scarlet rhapsody

Maybe Marshamallow will sing "Supper Time" in the next episode. 

Sometimes dubbed as "The Esme Cullen Project" to throw people off. It's based on an inside joke.

A few of my friends were surprised I was going to do Tsukihime cosplay. I was surprised at myself too. When looking at my choices, Akiha Tohno seemed to be the most like me. The other obvious choice was Ciel, but I've done the schoolgirl thing before. Not to mention, the more information I found about Akiha, the more I realized we're very much a like.

I did somewhat create a first version of this character back in November. While the two who requested the photo shoot remained impressed, I thought it had a few flaws. The first of which included the skirt being too loose. Upon further inspection, the blouse was much more specific. I decided to redo everything.

Of course, it was another adventure in figuring out how to make a pleated skirt. Funny because I've made a ton of dresses before, but never a pleated skirt. The first version of the skirt was completed in less than two hours.

The hardest part was re-creating the blouse from scratch. I took the pattern I used for Roberta (Black Lagoon)'s blouse. I had bought 3 yards of fabric from a hole in the wall fabric store in downtown LA. ($1 per yard!) Unfortunately, I had run out of fabric for the sleeves. I made that trip in late December 2008. I returned in late February 2009 to get the required fabric needed. Luckily, the store still had the same fabric available.

As far as the blouse is concerned, I double layered it. I also added a bow that my grandmother had made for my Karen (Sister Princess) costume. Since that outfit is long retired, it's now a part of Akiha.

I may end up getting a new headband for Akiha or just making a cloth one out of my scraps. Then again, I could use another white headband in my collection.

Akiha is scheduled to debut at Sakura Con 2009.

I hopped aboard the Pokemon Gijinka bandwagon a year later. It was exactly a year ago today, Oscar Night, that I have heard of the Gijinka designs. I strayed away for a while thinking it was another trend, like Animal Magnetism in 2001. Well, I decided to do a Gijinka variant of Persian.

Mind you, this version of Persian is different from the art design in the infamous set of fanart. From a costume designer's perspective, the outfit must reflect what the character is all about. The original design lacked creativity and character. A yellow skin tight suit? No thank you. If Persian is the "classy cat" Pokemon, it calls for sophistication and elegance.

I purchased the fabric from Kashcool's and a hole in the wall dollar store. I used a pattern originally intended for a Breakfast at Tiffany's cosplay, but I realized it was the wrong design. It was a vintage Vogue evening gown pattern. The trick was getting the bodice together. It had a very unique shape to it to put together - like most Vogue patterns.

I was able to complete the dress in one day. Again, I detest doing curved hems, but I'm still impressed by the amount of work done.

And next on the "To Do" list for Persian is figure out the gloves. I really don't know how to make custom gloves. If anyone can point me to a tutorial or a basic pattern for opera length gloves, it would be very much appreciated. I do have a blonde wig (for Elle Woods and Miria) to go with the yellow color palette. A cigarette holder doesn't sound too bad.

And you're never fully dressed without the neko mimi (courtesy of Cosworx).

"Are you wearing that to the Oscars?" - Victoria's mom.

I never thought I would be working on another CLAMP related project for a while. Then again, I did finish up Karen Kasumi in less than two days time. This is a Christmas present commission. I wanted to see if I can do this under $70. The lining was already leftover from Project: Disturbia. So, all I had to get was the bias tape, zipper, pattern, and main fabric.Suffice to say, I was able to score all of the above for $25.

Of course, this is just phase one of the progress. There still needs to be a few more embellishments and a few parts to make it longer need to be added. On first glance, it looks more like Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. Not the intention at all.

The bias tape was not as bad working with as I thought. Bias tape makes everything look nicer.

And in other news, Eva Friedel is 100% complete.

Upcoming Projects
Elle Woods - need to finish up the belt, no rush
Sabrina - I have a ton of scrap fabric enough for this project. Yay! Decided on just using my standard black boots.
Gijinka Persian - next fabric shopping trip
Yuuko - next fabric shopping trip

Little Tokyo January edition!

Normally, I'd use Avid Liquid, but since the main computer is being fixed, I decided to play around with iMovie. I like the text watermarking program better than Avid Liquid's. 

Homage to Spring Awakening