Hi! I have boobs and I make...

Blobfish: The jumpsuits we made were almost all for guys, and they didn't want them to be too tight or form-fitted, so we didn't need the stretch denim. We used a medium weight denim, and they do tend to get pretty hot. In 2010 I dressed as Moira from FO3 in a light-blue Robco jumpuit. It was hot and uncomfortable and nobody had a clue who I was. Last year I made a "fem" cropped-top for myself (with yellow striping and front zipper) that I wore with jeans at D*con, because I wanted to be in pics with our whole group but knew I would never wear the full Vaultsuit long enough to bother making one. If I had made one for myself and wanted it more form-fitted, I would probably have used stretch denim. I really need to find a pic of one the guys in a Vaultsuit and post it, but not likely to happen until after D*con.

Gizka: Ah, I see, that makes sense. Yeah, I rather envy the male vault-suit wearers as theirs never look so tight, while the female ones look best if they're form-fitted. I'm surprised no-one recognised a Moira though - I think that's an awesome cosplay to do, though I bet it was boiling. I could only stand being in my cotton drill jumpsuit for a couple of hours last May. Thank you for the tips - I'll probably look into stretch denim if I ever get bored of my NCR ranger. And ooh, yes, it'd be lovely to see a picture of them when you have one

I have discovered another difficult to work with fabric - mohair. It is loosely woven and it stretches very easily so need to stay tape critical seams. It also relaxes as you wear it.

I also have a habit of storing pins in my mouth as I pull them out while stitching a seam. You do that with mohair and you end up with a mouth full of long fibers as well as the pins. It is like kissing a cat!

Lynn

Help me RPF ladies! You're my only hope... ya sorry it had to be done. But really - has anyone by chance used the Al-Zahra's Ghawazee Coat pattern? I want to use it for a steampunk character I'm building but I don't have time to do a detailed mock-up. Are there any pitfalls I need to be aware of with this pattern?

Delmustator said:

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Friend of mine who's into cosplay. She wants to learn more about making armor and such.

Would you marry me?

Here's the only convenient photo I have of the Vaultsuits. Unfortunately it doesn't show all of the details like the kneepads and pockets.

That's me in the middle, and my husband is on the right (wearing the Nuka-Cola hat).

I'm now working on this assassins creed ninja thing and it's made of some thin, not quite satin but looks like satin, like fabric. It drives me crazy sometimes because it's not stitched easily. Unless you have like..3 layers. I'd love to have more weight to it, but maybe later.

On the other hand, I'm working on some armored stuff, I can't wait to get that started! Fiberglass! "bondo"(fake stuff with the same effect) and just get that armor going!

Blobfish: Yeah, chiffon is so lively. But it's kinda needed for getting the right look for the ceremonial dress. Trust me, I got so mad at the fabric I simply put it away many times, before I finally pulled myself together and finished the damn thing. Probably why it took me four years to complete version three... (Of course, having a cheap, simple machine probably didn't help).
Ugh, with your description of mohair I don't feel a need to explore that myself. I also have the habit of holding needles between my teeth.

In, um probably a couple of years time, I'll be trying my hands at cordura, which is a strong, non-stretchy polyester fabric, to make flightsuits for myself and a friend. I know this, because we bought the fabric last week. One thing's for certain; the flightsuit should not be and will not be tight fitting. So far I have mostly worked with fabrics with at least a little stretch in them, which makes it much easier to make things formfitted, so this flightsuit thing should prove to be a fun challenge.

Run a piece of tissue paper under it as you sew. It will give it rigidity and then just tear away when you're done. Also use a new needle each time. It seems like a waste but I save my old needles in a separate container for use on rougher projects.

Can’t wait to see it! I LOVE the costumes in Assassins Creed!

kialna said:

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I'm now working on this assassins creed ninja thing and it's made of some thin, not quite satin but looks like satin, like fabric. It drives me crazy sometimes because it's not stitched easily. Unless you have like..3 layers. I'd love to have more weight to it, but maybe later.

On the other hand, I'm working on some armored stuff, I can't wait to get that started! Fiberglass! "bondo"(fake stuff with the same effect) and just get that armor going!

shereekachu said:

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Run a piece of tissue paper under it as you sew. It will give it rigidity and then just tear away when you're done. Also use a new needle each time. It seems like a waste but I save my old needles in a separate container for use on rougher projects.

Can’t wait to see it! I LOVE the costumes in Assassins Creed!

I do this on top of pleather, too. It helps the foot slide across the material easier. Just rub the stitch line with a damp cloth to get rid of any pesky left over tissue paper.

Gizka said:

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Here's the only convenient photo I have of the Vaultsuits. Unfortunately it doesn't show all of the details like the kneepads and pockets.

That's me in the middle, and my husband is on the right (wearing the Nuka-Cola hat).

Great Vault suits Pipboys and accessories!! I'm a fan of the original Fallout by FAR over any of the subsequent releases. I'm tempted to make a Harold the Ghoul costume...though few would know who I was.

Can't wait for the new Wasteland 2 coming out.

Keep up the great work!

Spraying with starch water can stiffen fabric too. I had to do that recently when working honeycomb smocking with slippery fabric. I like the tissue method, but I could never have used it withthis because it wouldn't have torn out of all the folds I was sewing together.

It washes out really well too.

There are lots of recipes out there to make your own, I use 1 tablespoon to 1/2 cup of water. Some boil the water when they mixed, I just used hot tap water and shook it up.

kibosh said:

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I do this on top of pleather, too. It helps the foot slide across the material easier. Just rub the stitch line with a damp cloth to get rid of any pesky left over tissue paper.

You can get a roller foot that works well with pleater. I believe the roller is Teflon coated as well.

Gizka: Wow, those are some lovely vault suits Very impressive work having all the right seams and everything - I can just about see the kneepads, and they look great too I always wondered how the main character carried twenty or thirty Nuka-Colas, so I love the hoslters for them. Very nice Leia costume too

Lora: Four years? Wow, I usually give up if a costume isn't done after six months ^_^' but I do have a very short attention span. And oooh, cordura. I've wanted to get my hands on some of that for a while, but isn't it usually quite thick? Try not to boil to death in those jumpsuits. The only bit of a non-stretchy jumpsuit I had trouble with was the leg seams, but I normall make jumpsuits like a swimming cossy with legs and arms, so that area really needed to stretch lots. I broke it three times just trying to sit down in it before finally giving in and having a hidden lycra panel I look forward to seeing how those flightsuits turn out

Wow, the tissue paper and special feet for pleather sound like godsends - I'm always letting pleather and similar fabrics ruckle as it doesn't go through the machine properly. Thank you so much for sharing those tips - I'm just about to start a large pleather project so hopefully it'll be that much better for it

Blobfish: Yeah, I know. But keep in mind that during this time I put the project away completely for months at a time, then did a little work, got mad at the fabric, and put it away again for months. I finally pulled myself together and finished the dress last summer. When you work like that it takes a looong time to finish something...
Actually the cordura is pretty thin. Not super thin, but neither is it thick. It's for the X-wing flightsuit, and finding the right shade of orange has been a long time project for my friend and I. Since it won't be tightfitting I don't think we'll have seam trouble, but I'll keep in mind that we might need to reenforce some parts of it. Ah, the mock up should be fun/frustrating when we get to it. (We have a distance problem in costume making). I look forward to seeing them, too! (Just don't expect them anytime soon; I've got other projects to do first).

That paper tissue trick sounds nice. Do you ever have any problem getting the paper out of the seams again? And how much do you fold it? As thin as possible?

Blobfish: Thanks! We started with a pattern often used as the basis for a variety of Star Wars jumpsuits/flightsuits, then modified the crap out of it to make the Vaultsuits. The guys were in charge of telling us exactly what they wanted so we could make them to their specifications.

Lora: I am also no stranger to putting projects aside for awhile. It has taken me two years, but I'll finally have my Stephanie Brown Batgirl finished for Dragon*con next week. Whenever I got frustrated, I'd just put it aside and work on something else. And of course it occasionally would get bumped for other projects.

I am also fond of the tissue paper trick. I have a box of tissue paper from/for gift bags and wrapping presents, so whenever I need it for sewing I just dig some out. It's been a godsend for things like pleather, stretch vinyl, satin, velvet. It's really easy to remove from the seams as the needle kind of perforates it so it'll just tear away.

Lora: Ah, that makes sense. I often get tempted to put projects aside like that, but I know that if I put one aside for more than about a month, I'll decide to do something else instead ^_^' I have re-started a couple of costumes after abandoning them, but that's usually starting again from stratch. I admire people who can keep enthusiastic enough about a costume to come back to it. Or people who don't get distracted by shiny new costume ideas like I do, lol.

best thread title ever, sorry but it is.
lots of awesome ladies with even more awesome work

Wow, late to this thread. How lovely to see so many female members! I'm a long-time board member, but I tend to lurk a lot. I mostly costume, but build a few props here and there, largely to go with costumes.

One thing I really really love is coming up with simple solutions to costume problems and sharing them through tutorials and the like.

Some of my favorite projects:

Jack Sparrow (I have a soft spot for this since it was the first costume I made)



Helm's Deep Elf Armor (armor tutorial here)



Dark Galadriel (construction details here)


Weeping Angel (original thread here, though I've improved it since)

Picture by varjohaltia

Lately I've been focusing on assorted obscure classic Doctor Who costumes like these:

Romana and K9

Photo by The Doodler

Movellan (Entirely hand-smocked. Augh.)

Picture by vladeb

This year I'm working on a Doctor Who costume so obscure that the episode was never even broadcast. Ahhh, the joys of falling in love with a costume.

Looking forward to seeing a lot of you at Dragon*Con. Guri, so excited you're coming again this year!

Oh man, Gen...I STILL use your fun foam tutorials. So great.

Also still have pics of your Dark Galadriel and Elven armor for DCon 04 about!

And you're still the best Weeping Angel out there!

penwiper said:

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Weeping Angel (original thread here, though I've improved it since)

Picture by varjohaltia

Oh man I ran into your Angel at DCon a few years ago. SO FREAKY. And lovely!!

MaulWalker said:

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You can get a roller foot that works well with pleater. I believe the roller is Teflon coated as well.

Reeeeeaaaaallly. I will have to look for one of these. I had heard about using teflon feet, but I found it still stuck. Must look for the roller version... Thanks!

Gizka said:

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I am also fond of the tissue paper trick. I have a box of tissue paper from/for gift bags and wrapping presents, so whenever I need it for sewing I just dig some out. It's been a godsend for things like pleather, stretch vinyl, satin, velvet. It's really easy to remove from the seams as the needle kind of perforates it so it'll just tear away.

Exactly. It will leave some tissue behind under the stitching, but that's where the damp cloth comes in handy. Just scrub it out.

penwiper said:

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Helm's Deep Elf Armor (armor tutorial here)

Wow. Just wow. Beautifully done.

You were THAT Galdriel and THAT Weeping Angel?!? I saw you at D*Con and loved those! Great job! Can't wait to see what you bring this year!

penwiper said:

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Dark Galadriel (construction details here)


Weeping Angel (original thread here, though I've improved it since)

Picture by varjohaltia

penwiper said:

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One thing I really really love is coming up with simple solutions to costume problems and sharing them through tutorials and the like.

There you are!! I owe so much to your creativity and sharing of techniques...

I remember we first met when you were in your Jack Sparrow! I loved it and still do... And all the fun trooping in elf armor and your amazing dark Galadriel...

I loved seeing your new work in this thread too! Beautiful... did you cut your hair?? Or were you able to get it up under the wigs?