style my wigs. 

Troubles and Annoyances (Sheeta Progress Report 2)

Well my Sheeta costume is nearly done.  The pants are complete and just as awesome as I’d hoped.  The shirt is another story.  I thought I had the shirt nearly perfect, but I was wrong.  Turns out the shirt ended up being too short waisted.  On top of that, the pants don’t go up high enough to compensate for the shirt and I’m out of the shirt fabric.  ;_;  Not to mention that I’m pretty much out of money because I have to pay for the convention pass as well as have a bit of spending money for the convention. 

To help with my problem, I made the belt a bit bigger than need be.  I’m also considering adding hooks and eyes to the bottom of the top and the top of the bottoms.  Hopefully that should keep the shirt where it needs to be without pulling on the pants too much, though I fear the latter to be the actual case.  My other option is to attach the belt to the top somehow without making the attachment permanent.  I was thinking of using either hooks and eyes or snaps to this idea. 

Other than that, my project is going well.  So far, except for the mishaps, it’s turned out better than anticipated.  I was a little worried about using the patterns I chose, especially since I had to modify them moderately.  They turned out so much better than my fears allotted.  I just have to remember that collars adjust the length of a garment by at least two inches.  Life lessons, those are well learned and adapted.