Leah of Hel - Young Avengers

 

Bee & Puppycat waitress uniform

 

Solas - Dragon Age Inquisition

 Commission of Solas, everyone's favorite lying hobo apostate elf. Sweater, undershirt, pants, belt, and shoes were included. The sweater is made of linen/acrylic blend 4x2 rib knit in a natural marled linen color with 1x1 rib collar. The undershirt is olive knit with basically an attached faux suede dickie. It zips up the back. (Very stylish.)

The collar fabric came from the same manufacturer as the sweater fabric so it matches perfectly, but it was very (very) thick. The collar is lined in the 4x2 because self lining it would have been too bulky. I also extended the brown faux leather trim to just below the seam rather than stopping right at the seam so I could get the rivet in. I went through a number of drafts and tweaks of that collar shape and I'm happy with what I ended up with, but it took me a little while to get there. Knit is not the most cooperative fabric when it comes to trying to shape it like this. I tested out various angles of rise and height, interfacing/internal structure...

The seam around the collar and around the cuffs is accented with a hand stitch, and the brown trim is one piece, no seams. Water soluble basting tape (both to turn under the edges and to hold it in place for sewing) was indispensable for this.

The pants are a linen blend, pieced and accented with a hand stitch and faux leather lacing. Not sure what's up with all those seams, but that is how they're designed.

I purchased an extra long belt on etsy and stitched on the accents by hand. They're the washers from black grommets.

The shoes are made from sueded knit backed with cotton rib knit to add dimension (the suede knit is thin, and backing it made it look a little more like woven straps) and self-lined in knit. They pull on like socks and have some elastic built into the lining to help them stay up. I attached a 6 mm shoe sole so they can be worn outside or on concrete. The toeless style is not the most comfortable shoe design ever, but sanding down the front of the sole made them a little easier to walk in and stand on.

Sakura - Naruto The Last Movie

Commission for tunic top, belt, bag, arm and leg bands, and headband (not shown). Tunic top is made from cotton with 2% lycra for stretch.

Top has a side zipper and closes along the neck/chest opening with hooks and snaps. 

Belt and bag are made from heavy canvas. Belt has a fleece interlining for extra dimension and shaping, bag is made with ultra heavyweight interfacing to keep a nice rectangular shape. The canvas worked well for this, but it is so thick that I had to use pliers to pull the needle through when hand finishing the turning hole on the belt. 

The bag has an interior pocket, but it's probably too short for a larger cellphone. (Fits an iphone, though.) Not sure what it says about me that I look at this design and just think how much snack food you could have at all times while in this costume. So much snack food. So handy for conventions. There are no belt buckles or closures drawn in the art, so all closures are velcro.

Marie - Skullgirls

Commissioned work of Bloody Marie from the video game Skullgirls. The client is taller than the standard dressform measurements so the vertical proportions on the dressform are a little off. The dress has a lined bodice and skirt, with the pleated ruffle attached to the lining. The dress is made of woven cotton, the apron a cotton twill bottomweight. The outfit is drawn with really pronounced pleats that are not sharply creased and pop up, so I went with a heavier fabric to replicate that. (The heavier fabric also blocks more of the annoying seam allowance show-through you get from putting a light color on top of black.) I steamed the pleats in but didn't permanently press them. The fabric has enough body and stiffness that the pleats stand out on their own.

The apron is fixed waist and closes with buttons and hooks, with the waist tie threaded through the back of the removable bow. The apron portion and tie tails are lined in white cotton, straps are self-lined.

 The skirt is a gathered flare with a hem circumference of about 125". I cut the skirt on the cross grain so it wouldn't have extra seams from gores. The lining was cut in six gores to avoid having the side seams on the bias, where the weight of the ruffle would pull it completely out of shape. When I do skirt linings with attached ruffles like this I put the lining in "backward" (seam allowances facing in toward the legs rather than facing out, with a french seam finishing the seam at the zipper) because the outward-facing side of the lining tends to show a bit with movement.

(There are 525 inches of pleated ruffle in this dress and apron. And since it's box pleated, I couldn't just fork pleat it. I hunkered down at the coffee table with my ruler, pins, and chalk and some Poldark and did some intensive pleating.)

Nichijou uniform

Summer uniform from Nichijou. The top is a partial pullover with an invisible zipper.

Bioshock Infinite

My Elizabeth costume, as worn at PAX. This costume was made from blue velvet and white bridal satin, with petersham and piping trim on the corset. The corset is boned with spiral and spring steel. It's like wearing a bear hug. For hours on end.