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[Heimdall]

Hey guys, just thought I'd share how my Gil progress is going so far.

http://twitpic.com/199hjb

I swear he has the weirdest coat ever...OTL;;;

Now I only have to make the belt who is proving a pain in the butt to get right *twitch*

[hack7oriole]

@ Heimdall - Looks great so far!! God I hate bias tape...but it looks like you did a really good job with it! =D

On a side note...I can't wait until Pandora Hearts chapter 47 comes out!! Damn cliffhanger at the end of 46. >.>

[Heimdall]

@hack7oriole: thank you! I finally finished it and I'm happy with the way it came out. I fangirled over your Jack on DA a few month back and I just now realized that it was you xD

[hack7oriole]

@Heimdall - Just saw the finished project on DA when you put it up, and OMFG I love it!!!! And your hair makes perfect seaweed! ;D

~sees your plans for Glenn and dies of happiness~ =D Hurray for Glenn! That lunatic needs moar love <33

[xSpringSmiles]

Well. The only cosplay I have up at the moment is Echo. [//pokes at Echo cosplay]

I'm quite the Pandora Hearts fanatic....It's my fandom ;'D
I'm also planning to cosplay Alyss~

Fun times.

[Heimdall]

@hack7oriole: What kind of fabric did you use on your Jack coat? From here it looks like maybe velvet which would be amazing. We're weighing our options whether or not to do the coats out of velvet OTL;;; I've never worked with that kind of fabric so I don't know what to expect...

[hack7oriole]

@Heimdall - I used some sort of heavy satin for Jack's coat...not sure exactly what it was called, but it was on sale, and it was pretty! xD Velvet would be pretty cool though; I'm working on Oz's red artbook coat right now, and nearly used velvet until I couldn't find any in red, but I found this link beforehand, with a few tips about sewing with it -->
http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/...ith+Velvet.htm

Not sure how helpful it'd be, but good luck! =D

[Heimdall]

@hack7oriole: that sounds just about right. I was thinking of something like stretch satin so I'm glad is close to what you used. it looks amazing by the way and thank you!!!!

[wanderingdreamr]

If anyone has done Echo yet, got any suggestions for the pattern for her dress? It looks rather simple but I'm being cautious and seeing if there are any patterns for that I can use/adapt pretty easily.

[hack7oriole]

Originally Posted by wanderingdreamr

If anyone has done Echo yet, got any suggestions for the pattern for her dress? It looks rather simple but I'm being cautious and seeing if there are any patterns for that I can use/adapt pretty easily.

I haven't done Echo, but I'll try to throw some advice in anyway!!

To make life as easy as possible, I'd head to a thrift shop and find a white dress shirt with the right type of collar, to wear underneath, instead of working it into the dress and sleeves; you could probably even sew it into the dress if it moves around and wrinkles too much. I reckon if you treat the dress as 1) the shirt 2) the dress and 3) the sleeves, it'll be pretty easy to put together.

For the dress, I suggest a simple, fitted dress, such as this one http://www.simplicity.com/p-5006-misses-dresses.aspx with a few slight changes, for the base, and since I've never been able to find any kind of pattern for the kind of front the dress has, I'd say just draft it yourself. Actually, it would be pretty cool to have the dress open with a zipper at the front, as it would be covered with the button-up flap at the front. I still don't get how anime characters get their clothes on with no buttons or zippers...I suppose they're born with their clothes on already xD

Sleeves should be easy enough to create by yourself, and could be attached with buttons, elastic, or even velcro to the white shirt =D

Sorry if that was completely useless, but I hope it helped a little! Good luck!! <3

[wanderingdreamr]

I've already made the shirt and have a rough idea for the sleeves (going to see if I can put small pockets in there), and I was thinking that the front panel could attach by the buttons Echo already has on there. Not quite sure about that pattern, need to extend it, so I might try drafting it myself.
Also, how is the dress part supposed to stay up?!? I could use velcro but I don't want to put velcro on the undershirt, maybe if I made it a little too small and used elastic around the top and a few discreet sewing pins on the sides (where my arms would mostly hide them) that might work....

[hack7oriole]

LOL good idea on the pockets!! I always get lazy and avoid pockets, but then desperately need them at cons OTL

The dress part could just be a sleeveless dress - then it would stay on over your shoulders like a normal shirt. ^_^ I double-checked a reference picture, and it does look like the base blue dress would be a normal sleeveless garment fit without the rest of the sleeves.

[raelet]

I'm making a cosplay outfit for Break (using the white coat option seen here) and I decided that I'm going to try and handsew this sucker. I've already made Emily and the pants, but what sort of fabric should I use for the coat? This has me really stumped- this will be my first handsewn cosplay ever and most of my sewing experience comes from fleece, so I don't know my way around fabrics. I want to make the purple top out of a shiny satin color (I saw it on another cosplay and really liked it, but if someone has to advise me against it, please do) and then just have the straps be made of thick black elastic.

SO, yes. What fabric should I make the coat? I want to make it look really nice. I'd like to set a limit at 50$, but if it goes over, that's okay too, just so long as it won't cost me 120+ $.

One last thing, sorry guys |D. After looking at over 1000 reference pictures, what actually holds his coat sleeves up? I do NOT want to attach them to the shirt sleeves as I've seen done in the past, but I have no idea how to keep them held up, since they're not attached to the coat itself. Is pinning them on my only option? I've been thinking of using magnets to keep Emily on my shoulder- would that work for keeping the sleeves up as well?

Sorry for all the questions guys, I just really want to make sure I can do this right. |D

[hack7oriole]

@ Raelet:
The satin for the purple shirt sounds great! The only thing is, some satins are really thin and look sloppy, but if you get something nice, it will look amazing!! <3

For the coat: I think white pleather would make the most amazing Break coat ever - but if you're sewing it without a machine, I do not wish the fate of sewing pleather upon you!! Your hand might die D:

I recommend something heavy, to contrast the light satin of the purple shirt. I see his coat as something thick, so I'd say twill or something similar to canvas. If you don't want to spend too much money - I swear tablecloths are the best thing since sliced bread. I'm making Oz's red artbook coat out of a red tablecloth with embroidered red roses, and it worked out SO well. You'd have to do some measuring, but I think 2 or so standard tablecloths would be enough 8D

Attaching the sleeves: I have always wondered that myself! I think velcro could work - it would be really easy to take the coat off and put it back on that way. For Emily, magnets sound like a great idea, but I don't think I'd trust them to hold up the entire coat xD

Also, if you have a Fabricland near you, they're having a buy 1 get two free sale; basically on most fabric, if you buy one metre, you get two for free. >: D

[raelet]

hack7oriole:

Thanks! I appreciate the speedy reply. I'll be careful with what I pick for the satin to use- I'm a little worried with how silky it is being hard to go through the machine, but as long as it's heavy enough, I think it should be okay?

I like the idea of doing something heavy as well. I'd go with pleather in a heartbeat, but if I did that, I wouldn't know what to do about the silver edging. It's also why I'm worried about using heavier fabrics, since I'm not sure how I would be able to sew an edging onto a thick, heavy fabric, or how the end result would look. The idea about tablecloths is great! I've used sheets from Goodwill before for mockup practice with some of my fleece stuff, so I'm definitely more than willing to recycle something for cosplay sake XD.

(Though I really want to use midnight blue suede for the blue coat he wears, when I do that *___* )

With the sleeves... I worry about velcro showing and showing up lumpy where the velcro is, as well as the seam line that would show up on the parts of the sleeve that aren't folded over. I've heard of cosplayers using magnets before, and some of the smaller magnets nowaday definitely pack a lot of staying power- though with that comes the worry at finding the medium between enough staying power to keep it attached and not enough to rip through the fabric. And then with attaching them, the only thing I can think would either be to sew a pocket for them into the fabric (which would bring up the outer seam line again) or two hot glue them to the inside of the shirt and sleeve (which would probably leave an ugly mark if I decided to take the sleeves off for whatever reason...

I'll think about it some more- to be honest, I hadn't even thought about using velcro yet. It's a good idea! I'll probably wind up doing something like that if I can't work out my magnets...

I just googled it, and I don't think there's a Fabricland anywhere near me (I live in the US, in Washington), but I'll keep an eye out, that deal seems like something to die for. If nothing else, then I have a little money left on my gift card to JoAnn. XD