#really good topstitching

[scribefindegil]

I mean this in the ace-est possible way but Dimple-in-Reigen's-body is really hot. sorry.

#'but scribe you don't experience attraction what does this even--' #I Do Not Know. #it's just. it's just the Vibes. #other things with similar Vibes include: #really good topstitching #when art is a specific kind of Very Shaped #extremely sharp knives #(ONLY craft knives tho cooking knives and weapons don't count) #olivier armstrong fullmetalalchemist #um. the concept of herb spirals in permaculture #enjambment #a lot of literary devices actually #anaphora is very sexy #sestinas if they're good #ANYWAY the point is that i went from the sort of ace person who would never in a million years use words like 'hot' or 'sexy' #to the sort of ace person who uses them and the things they describe are sure a Category #but not a category that maps in any way at all onto the commonly accepted actual definitions of the words #and then very occasionally a character will enter The Category #and i'll be like what the fuck i don't feel like that about *people*!? #and then i have to remind myself that it's the same feeling as looking at topstitching #okay that's one point #the other point is still that possessed Reigen is hot #ace stuff #mp100

[roach-works]

junk journal quilt!

i bought every charm pack with textual elements i could find off fatquartershop.com to make a full-size junk journal quilt. extra squares to get it up to size were added in from botanical and natural history type prints.

in structure it's an extremely straightforward patchwork, not even set on point: the appeal is entirely due to careful arrangement of beautiful prints. it really proves that you don't need more than the basics to make a gorgeous quilt if you've got a good enough idea! anyway, because i used a cheap ikea duvet insert instead of batting, the top and bottom sheets were loose and inclined to get wrinkles sewn into the stitching. so i did an inch of zig-zag stitch back and forth at every fourpatch intersection to keep the loft loose and fluffy but the patchwork nicely secure. the hems are very casually folded over and topstitched with straight and zigzag stitching, which gives it a very scribbly sort of finish.

this is the most expensive quilt ive done in awhile because i bought so many new fabrics for it, but it's my favorite one yet. it was my holiday gift to myself and i regret nothing.

#holiday present to myself #art #quilt #quilting #my art

[seamsterslocal]

summer binder picture tutorial

this is the third binder ive made for myself recently and the first one i’m writing up. it’s designed to do a few things: 1) allow me to put it on by myself without dislocating my shoulders 2) allow me to breathe well enough to partake in normal activity 3) be cool enough to wear throughout a muggy 90-100F summer 4) not constrict my ribs in a way that aggravates my lack of connective tissue and causes intense pain.

this has become necessary even though i had top surgery many years ago, because when i had it i was extremely skinny and since then i’ve increased in size by about 50%. this has been really fucking good for my health in every single way* except that when my chest is squishy or moves at all it’s So Goddamn Triggering for me. but also since ive had top surgery ive developed and/or been made away of a plethora of chronic conditions that make every single commercially available binding option medically impossible. unbound, my chest is pretty much what you’d expect for a chubby cis guy but venturing out into the world in just a tshirt no longer works for me

*anyone who badmouths weight gain or fat bodies in the notes WILL be blocked

under the cut are a bunch of process pictures and explanations of what they all mean:

first i’ll give you a look at the pieces and measurements:

most of the seams are sewn in this picture and one half is turned inside out, allowing you to see both the finished dimensions (right) and the placement of the fusible horsehair canvas that gives this lil scrap of linen any structure at all (left)

to get your chest measurement, you’re gonna have to do some math:

first measure above and below what you want to bind. average these numbers. mine are something like 32 and 34, which average to 33. subtract a few inches--this is to allow the air movement between the laces at center front and back, critical in the summertime. i deleted 3 inches bc i like that number but you can go bigger if you want. the more inches you subtract here, the more youll be able to ratchet all your chest material down later, but at the same time you need to leave enough fabric for a sturdy garment. let��s say a range of 2-6 inches/5-15cm. by taking your measurements this way, you’re essentially measuring the chest you would like to have. that + the horsehair canvas work together to compress any squishy tissue/force anything that doesnt compress up and to the outside (basically into the armpit/lower shoulder--the chest might stick out but it will give a very puffed chest captain america pectoral silhouette)

you can also see how ive clipped my curves and pre-drilled my lacing holes. i used the marlin spike on my knife to open up the holes on the interfacing side, mainly as a way of marking them. this worked well bc the interfacing’s glue kept the linen from raveling

this is the same stage but looking at the non-interfaced grey linen/cotton blend (the black is some 100% linen from my cabbage stash). you can see ive broken the solar-plexus-to-back measurement up into a bunch of pieces to save on fabric but that’s not necessary. my original pattern was just two pieces (front and back) and chopping the straps into thirds on both sides was aesthetic

in the following picture you can really see how this is really just overgrown regency stays:

i thought about doing side lacing but didn’t think that would be comfortable for me. on the front, the side seam allowance was pressed inwards before turning to create a finished looking slot. on the back the side seam is left unfinished with an extra wide seam allowance, and is inserted into that slot.

here’s a closeup on it pinned in place (you can adjust the angle of the side seam and the fit during this pinning stage):

that side seam was just topstitched in place once i had the fit how i liked it, and the armhole was reinforced with more topstitching

alright, time for eyelets: first, you can see how well the marking worked:

next, two rows of basted eyelets (left), one row of eyelets sewn with a doubled and waxed cotton thread (center right), and one row of eyelets opened and stainless steel rings placed (right).

next time i’m going to mark the eyelets same as i did above, but do this step differently--i’ll mark and baste the steel rings in place BEFORE widening the eyelets. this is bc i had a lot of problems keeping the eyelets on center

eyelets half done on this one! on the left are eyelets sewn with doubled and waxed cotton thread and on the right eyelets sewn with quadrupled and waxed thread. the center is basting again. i was able to force the holes back in line while sewing the eyelets but it was kinda annoying. adding a second picture that doesnt have great focus but hopefully shows how that process worked and shows the spike clearly

i ended up using this white cotton thread because it’s stronger than my black cotton thread (which the rest of it is sewn with). [eta: after this was first posted, i pressed the whole thing heavily, which effectively de-waxed the thread, and i dyed the whole thing a medium charcoal grey, the thread blends in perfectly on the lighter side and isn’t such a sore thumb on the darker side]

bonus: the piecing layout for that little piece of strap. the whole light gray half of the binder was made from 1/2 of one of the legs i cut off some linen suit pants to make slutty camping shorts last year and i really really didn’t want to break into any of the other three halves for this garment--i have Plans for it

overall the fit of this is incredible. it DOESNT hurt my ribs which every zip-up garment ive been able to find (and it is difficult) does due to really thick elastic at the base. it doesnt aggravate my sensory issues with the synthetic fibers that every commercial option is made of. i can walk up a hill or stairs, or go to pt, without getting too out of breath. i can eat with it tight, or loosen the front easily and without taking it off to make eating easier and less nausea-inducing. it is reversible!

best of all the lacing at the back gives the garment enough movement for me to get it on without dislocating, and the interfacing and steel rings give it structure once it’s on. the shaping comes only from fusible horsehair linen canvas and stainless steel rings like youd use for chainmail, there’s no boning at all, which makes it very quick to sew (except the eyelets, but metal grommets would be sturdy and quick provided theyre of good quality)

there’s a small amount of gaping on the outside of the shoulder strap, which i plan on fixing with a tiny tiny dart in the armpit, i want to add pockets to tuck the laces into, and i need a better lace for the back, but it’s completely wearable in time for the 90 weather next week which is all i wanted. i’ll do a reblog when it’s perfectly finished with an update on the fit but for now it is done enough 

the little ridge where it doesnt lay flat against the shoulder is most visible with just a single t shirt over it. with a flannel or a sweater, it disappears, and by itself, it’s hidden in movement

eta: after dyeing this, i relaced it a bit looser in the back and that gape mainly disappeared. ive decided to leave it in instead of smoothing it with a dart because the loose fabric gives space for my chest to expand when breathing and shapes my silhouette in a way that emphasizes my shoulders

#sewing #trans #trans man #binding #body shaping #cotton #disability accommodations #physical #sensory #eyelets #fusible interfacing #historical fashion #regency #horsehair canvas #lacing #linen #lining #new build #drafted pattern #picture tutorial #piecing is contemporary too #stainless steel #stashbusting #stays #structured garment #treadle machine

[im-sew-curious]

There’s something wrong with me. I was so excited to see this photo. Yeah, of course, for the obvious reasons. But also because it confirmed and showcased an alteration that has been done to Taemin’s clothes so he’s less likely to split his trousers.

Taemin in his pleather pants at his Metamorph concert, 2023.

He’s got crotch gussets. Such a sexy term, I know. Basically, it’s a long triangular piece of fabric that’s stitched from the crotch down into the trouser legs. This provides some extra depth to allow for a fuller range of movement during squats, lunges, etc.

The gusset is that piece of pleather, pieced inside those red lines.

Sometimes it’s made of matching stretch fabric, and sometimes it’s the same fabric as the trousers. The width and length of the triangle can vary based on the amount of extra ease required for the specific movements. In this specific pair, the gusset is truncated at the zippered knee so there’s no point.

Jinki during the Your Number Performance Video (Black Version) showcasing a beautiful example of a gusset

During a fitting, it’s important to have the performer do all of their most extreme moves to make sure things don’t bunch or bind. Since we don’t normally get…excellent crotch shots…of Taemin, like that one, I can’t tell how common it is for him to get these gussets.

If it’s a shopped garment and not custom built (I’m assuming the Metamorph pair is custom) and they have the money, it’s possible they could purchase two pairs. They could then cannibalize one pair simply to make perfectly matching gussets.

If the trouser hem is taken up quite a bit, it may also be possible to use that fabric to make some.

It's also notable that the seams in these trousers are “flat felled.” That’s the type you typically see on jeans. It’s topstitched twice so it’s a very strong seam, which also helps to prevent split crotches.

You can see the beautifully done flat felled seams at this intersection of center front seam, front and back leg, and gussets. It's so pleasing to me!

Here's what a flat felled seam looks like. Hefty jeans seam. Big, beefy jeans seam.

Perhaps his most famous “blowout” was during the 2012 performance of Sherlock at the KBS year end music show. But he’s pretty famous for them in general.

That's just impressive

I’m not quite sure when Taemin’s styling team started incorporating crotch gussets into his costumes…my research is pretty spotty.

There is one instance during his Danger era in 2014 where he had a sort of gusset installed, however, it lacked a center front seam. This, along with the fact that his trousers were riding low, didn’t provide the correct…body geometry, to broadly explain it, to really help. It was also very wide and not tapered, which widened his whole trouser leg. It was also not stitched securely enough to keep from popping open at the center front. But this is the first attempt I've seen trying to accommodate his issues.

You can see how it lacks the refinement and finesse of the future "generations" of gussets.

There were at least two instances of Taemin splitting his trousers in 2016 at a DxDxD concert and a Drip Drop live performance. His striped DxDxD suit definitely did not have gusset, and I’m unsure about the latter. I think it’s interesting that they tried a gusset on him two years prior, then didn’t again. Except….

Taemin's gusset-less suit which he wore during Shinee's DxDxD concert in 2016, which split during the show.

All of SHINee had crotch gussets in their Your Number suits in 2016. I wrote a whole thread about that here.

So basically, I’m confused. It seems like the usage of gussets in Taemin’s trousers was very sporadic.

I haven’t seen more recent examples of either gussets or split trousers, other than the Metamorph trousers. But I haven't been able to get good views of most of the things he's worn over the last 7 years. This could mean that his team has begun to incorporate gussets into more of them, or we just don’t know about the blow-outs. Or I haven't done enough research. I got a good view of the inner legs of his blue satin suit in the Idea MV and I didn’t see anything. Same with his black Criminal trousers.

Nope?

Wearing trousers high on one’s waist and very close to their body helps a great deal. You can see that in the blue satin Idea trousers. That way, the loose fabric doesn’t stretch more than it should as the legs splay apart and cause ripping. The styling team may have made sure to do that more. It’s possible that they could have also made sure to incorporate more stretch into the trousers they buy (or possibly, occasionally, make) for him.

Taemin's Kcon look. You can see how the trousers go nearly all the way up to his "natural waist" (which is where you crease when you bend to your side.) That helps keep them up to where they need to be, preventing a saggy crotch, which, in turn, prevents rips.

Working with performers for many years, one gets to know the idiosyncrasies and patterns of the way they move in their clothing. I worked with one performer in musical theatre who was infamous for splitting his trousers. We searched for matching fabric before we even tried on his trousers for the first time, knowing he would be getting gussets.

All this is to say, I applaud the stylist team for making these accommodations for Taemin. He, more than anyone, needs these alterations to give him peace of mind to perform "full out" and stay rip free!

Here’s a bonus 9 minute compilation of Taemin ripping his trousers. Serial Pants Ripper Taemin. (Cw: The last bit is uncomfortable, featuring some prompting from hosts for Minho to touch Taemin’s butt to see if it was pointy, which was preferable to the host doing so.)

#shinee #taemin #lee taemin #costumes #kpop #k pop #gussets #sewing #costume design #costume construction #shinee taemin

[vinceaddams]

Top 5 hand-stitches

(I'm answering for construction stitches, my top 5 embroidery stitches would be different.)

1. Whipstitch. What can't it do? SO versatile! Felling seam allowances, doing narrow hems, putting linings in, etc. And there's other really cool stuff like the rolled whip gather, which is also basically just a whipstitch! (I considered putting le point a rabattre sous la main on this list, but I think I can just include it in the whipstitch category, especially since I often don't end up with the little pricks of stitching that go through all the layers and show a bit on the front, unless my buckram is really thin.)

2. Backstitch. Strong! Useful! If I'm completely hand sewing a garment then the main construction seams will be backstitched. I also use it to do stuff like set coat & jackets sleeves, because some things are just annoying to do by machine. (image source)

3. Buttonhole stitch. I like the look of hand sewn buttonholes so much more than machine sewn ones. And it is useful for other things too, like bar tacks to reinforce the corners of openings. It's also used around the ring portion of Dorset wheel buttons, and you can do detached buttonhole stitch to do stuff like those Dorset knob buttons I've put on some of my shirts. (And yeah, detached buttonhole is arguably a different stitch, but whatever.)

4. Running stitch. I gotta be honest, I don't like running stitch for construction seams at all, it just feels too flimsy. (I can understand how it would be good for long seams that don't take a lot of strain, but still, the closest I'd be comfortable doing is a running backstitch.) But it's useful for lots of other things! I use it mostly for basting, and I do a lot of basting. I like to baste my seam allowances down before I flat fell them (wether I'm felling them by hand or machine), and it makes it so much easier, and I end up with a more even result. Same goes for narrow hems. It's especially great for felling the seams on shirt & nightgown sleeves, because having a tube of fabric wadded up around the presser foot while full of pins is awful.

It's also great for gathers, and I like it for topstitching edges if I want it to be more subtle than machine topstitching.

5. Herringbone stitch. I don't use this one super often, but it's great for when you need something to still have a bit of movement. I used it to finish the seam allowances on my Nelson undershirt back in 2017, because they were done that way on the original, and it's held up surprisingly well. I've also heard that unlined summer linen coats can be finished that way, which would be neat to try. It's nice for pants hems if you have access to a serger, because it lies nice and flat and isn't very visible from the front.

It can also be decorative, like on these mitts I made back in 2013 holy shit that's 9 entire years ago oh my god. (Please ignore all the construction techniques in the linked blog post, they're awful.)

Thanks for asking!

#ask #ask meme #sewing #hand sewing #my work

[portsandstars]

Vere cosplay description/tutorial continued part two (belt edition).

If you made it this far, GREAT!!! You're doing fantastic.

My interpretation of his waist/below

I chose to make the belt into a skirt, rather than the whole thing as a dress. This seemed a lot easier to me than trying to combine things further, and honestly I'd definitely recommend this. I made the belt pattern by covering my torso in Saran wrap, tape (masking or duct tape) drawing the belt shape on my torso, and then cutting it out. Note that your front and back of your torso may differ in shape, so I'd reccomend drawing where your belly button is.

I then cleaned up the lines and made it into a pattern piece. Make sure it's symmetrical.. and ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE! If you're not impatient AF then I'd reccomend tracing your tape pattern onto paper so it's actually flat.

It's important for this belt to be SO STRONG because it's going to be under a LOT of strain during the day due to how it's tight and where it is on the body. Maybe it's overkill but I cut out a front and back piece(so my pattern x2), interlining, and added cotton underlining for strength to both the front and the back pieces.

Steps

1. make ur pattern with Saran wrap and tape

2. Clean up your pattern

3. Iron all your fabric and cut out your pattern (2 x of pattern, 2x of underlining cotton, 1x of interlining)

4. Staystitch and zigag fabric (except not the pleather bc we don't care Abt it as it doesn't fray)

5. Attach your interfacing to the cotton (front side cotton) and then baste the cotton to the pleather (front and back). So now you have 2 pieces of the belt, inside and outside piece.

6. Make the pattern for the strips of leather on the front. You should trace your belt pattern and then draw on the strips onto this tracing. They can't be straight lines bc this belt is a C shape tbh, and so they are almost like mini belt patterns. Don't forget seam allowance for their hems!

7. Sew these straps to the outside piece. If you have an idea for the metalic front belt details it would be great to attach them here in this step but I didn't bc I didn't have a good idea (might get them 3d printed though).

8. Freestyle some pockets bc ur gonna rly want some on the inside. I made one the size of my phone as well as credit cards.

9. Sew the pockets to the inside of the belt piece.

10. Put right sides together and sew the top seam of the belt together (seam by your belly button). Belt is like )( now. clip this inner seam.

11. One option you have is to now hem the bottom of the outside and the inside. In this case, you would put the pleated hanging fabric between these two layers and then topstitch it down. This isn't what I did but it'd look better imo than having it hand stitched to the inside. If you don't want to finish it this way, keep the right sides facing each other , sew the bottom hem, and then turn inside out. This will not be possible if you've added stiff belt details btw.

12. Figure out your pleating. I did this by pinning my fabric to my waist while was wearing shorts and seeing what density of pleats looked like and how it compared to what I wanted. It'll depend on how translucent your mesh/tulle is. You can do a small section, and then extrapolate. For me, I did a test of 17.5 cm of freehand pleating which I discovered was 98 cm of fabric (unpleated). As I needed the top pleated edge to be 44.5 cm long, that was-250 cm of fabric for EACH SIDE. These side skirt things are REALLY awkward bc you need all this pleating at the top to get the look but at the bottom, it's supposed to be little wider than a foot or so. Below I demonstrated my end shape with paper. You start with the wide top for the pleating, and the bottom the ending width you want it to be. Then, place weights at the corners and bring up the edges. Cut off the excess. Pleat the top edge as you would normally ignoring the odd shape and it should work out. The proportions in the bottom image is NOT ACCURATE Bc the top edge should be 250 cm and the bottom edge like.. 40 cm.

13. personally I just sewed the pleats to some small strips to keep everything together and then handsewed them to the inside of the belt (with my arm insidethe belt, like a pillowcase). But like I said, you could easily add them into the seam of the belt for a neater look.

14. Add your black gauze in here. Tbh it doesn't need a weird shape it can just be a rectangle that you pleat

15. I placed an unpleated mesh pannel behind the pleating and sewed small tacks throughout so the fabric stayed pulled back to the side. It felt too skirt like (?) Without this and more puffy, too. You don't have to do this but it was my solution and was pretty unobtrusive.

16. Hand fix your chains in. The cotton is also important for supporting these bc they're heavy af. I used chandelier chains, and I'd reccomend getting some where the links are NOT welded shut or it will be difficult to adjust the length of the chains without heavier duty metal working equipment.

17. Add in some structure! If the belt is an open pillowcase, this goes where the pillow would. I used a stiff plastic folders (below) cut into shape (smaller than the pattern by a bit so it doesn't mess with seam allowances). This gives your belt SO MUCH HEFT and is great!! You could also use foam too! Highly reccomend!

18. Add a closure. Personally I used a zipper, but a corset back would work great too especially if you fluctuate size. We don't see his back yet so you can do what you want lol.

19. Personally I added some wire to the bottom hem of the tulle to help it be straight and hang better with the weight but I didn't really like how this turned out.

Just for posterity, here's the pattern I made for the legbands. They're prettttty close but not SUPER close. I'd recommend covering your leg in ductape and having yourself or someone else try to draw the shapes in a mirror. It's wack AF though so I thought seeing what mine looks like laid flat might help you.

#touchstarved #touchstarved cosplay #mine #cosplay #touchstarved game #vere

[spinchip]

NEVER THE DARK

Chapter 11

Read on Ao3

Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10

Warnings: discussions of addiction, body horror

Chapter art by @artqueen02 (Thank you!!)

THERE ARE WAYS OUT.// THERE IS A LIGHT SOMEWHERE.// IT MAY NOT BE MUCH LIGHT// BUT IT BEATS THE DARKNESS.

Lloyd keeps quiet as they walk, lost in thought. He analyzed the dinner conversation in his head to see if he could gather any new information, but Birdy and Samira both were skilled at saying nothing of note if they spoke carefully enough.

“Are you alright?” Birdy asks quietly.

“As much as I can be in this situation.” Lloyd grimaces, “There’s things I want to ask you.”

“Later.” Birdy promises, “When we’re outside the nest.”

They round the corner into a downward slope that takes them all the way back down to ground level. Birdy confidently passes several branching pathways until they come to the last one, walking the corridor in silence. At the end is a large vaulted room that opens up to a massive cave mouth in the side of the mountain. Ila is there with her back turned, but the moment Lloyd and Birdy step closer her tentacles wiggle and tap at her until she spins to face them.

“Oh, hey guys.” Her tentacles deliver two old fashioned saddles, presenting them to the two men with a flourish. Only now does Lloyd take a moment to look around at the wooden stalls around the room. In Ninjago these saddles would settle onto the backs of big wooly wallopers, but there’s a distinct lack of massive horns poking out of each stall. Instead…

Lloyd gasps, “Are we going to ride horses!?” He demands excitedly, pointing at the unassuming brown beast resting in its stall, “Do I get to pick mine!?”

Ila looks surprised, brown eyebrows raising, “I figured you wouldn’t want to. You like them…?”

“They’re adorable!” Lloyd gushes, walking over to a hoofed monster and raising a slow hand to pat its thick tree-trunk of a neck.

“Well, uhm, sure, you’re welcome to pick then. Anyone other than Topstitch, she’s Samiras mare.” She glances at Birdy and offers a knowing smile, “I have a feeling Suncup is off the market as well.”

Birdy approaches a white horse that makes an adorable whinny as he steps closer. The horse's mane and tail are a pale gray and its coat is lightly mottled with more of that color. It’s eyes are a deep, intelligent black, “Suncup is the horse I typically use.” Birdy explains, smoothing a palm down the colt's long nose.

“He’s beautiful,” Lloyd remarks, “But I think I like…” He squints at the nameplate by the stall door, “Honeysuckle.” She’s a beautiful solid brown mare with a light colored mane, and she noses her head under Lloyd's hand when he reaches out to see if she’ll accept a pet, lavishing under the attention.

“Honeysuckle is one of the sweetest and most reliable we have. Good choice!” Ila hands the two of them a bundle of straps that she shows Lloyd how to place along with the saddle so that both horses are prepared for the trek. After the horses headgear is all in place, Ila passes them both a small rucksack of food and water for the trip.

“Thank you, Ila.” Birdy takes his bag and Lloyd parrots him.

“It’s already big news in town that you’re headed to the graveyard.” She informs them, “Three funeral flowers… Birdy, that’s a tall order.”

“I will see you soon.” He promises and she nods, uncertain.

Birdy motions to Lloyd and demonstrates how to get on the horse. After only falling two times, Lloyd successfully mounts the ever patient Honeysuckle and they head out the garage entrance and onto a hard packed pathway into what must be a courtyard or garden area that separates the palace from the rest of town. They wind their way around the maze-like walls and open pasture space slow but steady as Lloyd gets his bearings on horseback riding. It’s not so different from a Walloper, really. They wave to several guards who raise up the gate leading out of the palace farmland before finally stepping foot back into town. Just like Ila said, the people on the street are watching them and whispering to themselves. Lloyd catches funeral flower more than once in the hushed gossip.

They get through the heart of the town with no incidents, but when they pass through the market on the outskirts someone steps in their way, their horses coming to a stop and awaiting direction from their riders. Lloyd can’t tell what species she was originally, if she was from Ninjago or not. She’s got long tubes protruding out of her skull, like horns made of flesh, and her body is covered with patches of fur, feathers, and bald skin. Her face is distinctly inhuman. She has no mouth.

She holds up her hands and does a series of quick signs. I heard you are going to the graveyard. Is this true?

“Yes, it is true.” Birdy confirms.

“Was that sign language? You can understand her?” Lloyd asks curiously. Birdy shoots him a glance, intending to answer but the woman waves to keep his attention on their conversation.

She hesitates a moment. You will do me a favor. I will owe you greatly.

“What favor?”

“What’s she saying?”

She reaches into her satchel before pulling out a small bag and stepping close to discreetly hand him the precious cargo. Birdy takes it and glances inside at its contents.

Deliver these to Deacon. She signs firmly.

Birdy takes a moment to consider her request, weighing how much time they could afford to lose. He closes the bag up securely, tying the rope to make absolutely sure none of its contents spilled, “We will do this for you, Elona.” He promises.

I owe you.

“You owe me nothing.” Birdy says firmly, to which the woman just repeats her previous signs again, but firmer this time.

After Birdy tucks the bag into his shirt, the two continue on. It isn’t until they’re well past the city and into the living fields that Birdy speaks again, “Yes, that was sign language.  Specifically Cloud Kingdom sign. Elona has asked us to deliver a gift to her partner Deacon. He lives next to the graveyard.”

“What was the gift?” Lloyd asks curiously.

Birdy pulls the bag back out of his shirt, opening it and letting Lloyd peek inside. It’s two bright pink spheres, smooth and clear like little marbles, and one black oblong shape. He points to the pink ones first, “These are Pink Pills. They are painkillers- highly potent and highly addictive. The mutations this realm causes are debilitating and painful, but these pills make living bearable. That is how Samira stays in power. She controls the production and distribution of these pills, and anyone who is subservient to her is supplied.”

“She gets people hooked on painkillers to get them to do what she wants?” Lloyd frowns at the information, clenching his hands around Honeysuckles reigns.

“Yes. I would even assume…” He trails off before reaching over and taking Lloyd's travel pack given to him by Ila, rummaging through it until his hand lands on another small satchel. He pulls it out and opens it, revealing a perfect pink marble. “Just as I suspected. She provided you with a pill in the hopes you would take it without realizing what it is.”

“She put it in with the food.” Lloyd realized, “It was a setup from the start.”

“Yes.” Birdy confirmed, “She hoped to get you hooked. I am sure she will try to offer them to the others too.”

Lloyd looked back at the city in the distance, “They know better than to take candy from a stranger. I think.”

Birdy points next at the oblong black pill, “This is the Cure.”

“What?”

“It is exactly what we are traveling to find. A single funeral flower can be reduced into enough concentrate to make fifty of these. When the pills are taken, they reverse the effects of mutation slightly.”

Lloyd gapes at the unassuming thing, “And Elona is just giving it away? Why?”

“Deacon is further along in his sickness.” Birdy explains, brushing off a few of the rubbery octopus plant tendrils trying to wrap around his feathered cape. The horses don’t blink at the plants, used to the ticklish vines attempting to stop them in their tracks.

Lloyd mulls over this, “Why doesn’t Elona take them to Deacon herself?”

Birdy is quiet for a moment, “Deacon is losing himself to the change.” He says carefully, “It is dangerous to be near him. That, and Elona is weakened by her own mutation. There is no guarantee she will make it.”

Lloyd lets them lapse into a short silence.

“She asked you to deliver the pill to him. She had faith you wouldn’t take it.” He lets the words sit in his mouth for a moment, “She trusts you.”

Birdy inclines his head, but doesn’t say a word.

They pass through the field and head into the forest. Lloyd had been too busy watching their captors last time they’d walked here, but now he can take in the terrain. There are tree-like plants that shoot up from the ground thick and fat, with smooth shiny surfaces and circular leaves on top. Mixed in are short blue trees with hanging purple branches like a weeping willow. Moss grows in sporadic patches along everything, the plant shuddering and popping unnaturally. A thin bush is in the midst of agonizingly slowly pulling its roots up from the ground to migrate to a better patch of soil. The forest is filled with sound, and Lloyd finds himself searching for the sources as they trek further and further.

A low whistle comes from a large curled single-petal flower that expels its pollen with a burst of air through its petal. He finds the source of tiny clicking noises when he realizes there’s camouflaged multi-legged creatures skittering on the surface of the smooth trees. Underlying all those and more is a faint, constant buzzing.

Birdy seems lost in thought, walking ahead of Lloyd slightly. It wouldn’t hurt to take a closer look, just to see if he can find the source, right? Using his ninja skills, he silently slides off Honeysuckles and pulls her to the side of the path, stepping into the thicket of trees and tuning his ears to that buzz. He leaves her there to wait for him as he walks slowly through the undergrowth, passing trees and strange bushes and rocks that swell like they’re breathing until his ears prick. There, to the left- one of the weeping willow trees. It’s only a few feet taller than Lloyd, and as he approaches he realizes there’s tiny little moving lights on the branches. A closer look, and he can see minuscule beetles puttering about on the plants surface.

The smell hits him then, a sweet tang that sits thick on the back of his throat. It smells like fresh cotton candy, a Caramel dipped apple, one of those massive suckers from mad monster amusement park- the kind Lloyd had played endless carnival games for until he won one. It’s from the tree, there’s no doubt about it. The fizzing noise gets louder as he parts the tree limbs, stepping under the canopy into the darkness. Faint blue light peeks from between the plates of the tree bark that all lead to a large dark hole in the center of the trunk. It’s big enough for Lloyd to walk in without crouching, and he approaches the blackness curiously. The fizzing is so loud, but it's not frightening.

He’s right on the edge, about to peek inside that cavity, when the roots below him part suddenly and he slips, skidding down the roots into the black hole in the trunk- at the bottom, a pit of glowing blue liquid pops and bubbles, the half-digested remains of a horse slumped to one side. He jerks to a halt with a gasp and when he looks up Birdy is standing over him. One half of his spear is shoved through the roots into solid ground to keep them anchored as he hauls Lloyd up. The roots are slick and Lloyd can’t get his feet under him, reaching up to grip Birdy's arm so he doesn't fall.

Birdy grunts, looking around. “Hold on.” He says and Lloyd tightens his grip before Birdy lets go of the staff.

“What- you hold on!” Lloyd says in panic as they both slip deeper into the pit.

Birdy grabs a low hanging branch and yanks it with them into the pit, and almost immediately the tree begins to pull them out of the pit by its branch. Its roots firm up to the point where Lloyd can scramble to his feet and scamper out from under the tree with Birdy right behind him.

Lloyd only stops running when they get back to the pre-worn path, sagging against one of the safe-to-touch smooth trees. “Did I almost just get eaten by a tree?” He wheezes.

Birdy doesn’t seem winded at all, “A fizz tree.” He confirms, “Not actually a tree, but they are most similar to a pitcher plant or Venus fly trap in the way they catch prey.”

He squints over at Birdy, “How did we even escape?”

“A fully grown fizz tree like that will not grow new branches. What it has now is all it will get.” He explains as Lloyd catches his breath, “The acid in the pit of the tree will destroy that branch, and it simply was not worth it to the animal.”

“Animal? I thought it was a plant.”

“Technically-”

“I don’t want to know,” Lloyd covers his face with his hands, “I miss Ninjago.”

“I do as well.” Birdy says emphatically, approaching Suncup to hoist himself back up. “We need to make more headway before nightfall.”

Apologetically, Birdy begins to move on. After Lloyd collects Honeysuckle from down the path, he follows, keeping closer this time after that fiasco

He thanks Birdy for saving him to which the older man waves off the gratitude, but Lloyd keeps thinking about it. He jumped in without a second thought. To save someone he hardly knows. Birdy's earlier words have also intrigued him, starting him on a new line of questioning.

“So you’re from Ninjago. When did you come here?” He knows a good bit of Ninjago history, wondering if he can puzzle out which of the evils of the past that mysteriously vanished that Birdy might be. Part of him knows that it’s a dead end- Birdy just… he doesn’t seem like a bad guy.

He doesn’t expect a straight answer and Birdy delivers on that expectation, “Time is hard to track here. I’m not sure how long exactly.”

The fact that he answered at all is an encouraging sign, “What’s your actual name?” He decides to jump in, fully commit to the questioning.

Birdy turns and looks at him blankly, not answering.

“Oh come on! You know my name.” Lloyd argues.

With a shake of his head Birdy doesn’t sigh even if Lloyd thinks he wants to, “Very well.” He acquiesced before flashing four quick hand movements at Lloyd, “Did you get that?”

Lloyd blinks, “Get what?”

“My name. I just told you.”

“What..? You- oh- sign language!” Gasping, Lloyd glares at him, “that’s cheating! I don’t know Cloud Kingdom sign!”

“You did not clarify how I must tell you.” There’s definitely a smile in his voice.

Lloyd narrows his eyes, “Touché. Fine. Show me again, then.” He looks intently at Birdy's hand, fully intending on memorizing the sign to ask someone later.

Birdy shakes his head, “I already told you. I am not telling you again.”

Looking at him disbelievingly, Lloyd groans, “You’d make a great Lawyer with how much you like loopholes.” He grouses, petulantly riding beside him.

The weight Lloyd carries with him feels lighter. The realization hits him slowly, then all at once. He wasn’t… acting like a leader. The past three years, Lloyd had placed so much responsibility on himself to be a good leader, to make the right calls, to keep his team safe that he had put up a wall between him and the others. He’d been sitting on the other side of that wall trying to hold up the world, holding himself to an impossibly strict, serious standard. He studied day and night, pushed himself to examine and learn from his mistakes almost obsessively, and kept himself from relying on the others.

Here in this realm, he didn’t know anything. He had to rely on Birdy, had to defer to his knowledge in a way he hadn’t been able to- hadn’t felt comfortable enough to- do in a long time. In three years. He shared the burden with Birdy. The realization bothers him deeply.

Birdy seems to pick up on the mood shift. After a moment of hesitation he breaks the silence, “I cannot tell you my name but I will offer you… three questions.” He nods to himself, “Three questions I will answer truthfully- within reason.” He tacks on at the end.

Lloyd looks at him, surprised, “Really?” At Birdy's confirming nod, he taps a finger to his chin while he thinks. They move on in a companionable silence as Lloyd thinks over his question options, “You seem awfully comfortable in Oasis. You even have your own usual horse… Why?”

Birdy looks at him with surprise, maybe hoping Lloyd would ask something broader- something he could dance his way around to keep his past concealed. He hesitates for a long moment but… it doesn’t set off any warning bells in Lloyd's head. Despite how this should all be one big red flag, he finds himself… not quite trusting, but not suspicious of Birdy.

“I used to work with her.” He says carefully, “Before I realized what she was doing. When I first arrived in this realm I was not… in a good place. I needed a purpose, and Samira could offer that. Once I understood who she really was, I took off. As for my relationship with Samira… we have… an understanding.” He seems to be unsatisfied with that, worrying Suncup reigns as he tries to reword it, “I know a deadly secret of hers, and she knows a deadly secret of mine. We are at a stalemate and as such are on even ground. There are not many people that are on that level with Samira, and I think she enjoys the company… as do I.”

“So you’re friends?”

“Is that your second question?”

“No,” Lloyd answers immediately, “It’s an extension of my first question.”

“…Friends is the best way to describe it, I suppose.” He acquiesces.

“So after you worked with Samira you just left to go lone wolf?” Birdy cringes ever so slightly, and when the pause goes on a bit too long Lloyd adds, “That’s my second question.”

Birdy sighs gently, “I was alone for a bit but… I met another loner, and we ended up traveling together for several months. He…” He trails off, and Lloyd wisely keeps his mouth shut so Birdy can sort through the obvious complicated feelings around that time of his life.

“He called himself Farley. We… went our separate ways.” He says haltingly.

Lloyd winces, “Messy breakup?”

Birdy chuckles lowly, and there is no humor in it at all, “Something like that.”

They break out of the forest to a long open glass plain, the same brittle grass Lloyd remembered them trekking through before. The sun shined dully behind the overhead clouds, but it's brighter than it was when he’d first walked this area. It’s… beautiful, actually. Colors mottling the pale earth, turning it into a rainbow that stretches out in front of them endlessly.

“It is, sometimes.” Birdy agrees to Lloyd’s sentiment that he hadn’t even realized he’d said aloud.

They take a moment to admire the way the grass blades wave in the evershift, colors glittering and floating over-top of each other.

“What question do you have for me now?”

“I’d like to save this one, if you don’t mind.” He shoots him a sly grin that Birdy tilts his head at in amusement.

“I will allow it.” He says graciously before getting more serious, “We need to move quicker. We'll set up a gallop across the plains. Slow down at my signal.”

With a quick squeeze of his heels, Suncup takes off in a run and Lloyd quickly spurs Honeysuckle to follow.

Uh. How did he tell her to slow down again?

The wind whips around his face and blows his hair back as he grips the reins, hunched down over his horse as she races across flat ground. She has a smooth gallop but he still bobs up and down with the arc of her spine and he feels a familiar, euphoric glee bubble up his throat until he shouts out in joy, hollering and laughing as he basks in the feeling. It’s like riding dragon back- something he hadn’t done in years. He smiles at Birdy, who had gone from hunched over and serious to sitting back more like Lloyd, enjoying the ride just as much as Lloyd. Lloyd thinks he can hear him laugh too- lighter, more high pitched than his speaking voice-

Familiar?

He doesn’t dwell on anything but the feeling of the wind in his face, the power of the animal under him, and the scenery whipping past him. He feels younger than he has in a long while.

They don’t stay in a gallop for long, but the horses are still moving too quickly for casual conversation as the transition from glass grass to hard packed sand- not like the desert from before. This is a barren, empty place- and in the distance is a wall of thick mist that is pointedly different from the heavy smog that clings to the realm. There are large, naturally formed holes in the earth, caves and tunnels that the Horses have no problem avoiding.

Finally, Birdy motions for Lloyd to slow down. Honeysuckle follows Suncups lead, which is good because Lloyd still didn’t remember the right command to get her to stop. They’re not too far from the wall of smog as they stop in front of the dark mouth of a tunnel, the ground sloping steeply to allow them under the surface.

“This is Deacons cave.” Birdy informs him and he dismounts from Suncup. “Wait here.”

“What? No way.” Lloyd says immediately, hopping down from his saddle next, “You said Deacon was dangerous.”

“I have tough skin, Lloyd. I can handle him, you could get hurt.”

“I’m not letting you go down there alone.” Lloyd says firmly, surprised by the wave of protectiveness washing over him.

Birdy holds his gaze for a long moment before backing down, “Okay, but stay at the entrance. Do not follow me past the first column.”

Lloyd will take what he can get, “Fine.”

With a soothing pat to each of their horses, Lloyd and Birdy step down the slope into the hole in the ground. There’s a moment when they’re plunged into pitch dark before Lloyd eyes adjust to the glowing… webbing? Along the wall.

He touches it before he thinks, snatching his hand back in case that sets off Deacon.

Birdy notices, “You are free to touch the webbing, just be careful.” He says, motioning to the spot when Lloyd had touched. The webbing in that area went dull and stayed dull long after they passed it. Finally they reach the mouth of a deeper chamber in the cave, that same webbing covering one half of the room. The other half is strangely carved and connected, barely visible in the low light.

Birdy stops Lloyd from walking inside, “Please, stay here.”

There’s a low groan, animalistic with a distinctly human wail beneath it.

It’s only now that Lloyd fully realizes what he’s looking at. The part of the cave that was shrouded in darkness… is Deacon. He’s spread out across the wall and floor like a living mass of slime and skin, his body lacking bones or any real definition other than the sheen of oil and sweat from mutated pores. From formless lumps of skin poke fingers, toes, an ear- teeth and tongue too. He’s massive, body stretching in thick sheets and thin strings from floor to ceiling, the whole mass pulsing with a heartbeat or shuddering with heavy breaths.

“Good morning, Deacon.” Birdy says delicately.

The whole mass quivers unhappily, rolling over itself and more into the light at the voice. A single eye flops out with the shuffle to stare at Birdy. It’s impossible to tell his expression.

“How are you? Elona says hello.” He reaches slowly to the pouch at his side and undoes the ties, shaking out the pills, “She misses you.”

“Lon…” Deacon makes the approximation of her name, a low and deep vocalization from somewhere in what must be his chest.

A pillar of flesh whips out and slams into Birdy's hand and he hisses, balling up his fist so he doesn't scatter the medication across the stone. The flesh wraps around his wrist and squeezes so hard Lloyd can practically hear his bones creak.

Birdy holds up a hand so Lloyd wont rush in. He still has the situation under control.

He runs a soothing hand over Deacons… hand? “I know you are in pain, my friend. I am here to help. Elona sent me to help you.”

“Help… Elona… Lona…” His voice has a distinctly devastated tone to it. Heartbroken. “Hurt…”

“Elona is okay. She forgives you.” Birdy pats the lump of flesh that slowly uncurls, “You are not feeling well. She sent me to help you feel better.”

“Elona…” Deacon wails, releasing Birdy and letting the lump that used to be his arm flop flat to the floor.

Birdy squats and gently drops the pills onto his skin. He brings his fingers to the part of his mask where a mouth would be in a cone shape, “Eat.” He says as he motions it again, “It will make you feel better.”

Deacon slowly drags the lump back to his body.

There’s a long pause before- are Lloyds eyes tricking him? Was this the power of that pill? His skin seems to pull in on itself, growing tauter as a form takes shape in the lumps. His body is still mostly loose but there’s definitely the suggestion of a head and shoulders, even arms and fingers. His eyes, mouth, nod even nose form properly on his face.

“Birdy.” Deacon says hoarsely, “Are you alright?”

“You did not hurt me.” Birdy says gently.

“…Thank you… I must repay you…” He closes his eyes

“This was a favor for Elona, you do not need to worry about anything.”

Already, Deacon was swaying, body shimmering and loose, “I will not stay lucid long… please go… Tell my better half that I adore her… I am in no pain and I am to sleep…”

“I will, Deacon. Sleep well.”

His body drops back into the mass of lumps like water dropping back into a lake, but there is still a human silhouette in the mass. Birdy backs out of the room, keeping Lloyd behind him until he deems them far enough to turn their back on him.

“Are you okay?” Lloyd asks, reaching out to touch Birdy's injured wrist.

“I am.” Birdy assures him, guiding his hand away from the injury as they trek through the tunnel.

“You were so… nice.” Lloyd winces at his words, “Not that you shouldn’t be but just… when he lashed out…”

“He was not himself. I understand how that feels.” Birdy swallows, “The mutation process… it is cruel, Lloyd. It is unjust. These people, no matter their crimes, don’t deserve this type of torture. They need compassion and kindness. I wish I could help them more than I do.”

Lloyd looks away, “You remind me of my friend…”

He goes to say more as they surface from the pit but loses his voice at the massive beast hovering over their horses. It’s got six spindly weevil legs poking out of its perfectly round thorax. Attached above its body is a mass of skin stretched taut with the same gas of the graveyard, small streams of mist drifting from vents in the top of its sac. In between each set of the legs are several praying mantis-like limbs, and currently each limb was extended down below itself to touch their horses experimentally. The beast isn’t being rough with them, just examining them closely with its feelers.

Honeysuckle seems completely unperturbed by the animal, but Suncup is shifting nervously each time the feeler brushes his flank.

“That,” Birdy begins calmly, before Lloyd can panic about their horses, “Is what we can an Undertaker.”

“Undertaker? Like someone who deals with the dead?”

“Yes. And as soon as it realizes the horses are not dead, it will move on peacefully.”

Almost as if on cue, Suncup kicks out behind himself and clips one of the beast's arms. It jerks its arms back in surprise, folding them up alongside its thorax politely once it understands the animal beneath it is still alive and carefully steps over it. It doesn't approach the two, instead moving in a random direction with small steps as it searches for other, actually dead things. It reminds Lloyd of, if his limited memory of biology classes in Darkleys was correct, a massive bacteriophage. With a shorter neck.

As it leaves, Birdy moves forward to pat Suncup and calm him.

“They are scavengers, they primarily eat bone.” Birdy goes on, “They are completely blind and deaf, and they use touch to find their meals.”

Lloyd watches the beast approach and enter the mist of the graveyard, casually disappearing into its depths. He feels a pang of sadness, “So it doesn’t know it's going to die in there?”

Birdy shakes his head, “The undertakers live in the graveyard. They are only able to breathe the mist- the one we just saw was holding its breath in order to scavenge. They take bones and such back to the graveyard and wait for the mist to soften them enough so they can eat them. They can go an exceptional amount of time without breathing.”

Lloyd follows Birdy's example and mounts Honeysuckle as he hops back onto Suncup. They urge their horses to follow the undertaker over to the place where the graveyard's wall of mist rises into the sky, and they dismount right upon the border. The horses won't approach the mist closer, aware of its caustic properties.

“…now what?” Lloyd asks as Birdy slings his satchel off his shoulder and begins to rummage around in it.

“Now you wait here, and I will go into the mist to retrieve the flowers.” He says, taking out a tightly wound length of rope.

“You seriously think I’m going to let you go in there alone?” Birdy doesn't waver at this like he had at Deacons cave, steadfast in his resolve that Lloyd stay out of the mist.

“You must. You cannot handle the mist for long, while I can.” Birdy says firmly, brokering no room for argument, “I will tie one side of the rope to my belt and you will hold the other. If I do not come out by tomorrow morning, drag me out by the rope. Do you understand?”

Lloyd feels a swell of helplessness at those words but nods begrudgingly, “…Fine.” He says, clearly unhappy.

Birdy wastes no more time talking, looping the rope tightly around his blue belt and, with a nod to Lloyd, disappearing into the mist. Lloyd paces a track in the sand to pass the time. He counts grains of sand and tries to find shapes in the clouds for a while. He brushed honeysuckles mane for a while, until she got annoyed and bit at him so he would leave her alone.

He even sticks his hand into the mist to feel it, marveling at the tingly feeling spreading over his skin.

Night passes agonizingly slowly, but it does finally end. The sun rises in the sky easily, casting an increasingly familiar dim glow through the clouds.

Birdy doesn’t come back.

#ninjago #zane julien #lloyd garmadon #ninjago never the dark #spinchip fic #ninjago au #body horror #mentions of addiction

[silverfoxstole]

It’s finished! The Dark Eyes jacket is done! 🥳

This is the first time I’ve ever tried to replicate an existing garment for myself, but after making a mini version a few weeks ago for Eight Bear I had a hankering after one. I dithered for a fortnight over whether I actually needed it or not before just deciding to order the materials anyway.

As I’m intending it for general wear it’s an interpretation rather than an exact (or as exact as I could make it) replica. I opted to modify a pattern I already had instead of altering a men’s style to fit me which given the inevitable need for multiple toiles would have taken more time and patience than I really wanted to devote to this project. I also figured that using faux leather for the first time I’d be better off with a pattern I know and which I could easily adapt. The one I used is the Vogue V1467 women’s pea jacket which I’ve made twice before, but the V8940 men’s version would be a good starting point too, requiring minimal style adjustments.

To make it look more like the Dark Eyes coat I removed the back princess seams and did away with the belt as there was no way I was going to try and turn a tube of pleather right way out! I also re-spaced the buttons, reducing them to eight rather than ten, and drafted a softer collar, though I did notice when looking at photos again after it was done that I should have made it shorter and wider, which is annoying but it’s too late now and I’m not being slavish anyway. I kept the front princess seams both for fitting and because they’re part of the pocket construction. The buttonholes are bound. I could have topstitched round them but as my topstitching wouldn’t win any awards decided they were better left as they are.

The fabric is a heavy weight faux leather and was surprisingly easy to work with, moving generally smoothly through the machine with the aid of a roller foot. I did end up having to use pins but I tried to keep within the seam allowances and they’ve not made too many marks. Unfortunately there are small holes around the arm seams where I had to unpick when the sleeves wouldn’t go in easily; there wasn’t much I could do about it but hopefully no one is going to be staring at my shoulders enough to notice them! Pleather can’t be pressed for obvious reasons so I had to either topstitch the seams to flatten them or stitch down the seam allowances to the jacket shell. As I have no idea what the lining of the original is like I opted to save some money and use up the ladybird satin I had left over from the coat I made back in January.

All in all, though there are a couple of things I’d do differently were I to make it again I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. It took me about six days from cutting out the pieces to sewing on the buttons, at two or three hours a day.

And of course I had to take some dodgy posed mirror photos:

Now, where did I put my sonic screwdriver?

#sfs’s adventures in sewing #vogue pea jacket hack #doctor who #eighth doctor #dark eyes #dressmaking

[menkhu]

Do you have a favorite hobby that you’ve been really into recently?

i'm sort of getting back into sewing! there's a guy who mcs a talent show yearly and always wears an iconic red sparkly vest but he was talking about how it was old and didn't fit on him anymore. it happened that i had leftover sparkly red fabric that was very similar to the vest so i went all out trying to make a replacement and mostly finished it on time! (it still has sizing issues and needs topstitching but i wasn't gonna do topstitching until i figured out the sizing issues and i wasn't gonna figure out the sizing issues until the guy wore the thing) anyway the talent show was yesterday and i showed up after having spent a good harried hour or so finishing up the pressing etc that very afternoon and the show starts and he puts on his iconic red vest and it still fits him.

he was presented with the new vest anyway and maybe it'll give him something to grow into in the future and my efforts won't all have been for naught

anyway it has given me the itch to sew again and the weather is perfect for making skirts :3

#a very timely ask lmao #and probably more of an answer than you bargained for lmaooo #thank you for the ask!!!!

[corduroy-leggings]

🔪making a hairbow for the Ides of March🔪

I decided that I wanted to wear an Ides of March themed coord to celebrate my first Tumblr holiday. In this post I explained that I didn't have a head piece for Kaneko shop's Noblesse Oblige, which is my only dress with weapons on it.

So I made myself something!

All I had that could go with my dress is some scraps of white linen leftover from my first historically inspired project of an 18th century pirate shirt/men's blouse (yes it's the Bernadette Banner one) which would need to be painted somehow to match the split dye of the dress. I don't have fabric dye though. Whoops.

I used watered down acrylic paint instead. It's probably fine. The texture of the fabric wasn't hugely affected. I did have to do two coats to get it looking nice and dark-ish though. If I needed to get something small dyed, I would be likely to do this again.

But why would I do just a plain b/w split bow?? That's boring!!! I need to make things difficult for myself!!!!!

So I painted some sharp objects that are on the dress on the bow.

This was right after I painted the last sword (top right if you care) and they were looking pretty good. So I left it for a bit to have dinner, ponder it, and let it dry.

I thought I would leave it there with one half empty and one half patterned but after a very brief chat with my father decided that I would once again make things harder for myself!

So I copied the pattern onto the other side but with white instead of black.

I did make a small mistake while painting the second shell-handled sword, so I painted over the mistake, hence the black blob.

And I was happy with that. Nice and simple.

But what about the decorations?? All good hairbows have decorations???(<- not true)

Yeah okay I made decorations. I saw a youtuber that I like making filigree out of hot glue and silicone moulds and I found one at Michael's and wanted to try it out.

So I did.

And it turned out pretty cool. So I painted it silver and saved it for later. I also did a wash of black paint to define the details. It looked very flat without it.

Then I sewed my hairbow on my very aesthetic ~1950 Singer Featherweight by sewing the hotdog fold seam and then deciding how I wanted the print to sit before sewing up the side seams. I did not take pictures of any of this because I had just gotten hone from school and I was tired. I then flipped it right sides out and pressed it. Then I grabbed another scrap and painted it half black also and then topstitched the sides with the contrasting thread. After sewing the hamburger seam and pressing it of course.

Then I squnched (folded) the bow so that it became a bow shape and sewed the middle bit on with some whipstitches and glued on the fleur de lis with some tacky glue cause it was the easiest to reach.

And then I grabbed a headband that was sitting on the lamp in my room and I stuck it in the middle thing, but I didn't glue it because then I can use it for other bows as well.

Then it's done!! I have a bow for one of my wishlist pieces that I can now wear!!!

It's not an exact match with the dress, but I don't really mind. I like it. The paint looks pretty well done, even in person which is really cool. It looks almost like part of the weave which I'm really proud of. I don't usually paint fabric and was a bit nervous with risks of it bleeding or not taking but it worked really well!!

I'm so excited to wear it tomorrow!!🔪🔪🔪

#yay I'm so happy with it!! #I did this in like a day but spread over two days. it would be a day if I hadn't started at 5 pm #I'm gonna wear it tomorrow and I'm gonna tell everyone that I made it cause I'm so cool #lolita fashion #egl #classic lolita #gothic lolita #kaneko shop #sewing #lolita sewing #painting #fabric painting #ides of march #opera omnia

[20dollarlolita]

Today, a customer asked how to make a patch on an embroidery machine.

So

Me, yesterday: "So machine embroidery isn't just plopping the file into the machine and walking away while it does it. Making DecaKumya took me multiple hours of actively doing applique work and babysitting the sewing machine, not counting the time it took me to make the file and select threads."

Me, at work: "Oh yeah, and from this point you plop the design in the machine, and now, as long as you're here when it beeps, you can pretty much go do something else."

Both. Both are true.

(Part a. I know my skill level and am okay challenging myself. I know my customer's skill level and show them things they can handle without worrying. If they get the machine they were looking for, and they like machine embroidery the same way I do, they will eventually be challenging themselves with more complex things

(Part b. Generally, when you're using embroidery files from professionals, they're digitized better than what I do. The file for DecaKumya requires me to repeatedly turn on and off the jump cut feature, because I didn't digitize that properly. It also needs some finessing in a certain spot because I didn't put underlay in the collar because I forgot that the software doesn't do it for you on spiral or radial fills because you're not supposed to use spiral or radial fills in the way that I use them. This means a design from a brand known for making good embroidery files will be much easier to run than the decakumya file is.

(I literally had to press "delete all trim commands" and then "automatically add trim commands" to make all my problems go away, and for some reason I just did not do that. Each green dot there is a trim command, and you want to have as few of those as possible. The machine likes to fuck up on trim commands, and each trim command uses way more thread than just a jump stitch. So, when you're digitizing things like a proper person, you'll remove those jump cuts or add a bridging stitch under some other stitching, instead of having four cuts in the space of 1/8".

(I also used a really dense spiral fill in the collar to make it look like the crocheted lace they use for her collar IRL. This is cool, except that the software doesn't expect you to ever set the density on a spiral fill to be so dense that you can't see the space under it. It probably surprises no one that I do not use the tools in the software in the specific way they were intended to be used. This means that it doesn't do automatic underlay, which is a web of stitching underneath a filled section. The purpose of underlay to support the fabric before dense topstitching is placed on it. All the dense spiral fill with no lattice underneath to hold it can distort the felt used in the patch, and cause the stitching to sink in. The proper way to handle this is either to DIY your own lattice or to just use the digitizing tools how the good lord intended and not do weird stuff.

says the girl making the patches of a beloved lolita icon giving you a rude hand gesture.

)

#machine embroidery #rambling

[marenwithanm]

Inspired by this post right here , have a post I'd like to call

Ranking how easy each linked universe link would be to cosplay!

1-5, 1 being hard, 5 being easy

Read more if you dare ~

First up to bat is Sky!

So there's a lot of ways to approach his outfit. I think his shirt, pants and boots could easily be thrifted. Earrings too probably. Hack up a green shirt and put it back together with some slits and there you go. His white undershirt seems pretty simple too, minus the blue, but I'll come back to that.

The red wrap+belt might be a tad more difficult, I could argue for making the red wrap out of a base or from scratch. The cape though, make that from scratch. Thrift some white bedsheets and make a simple cape. You've got a lot of options for his blue designs. Vinyl appliques, topstitch some blue fabric, paint, even embroidery if you're crazy (like me lol)

I don't think his wig would be... Terribly difficult? He's just got chin length hair and bangs. I just feel like it would be hard to get volume into it and keep it from looking flat and lifeless.

The chainmail is where I stop bc. I know nothing about chainmail in cosplays. How make it? I met a guy once who made his own chainmail by individually twisting metal wire around itself for each loop, and I think that is utterly insane. I embroider and I don't even have the patience for that. But I wouldn't know an easier way to do that so ¯⁠\⁠(⁠°⁠_⁠o⁠)⁠/⁠¯

Overall Sky gets a 4/5 his base outfit is pretty darn simple with some minimal sewing knowledge required if you want it 100 percent accurate. His cape would be fairly easy to paint, so maybe not a beginner cosplay, but not too hard!

Now Four (sword not included)

So Four's tunic is where a lot of the difficulty comes in (clearly lol). I could see fusing four shirts together, but I would be concerned about the way they would fit together being different patterns, different fabrics, ect ect. I would probably not bother and just make his tunic from scratch. If you want 1000 percent accuracy, you could make his tunic lace up in the front, which would look awesome but is out of my skill set lol. His hood I feel like would need a couple mock ups to get the right shape. His whole tunic actually. It's kinda dress like. The drape is important if ya feel me.

Other things I would make would be his weird belt, his kinestones, and his Ezlo bobble (don't want it to be too heavy or else it would drag down the hood, so no metal = harder to thrift) For his earring I would probably dye a plastic feather.

Now his tunic would require quite a bit of embroidery, which sounds very fun to me, but a nightmare to many others I'm sure.

His wig would be pretty simple, but again I feel like it would be hard to make look good, especially with the headband. I'm not really a wig person so I wouldn't know though.

As for easy things, his tights, boots, and undershirt would be pretty simple to thrift or cobble together 👌

Overall Four gets a 2/5. Definitely not the easiest out there. There are ways you could make it easier on yourself, but there's quite a few skills you need to even start.

It's time for Time! (Kaepora Gaebora not included)

Oh Time buddy where do I even start...

Let's start with the easy stuff. His underclothes are super simple. Just black turtleneck and black pants. Thrift em, easy.

We've discussed how much I don't know about chainmail, so I'm choosing to ignore that. The boots I think depend on how much you care for accuracy. Brown boots are easy to come by. This particular style? Not so much. I've only ever modified shoes via paint so I wouldn't know all that much here.

With time's wig, I think the biggest thing would be getting his bangs right. I think using that combing backwards technique would work well, but I haven't used it so idk

Ok ok let's address the elephant in the room. I have no idea how to make armor. I know there's a lot of different methods, I've never used any of them, I don't know. Armor isn't necessarily gonna be harder than embroidery, but my complete lack of knowledge might tank time's score a bit.

For time I'm gonna give a 1/5. You gotta know quite a bit of cosplay stuff for this guy. I've done about four cosplays now, and I look at him and shudder in fear. Do Time if you're good with armor and chainmail.

Let's go downfall boys, starting with Legend (seasons rod not included)

I think legend's might be one of the most fun (for me lol) I could easily see both his tunics starting as thrifted bases which you hack up to fit the design a bit more. If you wanna be lazy, just find a blue beanie for his hat lol. If not, it's just a standard link hat but blue.

For his shoes, basically find some brown books and add some feathers. For his weird belt maybe buy a Hufflepuff scarf 😆. His bracket and rings could be super fun to thrift and modify if you're into that.

Now, admittedly, you would have to embroider stuff for legend, which hikes up the difficulty a lot lol. But whoopsie ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

I think his wig would be super fun. I don't know much about dying wigs, but this could be a fun project to learn about it bc it's such a small, low stakes section of his hair.

Overall, Legend gets a 3/5. The required embroidery makes things difficult, and modifying some bases to fit could be a bit hard, but overall seems like a super fun cosplay to put together.

The hero of Hyrule!

Ok so I feel like a lot of this outfit could be thrifted and modified. Just buy the pants, find a brown shirt and add yellow accents, maybe tear the sleeves off a green shirt, dip the neckline, and open the bottom up. Not too bad. I could see the boots being easy too. The gloves is where I'm not sure on. I've never actually made gloves bc I'm not good at sewing tiny, form fitting things. So I'm kinda ¯⁠\⁠(⁠°⁠_⁠o⁠)⁠/⁠¯

I think his potions could be fun to make. Of course, he doesn't have them in the comic, but hey it could add some depth to the costume. Just buy some glass bottles and line the insides with different paint colors. Could be a fun afternoon.

I'm not really sure where to start with his wig. Fluffy wigs are hard to make fluffy as far as I'm aware. Synthetic hair tends to lay quite flat. But I've seen ppl curl them, I know it's possible, but I don't really know how. So this is gonna be a "do your own research" thing.

Overall, debating between 4 or 5/5 for Hyrule. I think his getup is as hard as you make it really. If you go all out in accuracy, probably a 4. If not, a chill 5. Probably the simplest you'll get from the lu boys.

Child timeline with Twilight!

Not the chainmail 😭 we've established I simply do not know. I am actively ignoring it. Anyways, his under clothes are just white/cream pants and shirt, easy, thrift store. His tunic could be pretty simple, just take a green Tshirt, cut some slits, and transfer a dark green sleeve from another shirt and boom you got twilight tunic. The wrap wouldn't be to hard, basically the same as sky's so I'm just gonna move on.

I think if you don't wanna go to hard, his boots are easy, just get brown boots, thrift stores my beloved. But, on the other hand, twi's a cowboy, his boots gotta be intricate! I don't know much about shoes so I couldn't say how but y'know ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Twilights hair is basically the same as Time's in the bang's swoop being important. I think you could do it with a tutorial on wig styling 👍

So his wolf pelt... I'm not quite sure what to think. I know they make fabric that mimics fur, but the idea of letting that furry monstrosity near my sewing machine is giving me chills. I would have to clean it out after ever seam. I dunno man I'm afraid of that fur 😆

Let's give twilight a... 3/5? I'm really not sure what to do with his chainmail and wolf hoodie, but the rest of him doesn't seem too terrible. Basic sewing knowledge needed

The best timeline adult timeline with Wind!

Ok I lied when I said Hyrule was as simple as we were gonna get. Wind is challenging for that spot. Let's break this down. He's got a greenish undershirt, orange capris, and black booties. Thrift em.

Like four, most his difficulty comes in the tunic. But unlike four, you've got a lot of options. For legend and four, I only mentioned embroidery for their tunics because I don't know if other methods would look good in such small details. but with sky and wind, you can basically do whatever you want! Alter a blue shirt (or maybe dress with the length of his tunic) to fit the neckline and slit. Then, for the details, you could do embroidery (you're crazy, but sure), white fabric topstitched on (mostly worry about the curves), vinyl (again, you're crazy, but sure), even paint (underrated option in my opinion)!

His wig seems pretty easy, again just getting it to be fluffy is the issue. And that's one I can't help you with lol.

You could basically stop there, but if you want some finer details, the spoils bag would be a fun felt project, his swirl belt buckle seems like a job for polymer clay and paint, and I think a bead + gold wires and some kind of pink see through sheet could make a very cute joy pendant.

Another case of "as easy as you make it" let's give wind a more solid 4/5 since it's maybe slightly harder than Hyrule.

Nebulous timeline placement with Warriors!

Hhhhhhhhh I'm crying what. Chainmail, armor, and custom shoes???? Just kill me now.

Ok ok so we all know how I feel about chainmail and armor, I'm gonna leave those alone. He's got the same under clothes situation as twilight just white shirt and pants. His tunic I could see as a modified dress or very large shirt. Make the v neck the deepest v in the world lol.

He has... So many belts. I've not been mentioning belts unless they're weird bc, again, thrift store. But I. I think you're gonna buy out the whole store's worth of belts my goodness. But yes, you can modify belts to fit the areas he's wearing them.

His amazing scarf cape kind of scares me. It's too beautiful, it relys so much on the drape, and I am but a poor soul on the internet. Buuuut I could see maybe a deep blue knit fabric, or even just blue bedsheets at, again, the thrift store. I dunno what the orange is, if it's embroidery or what. I'd find a reference of it, but it's midnight and I've already spent way too long on this lol

The shoes... Like ok they're cool conceptually with them being a reference to historical army shoes. But you're not gonna find those out and about. Luckily, I think if you took some brown boots and did some cut outs in the back, you could get a similar affect.

Finally, his wig also kind of scares me bc his hair is so nice, but this one seems simple with some bangs styling required 👍

Overall warriors is getting a 1/5. I don't think he'd be as hard to make as time, but definitely harder than four with the shoulder armor, customized tunic, cape, and customized shoes.

Last but certainly not least, the Wild child!

So wild is basically a cartoonized version of his botw self, and there's plenty of botw link tutorials out there if you want some more advice. But! He doesn't seem too bad. He's got the white underclothes deal, easy to thrift. his tunic could just be blue with your choice of white applique like wind. You could be extra and do the dualing colors. Can't remember if wild keeps that design element in the comic itself, but it's neat! Basically Frankenstein two shirts together. The only concern would be how the different fabrics interact and how the differences in pattern and sizing interact. But with only 2 pieces it shouldn't be too bad.

His boots are as simple as you make them. If you want the orange flap, I could see it made out of some wiggly foam and painted. His arm wraps are basically any grey fabric in strips so I'll leave that to your disgression.

His cape doesn't seem all that hard, your choice of applique on the back, make it out of a simple cape pattern, basic sewing knowledge maybe required.

Honestly my mind concern is his wig since long wigs are always such a pain. But styling wise, looks pretty simple.

Overall, wild gets maybe a 3/5? About on par with legend, maybe a bit harder. Or maybe not necessarily harder than legend, but more effort.

Bonus Malon bc I love her

Another case of as hard as you make it. I don't think it would be too hard to find a pink skirt and white shirt. If you want it too be accurate, you'd have to do some finagling, but it wouldn't be too bad. Her waist wrap is similar to sky, and whatever that brown drape from her belt is doesn't seem to hard. Her yellow cape thing could honestly just be like a square of yellow fabric, it's all in how it's tied.

Shes another, simple shoes, unless you consider this is a cowgirl, they gotta be good wink wonk. but not actually, make it as hard as you want lol.

Honestly, her wig is what scares me most. She's got the time bangs and the long hair.

Let's give malon a 4 or 5/5 like Hyrule. As easy as you make it! Quite a range you can get while still having it look good.

#i didn't mention any facial markings bc makeup is not my strong suit at all #and you could probably do them with face paint #anyways im going to sleep ksdnksndj #linked universe #linkeduniverse #loz #legend of zelda #malon #oot #ocarina of time #link #time #sky #four #legend #hyrule #warriors #twilight #wind #wild #cosplay #long post #cosplay plans

[bmwiid]

Annnnnd.... I'm done!

This was my test fit for the Blanka Flight Suit by Closet Core Patterns and I'm in love. I really look my time with these as I really find myself cutting corners a lot - esp with finishing and top-stitching and things. The material is a poly cotton from Ikea and is really thin and low quality and I have LOADS so I'm using it as muslin. The zipper is white, I know - but I didn't have anything else this size when I started (typical, they arrived today).

However, as I new I'd not be getting a lot of wear out of this I wasn't precious about the zip. I might take it out at a later date if I feel like it.

So - first thing - the pattern was FANTASTIC. Instructions were clear, complete, matched the pictures shown and were very beginner friendly. I cut this in a size 18UK and it's a perfect fit for me. It's also very flattering. It does come with two sleeve options which I was going to do, but ended up realizing that I'm def a bit partial to sleeveless, and I feel hardcore.

This took two weekends to sew, I'm a slow sewer and worked on this pretty sporadically - if you were sitting and WORKING, I'd say 2 days.

The actual jumpsuit is... fantastically comfortable. There is enough ease that I can sit criss cross without cutting myself in half, and I'm currently wearing it sitting in my chair with both legs tucked up with zero crotch issues. I do have to put the zipper down a LITTLE so it's not RIGHT at my throat but I'm a long person and I have to do that with EVERYTHING.

I can't belive its taken me so long to try these 'indie' patterns and each one of them so far has been a total delight. Although this isn't the best fabric and it attracts fluff and cat hair like a magnet, I'm keeping this on. I'm sooooo happy with how this turned out.

The actual pattern has different options and layouts, zipped pockets and sleeves to pick from. There is a LOT of topstitching so this is a thread hungry fabric, but who cares when it looks this good at the end?

The PDF version of the pattern is £14.25, printed it is £17.25 + postage.

The total cost to me was: 5 yards of DITTE fabric at £3 a yard, a zipper from an old bedspread, and the pattern. I didn't bother with interfacing because this is just a tester, but it holds up okay without. I used almost two bobbins (which is how I measure thread).

I would give this 10/10 for a beginner OR experienced sewer. The end result is super lovely. I can't wait to remake it!

#blanca pattern #blanca flight suit #closetcorepatterns #closet core patterns #sewing #home sewing #homesewing #handmade #home made

[lovemarisolluna]

An unsolicited AG review: Zip-Up Sweatsuit (2005)

Whaaaaaat? Me and Marisol are back after 2 years with another unsolicited outfit review? It's more likely than you think. Let's get dangerous into it.

Per the wiki: The Zip-Up Sweatsuit is a Just Like You outfit released in 2005 and retired in 2007. Retail cost was $24. The outfit was loosely tied to the first four Historical Character Mysteries, ie, they put them in the catalog together on the same page.  Here's the attractive stock photo:

oooo, ahhhh

I've had this outfit on my wishlist for months. Why? I don't actually know what about it appealed to me. I was working on potential book titles for a "central series" (and more) for my Marisol doll, and I wanted a "sneaky" casual outfit for her mystery books. What better to sneak around and solve mysteries in than a cool dark purple sweatsuit? Now, I'm not usually one to buy early 2000s AG outfits. A lot of them feel kinda dated to me more than nostalgic, because I had Kirsten and that was it and my parents wouldn't buy me any other AG stuff until years later. So most outfits (Garden Party outfit and Heart-Print pjs, I'm looking at you) don't really do it for me.  But the sweatsuit is pretty basic, and by 2005 AG had started to mellow out a bit with their designs and began leaning towards more casual outfits with mix and match appeal.

Mooooving on, I bought it. Like new, with box. And then got slightly stuck on how to style it. This outfit has 4 pieces. Tee shirt with lettuce hem, zip suit jacket (no hood, so not a hoodie), matching sweatpants, and sneakers. Pretty basic stuff.

The jacket and pants are nice. Thick (but not too thick to be doll scaled weight) and trimmed with berry-red topstitching and a red zipper. The jacket has a decal of a red star and says American Girl underneath it. This is repeated on the hip of the pants. This isn't AG's star logo, its a little more rounded than their innerstar design. Jacket loses a point for having fake pockets, but its cute and has great mix and match potential. Jacket gets an A. The pants get an A-,  mostly because I don't typically dress my dolls in anything besides jeans or leggings or the occasional skirt, so I don't think my dolls will be wearing these much.

Now the tee. I don't really like lettuce hems. They're very Of An Era, and I always found them uncomfortable to wear. However, this shirt is really cute. The fabric is nice and thick, again without being too bulky. It's a great basic, and the simple tee design make sit easy to pair with a lot. However. This is the matching kid's shirt.

Look at that cute design with headshots of Kaya, Samantha, Molly and Kit!!

This design was featured on other products as well. The mystery party sets, and the bath products that were all marketed together with the first(?) historical mystery books. The doll tee, instead, has pastel colored circles instead of the pictures. Did they not show up well at scale: tiny? Did they not want to get too meta, in terms of dealing with the fact that your doll can wear another doll-slash-book character's face on their shirt? The world will never know. Luckily, that's why photoshop exists (see below). Shirt gets a solid B for good matching potential. I can see myself using this frequently.

Now onto the shoes. I hate them. I really do. AG had this weird period of time where all their sneakers were bulky, with thick soles, slightly pointed toes, and raw unfinished fabric edges at the top of the shoe. The Basketball outfit II (2005) and Tennis outfit II (also 2005) are other examples of this. I hate all of them. The do have one thing going for them. These sneakers go really nicely with this outfit. I like that they reversed the outfit colors, the sneakers are a dark pink that matches nicely with the red trim on the jacket and pants, with purple as an accent color. I will never use these shoes ever. C-

Now. Do I love all of the pieces of the zip-up sweatsuit outfit together? No. But, it works great for mixing and matching with other pieces, particularly things from around the same time. Here's how I styled it for Marisol's summer fit. Marisol lives in Chicago, but its not warm here in the PNW, and the jacket is still great for mystery solving at night.

Looking fly as hell, Marisol.

She's wearing the jacket, tshirt (with the character images photoshopped on. Maybe I can look into iron on transfers, but they'd have to go on over the existing decals...hmmm) shorts from the 1998 Picnic Outfit, and my favorite sneakers from the 2001 Skateboard outfit. She's currently wearing Gabriela's red headphones with it, and it would also look really good with the red flowered headband from the 1998 Play outfit. 

Overall, I'd say this outfit gets a hand wavy low A- for mix and matching potential. Have fun out there and don't do anything I wouldn't do!

#my stuff #ag dolls #american girl dolls #my dolls

[grumpyfaceurn]

actually. maybe my whole current mood... thing can be traced back to that one post where I had finished like six different things. I was just puttering along with some of it and others had been dormant for aged when I realised hey, I can put them all together and make a litte tumblr post and feel good about myself, so I focused on those things specifically.

And then I turned around and said, “well, that wasn’t so bad, why don’t I do this more often”

Except I had run out of almost finished things. I kept coming back to that stupid coat that i’ve been working on since march and spent the majority of two different sewing courses on. And there is still SO MUCH TO DO. Coats, it turns out, are really quite tricky and require a lot of technical skill and thinking through and if you try to bash your head through the wall to get them finished, turns out all you end up with is a headache. It still needs sleeves set in but before I set in the sleeves i need to do the epaulettes and those little loop things, and belt loops, and there’s more loops at the wrist and the lining and the topstitching is so wonky in places, why don’t I go and cut a whole new piece for the collar (it’s one of those fabrics that’s really unforgiving for ripped out stitches, the holes only disappear with a lot of persuasion) and oh god the lining and didn’t I want to make a hood and I had so much fabric left over I thought about making a little capelet and actually in THIS round of the sewing class - of which I’ve missed four out of eight evenings thanks to covid and christmas work party and general malaise of OH NO I MUST FINISH MY COAT (yes one time I didn’t go to sewing class because I had too much I still wanted to do in sewing class) - actually this time I wanted to make a waistcoat but all I have is some cut pieces that are slowly fraying away at the bottom of my projects bag and I can’t find the stupid bias tape maker I have somewhere and I wanted to hand stitch the horsehair canvas into the fabric because I watched too much Bernadette Banner and... Besides there’s awful people in that class who will just get some pattern adjustments and details pinned and leave early and return with a whole finished garment the next week and repeat that every week. The gall!

Anyways short version is I wanted to Just Quickly some things and you can’t Just Quickly most things and in sewing especially Just Quickly is the guarantee that you’ll have to put in twice the effort later and you can’t finish something before you’ve done them and I somehow need to manage the new projects I take on

[portandstarboardcosplay]

Day 3: 30/01/24

The Represailles problem, feat. bad photoshop.

So the cosplay wouldn't be complete without Nel's signature weapon, Represailles.

Now normally I love an ambitious build - the first weapon I built was Falchion - but once I started planning, I ran into a small snag. Or rather, a very large snag indeed.

The problem? It's big. Like, really, really big. Like, "holy shit it can't be that big, can it?" big.

That's basically what it comes down to here.

I'm scaling off Nel herself (assuming she's my height), so the final measurements are probably ±10cm, but let's do some quick maths. I am, in heels, ~165cm (green line, Nel's height). The prop rules for the big UK cons are:

"The maximum size permitted is... 180cm in the case of a narrow staff/spear. Any items exceeding these dimensions must dismantle into smaller pieces without tools and be so dismantled before entering crowded areas."

The red line (green line x110%) is the 180cm mark. That doesn't even come close. The purple line is, to my best guess, the height of Represailles. That's the green line x155(ish)%, or about 2.5m (again, ish).

Which is huge. I cannot stress enough how sodding huge that is. It might be fine for photoshoots, but I have to get it to and from the con by train (and navigate the tube), and then drag it around the convention without accidentally doing irreparable damage to either my lance or someone's face.

I think, for ease of logistics, I'm gonna split her into three parts. The blade will be around 95cm, give or take, the main body of the lance will be about 115cm, and the butt at the bottom about 40cm. Add some hidden screw-in fixings and a little gay tassel on the pommel, and that will give you all 2.5m of this stupid stabby stick.

Which, coincidentally, is as large as you're allowed to make your cosplay if you want to compete with it.

(And if that really is too big, I'll downscale all my measurements by 20% and make it 2m instead).

It's actually really hard to find a good image of it - she's holding it at an angle in all her artwork, and it's not at all scaled to the in-game measurements. So I grabbed a mid-crit screenshot off youtube, and got to work measuring up in photoshop.

And there we have our plan! It's ridiculously big, bordering on "way in over my head" levels of ridiculous, and I'm going to need my parent's garage because there's no way I'm making this in my flat. But the only way to learn is to do it...

Uhhh I also sewed the leggings together. I added a gusset (coochie comfort comes first) and side stripes in black (I was tempted to make them contrast blue because no-one would see them under Nel's skirts, but I didn't want to sacrifice accuracy if I do compete). My machine really struggled with the lycra for some reason, so the topstitching on the pocket is horrendous, and I'm tempted to go back in and do it all by hand to get a decent finish. I need to add an elasticated waistband, add the body stocking, trim the insides of the seams (they are bulky) and finally hem it all, but that's only a couple of hours' work and then hopefully the leggings will be done!

"I hate cosplay," I say, like I haven't just spent six hours on it.

#CosLog #PS makes things #Nel 🐲 #long post