Eli Ayase Ball Gown - Work Log Entry #1

Hey everyone! I'm with with Work Log Entry #1 for my build of Eli Ayase's Victorian Ball Gown from the anime Love Live! School Idol Project. Here's a reference photo of what I'm working on:

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, you may remember my last posts were reviewing the Lily Vanilla Diamond Sparkle wig from The Five Wits Wigs. This is the costume this wig will be used for! If you'd like to read my reviews of the wig, check out Part 1 and Part 2.

For the pattern, I'm modifying the McCall's Costumes M7213 pattern, which is based off of the live- action Cinderella film from 2015. 

The pattern is for a two-layered skirt (an underskirt, and an outer layer). My gown, however, has 3 layers - the bottom white/blue flowered tier (which you can just barely see in the reference photo but I found it on cosplay sites that are selling this gown), the pink/blue flowered tier, and the dark blue/light blue tier. And that is not counting the hoop skirt/petticoat, which I bought from Amazon and looks like this:

So this will be a BIIIIIIG dress. In my calculations, I've used about 23 total yards of fabric!

I started off with the bodice. I cut out 2 of each piece - one for the lining and one for the outer layer. I will add the fur trim to the straps and the navy blue section on the bust later. Eli's gown doesn't have a pointed waistline like the pattern, but I liked that look compared to the straight waistline so I decided to keep it. 

  

The bodice creation was pretty quick. The skirts are what took a VERY long time. Because I didn't want to spend a massive amount of money getting custom-pattern fabrics to be completely exact to the reference photo, I scoured my local Jo-Ann Fabrics to find the closest matches possible for the floral fabrics. I found a nice blue and white floral/fleur-de-lis fabric for the bottom tier and a pink and light blue floral fabric for the middle layer. Sorry this next photo is so dark! 😢

I started with the bottom fleur-de-lis layer. Using the first layer as a guide, I cut out the next pink/blue layer to be q few inches shorter. 

Now, the top layer took some additional measuring (and mistakes). Unlike the other layers, the light blue is sort of a trim onto the darker blue, so I needed to measure out the darker blue and then attach the light blue panels (rather than doing simply a light blue layer and a dark blue layer). I used the pink/blue layer as a guide, and then just pinned on light blue pieces and trimmed them. 

Here's what the skirt layers looked like laid out and before adding some additional panels:

I then sewed all the panels and pieces together, which took A LOT of time and a LOT of thread. The total width of the skirts is about 70 inches, which will be gathered to fit the 30 inch waist of the bodice. Side note: I don't yet have a serger, but this is the first project that I've used my sewing machine's zig zag stitch to stabilize the seams for a more professional look. Not as aesthetically-pleasing as you would get with a serger, but pretty good. 

My grandmother used to be an avid sewer, and so she had a lot of materials lying around that she doesn't use anymore, including a huge spool of lace trim. I added this to the bottom of all of the layers, and "serged" the seams. This also took a ton of time, but was so worth it because it added such a beautiful flair. 

 

And that's where I left off for now! I'll be attaching the skirt to the bodice over the weekend, and will check back in with my next work log! As always, feel free to contact me/comment with any questions!

- Birdie 💚

Tutorial: Winter Soldier Arm

Hello! Birdie here with my first tutorial - how I made my "metal" arm for my fem Winter Soldier cosplay! All finished photos below are by Bombeii Cosplay & Photography. I made this cosplay in 2014, and debuted it at Anime Boston 2015. It was my first time working with Worbla, and my first time making a duct tape cast. It was also one of my first projects, and I didn't document my building process as much as I do with my projects now, so excuse that I don't have a ton of early-on progress photos. So, without further ado, let's begin!

Materials

• Worbla
• 1 mm craft foam
• Duct tape
• Plastic wrap (AKA saran wrap)
• Sharpie
• Scissors
• Heat gun (or hairdryer)
• Silver spray paint (I used Valspar Metallic in Silver)
• Star-shaped stencil
• Red acrylic paint

Step 1: Make Your Duct Tape Cast

The first step is to make a duct tape cast of your left arm. Take your plastic wrap and wrap it around your upper and lower arm, starting at just above your shoulder and stopping at your wrist. Then, wrap the duct tape around the area of your arm that you just covered with the plastic wrap. It will be sweaty and uncomfortable, but it will get the job done. 

Step 2: Draw Out the Pattern

Take your Sharpie and draw out the pattern. Make sure you use reference photos for this step. 

Step 3: Cut Out the Cast

Before you cut yourself out of the cast, mark the points just below and just above your elbow. Your metal arm will be in 2 pieces which allows you to move your arm. I wear a silver elbow-length glove underneath to cover the gap at my elbow and my fingers. Now, cut the cast at the inside of your arm, and at the lines at your elbow to make 2 pieces. 

Step 4: Number Your Pieces and Cut Them Out

You will have a LOT of little pieces that will fit together like a puzzle, so you'll want to number them to keep track. Cut out the little pieces. Here's my forearm cast before I cut the pieces out:

Step 5: Transfer to Craft Foam and Worbla

Once you've cut out the pattern pieces, transfer them to your craft foam and then your worbla, and cut them out. Use your heat gun/hair dryer to form the Worbla and adhere it to the craft foam. FYI, I was very new to cosplay and didn't use many tutorials from others while making this, so I gave myself extra work by reassembling my duct tape cast so it's actually part of my final product, and I put the worbla/craft foam on top of that. I would recommend NOT doing that because it isn't necessary 😝 Oh well, we all learn from our mistakes. Once you finish this step, you should get something like this:

(Sidenote #1: That extra piece at the top of the shoulder it what helps that arm stay in place and extends under my jacket so you don't see where it ends. Sidenote #2: That note on my arm in the final picture says "This is the piece that I forgot :)" because I forgot to number it and couldn't figure out where it went.)

Step 6: Prime and Paint

Now, like I said before, this was my first time using Worbla. As a result, I didn't prime or sand it, which you really should do to help with the semi-rough texture. I went straight to the paint, but it ended up alright anyway. I used Metallic Silver spray paint by Valspar. Using a star-shaped stencil that I cut out, I painted on the red star in acrylic paint (I don't remember what brand). It looked like this:

Step 7: Wear Your Arm and Look Badass!

That's it! You now have a Winter Soldier metal arm! So go out and look awesome! Here's my full costume in action: 

(Sidenote #3: In some of my photos, like the last one, I edited my arm to appear seamless. Like I mentioned before, I wear a long silver glove to cover up the gap, but in some photos I don't like how obviously it looks and so I edited it to appear to be one piece.)

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment! 😁

- Birdie 💚