[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa

By Myobi. 25/11/13, 12:11 pm

Heya peeps. Welcome to my sketchbook I guess.

I hope to update with progress of cosplays, and also include some tutorials and easy ways I’ve found to do things.
Here’s the list of cosplays I want to achieve, not including completed ones. Stick around to see if I can do it or not!

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa Percentages_zpseb7eea8f

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa Percentages_zpseb7eea8f

By Myobi. 25/11/13, 12:18 pm

Costume One – Starfire

Materials gathered :
- Purple lycra dance material
- Silver lycra dabce material
- Craft foam
- Felt
- Wig
- Platform shoes

First step : A more comfortable bracer.
[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 14_zpsf4701d8f

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 14_zpsf4701d8f

Alright, this is going to be a little like a tutorial at this step. I tried a few attempts at getting the arm bracers right, but ultimately found this way the easiest. It ensures that the inside of the bracer is actually comfortable and won’t get sweaty (yuck yuck yuck) or slip down too much. You could also use this as a base for a much more sturdier arm bracer.

The only items I needed to make this were felt, outer material, thread and my sewing machine.
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[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 1_zpsb161a7fc

1. First of all I wrapped the felt around my arm and pinned it in place. I chose felt because I wanted the inside to actually be comfortable, instead of moving around everywhere and getting too hot.
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[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 2_zpse7eccb81

2. Next I pulled my arm out cut out the rough shape of the bracer. I also slit the top a little. For some reason Starfire’s bracer does this – I assume to give more hand movement or something.
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[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 3_zps12248001

3. I cut out another piece of felt for both my hands.
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4. Then made sure I had a piece of outer material for both arms as well. In this part, you need to cut the outer material a little bit longer. It’s important for the next few steps.
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[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 5_zps7a41307d

5. Pinned in place, I sewed the ends with wrong sides together. ONLY the ends though. The sides need to be left unsown so I could flip it inside out.
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[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 6_zps2da2f31b

6. Also trimmed out the excess. It isn’t a big deal if it’s left on, but I’m finicky about too much edging and things not looking neat.
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[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 7_zps9fe28693

7. Next, flip it inside out so that the outer material is facing outwards .Now you’ll want to sew the material in place at the ends so that it looks a bit neater. If Starfire’s bracers were real metal, the ends would be finished so as not to be harsh or sharp. This sort of mimics that look a wee bit. Plus it’s an important step for making sure the material stays in place and we don’t see any felt. This is why it was important to cut the outer material just a little bit bigger than the felt.
[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 8_zps8f235d6f

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 8_zps8f235d6f

8. Pin it in place, especially if it’s a shiny lyrca material. It will move everywhere if you don’t!
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9. Then I folded the bracer in half, right sides together and sewed straight down the side. Pretty simple.
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10. Trimmed off the extras.
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11. Flipped the bracer back over and folded it out a little bit.
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12. DONE.

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Next I hope to maybe begin work on the skirt.

By Seakittens. 25/11/13, 12:48 pm

I adore how you wrote step by step how you made it, and please cosplay Rosette! I need to cosplay Azmaria sad

By Myobi. 22/12/13, 09:34 am

Second step : Tops Ahoy!

Today while my sewing machine was behaving itself I had the chance to finish off my Starfire top and shoulder-plate thing. I broke this down into three parts just to make it more simplistic and to make sure it all fit right and snug.

The Top

1. The first thing I did is pretty self explanatory. I simply found an old top and cut around it for a pattern to make a new one. I did take in the sides a little bit to make up for the purple dance material being more stretchy. I wanted a snug superhero-y fit.
[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 2_zps20191b8b

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 2_zps20191b8b

2. Then I simply sewed up the sides and across the tops to form a rough sort of top. I also added some seaming to the arm holes so they didn't look to raw. Anything that would be hidden I decided to leave raw though, such as the neck hole.
[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 3_zps7b91a836

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 3_zps7b91a836

3. Next I added in a zip to the back so that it would be easier to shimmy into. Only problem is that I can't do it up on my own! Not to worry though. I might actually redo the zip and arm holes and see if I can make them a bit more friendlier and hide as much stitching as I can. Also the only zip I had on hand at the time was black (although Starfire's hair should cover it if I can't replace it!)

4. Lastly I essentially made a tube from felt and silver material and attached it to the raw bottom of the top, right sides together.

The Shoulder-plate Thing

1. First of all I grabbed some craft foam (ignore the animal prints, it was cheap!) and shaped a rough circle shape with a hole for my neck.
[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 5_zpsc1867138

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 5_zpsc1867138

2. I then lay it flat on the shiny silver dance material and proceeded to stick the two together by cutting small bits of material and hot gluing them down. After sufficiently burning my poor figures to the point where all the material had been glued down, the shoulder thing was done! - sans gems!!
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[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 6_zps74ca1d8c

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The Collar

1. The neck collar got a bit fiddly and I forgot to take progress photos as I went, but basically I made another tube out of felt and silver material and then attached a circle of the same material so it would fit around my neck, under the shoulder-plate.
[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 8_zpsbb46af04

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 8_zpsbb46af04

2. I added a zip to the back, which made it perfectly snug and comfortable to wear. I'm pleased how this turned out.
[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 9_zps265bee76

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 9_zps265bee76

I'm considering on how to attach all the pieces together and so far velcro or eye and hook attachments seem favorable.

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 10_zpsa1fac69f

[ Myobi's Sketchbook ] - Sub Rosa 10_zpsa1fac69f

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The shoulder-plate kinda sticks out a bit without anything holding it down to the material, so I'll work on a way to sort that out. I also forgot to do anything to the underside, so I'll either stick more silver under there or paint it or something so that it doesn't look too terrible. Now I just need to cast the gems and I'm more or less done with the top half!

Additionally, my Starfire shoes came in as well so I can get to work on the boot covers. And the wigs all came in yesterday too.
Yay for things happening!

[ PS @ Seakittens : YES, haha, that needs to happen! ]

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