Tag: eiyuu senki

The Making of Vlad Tepes – Eiyuu ＊ Senki – 英雄＊戦姫

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This is the first post relating to this costume- I will probably write part 2 sometime mid October, since that’s when it will be fully completed. I *might* not even bother since this post will cover almost everything – aside from making the bear a prop, which I haven’t started on. 

That’s a probably, not a promise, so don’t bother keeping an eye out. 

Anna sent me a message saying she was going to be on Long Island for the weekend, and asked if I wanted to shoot. I jumped on the opportunity- only to realize I didn’t actually have a costume that was finished and ready to be shot. 

So I decided to finish this!…Kind of. I didn’t get some of the details done, and obviously I’m missing the bear and accurate footwear (finding boots in my size is impossible this time of year) I plan to get everything fixed up before wearing this to New York Comic Con, which is where I originally planned on debuting this. 

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So this is Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula. But of course, it’s a cutsey’d up version designed by Oyari Ashito for the Story/ Strategy game Eiyuu*Senki (Princess * War Hero) 

I really love this game, it’s fun and entertaining (despite it being in a different language) and I’ve enjoyed every second that I have spent playing it. Vlad isn’t a character I usually reach for, because I’m not super fond of her attacks. I’m more of a canoneer, or explosive force based character fan..But Vlad is adorable, and I think I’m pale enough to pull off her vampire-esque features. 

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I also really wanted to make something ruffly! After Napoleon and Marika (which is still unfinished) I was kind of sick of tailoring jackets. Instead I wanted something frilly and easy to make, which is exactly what this costume was! Such a fun and refreshing costume, although it was more time consuming than I would have liked…

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Like (almost) all my costumes, it started with a mock up.

 It came out pretty ugly, though this isn’t terribly surprising. Luckily all the main elements were okay, such as the sleeves and fitting in the bust. 

After taking the front seams in a bit I tore this apart and paper patterned it, it ended up being a fairly simple bodice. I chose peachskin as my main fabric since it’s soft, wrinkle resistant,  lightweight and silky but still heavy enough to hold a ruffle. It also drapes really nicely which made it good for the cape. 

Once that was all cut I sewed it together. Everything has 1/2″ seams which were pressed flat, nothing complicated here. 

 Added the lovely (tacky) front ruffle. 

 

And then it was time to begin work on the skirt! I was half excited, and half dreading working on this skirt. Each tier is four circle skirts, with horsehair braid in the hem, which means I get to do a 24 yard hem TWICE. Why yes, forty-eight yards of hemming, lovely, isn’t it? 

I made my Napoleon skirt this exact same way, so if the process looks familiar, that’s probably why! 

Step one is cutting out all the circle skirts. Quite the task when you need eight of them! 

Horsehair braid get’s pinned, then sewed into the hem.

Then that get’s rolled over, pinned, and you sew it yet again!

 

And then comes the ribbon. 

Volia! 

It’s almost there…just missing an obnoxious pleated bow.  

All together now!

.Then we move onto the cape, oh god the cape. The cape took more time than the entire dress, It was ridiculous. 

Since I wanted a very full cape with little volume at the nape of my neck, I decided to make it a large (39″) half circle “skirt”.  Once again, I used peachskin for this. 

Later on I went back and added interfacing to this entire black panel since it didn’t drape the way I wanted. It just sort of hung there in an unattractive manor and the batwing shape wasn’t very obvious, the interfacing stiffened it up and really improved the appearance.  

Since the lining is striped I had to cut out all forty strips and sew them together, quite the task! 

Luckily they looked more impressive sewn together. 

And when you think you are done…Nope! After I painstakingly sewed all of these together, it was time to iron all the seams open. Which was more time consuming than the sewing portion of this project. 

It also resulted in far more burns than I would care to admit. 

Once that was done I cut out the “batwing” shape, this part was really nerve wracking since there was no way to test how the shape would look, and obviously after it’s cut there is no going back. 

I sewed it right sides together (like a pillow case!) and top stitched it.  

(The dress looks awful here, please ignore that)

The collar was drafted super quickly, it’s peachskin stretched over the felt weight interfacing that I usually use for hats. I went through and tacked the cape in maybe thirty places, this ensured that the layers stayed together and kept it all smooth looking. 

I used matte black thread,to keep these little tacked down spots pretty inconspicuous. 

I sewed on seven 2″ pom poms and my cape was DONE. The collar looks a bit crooked in this picture since I was lazy about pinning it onto the dress form, but rest assured, it’s perfectly even. 

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I feel like this cape resembles something a circus ring leader would wear moreso than the infamously cruel Vlad the Impaler, but hey, it’s accurate to the design. 

I chose a wig from the ebay store “cosplaywig” for this costume. They make the softest, thickest, prettiest wigs ever, they manage to make the weirdest colors look (somewhat) natural and flattering. This wig is no exception, it’s GORGEOUS, even though white/silver/grey isn’t a very attractive color on me. 

 

After a bit more fixing up on the dress it was DONE. Or at least done enough for the photoshoot with Anna Fischer, I plan to fix it up before comicon.

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This shoot was really neat, we ventured out into the forest and came across all these creepy dead vines and rosebushes. There was also this hill covered in moss…I don’t think any of it was “pretty” but it was a wonderful backdrop for this creepy but vibrant character. 

Vlad The Impaler Eiyuu*Senki eiyu * senki princess * war hero cosplay

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Vlad The Impaler Eiyuu*Senki eiyu * senki princess * war hero cosplay

Once we left the forest we went over to “The Portly Grape”  an abandoned brothel turned restaurant which is currently vacant. It’s a really impressive structure with a lot of white victorian metal work, I’m really looking forward to seeing shots from that location! 

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A bit of a fun fact (at least I think it’s fun) is that I listened to The Addams Family musical soundtrack all throughout making the cape of this costume. It’s really fun, cooky music with underlying creepiness, and it definitely helped me get into a better mindset while sewing dem’ stripes together. 

It’s really worth checking out, in my opinion! 

Kudos to you if you read through all of this! I’ve started on my next costume already and should be sharing progress on it in the near future. 

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Make sure to check out both Anna Fischer’s and Oyari Ashito’s work! 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27594459@N04/

http://oyariashito.net/

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As always, if you have any questions or concerns feel free to ask! 

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Also, I have plans to re-do my blog theme, so over the next few days it may be a bit funky. 

★ The making of Napoleon (Eiyuu*Senki) ★ Part 3

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I have avoided writing this for a very long time, because holy shit this post is going to go on forever and be filled with dozens of photos. I apologize if I get boring and drag on at times throughout this. I would really like to document this as best I can since I worked so hard on it, which is why it will be  very long. 

CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED. 

If you are new to this blog, unfamiliar with the character, or happened to miss my recent updates, I would suggest reading my previous posts about this costume before diving into this one!

 A fluffy skirt ★ The making of Napoleon (Eiyuu Senki) ★ Part 1

                  ★ The making of Napoleon (Eiyuu*Senki) ★ Part 2

Please note that this [part 3] will be the last installment in this [Napoleon] the making of series :3

First off was making the collar for my shirt- this was something I originally thought would be very easy.  But having never drafted a collar before, it proved to be much tricker than I had been expecting. It ended up taking several mock ups and mess ups before I managed to get a shape I was happy with. But in the end I AM happy with it, so I suppose the effort was worth it.

How it looked cut out. 

Later on I sewed on 15 snaps which served as the closure on this piece. Yes, that is right none of those pretty, fancy, pain in the ass buttons are actually functional. 

And finished. 

The hat, oh god this hat… the hat was the complete opposite from the collar. It was one of those things I knew would be really difficult so I kept avoiding it and finding something else to work on, which is a really poor attitude to have towards challenging things.

That being said, the hat was made in three days from start to finish and was worked on up until several hours before it was packed away.

Step one was drafting a 4 piece pattern for the cap or the actual part that keeps it on my head, i’m not sure what the “proper” name for this would be. I made four or five felt mock ups of this until I was happy with the shape/fit, once I was pleased with it I ripped it apart and used the felt as lining for the “official one”

I ended up going with the one pictured to the right.

Then I took out some heavyweight velum and started drafting what I thought the shape should look like. It turned out that I had no frigging clue what the shape should be so this took a lot of trying on, pinning, and redrafting.

After a good long while I got a shape that I felt was accurate and looked pretty damn good. It ended up being a lot thinner and longer then I had expected, which is probably why I struggled so much with drafting it.

I traced my newly made paper hat brim onto a very heavyweight velty fusible interfacing, which was HELLISH to work with but worked really well.

The front and back cut out.

And pinned together on my wig head~

I drew out where I thought the gold/blue should split, removed all the pins and made yet another pattern that showed me what to cut out of each color.

I cut the pattern out accordingly and sewed the gold and blue together. Then I fused the pieces onto my interfacing and sewed up the side seams.

I went through and hot glued the edges onto the inside of the hat, then and sewed on left over fabric from my blue jacket as lining- this was you couldn’t see the ugliness that was the backside. I also hand sewed the brim onto the cap…which left me with a functional hat!

I’m sure that all sounds terribly confusing, I really wish I had taken more photos, but I was more focused on getting it done than documenting HOW I got it done. 

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Then it came time for making the hat clip or pin, or whatever it’s called. They are quite traditional and frequently pictured on bi-corne hats, but I couldn’t find any information about what they actually are, nor how to make an accurate one. So I decided to wing it, much like I had with the hat.

I used Crayola clay to create a small flattened circle in a pleasing size, then I made a small hole in the center. I cut a circle of blue material out and snipped a small “X” in the middle so the hole in the middle was visable and there was maybe an inch hanging off of each edge. 

The edges were trimmed and glued  to the underside of my clay circle, leaving the top side completely (smoothly) covered with the material.  Then I took a large button and hot glued it in the middle, the backing of this button slipped right into the little hole, allowing it to lay flat against the clay. Then I had my mother cut 1” x 18” strips of jersey, which were hand ruffled down until they each reached 4” or so. I sewed these onto the underside so only ½ stuck out.

The end result was kind of odd, but I liked it so I sewed it onto my hat in the proper placement.

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I decided if the hat was done I should tackle the wig that lays beneath it. I purchased another one of the wigs I talk about (and hated) here. I sewed them together, which made the wig much thicker. Then I recurled it into larger ringlets and pulled it up into a half updo sort of thing. I tied the back with a large bow which rests just beneath the hat when it’s worn.

Wig & Hat when they were both 80% finished.

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Napoleon appears to be wearing tights in her official stance and battle scenes, but in ecchi and bonus scenes they are very obviously thigh highs/stockings/whateveryoucallthem. It felt that I could go either way and have it be accurate, but I ended up opting for thigh highs since they tend to fit me better, and are much cooler for middle of summer conventions like AnimeNEXT and Otakon.

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That being said…THE SOCKS. Oh my god these were one of the most difficult and painful parts to make; Adding buttons to very stretchy stockings is not a fun task!

 I bought two pairs of mustard yellow thigh highs from an ebay seller in the UK, the shipping took almost three weeks, which was annoying..but they ended up the perfect color! So i’m glad they were the ones I purchased.

I cut off the tops of one pair and sewed them onto the other, making them 6+” taller than they were originally. “Thigh highs” are actually more like OTK’s on me, since I’m tall, so the extra 6″ are a must.

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I cut 1 ½” wide strips of fusible interfacing and pinned them like crazy to the inside of the socks while I was wearing them. ( I neglected to realize that pulling off socks with several dozen pins in them would be really fucking painful, so my legs got kind  scratched up.)

Then I stuffed the socks with paper towel rolls and sheets to the point where they were the same size as my legs and proceeded to iron the cylindrical leg sized object as best as I could to get the interfacing to stick.

Then I sewed the buttons on and hoped to god that they wouldn’t create runs. I guess I got lucky on this one since I didn’t have a single one fall off, create a tear, or give me any sort of trouble!

Then came the epaulettes, which were also finished the day before we left for the con. I thought these would be easy, which is why I left them for the final day…but they were more difficult than I had expected.

(I really don’t know why I thought they would be easy…)

I pinned muslin to the jacket, put it on, and drew roughly out the shape I wanted while wearing it. Then I repeated this a few times with paper until I got a shape and pattern I was happy with.

Then I cut out two pieces of craft foam and two pieces of cardboard for each side, since I wanted these to be pretty thick and sturdy looking.I covered the bottom layer of craft foam with my gold material, with the help of hot glue. I also sewed two large snaps on the underside which later served the purpose of securing them to the jacket.

The four layers were then glued together, with craft foam on the outermost layers and cardboard inside.

Gold fabric was used to cover everything, secured on the underside with hot glue. The bottoms were pretty ugly, but the tops looked good so I didn’t mind too much.

I glued my fringe on, as well as several other braided trims. Unfortunately I neglected to add the buttons on these, so I’ll do that next time! I was actually pretty happy with how these looked in the end, but my method of securing them really sucked. They kept sliding back and look terrible in 80% of the photos I have. At least it will be an easy fix, and I’ll know for next time~

The vest was the last thing I made, and also my least favorite part of this costume. I’m really looking forward to remaking this, and getting it to look proper and accurate. I failed at making the “VV” part in the front prominent enough. I made them far too wide, and not close enough to the front (where the buttons are) so the “VV” didn’t show at all when I had the jacket on. What a shame.

Buttt I have enough buttons, and material to remake it with little trouble.

Drafting it was pretty simple.

Folding things over and adding interfacing.

Both panels  before I sewed them together and added buttons~

Then came actually, you know, FITTING THE JACKET. I had a very particular way I wanted this jacket to look and fit…a way that was not easily achieved. It ended up being a lot of tugging, pinning, and trying on until I was happy with how it looked.

I think this really shows how much the fit changed.

(legs kind of got squished in the middle picture, noodle legs lol)

End of may:

A few days before the con I decided it was a good time for a makeup and time test (figuring out how long it takes me to get ready, thus deciding my wakeup time at the con). These were the results!

As you can see, there were still lots of things to do, even though the con was only a few days away! D:

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The sword was out of my skill range so I asked (begged) my father to make it for me. (Happy father’s day, by the way! ^^) He made the blade out of a yard stick which was sanded down, and the handle out of a block of wood.

I drew out a braid pattern on both parts of the handle which were carved out by hand with wood tools, then sanded.This wasn’t very visible in the end but I still love, love, love, that it’s there, since it’s such a prominent feature on Napoleon’s in game sword.

[best picture I have of the braid]

The sheath was made of two pieces of wood, hollowed out in the center, and glued together with felt in the middle (so the sword doesn’t get scratched coming in and out). The fleur de lis was purchased from michael’s, sanded, painted, and glued on. The top part of Napoleons sheath is never shown, so I took some artistic liberties and prettied It up a bit.

The sword handle and blade were painted by hand; I worked really hard to get the gold paint to match the gold on my costume! The sheath was spray painted.

My dad did such a crazy awesome job with both of these pieces, I’m really happy with how they came out and proud of having such a great dad haha.

Sooo I think that’s it! Here are some lower quality pictures of it, “finished” though I shall be making a post with my nicer more official photos very soon. If you can’t bring yourself to wait a week to see all the phenomenal photos, they are being posted to my tumblr immediately after I get them ^^

 

Thanks for reading! 

★ The making of Napoleon (Eiyuu*Senki) ★ Part 2

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The adventures of making a fluffy skirt ★ The making of Napoleon (Eiyuu Senki) ★ Part 1

Finally, a progress post. I’m sorry to say that recently I’ve been a bit lazy when it comes to the photo taking aspect of documenting my work, so there shall be more text then photos.

My first thing to fix was on the skirt, though I was pretty happy with the ruffly-ness,  it had deflated a bit. Luckily the solution for this was really simple: Get a petticoat. And to make it even better, I already had a petticoat that would work perfectly. This particular one is from leg avenue, and cost around $9 on ebay auction, it’s really fluffy and short which makes it ideal for supporting the ruffly mass of bridal satin that is my skirt.

Here is an example of the effect it gives.

 I still need to add a zipper and tack bits down, but I’m pretty happy with it so far!

Next up was remaking a part of the costume  I wasn’t happy with, the shirt. The one I made originally was quite scratchy and just didn’t fit right. Plus the sleeves were a little too poofy for my tastes. So when I was in the city this past weekend I picked up some lightweight cotton jersey and whipped this  together.

I referenced one of my regular sleep wear shirts to get a basic idea, but I made sure to leave 4” on each lapel so I could add interfacing and support for the buttons. This all went together really quickly and easily, within 2 hours I had myself a comfy shirt.

Then it came time for buttons, I quickly learned buttons are far more fun to play with then to actually sew on…. “RAWR!”

In total I purchased 138 buttons- all of which will be used on this costume.

And here they are sewn on! I think it looks pretty snazzy at this point, It still lacks a collar and the bottom edge is unfinished, but I think it looks good. I’ll draft up the collar later tonight or tomorrow and get that finished up. I don’t think it will be too difficult. *crosses fingers*

The jacket is easily the most difficult part of the entire costume, and it’s also a part I messed up on several times. My first attempt wasn’t *too* bad, but it had so many issues that were impossible to fix. I decided remaking it would probably be faster and look much better.

Here is the first attempt, as you can see, it never even got finished.

I’m much happier with my second jacket attempt, the fabric is a bit thicker and lighter in color. Which makes it nicer to work with and more pleasing in texture. A lot of it is still pinned, which is why it looks a bit lumpy, but that should go away soon enough.

Sorry for the mess D:

Then it came time to make the jacket collar and abuse it with 50 someodd buttons.

My wig also arrived, but unfortunately i’m quite unhappy with it. I’m going to try and get a new one as soon as I have enough money to do so.

And my mirror needs cleaning ^^;

And here are how my boots are coming along! I got the base shoe for $20 at famous footwear, but unfortunately they lacked a cuff and the signature buttons. But with a bit of creativity this issue was resolved.

They aren’t 100% done yet, the cuffs are just pinned at the moment. But i’m pretty happy with how it’s going!

And I guess that’s it! I’ve kinda been juggling  three projects, so progress hasn’t been very speedy. Hopefully i’ll have more to post soon.

As always, thanks for reading!