Chocolat Meilleure - Picnic Dress #3

Duke

Duke!

Duke could be made for free, and was an opportunity for stash bursting. I raided my fabric scraps, and got scraps of black cotton velvet (I know I have some polyester velvet somewhere, but didn't find it), and red polyester velvet. Using the previously made pattern. First, from a picture where Duke is mostly streched, I resized the picture where Duke would be real size, relative to my hand, took measurements and drafted the patterns: head, eyes, body, arms and legs. Then I made a technical sketch, to be able to make the armature, as I want to be able to pose it.

Duke's armature/skeleton

I used my tin wire, which turned out a little too stiff for armature, but it still works. Thank you Ana Dias, a friend who works in animation, for the armature tips. Then I spray painted the hands and feet, along with the beads for the fingers and toes, I couldn't find any black ones that size.

fingers and toes

Duke's eyes - part 1

Initially, I thought about using beads for the eyes, but I don't have any green ones this big. So I searched my beads and trinkets stash, and found some big googly eyes, from an old project. The eyes are round, and I needed them to be green, so I cut off the white parts, and sketched his eyes on the outside of the transparent part with an erasable pen. Then, on the inside, and using my multicolour nail polish stash (also fresh from the Batcave), I started painting the eyes, much like oldschool cell animation. First the emerald green, for the pupils, then the dark green for the shadows, and, finally, the lime green for the iris.

Duke's eyes - part 2

I cut the eyes to fit Duke's eye shape, and glued the front part of the eyes with superglue to the velvet front of the eyes. I sewed front and back together, leaving an opening on one side and the bottom. I turned them, finished sewing the side, and stuffed them with polyfill.

Duke's eyes - part 3

Back to Duke's body. I sewed the two head parts together, leaving an opening in the back, and also the mouth. I simply fray checked the mouth, and pushed it on top of the red after turning the head, and glued it to the red. I stuffed the head, and closed it.

Then I sewed the torso. First, black, red and black, with the curved bum part on the bottom, and then to each other, on one side, leaving a gap for the arm, and stopping by the leg. I turned the torso, placed it around the leg and arm, and proceeded to sew the other side, with a ladder stitch, on the right side, around the other arm and leg.

Duke's torso

Then I stuffed the bodice. I proceeded fairly the same way for the arms and legs, no need to stuff the arms, and then sewing them to the torso. I stuffed the legs, and sewed them to the torso, with the legs streched to the sides, so I can pose them like a frog's.

Duke's torso and arms

Duke!

Finally I sewed the eyes to the head, cut a small hule on the bottom of the head, put it on top of the armature loop, and sewed it to the body/neck, and glued the fingers and toes with superglue. Not entirely trusting the superglue, I cut a bunch of dark jewellery pins, and also pushed and glued them from the tips. They've held together fine so far...

Duke intrigued by the atelier's mess

I just realised I didn't make his nostrils, I'll add them with some embroidery thread later.

+ It only took me a few days (a few hours each day) to make him, and he is SO CUTE!

- I had a few small mishaps, I soiled the eyes while glueing them, so I had to add a few coats of clear nail polish to the front of the eyes, and I'm not 100% happy with the hands and feet.

THE CUNNING PLAN

Make the dress.

Chocolat Meilleure - Picnic Dress #2

The Pendant + the Wig

hat, basket & sandals

I went to the Batcave (without benefits) the other day, and brought a few cosplay things. Most importantly, I brought my old "eggs basket", how my teacher Alex used to call it, which I used quite often as a purse. Back when I got it, I lined it with chintz. Now I vacuumed and washed it, glued one of the feet back, and checked for anything else that would need fixing. Until I find a basket-purse similar to Chocolat's, this will be it. I also put the hat to the side, which isn't like Chocolat's either, but the shape is very similar, and I don't want to buy another one, when I have this one.

I also made an order at AliExpress, for the sandals, the velvet ribbon, the earrings, the trinkets and the crystals.

the heart locket, the cord, the eyepin and the toggle clasp.

I tried to screw the small eyepins, but the metal is too soft, and the plastic too hard, and the eyepins got twisted until one broke inside the heart. I tried melting a hole by heating a nail, but that damn plastic is HARD! So I gave up, and ordered a mini hand drill from AliExpress. While I was waiting for it to arrive, I tied the cord to the clasp. When it arrived I drilled the hole (phew, that plastic is hard...) passed a jewellery pin through it, made a loop around the clasp loop, and it's DONE! Well, not quite, the locket got a bit scratched in the process, so I spot painted another layer of red, and added a final layer of glossy varnish, before adding the loop.

the finished locket necklace

I also ordered the wig, an Alex in Copper, from Coscraft, and the first thing I did was to put it on my new wig head, and braid it.

the styled wig

I also added the pretty velvet bows. Ah, the sandals are very comfortable, I even tested them outside. Just the closure is velcro and the fake leather looks like it's poor quality. 

Aaand... decided to make Duke from scraps and stuff I have around the house.

+ styling the wig was very quick and easy.

- it was a bummer what happened to the eyepin, but fortunately the hand drill, which I wanted to buy for a while, saved the day.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Pattern and cut the dress, make Duke.

Amewarashi - Summer Frilly Dress #1

CHARACTER Amewarashi 

SOURCE xxxHOLiC Rei (manga - vol.; ch.)

COSTUME frilly summer dress

COSTUME BREAKDOWN

• small black (?) crown
• styled twin tails light blue wig
• lolita style high-low boned JSK, with floating collar with tie, white gathered bust and front laces
• white high-low double layered frilly skirt
• white puffy bloomers
• white frilly short gloves
• white frilly socks
• black mary-janes [have] or black ghillie shoes [have]
• black frilly umbrella [have]

This isn't for now, just adding this costume to the cosplans. I'll definitely finish Chocolat, finish Candy, and probably make Saki first.

Besides Yuuko, Amewarashi is one of my favourite xxxHOLiC characters, love her grumpy character, and it's been in the back of my mind to cosplay her. But, instead of her default black lolita dress, which is pretty basic, I wanted something a bit more interesting. Then she visits Watanuki in this dress, which immediately makes me think it looks comfortable enough to wear in the summer, and I love the design.

I guess I'm diving deep into twin tails wig styling... That's maybe a decision factor, as I'll see how it goes with Candy's wig first, as large drill curls are much harder to style.

Anyway, the rest of the costume, although not the simplest, should be quite easy to achieve. Since the Mad Hatter's scalloped collar, I've been enjoying drafting and making collars, and this one is quite cute. maybe I'll sew it to the back of the JSK, maybe not... Since the artwork is only in black & white, I thought about making the JSK in a dark colour, but now, breaking the costume apart, I started thinking black would work fine. But I'm also leaning towards dark red, in a nice sophisticated fabric.

The whites shall remain white, and I'm thinking about voile, which is stiff enough cotton, looks nice, as it's translucent, and is very affordable. I may have to make a short crinoline for the skirt to add the volume, as this time we can see a hollow under the skirt. Those stripey details in the chest and bloomers, can be white thin satin ribbon, and the necktie's crown will naturally be embroidered.

I can make the gloves out of cotton-like jersey, and, since one can't see the feet, similar socks, and I own a choice of lolita passing shoes, like my mary-janes, or the ghillies, which I have in flat and with a short heel. The umbrella will be my black frilly umbrella, even though the one in the illustration is white, but I already have it, and never saw a cheap white one for sale anyway.

The next time I have time and budget to browse the fabric shops, I'll look for a nice fabric for the JSK, and go on from there. As I said, voile is cheap and usually available, I have plenty of plastic boning to make the crinoline, I even have enough stiff interfacing for the collar, maybe I'll make the tie in satin scraps, and I'll decide later how I'll make the crown (probably using PVC scraps).

+ this looks like a really nice and fairly comfortable costume for warmer days. 

- oh no, another cosplan; oh no, another twin tails wig...

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Just browse the fabric shops in the near future.