Aussie Rapunzel WIP thread! Pic-heavy post.

you look so gorgeous! i especially LOVE your bodice! It's perfect! ;_; i'm jealous. i love the colours you used too, with the short haircut, they remind me of a combination between her regular dress and the colours of her ending outfit. love it!! can't wait to see more! <3
 
Thanks guys!!! :) I bought new fabric for the central panel and some fabric dye to get it to the perfect colour- wish me luck!!!

Edit: Aelynn - thanks. I had awful trouble trying to match that stupid plum colour of her skirt to the film version, because it's almost impossible to find anything in the correct colour family with the right degree of warmth to match the "very pink" pink of the bodice! I talked to my friend in film school and apparently they had to artificially mess with the colours to get the effect I noticed in the sunset Corona scenes- where the highlights of the skirt match the shadows on the bodice... so I actually took your paler lilac as inspiration :) I went with the same lilac as the sleeve colour for the skirt so as to keep it all in the same colour family. I'm still quite unhappy with the way the skirt turned out though - first of all, the flare starts too low on my thighs rather than my hips, and it's still an odd colour with no front panel of patterning - so what I'm trying to do is dye my central patterned fabric (a really lovely full polyester curtaining fabric with backing that has a nice drape) to a similar enough colour to match the lilac skirt fabric, then remake it since I have enough fabric left over. I hope it will work! It was a beautiful vogue pattern and rather than move the zipper along one panel so that I had a central front panel, I actually converted the two existing centre front panels into one double size front panel. While it was a workable solution, I don't like how wide the front panel is - and with the new patterned front panel, having one that size will just make the rest of the skirt hang oddly. Ideally I'll make the skirt again from scratch, including cutting out all of the embroidery pieces with heat-n-bond. It will drive me nuts, but it will be worth it!

The ideal end result will be that I will then hand-embroider OVER all of the patterning in heat-n-bond, in the same colours. This will have two benefits: first, my 'unfinished' work (with just the heat-n-bond) will not be as obvious, and secondly, the heat-n-bond underneath my embroidery will stabilize the fabric and stop it from puckering as much in the final result. While it is sort of doing things twice, it means that I have a quick solution that will be passable for my 21st rather than having the skirt look entirely unfinished. I already used a perfect colour of embroidery thread for satin-stitching the skirt edging. While I realise that you did all of yours by hand, Aelynn, I didn't have the patience to do the entire bottom edge of an eight-gored skirt! :behave Also, since my machine is an ancient Pfaff, older than I am, it occasionally loses tension if I sew too fast, giving it a nice 'hand finished' look.

My lilac is also a lot darker than it appears in the above pictures, too. I'll post up some WIP photos now so hopefully some of those are a bit truer to colour.
 
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My #2 daughter who loves her sewing machine almost as much as she loves her flute asked if you or Aelynn were making a pattern that she could use herself. I have no idea how someone would go about doing that, but I figured I'd ask.
 
Greylocke- I altered the crap out of a simplicity pattern and I plan on posting up pics of exactly how I did that. I'm afraid my pattern might not be of much use to your daughter though because I had to alter for my long torso/sway back/comparatively large bust - but I'll show you exactly what I did to the simplicity one if that helps! :)
 
Greylocke- I altered the crap out of a simplicity pattern and I plan on posting up pics of exactly how I did that. I'm afraid my pattern might not be of much use to your daughter though because I had to alter for my long torso/sway back/comparatively large bust - but I'll show you exactly what I did to the simplicity one if that helps! :)

That would be fine. My daughter is rather well endowed, and she is constantly frettering about her height. (She's 5'6") I tell her to feel good about herself, but you know how women are. (Ducking) If you could post your patterns and their alterations I'm sure she would appreciate it.
 
Hey all! FINALLY got those progress photos uploaded, so I'll be doing a couple of WIP posts. This one will focus on the work on the bodice and the sleeves.

STEP ONE: Find a good screenshot of the bodice! This one is from the very beginning sequence, where Rapunzel is doing her morning chores with Pascal and realises there's somewhere else she can paint on her walls, and for me was particularly useful because it showed the seams under her arms as well as all the front bodice detail.
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From this we can see that her basic corset shape is a longline, sleeved, sweetheart necklined front-lacing corset. She has on each side three "front" panels, two of which are half-height because they're cut off by the underbust seam. Above that there is a v-shaped bust "dart", which appears not to be a dart at all because the fabric is so perfectly matched. My mum thought I was crazy to be going to this level of detail, but I really prefer my garments to be constructed accurately. From a similar screenshot of her back, you can see that there are four back panels, and the over-shoulder straps are relatively thin, and the lace neckline doesn't follow them but instead the false neckline of a sheer insert at the back (the part that shows the buttons on it after certain events later in the movie).

STEP TWO: a very important part of step two is BUYING YOUR PATTERN. Look for one that has the same basic features as what you want to achieve. For me, I felt that attaching strap sleeves to an ordinary corset pattern wouldn't quite achieve the shape I wanted, and even then finding anything with a sweetheart neckline was near on impossible. I settled on the following:
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Simplicity Misses Costume 3677. I will admit that the real reason I picked this pattern (at least initially!) was the fact that the bottom left image showed a corset in a striped fabric that looked very much like there was an underbust dart! Nevertheless, it proved very useful, although requiring much alteration. In the following image, look to my right- you can see that I've stuck sticky notes over my pattern to make the following alterations:
1: added 1.5cm height to the bust, following the existing curve. This was natural for me as I am fairly well endowed as a DD cup, but could be useful for anyone else trying to make this as a corset without a shirt underneath, as in the original pattern; it's too low to wear without a shirt under it, I believe.
2: Added approximately 10cm to the lower edge. As the original corset was a waisted design, finishing on the natural waist (i.e. bellybutton height), I needed to add quite a bit to make it into a longline corset. HOWEVER, don't make the same mistake I did! I forgot to adjust for my extra hip measurement, and ended up having to add a triangle of fabric in at the hip on my canvas layers (underneath, so they don't show to anyone but the wearer, but still messy!) and then cutting my outer shell of pink cotton all over again just to add in maybe 10cm2 of fabric to the hip so it would actually fit!
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Sticky notes are a great way to alter a pattern if you want to keep the original curves - simply place them down over the line you want to use, trace the outer edge, and then move the sticky note up the required amount. This is possible for me because if I feel I am going to use a pattern several times, I iron interfacing onto the paper pattern to make it sturdier (I hate pattern paper and always manage to rip it!)
Note also that this means continuing the underbust dart lines out with the curve of your pattern. I didn't take enough photos of my alterations (sorry greylocke and greylocke's daughter!) so I'll drag out my pattern and take some more photos of this. For now, I hope this gives you the basic idea.

STEP THREE: Sew "interfacing" and "lining" layers (I used canvas for both, for strength - traditional corset fabrics include this or coutil) according to pattern instructions, insert boning (I used cable ties, as many renaissance and other costumers do, because it has many of the nice strength and flexibility of spring steel, without the bendiness of plastic boning, and can still be hand or even gentle machine washed without rusting like steel!) and test fit! As you can see, I look pretty unhappy here because my corset doesn't fit, because I forgot to extend the hip line and it is too tight.
DO NOT SKIP TEST FITTING! Imagine how annoyed I'd be if I'd gotten much further and sewed my side seams WITHOUT realising it didn't fit!
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STEP 4: alterations to the lining layers. Here you can see the alterations I made ON THE BODY to the fit of the sleeve, as compared to the original fit of the sleeve. What is most important is maintaining the inner line of the sleeve- that is, the side closest to the neck. That's why the alterations (to make the armhole skinnier, to accomodate a puff sleeve later) are done to the outside.
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These sorts of alterations are made by trying on your corset lining layers (pinned, not sewn, at the side seams) and getting someone you trust to draw in a sensible sleeve line. Then take it off and unpin, check that both sides are even, and cut along the line (remembering to accomodate for seam allowance!) Once cut, this allows you to lay your corset flat on top of your "outer shell" layer and make the same alterations to the outer pink layer without marking it where it might be seen.

At the bottom of the previous photo, you can sort of see the 'triangle insert' I mentioned that alters the fit of the hip. Here is a better photo.
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Ideally, you want to add this in BEFORE you sew everything. I didn't, and now I have an ugly seamline on the inside of my corset, where only I will know it's there... and it still bothers me. When tracing my pink outer layer I made sure this was included so there's no seam on the outside that looks like this. Learn from my mistakes and make sure you've altered for all your womanly lumps and bumps! :D Once you have made all the necessary alterations, including (not shown) getting someone you trust to trace out the false neckline panel at the back, then cutting that out, lay your inner layers flat and use them as a guide to cutting out the same bits on your pink outer layer.

STEP 6: Piping! This is optional - I know Aelynn was able to find the perfect colour and size in her local Jo-Ann's. In Australia, we have Spotlight, and it's pretty dismal on its selection of trims. So I had to make my own!
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Get a matching colour of thick bias binding, and some suitably sized binding cord. Cut your bias binding up the middle, so you have two halves that have a single fold in them. Tuck your cord into the centre fold, and pin it there, preferably with pins that are easy to remove. Use a zipper foot or other foot that you can place off centre, and use the side of the foot to push the cord to the edge of the inside of the fold without rolling the fabric as you sew :) et voila! PIPING! :)

STEP 7: This isn't in the pattern either, so remember to do it here. Pin your piping to the outer edges of your outer shell fabric (for me, because my cotton was quite thin, this involved a reinforcing layer of canvas and my pink outer fabric. If you use a thicker outer fabric as the pattern recommends, yours will be only one layer). It is pinned so that it's on the edge of the seam allowance, not the edge of the pattern - this is because when you sew the outer shell to your lining and the seams are flipped inside, so too will be the edge of the piping! Clever, huh?
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Curves are hard, that's why I've shown them here. Remember as with any seam to clip the seam allowance at the curves to allow them to fit better. Remember also that Rapunzel's piping ends at the inner 'v' of her neckline, so you'll have to grade your piping out at that point rather than continue all the way down her front (as I did initially! :facepalm) as this will interfere with the front lacing.

This is part 1 of the bodice work. Part 2 will be posted separately because of the limit on a number of photos per post! :)
 
Thank you very much. As soon as my computer is finished with the current job it's running I'll save the thread for Melissa to see. she is going to start drooling I just know it :D :D
 
Fantastic work, Izzzie! I do LOVE seeing how others work their magic! Ye olde 'a picture's worth a thousand words thing'! Incredibly generous of you to share your methods and madness:) in pictures and words as I know that can take every bit as much time and talents as actually making the costume in the first place!

Can't wait to see the following installments. BTW, in the states if you have them in your area, Hobby Lobby has the Simplicity patterns on sale this week for 99 cents.

Shylaah
 
Thanks so much for your kind words, Shylaah :) I really love seeing how others have done things so it only seemed fair that I do my own writeup! I'm also really thankful that you're so appreciative of the work that goes into a writeup like this... you really are right, it does take almost as long as the initial sewing to explain every thought you've had during the process!!!

I'm sorry that this is such a short post, but I have a week until my party and I'm working on doing my wig, mocking up the flynn doublet for my boyfriend's asjdhglkjahgljhasg torso (he has a really lovely figure to look at, from all the rowing he does, but it's horrible to plan out in a pattern since his shoulders are an XL and his hips are an S!!!) so here's a few links that may interest you.

Most of what I'm doing now is straight sewing, but I've been lurking around the internet researching EL wire when I'm not sewing or waiting for him to come around for test-fittings. Here are some interesting sites I've found that may help other Punzies wanting to have a glowing wig!

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This site is really great for working out exactly how many adapters/splitters etc etc you will need for your lighting to actually, y'know, work. It's great for me because I've had *some* experience with robotics and soldering and so on, but it's been a long time since my "Real Robots" mail order days :p and this site works out a lot of it for you.

I actually got the idea from this UK site, who sell EL wire specifically for wig rigs, but I'm fairly sure they don't ship to Australia or will cost a bomb. Don't quote me on that; at this stage I'm not looking to buy yet, just get a feel for potential materials. In the sidebar of EL Wirecraft they also have a number of great links explaining exactly how EL wire works, which I found fascinating and also gave me a better idea of what I can and can't do with the stuff. What I'm mainly worried about is finding a place in my wig to mount the inverters so that it doesn't look obvious, and hopefully having thin enough wire in large enough quantities to light the entire wig without standing out as obvious LINES of light. I've seen this before in a vegas show wig, and it made what I'm sure was a high quality wig look cheap and nasty. I want to avoid this if possible.

EDIT: I am also impressed with EL Wirecraft UK for this reason: they sell sound activated inverters for EL wire. While these are meant for car stereos (i.e. so that glowing downlights will pulse in time with the beat of music) I'd like to investigate whether these will also respond to a singing voice (either my own while wearing the wig, though this could be hard since the control will likely be behind me or tucked where one of my ears is, which is the closest it can be to my mouth, or my amplified voice through the microphones -eek!-) which would be a really nice way to get a responsive, warm glow in time to my voice.

This still doesn't get rid of the problem of how to turn the glow 'on' initially though, as we plan to have a lit section of the skit first, followed by turning the house lights down so that people can actually see the glow of the wig... which could be traumatic for small children if I have to remove my hair onstage (DON'T WORRY I AM JOKING :p) to be able to change the setting. Of course, if the glow isn't that bright, it can just glow while the lights are up and we hope people don't notice.

The second alternative, although this makes me nervous for more reasons than I can put a finger on, is this great instructable which uses programmable LED lights to do the wig instead of EL wire. I just feel like there's too much exposed wire in there, although the more diffused glow is a very nice look (see the video on the page). I wouldn't program it to come on like Christmas lights, that looks very fake to me, but if I could program a series of LED lights to "fade on" and "fade off" at the beginning and end of a song, that would be amazing.

I guess the things I'm tossing up between these two methods at the moment is;
- do I have the programming skills to make either of these come on while I'm onstage (i.e. without taking my wig off) for cosplay comp? This could be done with a wireless switch system somehow, I'm sure, or a switch with delay (so take my wig off, flick switch as I'm about to go onstage, put wig back on, hopefully timer delay matches up with when song is due to start onstage?) :S The problem is our cosplay mc likes to talk to cosplayers briefly before they start their skit, so that's not always possible. I'll have to think on this more.
- AM I GOING TO SET MYSELF ON FIRE BY TRYING TO USE LEDS :rofl so basically, are both methods safe to use with hair and wig nets etc etc.
- which is going to give a more 'natural' looking glow - and how can I test this without forking out massively for both or either?

As always, any and all feedback on my crazy ideas is most welcome. Thanks for sticking with me thus far! :D
 
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Your Rapunzel is wonderful! Thank you so much for WIP pictures. They're actually helping me with my own seam lines a LOT. I'm also incorporating EL wires into my wig to make it glow. Thankfully, my Eugene is well versed in that area, because I have no idea how to program things like that!
 
Izzzie, just throwing this out there...BUY LOTS OF HAIR NETS. and wrap your 'loose' wig in them.

I don't even know if it will help, but I'd think it would assist in them lasting the day as opposed to...not.

The wigs I had for my braid were 120cm long I think... and even just swaying one of them would tangle it to the point of having to stop working on it and brush it out insanely carefully for 20 minutes. Having 15 feet of loose, synthetic hair isn't going to last the day unless you do something to keep it from gathering/rolling/swaying/doing anything that normal hair does.

I'd recommend starting with one 120cm... wear it around a bit... see how it maintains...get a feel for how far you can push the limits of synthetic hair...and though I want to be optimistic, from my experience, it won't be very far. :|

I can't wait to see it come together, but just be prepared for possibly losing a wig due to tangling beyond salvaging. I was lucky and didn't lose any WHOLE wigs...but I'd say I cut out a good 10 rows of wefts worth that just got too tangled to fix.
 
Hey Aelynn! I think I'm actually going non-canon here. I know she doesn't heal anyone while her hair is braided in the movie, but I have dealt with long wigs before and watched friends lose good wigs to tangles (because they didn't silicon spray them) or losing good costumes to silicon spray stains (which I think is worse!) because they wanted to keep their wigs soft... so I'll be doing her braided wig, but glowy!

I decided a while ago that I do NOT want to deal with a loose wig, it would make me want to stab someone within half an hour. Even my Alice wig, from Heart no Kuni no Alice, was horrible to detangle after a day-long photoshoot, and that was only to just below mid-back. I feel like braiding it will have a couple of advantages:

- EL wires can be pushed to the middle of each braid, making it seem to glow from within rather than having lines of hair, which I feel would happen if the wires get exposed with movement wearing a loose wig
- NO TANGLES :p as much as that would probably be accurate given the name of the film, Rapunzel's hair never tangles throughout the entire adventure. I feel that having a long wig that I wasn't able to look after would just ruin the illusion!
- No dealing with multiple wefts - I personally feel that the disney parks long loose wigs just look like roadkill with the weft 'spine'.

Basically I think I'd rather do a slightly inaccurate wig well than a perfectly canon wig that I can't move around in for more than thirty minutes.
 
Hey Aelynn! I think I'm actually going non-canon here. I know she doesn't heal anyone while her hair is braided in the movie, but I have dealt with long wigs before and watched friends lose good wigs to tangles (because they didn't silicon spray them) or losing good costumes to silicon spray stains (which I think is worse!) because they wanted to keep their wigs soft... so I'll be doing her braided wig, but glowy!

I decided a while ago that I do NOT want to deal with a loose wig, it would make me want to stab someone within half an hour. Even my Alice wig, from Heart no Kuni no Alice, was horrible to detangle after a day-long photoshoot, and that was only to just below mid-back. I feel like braiding it will have a couple of advantages:

- EL wires can be pushed to the middle of each braid, making it seem to glow from within rather than having lines of hair, which I feel would happen if the wires get exposed with movement wearing a loose wig
- NO TANGLES :p as much as that would probably be accurate given the name of the film, Rapunzel's hair never tangles throughout the entire adventure. I feel that having a long wig that I wasn't able to look after would just ruin the illusion!
- No dealing with multiple wefts - I personally feel that the disney parks long loose wigs just look like roadkill with the weft 'spine'.

Basically I think I'd rather do a slightly inaccurate wig well than a perfectly canon wig that I can't move around in for more than thirty minutes.

Weird...for some reason I thought I read somewhere you said you were leaving it loose. @___@ Maybe I'm just going crazy from so much wig research! The glowing braid sounds like a great idea! I thought of it too but upon ordering EL Wire, I just wasn't happy with the amount of light it gave off and didn't want to bother hiding a switch somewhere in the wig either.

Another thing to look into would be glowby's... they're basically fibre optic hair extensions. Might work better! I know of at least one person who has used them and they looked pretty awesome!!

The roadkill with a spine thing... DID YOU READ THAT ON MY TUMBLR? XD I said the EXACT same thing a while back. LOL The face characters wigs, I like, but those UK promo shots before the coronation with the extra long wig is the nasty one. Who thought that looked good!??! lol
 
I love you guys so much.

More pics of my LONG WIG to come! :D My 21st party was on saturday (it's 4:30am monday morning and I'm still hungover loool) and there are some really amazing photos of my wig.

FOR NOW HAVE SOME CANDIDS

The entire group
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THE WIG
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With my gorgeous flynn :)
(please ignore the hole in my wig at waist level it is driving me nuts but I love love LOVE this photo so I choose to ignore it
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With my Alex as Flynn again (yes he is that tall that I need to be on tiptoe; he is 6'5")
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And finally with Hercules as well - I'm quite proud of that costume, it was made the night before the party and I think it turned out okay! :D
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I hope you like these! The photos on the backdrop are the property of Henry Oorjitham for Ish Eye Digital Imaging :) there will be retouched photos coming later in the week but for now here are just some of the raws :)
 
SO CUTE I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT!

YOUR WIG TURNED OUT AAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!

SO stunning!!! Congrats on SUCH A GREAT JOB! I know how challenging it is and you did a CRAZY AMAZING JOB!

I LOVE IT!

BWAAAAAH~ *Rapunzel overdose*

( seriously, love it. and your colours keep inspiring me to make the ending dress. so pretty. and it looks so good on you with your complexion and wig colour! I LOVE IT )
 
>>>clip<<<


With my gorgeous flynn :)

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>>>clip<<<:)

GORGEOUS! Exquisite dress, very handsome Flynn in his great costume, fabulous job on the wig, and you are a most beautiful Rapunzel! I love the above pic. If Disney ever makes a live action version, I hope you get the part! Look forward to more pix!

Shylaah
 
Sorry for the delay in posting, you guys, but I've just had all of my exams followed by Supanova, which was the con I was entering as Rapunzel, and I had to make a bunch of alterations between my exams finishing on Friday afternoon and the competition on Sunday, so I'm only just recovering enough to post!!!

I had so much fun as Rapunzel, with several little girls coming up to me and asking if I was a real princess, and I was super happy with how we went on stage. It was probably a GAJILLION times more intimidating being on stage and trying to stay in character (I still cringe at my super-Aussie use of the anachronisms "no worries" and "guys") and aside from that I think we did an okay job. Here's a video my friend took of the interview stage- the interviewer is John Robertson, who is an amazing comedian who also hails from Perth, and you should really check out his stuff :)

Tangled Cosplay Perth supanova 2012 - YouTube

We were bumped up to the Advanced level of the cosplay competition at registration, because they took one look at my costume&nbsp;(and this is the kicker, I was missing my Flynn and had to drive in so I was only wearing my short brown wig, so they hadn't even seen my long wig) and said that it was too well made for me to enter Beginners level anymore. I was really pleased that they'd noticed the construction, but also somewhat deflated because I didn't think we had a chance to win anything - and then we took out Best Costume in Advanced level!!! After being convinced we wouldn't win anything at all! :D :D :D It was quite a bizarre feeling having some of my cosplay idols who were judging running up to me after the competition to fangirl, instead of the other way around :)

I was a bit sad my fibre optics didn't work, but that's for next time I guess. I actually decided that EL wire was going to look too much like glowing spaghetti so I decided to try using "sparkle fibre" fibre optics. They worked - until about halfway down the braid where the bends became too much. I'll be working to try and get them to work again, but I think I need a light source with a much higher lumen rating.

I'll upload some high-res photos of us on stage at the con once my photographer friends upload them! For now, have a crappy one of me with my corset coming unlaced and my wig hair covered with my Flynn's wig just so I could take 4kg of weight off my head and still take a photo with our certificate to appease my mother :p

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Great video.....link got wonky in your posting....so here 'tis direct....
Tangled Cosplay Perth supanova 2012 - YouTube

Many congratulations, you done good! :thumbsup You have a wonderful stage presence!!! The wig is just divine, looks marvelous!! Sorry that the light effects didn't work out this round but gives us something else to look forward to!

Shylaah
 
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