Helmet

Instead of finishing my skirt today, I felt inspired and got to work on my helmet.

My initial plan was to solder the wires. I would have had to do that at my dad's place since I do not have a soldering iron. But I had to do something 'cause I felt that itch again. Then I thought of my glue gun and used that instead XD. I know the joints won't be as sturdy as soldered joints but they don't have to be. I'm going to coat this with some paper mache and then my faux leather fabrics. Now I still have to find a type of glue that can glue faux leather, my gems and paper mache.

Almost done

Today I made 3 out of the 4 extra flaps on the skirt and when I layed it out on my bed I was happy to see all the parts looking good together :P. The gems haven't been glued on yet i simply put them on to see what it would look like. So the skirt is almost finished :D *yay.

Also I'm pleased with the fact that the skirt I'm making is quite similar to the one I designed. I hope I can keep this up.

3 Layers done

Yesterday I finished my work on the third layer.

I added some finishing touches today and also inserted horizontal wiring instead of just the vertical ones that are shown in a picture a few posts back. This straightens out a lot of the wrinkles. (wonder why I haven't thought of that before). Also in real life the wrinkles are much less visible. But still, it needs to photograph well.

What remains are the extra flaps and the aist band. I wonder how I'm gonna sew them all onto the waist band O_o, perhaps that should be done by hand. I don't think my sewing machine can cope with that many layers. lawl.

the second layer

Today I finished the first halve of the second layer. Also my gems arrived today! and they're just like they are in the picture :D. I hope that, when i sew all the parts of my skirt together, I can work out some of those wrinkles. Other than that I think it's coming along quite well.

Finished first layer

Last night I finished the first layer of the skirt.I know this isn't the best picture, but it was dark and I had to use the flash on my phone XD.Today I'm starting on the second layer. From now on each new layer will be done faster. *cant wait to see it*

Oh and I received an email that my order for the gems had been sent. They'll probably arrive the day after tomorrow (though I'm hoping tomorrow:P)

gems!!

Wow! After hours of searching the net I finally found some fake gems that seem to be about right for my costume. I won't be sure untill they've arrived. The picture shows the plastic gems I ordered. At first tried to find gems that could be sewn on. Unfortunately I couldn't find any over 10mm which is too small. These gems need to be glued on (I guess I need to test a few types of glue to find the right one). They're 17mm which I hope is about right. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like :D.

first layer

So this is what my first layer is going to look like. In this picture it's only being held together by pins, by now I've already sewn them together and it looks great :D (even if I say so myself). I hope the waist band is going to be strong enough to hold the entire skirt together. I plan to use a strip of my purple or gold leather inside because it's of better quality than my black leather (funny how when they sold it to me they were all the same price). And no I do not intend to attach the 2 seperate halves together. I think it would move better if they all were just "seperate flaps". *somewhat excited*

pockets

I've managed to succesfully XD sew on the decorations on the first layer of the skirt. These picture also show a pockets on the inside of the skirt. I know it looks bad but I simply needed it to be practical. it's not to be seen by anyone. I've finished 1 out of 4 parts of the first layer and had to stop myself from working too long. The top layers will be easier and will take less time to make. Even though I know my design I'm still anxious to see the skirt when finished. I hope it'll look cool, somehow I think it will :D

decorations

The initial *drawing* of my costume shows flame like details. I started to draw the designs for the details on the skirt yesterday and realized that I didn't like the flame details. I looked up a few pictures on the internet and ended up with this style. I'm fairly pleased with it and will begin sewing them onto the skirt tonight. I know the fabric looks brown-ish in this light but it's actually gold. The thread I'm using has a "metallic" cover and it's hard to work with. I hope that at least it'll be easier to work on this than my top XD

armored skirt

Ok so, I know I said I wouldn't update this untill the end of june.

I felt so frustrated with the top that I thought I'd be able to leave it all as it is for the time being.

The thing is, I love working on my costume and I figured that the time I would spend *not studying* as in watching tv and relaxing I could also spend on working on my costume XD.

So yesterday evening I started on a pattern for my *armored* skirt. It's not actually going to be armored but I need it to be stiff and move in a certain way. so this is what I decided to do.

I'm going to sew in these iron wires so I can bend them and the skirt with it.

Let's hoep it works :P.

MEH!

So I've been working very hard on a new top and it started to look good.
But yet AGAIN the sleeves are not right *boohoo*. Also part of the faux leather came off the fabric underneath. I hope I can glue that back together.
This was a major setback so I decided to leave the top alone for a while.
Atm I need to focus on my studies and my upcoming exams. After that I'll start on all the other parts such as the skirt and the armor first. I'm hoping that'll be easier. *sighs*
I also need to find a glue that can glue this faux leather onto my paper mache armor.
We'll see how it goes.
Anyway, there won't be any updates untill the end of june probably.
I really need to work on my studies XD

setback

Everything went wrong this evening. I found out that my fabric is of such poor quality that it tears easily. I made a couple mistakes which I couldn't take back and I completely failed the sleeves. So I've decided to start over. This time I'm using a blouse as base for my pattern. I hope that helps. (Maybe I should take some lessons on how to draw up a pattern *sighs*)

Memories

Oh gosh, now I remember what I was like working on a costume. I'm an addict!

I'd worked on the pattern based on my dummy for about 3 hours on friday (I don't have a lot of experience making patterns so I work slow). Then Yesterday I tried it on some cotton fabric and then started on the actual fabric I bought for the costume. It's all faux leather. Yesterday I worked from 8 p.m. till midnight XD and today I woke up at six. My head was so full of ideas. I tried sleeping but it didn't work so I got up at 7 a.m. And this is where that got me.

The wig

I've been looking for a white wig for my costume.
I couldn't seem to find the right one. One that's not too expensive and looks good.
This morning I woke up at my dad's place and realized that after work I had to go to "'t feesthuis". They sell wigs, costumes, accessories and stuff. When I got there I decided to buy a cheap wig and cut and model it at home. The picture shows the before and after :D (somehow I can't seem to rotate it...)
I'm fairly pleased with the end result ;3