Costume Design...

[kurakoneko]

How many people here actually come up with the designs for and sew their own costumes for cosplaying?

[Memwires]

How many people here actually come up with the designs for and sew their own costumes for cosplaying?

I had no choice but to do that for my cosplay for next Kumoricon
It's hard, but worth it in the end

[Toxikon]

I have!  The outfits for my Gaara costume and my sister's Kankuro costume are pretty much 100% homemade.  We traced the outlines of clothes that fit us about right (pretty much sweatshirts and pants), then winged it the rest of the way.  I had to teach myself how to use a sewing machine.  And sewing gussets when you don't know how to sew is hard.  Also, my mom had to sew the sleeves and cuffs on. >.<

My next costume uses mostly store-bought pieces, but the costume after that is going to have to be entirely fabricated. o.o  I'm going to get a cheap sewing machine and practice.

[xxxchihiroxxx]

I try to use as less store baught as possible (unless well I dont have time) :3 but I buy paterns to adjust to what I want... which can back fire now and again cause theres never going to be a perfect patern for a cosplay but I can get pretty dam close sometimes... Rosette will mostly be done by hand, her dress is fairly easy so I'm making the paterns me self (cept the poofy sleeves >.>)

[lychee-twist]

I've done a bit of everything. Davy Jones' clothes were modified Goodwill purchases (with exception to the vest), Ordon Link was modified pajama patterns, and I've mainly made up patterns only for plush items like my LoZ:Twilight princess goat.

For plush patterns, I usually just sketch it out and add lines where I think the fabric might have to be darted or set together to make a curved shape XD;

[tofutakeout]

I really only enjoy making everything myself. it's more customized and it doesn't look like everyone else's.  It's not like I make the fabric's myself but if theirs a pattern that I can't find anywhere I well try to make it myself. sometimes a costumes a bit to overwhelming so I'll ask for a friend to help a bit but it's still homemade.

[Sugarlat]

I made all my cosplay's from this Kumoricon and I hope to make MOST of my cosplay's for this year's kumoricon but I'm not sure how much time I'll have to cosplay since I'm strongly deciding on being Yojimbo. But the thing is Kumoricon is on my mother's birthday and I don't know if she'll let me go T_T

[superjaz]

How many people here actually come up with the designs for and sew their own costumes for cosplaying?

I have almost never had a pattern for a complicated cosplay,

the closest would be using a pj pattern for the pants of the chiyo chans father cosplay i made, but that was because 1, i wanted it to be two piece cuz a solid  suit of fleece would boil my brother alive and that way he could get out of it by himself, 2, i want to make it of flannel so he could wear them as pjs latter

but for things like my fiances urahara, i just looked at his iaido outfit and went at it

other times there is no pattern for what i want to do, so i'll ask my younger brother to fraw me the best pic of a character i want and do my best

[myalchod]

I've bastardised patterns, extrapolated patterns, and thrown patterns out the window in the course of cosplay.  (To be honest, though I'd sewn garments for almost ten years when I started cosplaying, I'd never actually picked up a pattern before.  My mother laughed at me when I came to her for help, and then got very confused when I started changing things.)

I turned the shirt I used for my Road Kamelot cosplay into the pattern for my Miranda dress -- and I'll probably be bastardising another shirt for my Kaya cosplay.  My Risai?  Two different bastardisations of the same chinese coat pattern, and a lot of "hmm, this should work!".  Patterns?  More like guidelines.

Really, it's kind of fun, though.

[kurakoneko]

Well,it's cool to see that there are people who like to put together their own designs.^^

[princessmoon]

That's the absolute fun part!  Drawing out design + measuring self + Cutting up old shirts/pants for cheap fabric + safety pinning them + trying them on--before you actually make the costume is PRICELESS!!! (not affiliated with mastercard...)

Well, that was one of my methods for '08.       I like doing rough drafts before I attempt the final.

The greatest feeling is: in the end.. you did it yourself! WOO!

[LtCommanderRichie]

I make all my cosplays myself... Which in the end will be the death of me. I cheated and got the coat for all by Org XIII cosplays online, though. Everything else I make myself without patterns because that's what the dressform is for.

Speaking of which, I have uniform sleeves to figure out. You're lucky Chihiro, you're not doing 3rd uniform Lavi.

[tofutakeout]

That's the absolute fun part!  Drawing out design + measuring self + Cutting up old shirts/pants for cheap fabric + safety pinning them + trying them on--before you actually make the costume is PRICELESS!!! (not affiliated with mastercard...)

Well, that was one of my methods for '08.       I like doing rough drafts before I attempt the final.

The greatest feeling is: in the end.. you did it yourself! WOO!

Oh I'm so cheap when it comes to making cosplays. I never actually buy fabric from fabric stores unless I REALLY need it. I either use something I have in my house, goodwill it, or bum it off a friend. that means I either borrow, steal it, or they just give it to me.