Decoden Box

I've gotten really into decoden and clay making recently, and thought I'd try to decorate a tin box. It's kind of heavy, but super kawaii and well worth every effort put into it ♥

First Shot at a Drawing Pad

Can't say I'm proud of it, but I worked well and hard to complete it :)

How to make Shunsui's Pink Haori

Hey guys!
I went to Tampa Bay Comic Con dressed as Nanao Ise and my friend as Shunsui Kyoraku from Bleach. I'll definitely say the hardest part was his pink haori, but I'll do my best give you a detailed description of how I made it :) Sorry I don't have too many process shots >.<

Pink Haori Materials:

• 5 yards of light pink fabric: I used a lightweight fabric that looked sort of like canvas, but definitely not as thick and had some flow to it. I wish I could tell you the name, but I got it overseas and couldn't quite read what he label said.
• **I didn't actually use all 5 yards

• Scissors or an X-acto knife (I used both)

• Iron

• 3 bottles of Tulip Slick Dimensional Fabric Paint, Fluorescent Pink (marked as "FL Pink")

• Painter's Tape (usually blue; and you'll usually want a wide one since you'll be cutting it later)

• 4" plastic spackling spatula (also can be found in painting or cake decorating sections)

• DecoFabric Markers in Green, Red, Black, and White (you may need 2 white ones)

***DON'T USE SHARPIE FABRIC MARKERS, THE COLOR WILL NOT TRANSFER WELL ON TOP OF OTHER PAINTS

• Simplicity Kimono Pattern (get more fabric than the pattern calls for...you may need it for extra length)

[If you don't want to buy it, take a took at this tutorial, it's the best one I've found;

take note that this tutorial makes a very short kimono, so you will have to

adjust the measurements and make it much longer.]

• Optional: Paper plate, trash bags, poster board, gift wrapping tubes/broom stick(s).

Sewing Instructions:

1. Cut out the pattern or create a pattern to your measurements. Creating a pattern sounds intimidating, but traditional Japanese clothing is made from very simple shapes, in this case, a bunch of rectangles :) However, I still recommend getting the Simplicity pattern, it may not be the "traditional" Japanese version, but it gets accurate cosplay results ;)
2. Lay out your fabric on a flat surface. Pin, trace, and cut out the fabric according to the instructions you're using, don't forget to extend the pattern to the length you need it. **Also, extend the band that goes around the whole thing, the simplicity pattern makes it shorter than the length of the kimono** 
3. Now it's time to sew. You'll start with the two back panels and put the right sides of the fabric together. Sew them together at the seam allowance mentioned in either pattern. After the back panels, grab the front panels and, again, put right sides together as you sew the side and shoulder to the respective back panel. Remember to leave a gap on the top of the side seam that's half the size of your sleeve rectangle on each side.
4. *What I mean by right sides together: Lets say you have a glittery side and a dull side and the goal is to show the glittery side. When you put right sides together, you are going to put both glittery sides together, one on top of the other, so that all you can see is the dull part on the top or bottom. In other words, the part you want visible in the outfit will be hidden when you sew it, that way, when you flip it right-side out, you won't be able to see what you've sewn.
5. The sleeves I inserted in this haori are not dangly, and are fully inserted with no gap in the armpit. Therefore, cut out the rectangles that are supposed to be the sleeves and fold each rectangle in half with the right sides together. Sew each separate sleeve according to the seam allowance, then flip right side out.
6. By this point, you should have the haori generally built and now it's time to put in the sleeves :)This is usually the hardest part, but building it with these patterns should be too hard, I hope you didn't forget to leave that armhole gap!
7. Now, flip the haori inside out and leave the sleeves right side out. Place the sleeves inside the gap and line up the edges. It should look something like this:
8. If you look closely, the outside rim should be the haori, but inside out, and the piece with the yellow thread is the sleeve (the part you can see will be the "wrong side" of the fabric, but technically, if you look. the right sides of the fabrics will be together)
9. Sew at the appropriate seam allowance, making sure there's no tucks or pleats. The sleeves should go in perfectly to match the open armhole you made, but you can always adjust that hole to make life easier for yourself.
10. Do this on both sides, but don't add the front band that goes around the neck yet. that'll be the last part since you gotta paint the thing first.

Painting Instructions:

1. You need reference pictures. Here's the one's I mainly used.
2. Find where you want the darker pink to fall in regards to your body (in this case, we made it the lower back), measure what that is from the bottom (since that's the most even part) and place the tape evenly along those measurements.
3. Then put the tape on the sleeves too, falling at the same place it falls on the body of the haori.
4. Using the reference pics, draw the bottom shape of the dark pink section with a pencil on the tape and cut it out however possible, making sure the keep the tape straight. I'm pretty sure I just took it all off (marking where it was with tailor's chalk), cut it, and put it back where it was.
5. Do the same with the sleeves.
6. Now get ready to paint. I used a paper plate as a palette and poked a hole to fit my thumb to hold it comfortably, and the spatula as my painting tool. I had a dressform to assist in the painting process (and covered her with a trash bag so I wouldn't get paint all over the place.)
7. Grab enough paint on the spatula to spread an even coat on the haori; I only did one layer of paint for this whole thing. 
8. Make sure there are no clumps throughout this process, since its puffy paint, it'll stay like that and you don't want streaks all over the place. I would suggest starting from the tape and going upward since going down would result in a less than perfect line (the paint seeped through the tape a bit when I did it from top to bottom).
   
9. Painting where you see all the wrinkles was tricky with the spatula, so I just used my finger to even the coating out. Unfortunately, I couldnt have the sleeves touching the body of the haori because 1. it'd stick and 2. it'd leave an unwanted texture. So I used poster board to keep the texture and roundness of the sleeve, and gift wrapping tubes and a broom stick to keep them from touching anything else.
10. If possible, avoid drying the haori with the wrinkles in it, it may affect it's shape and the way it flows.
11. Once dry, take the tape off, and preheat iron to hottest steam setting; hold the iron above the paint, but making sure not to touch it, and steam away.
12. All websites and instructions say to wait 72 hours before washing. I personally didn't wash the haori, but I wish I did; it would have made it alot softer.
13. If you do choose to wash it, turn the haori inside out, and use warm water.
14. After the whole haori is dry, its time to pull out those nifty Deco Fabric Markers and begin outlining everything with black. If you aren't good at drawing or just prefer an alternative, try making stencils out of cardboard since there's quite a few repeating shapes (clouds, circle with swirls, big rose with leaves, little rose with leaves, red leaves, and mini white flowers).
15. Color everything in!
    
16. Thankfully it doesn't dry that stiff, risk washing it if you want, but I personally wouldnt >.<
17. Second to last step: sew the light pink band around the front and neck. To do this, fold the fabric you had for this in half (this time WRONG sides together) and pin it on top of the RIGHT side of the haori. Make sure the center seam lines up with the center of the neck and it goes all the way to the bottom of the haori. Pin and sew.
18. Hem the edge of the sleeves and the bottom of the haori.

AND YOU'RE FINALLY DONE! Give yourself a pat on the back!

If you have any questions leave a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP!

Kida Cosplay: Atlantis the Lost Empire

Why do only super skinny chicks get to cosplay the characters that show some skin?

I noticed this at MegaCon when I saw this dazzling girl dressed up as slave princess Leia in her aura of confidence and smiles; yeah. I was jealous. and yeah. I didn't like it. So I though "Psh, I could do that too", but then looked at my body and immediately thought otherwise.
Making my Kida cosplay was a journey of, welp.. I'll make it and not wear it, or I'll develop the confidence over time. The second one won out. But, I didn't do it for the attention or to show off my body at a con, I just did it to prove to myself that my body isn't this horrendous, fat blob I make it out to be, because I know I'm not fat and put myself down more than I need to.   
So I got to work and finished my cosplay. Yeah, I'll say I did work out for a solid two weeks, ate no sugar, and had super healthy meals (with veggies!), but refused to weigh myself, I wanted to be happy with how I looked. I know, this goes against what I just said, but I was never gonna be completely content with myself unless I actually tried to make my body better. So I did. I lost a bit, not very noticably, but to me it made all the difference knowing I put forth effort.
Here's the link: http://www.allouteffort.com/2012/11/how-my-wife-lost-13lbs-in-2-weeks.html
My results were nowhere near hers, but I switched a few things in the exercise and I was happy :)
So here's the results of everything, my sewing, my working out, and my confidence!

By the way, this took place in SwampCon at the University of Florida.


Photo Credits: Figments Media

So go out there and have fun!

 

GoFundMe Study Abroad in Japan

Hello all my fellow people!
I'm really hoping to study abroad in Japan this summer and really need help funding the trip :/ I'm studying costume design in college right now, and Japan has always been the place that inspires me most, whether it be with designing a costume, or sewing it all up; heck, its the reason I started cosplay and watching anime in the first place! But studying over there during the summer would simply be something I would never forget, and would help me design more and build my portfolio. Any donation would tremendously help! Thank you so much!

http://www.gofundme.com/l2nplg

Polka Dot Pajama Pants

I've been pretty bored all day, so I thought I should do something with my life and sewed up a pair of PJ's. Yupp, this is what I do with my life :P
Anyways, I bought the fabric at Jo Ann's, and its pretty adorable ♥

 

The pattern is McCall's 4261 and its a snuggle fleece fabric. From laying out the fabric to putting the final touches, it was about 3 hours total... not bad for a pair of comfy pants ^.^ 

 

 

See ya later alligator!

Ariel Inspired Dapper Dress

I really wanna go to Disney's Dapper Day (October 3rd, 2015, ) for my 21st birthday; yupp.. 100% partying like the disney fan-girl I am with all the other princesses :P I've really gotten into swing dancing lately and a lot of the 20s era things, so I thought it'd be perfect to make an Ariel dress with a little bit of everything and a bit of a pinup touch to it. I've never really designed a dress, so its a bit rough, but I love it anyways:

 

 

I've got the finger waves going on, the peter pan collar rimmed with small pearls, a bow at the waist with a shell in the middle, the kick pleats with a different color inside, the almost-sleeve-but-not-really-quite-a-sleeve-but-it-still-is-a-sleeve thing going on, and most importantly.. Ariel's colors!

 (I haven't decided on the shoes yet)



 I went to JoAnn Fabrics to check out what kind of fabric I should use and what colors (realistically) they had, lucky enough, they had wonderfully perfect colors that matched the Ariel look I was going for.

The purple and Jade look a little darker than they actually are, but the above pictures are pretty accurate

 

I didn't really wanna make the blue-green part plain, but it's what they had, Ill be on the lookout for a pattern that would look good, and I'll keep updating my dress progress as I go ^.^



 

--------Update: 12/28/14---------

New addition to the fabric family of options!!

Look at this beauty!! ♥♥♥ Its almost perfect! (I think) :P

When out under the jade fabric, it makes it look a lot darker, but its sooo pretty! I guess we'll have to see.

 

By the way, Jo Ann fabrics gives away free samples of whatever fabric you want (max. 2 per person), so that might help ;)

 

--------Update 1/9/2015--------

 

First attempt at curling iron finger waves, not too bad for the first time with no hairspray :)

 

Got the instructions from here.. but its hard doing it all on your own!

http://www.samvilla.com/pro/blog/how-to-create-finger-waves-using-a-curling-iron#.VK9uwu85DIV



 



 



 



 



USF Night In Tokyo Fashion Show

I didn't quite make anything here, but I modeled for the first time (I so happened to be blind as well), and what a wonderful experience that made *half sarcasm* ;)
I was a part of a group that did the Japanese Folktale "Night Parade of a 100 Demons" and was the demon "Tenome"... some might know him from Pan's Labyrinth, I personally haven't watched the movie, but (now) I do know a demon that was like this:

Inspired by that, the group leader and I brought together this look to walk down the runway with the rest of the demon parade.

Chains, blood, fishnet, and holes.. while having extreme teased hair, a burned up wedding dress, layers of gauze over my eyes (I literally couldn't see more than two steps ahead of me, it's a wonder clumsy me didn't fall off the runway in high heels) and bloody/painted hands where I couldn't touch anything for hours (meaning I couldn't pee)! But it was definitely a fun filled night full of nerves and amazing looking people.

 

 

If you're ever around University of South Florida, come check out the Japanese Club and see if we have any events going on, they're always fun filled and quite interesting! (no, we don't all speak Japanese nor are we all Asian)

 

But here's a few more pics from this memorable night :)

He was the Night Parade's stylist, creative and wonderful to be costume designer

 



She was also one of the demons

This was a sun goddess, I was her stylist: bringing together the outfit, hair, and make up choices

Also had a lolita section (Alice in wonderland inspired)





Guy Gardner Vest (Kids Size)

Around Halloween, I got an e-mail asking me if I could make a Guy Gardner vest for a 10 year old boy for his Halloween party; I was thrilled!! I had never made kids sized clothing before, so I finally got the opportunity to learn how to scale down patterns and use measurements to make something fit, and it worked! :D

 

I only had a women's dressform, but it worked, though, I probably should have put more belt loops to avoid the clumping at the bottom, but isn't he adorable??

 

 



And it looks great on him too! I charged materials + $30 for labor; considering I used coupons on all the fabrics, I think thats a pretty fair price, I'm still trying to get the hang of all this "business" stuff tho. Thanks for the opportunity you guys! :)

Anniversary Gift Box

My 3 year anniversary with my boyfriend recently passed and I wanted to incorporate something cute since all the gifts I got him were pretty random; I figured one could never go wrong with cute presentation, especially if its like a lift the flaps game :D
I work at Jo-Ann Fabrics so we get a lot of boxes and a lot if cardboard dividers within those boxes, which helped in making this :) Uhm.. the dividers kinda looked like this: (and you place them upside down at 90 degree angles to have them stay up and stuff)

My beautiful drawing

I put them all in a box to make the compartments different sizes and it worked out pretty well. I got some labels, scrapbook paper, a glue stick, tacky glue, and very hefty scissors to cut the cardboard.
After I made the compartment sizes, I cut out the "flaps" which was cutting the cardboard to be as big as the compartment + some extra space to glue the back to the box.

They're a little flimsy, but the box doesn't need to last forever!
As you can see from the picture above, I covered the cardboard BEFORE I glued the flap to the box, it helped the hassle alot. Oh yeah, tacky glue worked wonders with this project.
Afterwards came the decorating. As you should all know, I completely SUCK at painting, I am the messiest human being alive and me + paint = disaster. Yet, pinterest gave me some pretty good pointers :) I used the eraser side of a pencil, dipped it in paint, and made the polka dots on the side of the box (and to make the heart).

Then I painted the cover of the box, I thought this was going to be impossible until I found this blog on Pinterest: http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.com/2012/02/p-is-for-personalize-2.html
It taught me how to do any lettering and make it look absolutely amazing as you can see

Just follow that tutorial and you'll be good to go :)


When the flaps were all done, it came out looking not to shabby if ya ask me!

 


Each label was like a little hint as to what was in the flap, but not enough to give it away...
So it would pretty much be "I love you for: your quirkiness ( i got him a wax vac because theyre cool in a way), simply being you (home baked cookies because the way to a guy's heart is always through food :P), always thinking things through (a shower curtain with the world map on it because why not think more in the shower), always doing your best (books because he's studying English), always wanting to solve problems (a 2x2 rubiks cube), and what you like, dislike, and everything in between (I got him the spray smellies for men from bath & body works).

Welp, I hope this idea works for one of you out there and helps you out when you need ideas for that special someone or really any gift in general! Good luck ;)

UPDATE: Polka Dot Dress

I got suuuper tired of making a dress all to have it keep slipping down because something was wrong with the bust! I had to fix it so I thought it would be a good idea to fix it with adding sleeves or having it hold up with my shoulders somehow. But other than adding that, I think i finally found a way to fix the non-fitting bust problem. I looked through a few blogs but nobody really had a tutorial on ho to fix that for "well-endowed" women, and I guess it really doesnt help that I'm not posting a tutorial either...(mainly because I forgot to take steps of the process) D:

But I did find a pretty good idea! Since I took this dress from a pattern ( The polka dot part from McCall's M6646 and the lace part from McCall's M6838), someone said that it helps to copy the pattern onto muslin first. I really haven't tried that yet, and even though the extra work would be tedious, I think it's well worth it when the problem keeps popping up and you don't want to ruin the actual fabric you're using for the dress. Once you would copy the pattern onto the muslin, you can adjust it, re-sew it, make it fit you PERFECTLY, and then use what you altered as a new form-fitted pattern and you would have no problems when youre working on a dress (or whatsoever it may be).

However, for my dress's bust, if you can see here in this picture, it looks kinda tight, like its too flatly shaped for boobs. The top part doesn't form well above the bust and around the waist its very loose and just doesn't that great. I happened to notice all this after I wore it for an entire night :P

 

 

Now I learned how to fix that! I kind of trial-and-errored it though, I made the bust MUCH rounder and since I already had cut the fabric, I just made the seam allowances smaller. I used some chalk and pins to draw out and fit it. Ultimately, its tighter and better fitted, I wish I had taken pictures though :(

 

 

But this is my newer dress now, I bought 1/2 a yard of lace for the top and lace in one long strip for the bottom of the skirt. And this is the result:

 

It's soooo much better fitting, it complements curves (which is what every girl wants in a dress), and it stays up so theres no more pulling up a dress while moving aroundlike every normal human being does (because we cant be expected to just sit there and look pretty without moving an inch all day)!

Here's a side view to see where it's tighter and where I extended the stiches a bit (waist & bust)
Hope you like it!





Charmander Evolution Cross Stitched Backpack

I've started a loving, but sometimes tedious tradition of giving my boyfriend something hand-made for his birthday. I thought it added a little "from the heart" to the presents he gets :) The first was the Mario Blanket [after that, I never want to quilt again, especially without a rotary cutter] and this time it was this cross stitched backpack.

 

 

It took about 3 weeks to complete and a night to make the actual backpack itself. This was my first time cross stitching and I really wanted a pattern for this image but I could only work with what I had. So I ended up finding this picture on Mr. X-Stitch's blog and absolutely loved it!

 

This is his

I couldnt quite match and find all the colors, but I did the best I could with that. As for copying it, I SUPER zoomed in to a section that I was working on, counted spots, and stitched from there. Plus, I excluded the green background because it wouldnt have matched with the black backpack.

This is mine

I just found the DMC color chart I made for this! Here you go:

• Charizard
• Wings (dark): 3842
• Wings (light): 806
• Reflection orange (most of the face, etc): 971
• Body orange: 721
• Some of the random border: 3777
• Nails, eyes, etc: 3865
• Eye Color: 995
• Tummy Reflection: 3823
• Tummy Actual Color: 3856
• Inner Fire Yellow: 744 (I think?, I'm not sure if I changed this one or not)
• Outer Fire Orange: 971 or 741?
• Charmeleon:
• Body Orange: 721
• Reflection Orange: 606
• Random Border: 3777
• Eye Blue: 995
• Teeth, nails, eyes: 3865
• Tummy Reflection: 3823
• Tummy Actual: 3856
• Inner Fire: 3823 or 744?
• Outer Fire Orange: 741 or 971?
• Charmander
• Body Orange: 721
• Reflection Orange: 741
• Eye Blue: 995
• Teeth: 3865
• Random Border: 3777
• Tummy Reflection: 3823
• Tummy Actual: 3856

Hope you all like it! ♥





Cat Clutch

For all you cat lovers out there...I made this pattern for a cat clutch and put it all together; for making it from scratch, I honestly think it's pretty darn good lol, but opinions would be nice too :)

 It's a clutch, so it doesnt really hold a LOT but it can contain an appropriate amount.
I bought enough fabric to make about 10, so I think I'll alter the pattern a bit and make it fatter around the bottom to hold more.

Once I get it at a good size, and see if people are interested in buying them, then I might invest in getting the metal closures to it could look a bit more fancy ;)

Let me know what you think! Or if you wanna buy one, I'll be trying to put it on my Etsy shop once I take better looking pictures, but leave a comment or e-mail me in the meantime :)