Antique Silk: To Wash or Not To Wash? What Would You Do?

Okay, so if you've been reading my blogs or websites for a while, than you've probably heard me talking about my costume and how I'm gone nuts over historical accuracy with it. Part of my historical accuracy obsession, was to seek out antique 15" wide Japanese silk to use to make Lord Sesshomaru's kimono and hakama.

I started my search in March 2008 and after several weeks I finally found what I was looking for. I bought it from a dealer in Japan, and it just arrived in the mail yesterday. It is the most beautiful fabric I have ever owned, however, now that I have it here in my hands, I'm looking at it and I'm thinking, what have I gotten myself into? This amazing little piece of cloth has now opened up a whole world of questions, most of which I should be able to deal with on my own, but one, is just nagging at me, and I don't know what I should do, so I thought I'd come here and ask you guys, and see what you say.

Normally I buy a new fabric and throw it in the washing machine to pre-wash it and pre-shrink it, before I even consider cutting it out and sewing it into anything. Wither or not it goes in the dryer depends on what type of fabric it is.

Here's my dilemma:

• This fabric is 100% pure silk, and a very lightweight one too.
• This fabric is handwoven.
• This fabric is antique.

So... each of those types of fabric would require special care, but this fabric is all three in one!

As you know, this fabric is going to be used to make the 4 kimonos worn by Lord Sesshomaru through the series, (The red one, the purple one, the blue one, and the pink one.) and the white hakama. The white on each of these kimono, is of course the color of the fabric, while the colored sections on the kimonos, I am going to add via hand embroidery. It's going to take me 3 or 4 months to do the embroidery on each kimono, so an awful lot of time and work is going into these. The embroidery once finished, will not be able to be washed, by either machine or hand, and can only be "spot cleaned" with a sponge. So, that said, once these kimonos are finished, I will never be able to wash them.

Now, that brings us to my question and why I am writing this post:

I know that silk can shrink like crazy when washed, so pre-washing is recommended. On the other hand the finished garment is not likely to ever be washed, ever. The fact that this silk is an antique, means that it should be handled with more care too.

So, should I pre-wash this fabric or not? What would you do? Would YOU wash it? If so, would you wash it by hand or by machine? Hot water or cold? With soap or just plain water? If with soap, what type should I use?

Normally when I wash delicates, I use one of these to wash them in instead of detergent:

• Blueing
• Irish Spring Body Wash
• SoftSoap Body Wash
• Woolite

Would you wash this silk using any one of these? Why or why not?

Should I use a liquid fabric softener on this?

Here are the details of the fabric, if that helps:

The fabric in question I am told was originally made to be used to create a lightweight summer kimono.

It has a woven pattern on it, (clouds, chrysanthemums, and cherry blossoms). The pattern being of a matte raised texture, while the background is a smooth glossy texture. The picture looks snow white, but it's actually a natural undyed silk and is a creamy off-white color. The dealer I bought it from called it "Rinzu Silk", and said it was handwoven and from approx cira 1940. It is very lightweight and airy, and when draped over your arm, feels like it is not even there. I have approx. 35 yards of it.

Though it is antique, it has never been used, and it still on it's bolts (there are 5 bolts of it), and is in mint condition, whoever owned it stored it well, it looks like any new fabric you'd buy at the store.

On the ends of the cloth, where it was cut from the loom, are stamped some Japanese symbols (words?), (stamped with that red stuff that they stamp on art scrolls and such), and the dealer told me that these markings are the weaver's signature, that they are stamped on just like an artist signing a work of art.

And here are some pics of it:










The costume is for a fictional character (cira 1558) from a book series, and it gives a very detailed info about his cloths, plus there loads of pictures of him, (points to the dozen or so picture of him that are floating all over this blog -----> ) so I know pretty well, every detail of the costume, it's pretty accurate with real Japanese history and stuff that ain't accurate I'm changing so that it will be... the author really did her research. I'm making it a period style kosode not modern style cause there is such a big difference in what they look like. Anyways, the embroidered silks kimonos are an upper or outer layer, so yea, there's going to be under layers as well, I'm thinking of using cotton for the under layers.

I see people making this costume all the time for CosPlay, but never sticking with the historically accurate details the author put into the book. I don't CosPlay, I do historical reenactment stuff, so I'm making this a bit different from the way a CosPlayer would be making it. I took it on, more as a "art project" than anything else, to challenge myself, because the whole costume is pretty advanced on it's own. It's more a display item, I don't think I'll wear more than once or twice. I just got sick of seeing people making a very modern looking costume, and wanted to see what the real outfit would have looked like, so that's my goal. I actually wanted older silk, but I didn't think that'd be possible to work with even if I did find it.

I asked someone else what would have been done "historically" and they told me that historical the cloth would have been laid out in a brook to let the water "rinse it" and than it would have been hung in the shade on a tree to dry. They said not to use any type of soap on this at all, and just use cold water. The brook in my yard comes through the swamp, and my trees are pine: I can just see it getting muddy in a brook and than spotted with tree sap, so that's out. LOL!

I might not wash it at all. But I'm worried about it shrinking too, so I'm thinking a soak in the tub, is the best road, so I'll probably do that.

I've asked a cleaner about dry cleaning my type of embroidery work before (I do a lot of really big embroidery projects, wall hangings and such) and was told that most dry cleaners wouldn't risk it. They told me that unless something spilt on it and it got really soiled, that the best way to clean large embroidery was to spot clean it, but pressing a damp sponge on the cloth and letting it soak out the dirt. They told me that washing or cleaning would likely pull out the threads and cause massive damage to the embroidery work.

This is actually started out as an embroidery project, for me, because I loved the amazing embroidery I've seen on Noh kimono's from the 1500's, and I wanted to recreate one. I picked a fictional character, rather than a real character, because it would allow me more creative freedom. My plan just got bigger as I did more research into the character and now I'm doing the entire outfit (which includes Samaria battle armor as well...but that a whole other story!) Anyways, my goal it not so much to wear this, as it is, just to make it.

Lord Sesshomaru wears 6 different kimonos, 4 of which a white based, and are the 4 I'm using this fabric to make. Here are my drawings of what the finished kimonos will look like:










Has anyone ever dealt with a fabric like this one before? If so, could you tell me what you did? How you did it, and what the end results were? Do you have any special tips or advice of washing and handling silks or antique fabrics?


Thanks millions!


EDIT:


Thanks to a response on a thread I started on a forum, I think this question has been answered! WOW! And so quickly too! OMG< I never expected an answer to come back right after I posted the question! YAY! (I'll still take more advice though if anyone else has anything else to say on this!)

I just looked up the info given me found this site: http://www.serve.com/marbeth/soap.html about how Orvus is used to clean needlwork projects. WOW! I think this might be what to do with my silk too. It sounds like it'll work out better than anything else.

I didn't know that Woolite distresses fabric! ACK! Good to know. I'll have to rethink how I use it.


SECOND EDIT:

well, I unrolled the bolt, and I'm not seeing any markings on it at all. I don't think it was ever even unrolled before. It's really nice and clean, and there's no "smells" or anything either.

I was looking at the fabric and I started thinking about the washing machine and thought "ACK! The agitator will ruin this!", and than I was thinking about the tub and thought: "No way is the tub clean enough to get near white fabric!"

I think I'm leaning more and more to not washing it at all, cause it might do more damage than good, plus I really can't see it ever being washed once it's finished.


What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







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If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

SCA Silk Road - What's New?

SCA Silk Road - What's New?

What a great post! Okay, here's my answers:

What's the newest project you're working on?

My Lord Sesshomaru Costume. I started planning it in March, and I'm still working out all the details and such. He's a fictional character from a historical fantasy book, but I'm treating this costume like it was a real historical figure from history, and so I'm doing all kinds of research into the real history of his time period, so that I can make his wardrobe as historically accurate as possible. When I say wardrobe I do mean wardrobe too. I'm not just making one outfit from the series (54 volumes in the series so far), I'm making every single item he ever wore in the series; which at my last count was 5 kimono, 3 jubans, 2 hakama, 4 different suits of Samuri armor, and about 40 separate accessory items (obi, shoes, fur stole, etc). Looking at everything I need to make, I think all together it's going to take me about 3 or maybe 4 years to do, because I'm hand sewing everything and I'm hand embroidering all the silk too.

What's the newest research you're doing?

I'm buried in books I took out from 5 different libraries (37 books in all), about Japanese cloths from the 1500's, Samurai armor, swords, life in Japanese villages during the 1500's, authentic sewing and embroidery techniques used in 1500's Japan, etc, etc, etc. All of this is in preparation to make the my Lord Sesshomaru costume mentioned above.

What's the newest book you've gotten?

I haven't bought any books in a few weeks, mostly because I've been so busy at the library taking out books for research! LOL!

What's the newest item of garb you've made?

Last I made was a "Navajo" style tiered skirt, out of dark jewel toned velvets. It's not accurate to any one period, but can be worn with most all periods in most cultures, so it's one of my "wear it in a pinch" items.

I'll be starting on embroidering my Lord Sesshomaru's "pink lotus blossom" kimono in a few days.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







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If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume. Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

It's Here! YAY! I Can Start Sewing Now! YIPPIE!

What was lost has been found, and they were really nice about itat the Post Office too. I walked in this morning and the post master saw me and went out back. I was standing in line behind 2other people and he calls me out and tells me they'd found my missing package. YAY!

I just got my fabric in the mail today... my very expensive hand woven silk; it came all the way from Japan and I had to sign all kinds of papers from the Post Office and customs to release it, but I got it home today... and oooohhh, is it worth every penny! softest stuff I've ever touched! It's soooo pretty! I'm loving it. I can't wait to start sewing it! I've never spent so much on fabric before, but I wanted to make this costume historically accurate and it took me 3 months to find any one that had it. I can't believe I actually bought 5 bolts of it! It should be enough to make the 4 kimonos and one hakama.

Well, the next step is to get it up on the loom so I can start embroidering it. YAY!



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Lord Sesshomaru's Heko-Obi

Today I am figuring out how to make Sesshy's Heko-Obi. And trying to figure out how he wears it, the loops and knots and drapes, don't seem to be in a logical order. Of course, I need to figure out which heko-obi I'm planning to make as well. I want to make the pink and red manga one, to wear with the pink flower kosode I'm making, because I just like pink and thenk the pink heko-obi would look better with the pink kosode, but in the movie he wore the dark blue heko-obi with the pink flower kosode. Can I cheat and mix and match his cloths?


Over his Kimono, Sesshomaru wears a very formal Hakama, a black obi, battle armor, and an obi-sash called a Heko-obi. We shall know take a look at the Heko-Obi and it's multiple variations.

Heko-Obi

The Heko-Obi is a thin, highly decorative, brightly colored silk sash, a type of Obi worn by men. It generally serves no purpose other than formal decoration of ceremonial wear. Sesshomaru's is distinctively longer and fancier than that normally worn by men and it tied at the waist to form a flower-like bow. Long fancy Obis of this type, were generally worn by women, not men, as a man's Obi is generally much short and has no long drape to it. Sesshomaru's Heko-obi is therefor highly unusual, and more resembles the belted sashes worn by Chinese noblemen, rather than those worn by Japanese noblemen. Though highly decorative, Sesshomaru's heko-obi does serve a purpose, as he uses it to sheath his swords to his side.

Samurai:
An Illustrated History

More than one Heko-obi has been seen to be worn by Sesshomaru. The Heko-obi is the item with see with the most variations, to date I have counted 8 different versions of it. As with the alternate kimono styles, the alternate heko-obi styles could be taken as a mistake on the part of the anime artists or manga inkers or as the fact that Sesshomaru owns multiple heko-obis. For my own costume I am going to assume the later and make all of the alternate styles and colors. Here is a list of the different versions he has been seen wearing:

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Heko-Obi: Anime Version:

The anime version of Sesshy's Heko-Obi is by far and without a doubt the most popular version of it. This is the one most people quickly identify as being his "standard" Heko-obi, and the one used by most costumers, when making a Lord Sesshomaru costume.

Sesshomaru's anime Heko-Obi is a brilliant eye-popping shade of yellow, embellished with purple trim. See the many pictures of him on the page, to see a detail of this ocean wave pattern. It is uncertain if the purple designs are painted on, dyed, or embroidered onto the heko-obi.



If you wish to make one of the alternate heko-obis, here are the details:



Alternate Heko-Obi #1: Original Manga Version

Alternate Heko-Obi #1 is the same as the one he usually wears, except for the color. This one is a pale pastel petal pink or a shade commonly called "bubble gum pink", and the designs on it are red instead of purple. (Sesshomaru's debut picture shows him in hammered bronze armor and a pink Heko-Obi.)



Sesshomaru was originally introduced as InuYasha's older sister, not older brother. The color of his Heko-obi changed from pink to yellow after the story was rewritten and republished with him as a boy instead of a girl.

Alternate Heko-Obi #2: Anime Version; Not Common

Alternate Heko-Obi #2 is the same as the one he usually wears, except for the color. This one is the same brilliant shade of yellow, but the designs on it are royal blue instead of purple.

Alternate Heko-Obi #3: Anime Version; Not Common

Alternate Heko-Obi #3 is also the same as his usual one, except for the color, which is a dark gold-yellow, possibly metallic, and has navy blue designs on it.

Alternate Heko-Obi #4: Movie Version

Alternate Heko-Obi #4 is completely different from his usual wear. We only see this one once, in the movie flashback, when Sesshomaru was a young teenager, about 14 or 15 years old (human equivalent). He wears it with his pink flower kosode. This one is made of a dark blueish-purplish cloth, which resembles a velvety material. The lower edges of it have a gold banner-like pattern which appears to be embroidered in. The ends of this Heko-obi are trimmed with a band of long gold tassels. This Heko-obi is shorter than the one he normally wears.



Alternate Heko-Obi #5: Manga Version (Japan Only)

Alternate Heko-Obi #5 is the same as the one he usually wears, except for the color. Though not seen in the United States, this one is fairly common in Japanese editions, and has been seen used a few times used in Japanese costumes, as well as being used quite often in Japanese fan-art. Instead of being yellow, this one is a pale whispery shade of sky blue, and the designs on it are royal blue instead of purple.

Alternate Heko-Obi #6: VIZ Promotional Product "Chibi" Version (Japan Only)

I have only seen this one in VIZ's promotional "Chibi-art" These picture show Sesshomaru as a Chibi, or a small child, about 7 or 8 years old. In this picture he was shown wearing a much more traditional Heko-obi, without both side drapes and the long flowing drapes at the front. Alternate Heko-Obi #6 was made of a plain bright yellow cloth.

Alternate Heko-Obi #7: VIZ Promotional Product Version (Japan Only - very rare)

I have only seen this one once, on a rare promotional art picture, which shows Sesshomaru "at home" and out of his normal nobleman's outfit and wearing a drabber set of "house cloths". In this picture he was shown wearing a much more traditional Heko-obi, without both side drapes and the long flowing drapes at the front. Alternate Heko-Obi #7 was made of a stiffer (possibly brocade) fabric, and bright red.

Obi

Once we see Sesshomaru not wearing his usual battle armor. He is seen wearing neither his Haramaki nor his spiked plates. From this episode we know that underneath his battle armor and over his kimono and hakama, Sesshomaru wears a very wide, plain black obi, most likely to have been made of silk brocade.

What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Skits On Forums? Seeking Members? Does It Work?

I found an interesting question on CosPlay.com, and felt the need to comment on it.

[QUOTE=goldenrodfairy;2380210]I've noticed a trend, and I'm wondering if anyone can prove me wrong on it.

On Convention forums, there will inevitably be a thread in the Masq section saying "Hey! I need to recruit people for my skit! I need about 5 more characters, and I have a really good idea! Anyone want to join me?"

Normally, these threads get lost, because no one is interested, but sometimes, one of these threads will actually acquire enough people to possibly actually happen at the con.

However, I have never seen one of them get performed. Which is sad, really, because if you can manage to get like, 5 random people interested in your skit who happen to be cosplaying the right characters, and ideally they're not total morons, then you've got some damn good luck.

Something always happens, and that something is usually that the original person who suggested the skit ends up not being able to go to the convention or otherwise drops off the face of the earth.


So , have any of you seen or been in a skit that was assembled from a convention's forums and actually managed to be performed at the con?

...

Or, anyone have an experience where their forum-skit was rendered un-performable at the last minute?[/QUOTE]

You know, actually, before finding this forum 3 months ago, I never would have considered asking for group members via a forum. The thought just never would have occurred to me. I was looking for a group a while back, for a script I wrote and wanted to enter in a local Ren Faire, (I do historical reenactment type stuff) but I never did find anyone to do it. (My own fault, cause I hadn't preplanned what I wanted to do, and pretty much did nothing...I'm reworking what I'll do next time so, I'll be better prepared.)

I can write the skits, and sew the costumes, but get me on a stage and I freeze, LOL! So I have to find other people to actually do a performance. I've planned a couple of different skits, but so far never had enough interest to get them up and running.

Anyway, my first thought, was to place an ad in local college newspapers, and my second thought was to make up a flyer to hand out at local theaters (there are about 30 small theaters and about 10 mid sized theaters, plus 4 big ones, and one "international" one, all less than 40 mins from my house, cause I live in "the arts district"), and ask for skit actors that way. I have not yet done either of those things yet, but that's what I will be doing next time another local Ren Faire shows up.

So, I was wondering, for CosPlay skits, have any of you ever tried asking local stage actors or drama students? I'm sure you'd have better luck that way, than on a forum, because those guys are actually LOOKING for performances, plus they are local so you could get better organized with them.

Just a thought any ways. I don't know if it would work or not, but it seems like it would.

Never having been to a Con I can't say as I have ever seen or not seen a skit taken from a forum call for members. I do however find it wierd, calling for skit members via a forum. CosPlayers on CosPlay.com are from countries all over the world, so it would seem futile to ask for group members to your local Con. Asking millions of people, seems to me, a mistake, as the one or two people who you could rely on to join, are not likely to find your thread. It seems more logical to go to the Con's website and ask on their forum. That way, at least you'd be asking other folks who are planning to attend the same Con as you.

Well, that's my thoughts on it anyways.

What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

New Layout: What Do You Think of Pink?

I'm testing a new layout... well, I've been testing new layouts all day, so you might have seen a few different ones if you stopped by earlier, but I think this pink on it here to stay.

Only problem I'm seeing is that some of the older posts had pink highlights and now you can't see the text on those, so I guess I'll be editing the older posts tonight, so that won't happen anymore.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Do You Ever Run Out Of Blog Topics To Write About?

Nope, I am never out of topics!


I have a lot of hobbies and lead a very busy life. I get my ideas for topics to write about from my life, my hobbies, my jobs, my family, things I do, places I go, etc. I have 32 different blogs, when I get bored with one I start writing on a different one. I go back and forth between them, because I try to keep each one on it's own topic. Here is a list of the things that inspire me most:

* I am a writer. I write books. I write short stories. I started writing in 1978. I have been writing for a very long time. I have a million and one fictional characters running rampant in my brain, begging, no not begging, demanding I write about them. I write so much so often, that I get a lot of emails asking for advice on how to be a better writer, and thus I currently have 32 Squidoo lenses devoted to helping writers write and publish what they write, all of which started out as posts from my "Writing Blog".

* Comic books. I love comic books. I own more than 7,000 comic books. I collect comic book memorabilia. I collect autographed comic books from my fave comic book authors and artists. I email most of said authors and artists constantly. I am a CosPlayer. I dress up in my daily life as my favorite comic book characters. I am a freelance writer who writes comic book scripts for Danish comic books. Did I mention I love comic books and that my favorite Squidoo lens of all the lenses I have ever made is completely devoted to a comic book character and resulted in nearly 20 other sub-lenses spun off of it, and that all of the content found on those lenses originated off of 4 different blogs of mine?

* M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E spells Donald Duck! And I'm still loving comic books. I love Disney. I love Disney Ducks. I own one of the world's largest Disney Comic book collections. I have gotten a lot of them autographed. I collect Disney comic books, Disney DVDs, Dinesy picture books, Disney toys, Disney cloths, Disney socks, Disney totebags . . . hell I'm a walking Disney advertisement half the time! LOL! I got A LOT of Disney related Squidoo lenses, and again, those all started out as posts off my blogs.

* Manga. What is Manga you ask? Why it's Japanese comic books of course! uh-uh, even more comic books. You know, I'm seeing a pattern here . . . comic books strike again! Three of my highest ranking Squidoo lenses are devoted to Manga and Anime (cartoons based on Japanese Comic Books), all of which were created using posts off of my CosPlay blog.

* I'm a costumer-fashion designer-Glam-Goth-CosPlayer-Historical Reenactor: big hair, bright colors, fishnets, sparkles, sequins, gowns fit for an 1300's princess from France and elaborate kimonos any Japanese demon would envy, capes, hats, frock coats, all that glitters is better than gold, esp if it's purple. I make all of my cloths myself from drawings I created and patterns I made from scratch, a result of having a seamstress for a mother and taking a two year course in Dressmaking and Fashion Design. I write about CosPlay, fashion, and sewing, often yapping about my projects as I create them.

* I live on a farm. I own and run The Pidgie Fund, a shelter that rescues feral cats and pit-fighter cocks (roosters). My home is currently the home of 13 formally stray no-longer feral cats, and 60+ now tame and peaceful roosters, and one 13 year old dog who loves all his cats and birds. I write about animals as a result.

* I have a garden. Me and my dog and my cats and my birds all spend hours in the shade of my rose bushes and lilacs and hostas and lilies and orchids. I have a few posts about plants and gardening.

* I like to cook. I am a vegetarian. I love Asian food. I love pizza. I have posts on cooking and foods.

* I read books. A lot of books. I read books A LOT. I collect books. I own The Twighlight Manor Library. In The Twighlight Manor Library collection is more than 10,000 books which took me nearly 30 years to acquire. I have library cards at 4 local and one state library. I take out an average of 15 books each week, from EACH of those 5 libraries. When those 5 libraries have book sales, they provide lots of big boxes just for me, because they know I'll be the first one through the door, and I'll buy them out in the first hour of the sale, so long as I can keep packing more books into my dad's car, my mom's car, and my boyfriend's car, and the cars of anyone else I can convince to tag along to help me carry home the hundreds of books I buy each time I go to a library book sale. Yes, I really do buy books at a rate of hundreds a week and by car loads. . . you don't end up with more than 10,000 books by buying one or two books at a time! I love all of my books and I have several posts devoted to them.


* I like music, movies, and video games. I write posts about singers, music, actors, TV shows, movies, and video games.

* I obsess very obsessively over the things I like best in this world and end up with massive collections and lots of lenses about those collections. I have 32 blogs and 264 Squidoo lenses because like everything else in my life, I could not join Blogger or Squidoo without getting obsessed over it.

Everytime anything happens in my life it inspires me to write something about it, so I never run out of ideas, and don't expect I ever will.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

My Fabric Arrives From Japan and... is lost???

Okay. So you know by now that I've been waiting for my handwoven silk to arrive from Japan, right? Well, Saturday I get a slip in the mailbox, telling me that I have a registered parcel from Japan to pick up. Because of Sunday and Memorial Day on Monday, they tell me to pick it up on Tuesday (today), which I did. The guy goes out back to get my box, than comes back to tell me that not only is it not there, but they have no record of ever giving me this slip telling me it had arrived! So he gets the post master and he looks through their records and it just is not written down anywhere, so he goes on the website, and tracks it that way, and finds out, that yep, sure enough the box is here somewhere, they just don't know where it went since it was on the truck, because who ever it was that was supposed to write the info on the charts did not write it down!

Nest the postmaster starts calling the local distribution centers to see if any of them had the box. None of them did, so he started calling the local Post Offices to see if somehow it had gotten sent to the wrong office. He called about 20 different offices. Nope, none of them had it. Next he starts calling the delivery men. One of them, thinks he has it on his truck, but is uncertain why he has it or how it got on his truck! I'm to go back tommorrow and see if it's back at the office yet.

In the mean time while I was waiting 45 minutes for them to find out where they had lost my box too, there was a protest going on outside on the front steps of the Post Office, so I went out to see what they were protesting about... hey, you know me, any excuse to cause trouble, right? =P So I listened to what they had to say, and why they were saying it, and they made a good case, so I signed their petition sheets. Hope they win their cause, glad that the Post Office had given them permission to sit out front and hand out their info.

So, all I accomplished with that was to find out that the Post Office had yet again misplaced one of my packages (they lose about 3 each year, tells you how much stuff I get in the mail! 0.O) and I added my name to yet another protester's petition list. (I should go around asking folks: "Hey you got a petition you want me to sign... give it here, let me sign it!"... boy do I sign an awful lot of them. Is it that we have a lot of petitioning going on around here or is it just because I'm nosy and have to find out why people are protesting whenever I see a group marching around with signs? Must be the fact that I live in a college community.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Patterns for Dagger Costume from Final Fantasy 9

I was helping a fellow CosPlayer find info for a costume today, and I ended up do way more research than I had intended to do, and well, now I have a post for my blog from it. So if any one out there is looking for the patterns to make Princess Garnet-Dagger from Final Fantasy 9, or any other character from any other video game, anime, or manga, that requires a pouffy sleeved blouse and a unitard, than here are the patterns you could use for it.

You can actually buy the unitard here or here.

That is not something most pattern companies are going to have. You have asked the right person for help though, cause I do theater and dance costumes too, and I know where to find patterns for those. KwikSew sells specialty dance wear patterns, and they have several different unitard patterns.

To make it, I would try using one of these patterns and alter the neckline:

KwikSew Pattern 3273

KwikSew Pattern 3052

KwikSew Pattern 2633

KwikSew Pattern 2722

For the blouse, that'd be pretty easy to find. A lot of companies have some like it. Here's a few that might work, all a a bit different, some would be a "reinterpretation" of the original look, but all would work:


KwikSew: Pattern 3065 or Pattern 3062

Simplicty: 3887 or 4177

McCalls: M5050 or M5469

Folkwear: #103

Vogue: V8032 or V8453 or V8289

If it was me, I think I'd use This one for the blouse, because I like this one the best: McCalls M5050

Of course, I could be thinking of entirely a different costume, and than none of this would be very helpful to you.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

CosPlay: To Use Patterns or No?

CosPlay: To Use Patterns or No?

[QUOTE=AkatsukySky;2436850]
First question: do I have to cute my pattern? Because it's a biiig sheet with lots of pieces. [/QUOTE]

My answer:

I actually do not cut out the patterns. I use the tailoring method of pin cutting. Which means I lay the paper on the fabric, and than use pins the "trace" the entire outline of the pattern to the fabric. Once done I can fold the paper back up and slide it back in the envelope. I than cut the fabric using the pins as a guide instead of the pattern.

This method is used by some French fashion designers, but it's not very common. I don't recommend this method unless you are quite advanced though, because it is very easy to make huge mistakes doing this.

I find it easier to use, because you don't have to mess around with all the crinkly paper, plus you don't have to cut off the other sizes in the pattern, thus you can reuse the pattern later, either on yourself if you change sizes, or for one of your friends who is a different size than you.

However, when you are just starting out, it is better to cut the pattern out instead.

If you want to reuse the pattern over and over again, than you should make a sloper. To do this you will need either some cardboard or some poster board, the same size as your pattern pieces. You use carbon paper to trace over the pattern pieces, and than cut them out of the card board, instead of cutting out the paper patterns. All fashion designers do this. It's very rare for a professional costumer to use a paper pattern, most of them use slopers instead. The reason is because a paper pattern is good of only 2 or 3 uses and than it's pretty much trash. Once the paper wrinkles, you'll find it pretty hard to make the pattern again and make the size come out right. However, a cardboard sloper can be used 30 or 40 times before it wears out. And if it's pattern they plan to do lots of, say a few dozen each month for the next several years, than they would cut the sloper out of plastic. Bridal shops usually use plastic slopers, because they use the same 3 or 4 patterns to make dozens of different gowns.

When using a sloper the cutting method is different though, cause you lay the sloper on the fabric, and than trace around the outer edge with a tailor's chalk. You never use any pins at all, and you only cut on single layers (not folded) of fabric, thus you must trace the pattern, than flip it and trace it again, if it tells you to cut on the fold. But not cutting on the fold you achieve a much better and more accurate fit.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

CosPlay: originality or recognition?

Me answering more questions on CosPlay forums:

[QUOTE=luckyends;5748]alright so i have a dilemma here,
and it is, how original can you be with out sacrificing recognition?
for example i was so original in one of my costume (hopefully the first person to cosplay him) that no one knew who i was. i was dressed up as a manga only character in naruto (if you dont remember him hes the person who killed obito and gave kakashi his scar) and it wasnt because i did a bad job on the costume.

so how original can you be without sacrificing being recognized[/QUOTE]

If you head here , you'll see my website about the costume I'm currently working on. It's Lord Sesshomaru from InuYasha. I'm completely obsessed with this guy, so it only seemed logical I CosPlay him.

Well, it started out as me just planning a simple "CosPlay" costume. I originally planned just to do a quick, "once-over-look-like-the-guy" costume, like I normally would do for any other character. You know, the average type of CosPlay costume.

Than I started planning. And planning. And studying. First thing I realized, is that I picked probably the worst nightmare of a costume I could have picked to make. This costume, consists of a kosode, a furisode, a hakama, an 8 foot long "tail-thing", a suit of armor that's absolute hell to recreate, and all kinds of little weird details and things, that most other character would not have had. So I started writing up a list of all the things I needed, (which was the start of my website, BTW), and the next thing I know, not only am I planning this costume, but now I'm surrounded by huge library books on the history of Japanese clothen in the 1500's.

Next thing I know, my goal is no longer to make a Lord Sesshomaru costume for CosPlay.... no, now I'm going to recreate his entire wardrobe, including all 4 of the different costumes we see him wearing. Thing is, I'm not creating the wardrobe we see on the anime and mangas, now I'm recreating what he WOULD have worn, had he been a REAL lord in ancient Japan.

The end result of this is a costume that is going to cost me a fortune and take about 3 or 4 years to make, because I'm doing the whole thing by hand, including the embroidery of the 4 kimonos, and I'm going to do REAL metal armor, not foam or plastic or whatever, like I had originally planned. Thing is I'm still doing Lord Sesshomaru, but I've changed everything all around so that it'll be historically accurate enough for me to double it as a Japanese persona I can wear to SCA (historical reenactment) conventions as well.

My Lord Sesshomaru costume has gone from a CosPlay costume, to a historical reenactment costume fit for the SCA! LOL!

When I get done, it'll still be easily recognized as Lord Sesshomaru, but it'll be changed from the norm, not at all what you normally seen done by other CosPlayers, being less fantasy and more real and will more closely resemble a real nobleman's outfit than a CosPlay one.

So yea... I say go with originality. If you can still recognize that is was the character when you get done, than yay you! If not, well than, you've created your own character, and even more yay you!



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

What in a costume inspires you?

Today I found a question which asks:

What in a costume inspires you?

[QUOTE=luckinspades;5180]Straight up. What aspects of a costume inspire you? The colours? The details? The potential? The challenge? Share.
:questionmark:[/QUOTE]

Here is my answer:

There really isn't much that challenges me with sewing, because I can pretty much look at anything, draw up the patterns and make it. Oddly, this only works when making my own cloths, cause I know all my measurements and such. I just look and sew, I make a pattern if I need one, but I don't always need one. I've been sewing since the 1970's so, sewing is pretty much second nature to me now.

I do alot of hand work on mine. If there is a design on the fabric, I hand embroider it in. It there is no design, than I get thread to match the fabric color and embroider one in anyways. I go crazy nutters over adding tiny hand worked details.

[b]#1 love of character.[/b]

I only do characters I love; I really got to love a character to want to become them, look like them, act like them, etc.

[b]#2 gotta love the style[/b]

no matter how much I love the character, if I wouldn't wear their cloths in real life I won't make the costume, because I'm a life actor, I live in character 24/7, I wear my "costumes" every day, all day long, to me these are not costumes for me these ARE my street cloths, so I really gotta love the cloths before I'll wear them.


[b]#3 same as #2 only:[/b]

I will make cloths worn by a character even if I have no idea who the character is, just because I really love the cloths they wore; however when I do this, I do the cloths only and not the full character costume (no wig, no weapons, no makeup, etc,). In this case I'd be dressing like that character, rather than pretending to be the character.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

CosPlay: Alter Garments? Buy Patterns? Make Patterns?

[QUOTE=treble_clef;2439167]I'm new to this, how do you get a pattern?

Do people just take an old t shirt apart and use it as a pattern? XD Or do you actually buy a pattern? Or make one up???
[/QUOTE]

It depends on what you are going for as an end result, and what your current skill level is. I've done all three methods you mentioned.

For Wonder Women, (in 1980) I started out with a red tank top, a blue bikini, and my grandmother's bracelets, and just altered them. It wasn't very accurate, but at the time accuracy was not my goal, so the end result suited the look I was going for. (Though it is my plan to remake Wonder Woman in the future and go uber accurate next time around.)

For my Renaissance Woman, (in 1997) I used a McCalls Pattern, combined with pieces of a Simplicty pattern, and than altered the two patterns to fit the dress I wanted to make. Which as it turned out was a huge dress of rose colored velvet, with 7 yards of fabric in the skirt alone! And 3 yards of fabric in EACH of it's huge triple pouffed sleeves. This was the biggest dress I ever made, and was made to be worn with or without hoops. It's very "Queen Elizabeth" in styling, and though it started out as a pattern, it in no way resembles either of the patterns that were used to make it.

I do a lot of stuff with no pattern at all, and use the French couture method of pin and drape, which is: wrap the fabric around your body, pin it on to you in the shape you want it to be, carefully take it off, and than cut around the pins. This works best for stuff that has a lot of lose flowing drape to it, and is not fitted.

For my latest (and by far most advanced) project, I am not using a pattern at all. Everything is being made by me having taken my own measurements, and than tailor tacking those measurements onto the fabric, and than cutting out the correct shapes outside of those marks. From there it's me guessing as to how to attach what where, and writing down the instructions as I go, because there is no pattern or instructions for this costume, and I'm making up the whole thing as I go. This costume is being "made live", it has it's own web site HERE, where I add updates as I go along. At the moment I have no photos of my work up, but the how-to instructions are mostly there now. I started this project in March (2008), and am doing the whole thing by hand, and in the utmost extreme in historical accuracy (researching pre16th cen garments in museums and everything for this) ... right down to buying and using handwoven 15" wide silk to make the kimono and hakama out of, I'm even hand embroidering the fabric before I cut it out to make the costume, and making real battle armor (metal and leather; not foam or plastic).

When I do use commercial paper patterns, I actually do not cut out the patterns. I use the tailoring method of pin cutting. Which means I lay the paper on the fabric, and than use pins the "trace" the entire outline of the pattern to the fabric. Once done I can fold the paper back up and slide it back in the envelope. I than cut the fabric using the pins as a guide instead of the pattern.

This method is used by some French fashion designers, but it's not very common. I don't recommend this method unless you are quite advanced though, because it is very easy to make huge mistakes doing this.

I find it easier to use, because you don't have to mess around with all the crinkly paper, plus you don't have to cut off the other sizes in the pattern, thus you can reuse the pattern later, either on yourself if you change sizes, or for one of your friends who is a different size than you.

So basically I guess you could say I do a little bit of everything, and jump around back and forth between methods, depending on how much extra effort I feel like putting into it at that particular moment.

So, in answer to your question about what you should do: It depends on what you want your end result to be, and how much skill you have in each area of your costume construction.

As for me, I started sewing back in the 1970's, I sew everything I wear, I sew stuffed animals, I sew dolls, I sew characters dolls to match my costumes, my mother was a seamstress and doll maker, and I took Fashion Design and Dressmaking (2 year course), and I spent a good 20 years studying the methods of historic sewing and ethnic clothing construction techniques. I also make my own patterns.

Long story short: It took me a long time to learn to sew using the methods I use. I started out simple, by editing store bought garments, than moved up to simple patterns, than to more advanced patterns, than to college training, and it took me many, many years to do it. I didn't just do it over night.

In other words in order to get to the point that you can make your own patterns, you REALLY got to love sewing an awful lot, because it takes a lot of time and paitance (and money) to get that far. Slow and steady wins the race.

Start out by altering store bought garments. It's the best way to get a good look at how garments are put together.

Find some one who can teach you to sew hands on. While you can teach yourself, you'll learn quicker, faster, and with fewer mistakes, if you've got someone there to help you along.

Start out with simple patterns. Sew Easy, New Look, and Simplicity patterns are all made for beginning sewers. Start with those companies first.

McCalls patterns should only be used if you already have some skill sewing, but can still be used by beginners.

Folkwear, Butterrick, and Burda patterns are quite a bit more advanced and should be avoided by beginners, but once you've sewed a few other items, you should have no problems using these.

Vogue patterns should only be attempted by advanced sewers, and even some advanced sewers complain that they are too difficult to use. Vogue patterns give instructions assuming that you know how to do French and Italian high fashion techniques, the reason for this being that they are designed and written by French and Italian fashion designers (Giovanni, Armani, Channel, Dior, etc).

Going without a pattern usually requires some sort of training; either college or an apprenticeship. Going without a pattern is not recommended unless you have very advanced sewing skills.




What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

My Kimono Silk For My Japanese Personas

My silk mania continues while I wait for my silk to arrive. Since I've gone from sewing up a fantasy costume for a fictional character to re-creating a historically accurate outfit for what he would have worn had he been real, I now find myself hunting down info on how to sew historically accurate Japanese garb. In doing so I came across this question posted on a blog by yet another person doing a Japanese persona:

SCA Silk Road - To Those With Japanese Personas. What kind of silk do you use for your garb? I have a set of utility garb, consisting of linen kosode and hakama, but I haven't yet made a nice set of silk kimono to wear to indoor events (the linen getup is mostly for camping in the summer).

And here is the comment I posted in responce to that question:

I make mine out of historically accurate 15" wide hand woven silk, which I get imported from a dealer in Japan. It takes about 5 weeks for it to ship from Japan to Maine USA, so I have to plan for that amount of time too.

Japanese silk is utterly amazing: it's very lightweight, very soft, very buttery, and it looks like a thin batiste cotton, very few people would even know it was silk, because it's not what most folks think of when they think of silk! .... Japanese kimono silk, is not at all like the Indian or Italian silk which we are used to seeing here in the USA, which is shiny, slippery, and often too heavy to drape nicely. Also Indian and Italian silks are sold in 45" to 62" widths, while Japanese silks are sold in 13" to 18" widths (15" being the average), and that makes a big difference in how you actually construct your garments too.

To make them historically accurate while using 45" Indian silk, you'd first have to cut the silk into 15" wide strips and hem the edges, before you could start cutting out your kimono or hakama. For me doing something like that just isn't an option. I go all out when I want to be accurate. I know I can be a bit extreme at times too, because I also hand embroider my silk using ancient Japanese methods, and than hand sew my garb too! It takes my about 6 or 7 months just to make one kimono, because I get crazy over being all accurate about everything! LOL!

If I wasn't so strict with myself, I could use silk I could buy locally and sew and embroider by machine, and be done in less than a week. YIKES! I'm torturing myself, but I love it! I have so much fun hunting down this super rare type of silk and than once I've found it, I buy several bolts of it all at once (cause it's the same price to ship one bolt as it is to ship 5 bolts! and the shipping alone from Japan to USA is close to $100!) I figure, I've spent so much time locating the fabric, than dished out so many oodles and oodels of money to buy it (it's very expensive! I have to use bargain fabrics for my non-Japanese garb, cause I go for broke with my kimono silk!), so I figure I've invested so much in this cloth already, I might as well take my historical accuracy the whole 9 yards, right?

Weird thing about all this is, when I make my European or Early American garb, I don't give historical accuracy a thought! I just make whatever "looks accurate enough" out of whatever fabric I have on hand. I only go uber authentic when it comes to my Japanese garb. I guess I must like my Japanese persona better than my Euro or American ones!

Sorry for the long comment. I just got a bit excited being able to tell someone about my fabric hunting. I get so excited over buying fabric! I'm a fabric hoarder, btw! I'll never use half of the fabric I buy, but I always, see new fabric and it's like "Well, someday I could use it for something." so I buy it and never use it. LOL!




What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur "not cosplaying"? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that...[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it's spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children's stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I'm currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it's to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I've been one or the other since the early 1980's, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me "Goth", but I don't really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It's a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn't stopped me from wearing "costumes", though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any "normal" non-costume "street cloths". What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I'm not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about "playing". My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as "historical reenactment of fantasy costumes".

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don't like pants: won't wear them, won't own them.

I the 1980's I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I'm wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don't own any "normal" clothes.

No, I can't tell you where I bought them, because I didn't buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can't tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn't buy a pattern I made the pattern. I've been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I've spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 - 1500 & 1850 - 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don't care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don't like people who think I'm wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru's costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I'm not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I've been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it's burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID...."You got to be over 18 . . ." yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID... "Is this real? Wait, you're really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths.... I thought you were a teenager! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize... it's just that your cloths... I thought..."

Honey, I haven't been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it's not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager... will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that's me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!






What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







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If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Evil Bunny Get's Mentioned on a Fellow Squidooer's Blog!

I was just searching through some blogs on Blog Catalog and found a blog from a fellow Squid, who was featuring one of my Squidoo Lenses on their blog! Oh! That was so nice! Well, it's only right that I return the favor and feature that blog on my blog, so here's the post mentioning my lens.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

What is the lowest amount of eBay seller feedback you buy from?

What is the lowest amount of eBay seller feedback you buy from? I love this question as I'm an avid eBayer.... known across the forums as the much feared: EK the Sniper. To date no one who has ever bid against me, has been able to win. My best snipe time to date was 3 seconds before auction end. I achieve my snipping success, by bidding low early, and than placing a bid high, while counting done the seconds to the end before hitting the confirm bid button. While this can be done with dail -up, it's easier to do with cable. But anyways, I found that question on a forum and here is my answer:

What is the lowest amount of eBay seller feedback you buy from?


I stick with 99.7%, but I always read the feedback to find out why it got low. If it was for a "bad" reason than I won't buy from them (say, non-shipment, wrong item shipped and no exchange offered, etc).

Also, I ALWAYS read the kind of feedback they left for others... if they are really rude and bitchy in their feedback left to others, than I won't buy from them. Being a business minded woman, myself, I do not like to deal with sellers who do not treat their eBay store with professionalism. If they are acting childish in their comments, chances are good that they will act childish in their business skills too: sloppy packing, not insuring items, etc.


I have bought items from sellers with lower feedback 90% range, because after reading their feedback, found that the problem was the buyers and not the sellers fault.... such as [I]"left a neg because shipping was so high"[/I] Happens a lot, even though shipping was listed in the auction!

or [I]"left neg because you said it was purple but it looked blue on my screen and it arrived purple, but I wanted blue"[/I] Man! I see this one in fabric auctions all the time! If the seller says it's purple, than you better believe it's purple no matter what your screen color shows you! Why do people leave a neg for something like that!

If the negs are for stupid things like that, things that are the buyers own fault and had nothing to do with the seller, than I'll buy from someone with lower feedback.

Proudly I can say I've been on eBay since 2004 and I have 100% feedback! YAY me! Of course I'm a buyer only, and don't sell anything, so, it doesn't do you any good to know that unless I'm buying something from you! LOL!

[QUOTE=EXsoldierSNAKE;2430564]When you are looking for costume parts on eBay(if you do) what is the lowest amount of seller feedback you buy from? I usually don't trust anything lower than 99.0 percent, but theres a crucial part that I need and the only seller that has it has a feedback of 97.6%. I checked his detailed feedback and his last buyer complaint was 3 days ago, saying that the item was never received. This crap is driving me crazy! I need the part o so badly, I just don't wanna be screwed over.

thanks:rockon:[/QUOTE]

If it was just three days ago, than the links are still clickable. Go take a look at the item in question. When did the bidding end? Where is it being shipped from? Where is it being shipped too? Did the buyer actually allow enough time for the item to arrive? It is a very common thing for buyers to not wait long enough.

eBay says to wait 30 days for an item to arrive, before leaving a neg. Did the buyer wait 30 days?

eBay says to try to talk to the seller and find out what happened. Often the comments between buyer and seller will show up on the auction listing, down at the bottom of the bidding page. Check out the item in question, scroll to the bottom of the page. Is there any conversation going on between buyer and seller? no? why not? If the buyer is complaining in with neg feedback, why didn't they first send the seller a question about the item?

How was the item shipped? It usually says the shipping method on the auction page. If the buyer opted for a cheaper shipping method, than they can be expected to wait up to 3 weeks for in country and up to 6 weeks for overseas shipping! Did they choose the cheap shipping and if so did wait the full 6 weeks before complaining?

If the seller is overseas from the buyer, did the buyer take the customs laws into consideration? In some places, such as Italy, the government puts a hold on all packages going overseas, until the proper officials have had time to examine the contents of the package (and yes, that does mean they open the package to see what is inside!) If you are dealing with a country with laws like this, you could be looking at a 4 or 5 month wait before they get around to checking your package! (this happened to me, more than once, but it hasn't stopped me from buying items from Italy. I do however, plan for this to happen now, and bid on items knowing that it could be 6 months or more before I see them.)

I live in Maine, USA.

I've been a member on eBay since 2004. In that time I have bought more than 300 items, about 65% of which I bought from overseas.

I've bought stuff from Canada, UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, and Papua New Guinea.

The fastest was from Canada (Quebec) took 5 days. Longest was Italy, took 3 months.

I have had the best experiences with items coming from Quebec and France, rarely do items take more than 10 days to arrive from either country, and as such I tend to buy from these 2 countries more often than the others because I know they get shipped out quickly.


If you really really want an item, but are not sure about the feedback at a first glance, than it's time to do some heavy duty, looking into the feedback of both buyer and seller and all the reasons why and how the bad feedback came about. If you find that the bad feedback was simply a misunderstanding or was the fault of the buyer and not the seller, than go ahead and place your bid; but if you find that this seller has a history of bad feedback for the same reason over and over again, and they show no signs of correcting the problem, than you should probably wait for someone else to be selling the same item.







What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Some Thoughts On Life Acting

Life acting is living in costume 24/7, it is when your costume is no longer considered a costume, because it is actually your street cloths. While reading the threads on CosPlay.com, I find that most folks CosPlay only one or two days a year. Only a few live "in costume". Interesting.

I live in costume, have been nearly 15 years now. I love it when people come up to me and ask if there is a fair or a carnival or something near by. Because I live in "the arts district" a lot of people ask me if I'm promoting a play for a local theater or something! LOL!

It's a bit creepy though when you go shopping and the store security guards follows you all over the place! 0.O When I first started doing this, this kind of thing happened A LOT! Most stores see me in there building so much now (as I shop in the same places over and over again) that they are used to me and don't bother with me anymore.

I've been doing this so long now, though, that most folks around here have seen me at some point and I'm just "one of the weird locals".


People are always asking me what I look like in my street cloths, and I tell them, these are my street cloths; than they say, "No, I mean, what do you wear around the house?"... you're looking at it. "But what do you wear when you are not in costume?... Honey, I am NOT in costume NOW, this REALLY IS the way I dress every day 24/7!

It farther shocks people when I tell them that I am a farmer, I even dress like this when doing chore such as tilling the garden and shoveling out stalls.

Fact is, I do not even own any "normal" cloths, that "normal" people would consider "normal" street cloths.

When asked why I do this, I explain that originally Halloween was my favorite day, and I hated that I only got to "dress up" one day of the year, so each October, I would wear my costumes every day of the month. After a couple of years of doing this though, I realized, that wearing costume only for the month of October wasn't cutting it for me either, these cloths were the cloths that I REALLY liked wearing, I hated my "normal" street cloths, I loved my costumes, and before I knew it I was wearing them 356 days a year.

I don't do it to scare anybody, or to shock anybody, or to make any kind of statement or anything like that, I do it because this is just who I am, and these are the cloths I just feel most comfortable wearing.

For the most part, I do historical reenactment stuff, and when I do characters, I do what they would have worn had they been real, and not exactly what they wore in the books/shows.

Would you get on the news? Not unless you were really doing something newworthy, likely robbing banks in costume... if you are not breaking any laws, news reporters are not interested in you.

You will get people who want to take your picture though... I get that.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Altering Armholes on Garb

I found the following question on CosPlay.com, and as it is a problem I have often dealt with myself, I'm going to save my answer here on my blog. Here is the question:

Hey does anyone know how to widen a armhole because somehow I made the sleeves way bigger then the armhole for my Lucky Star cosplay blouse. Can some one help me? Please and thank you.

I would try on the bodice to make sure it fit, first, and if the armholes were okay, I'd work instead on the sleeves.

Here are some things I might try if it was mine:

What I'd most likely do (and have done in the past) is this: on the top of the sleeve head, sew a double row of basting stitches (leaving about a 4 inch tail of thread on each end of each row) , than gently pull the ends of the threads, while adjusting the fabric into enough of a "gather" so that the sleeve now fits the arm hole.

I have found that adding the gather is the quickest solution, and the easiest to do, but it also will add a slight "pouf" to the sleeves and if you don't want that, than you may not want to use it. Using this method is recommended for a blouson sleeve look.


If the gather method, would alter the end result look too much for the look I'm trying to achieve, my next method to try, would be to add a few tiny darts: say, one at the front, one at the top, and one at the back; or maybe 3 in a row all right on top. Where I'd place the darts would be determined by the "look" I'm going for. Using this method is recommended if you are going for a fitted sleeve look.

If you have REALLY REALLY gone over board and there is just WAAAAY too much fabric in the sleeve, I would try to recut it instead, as if you've gone too big, you should be able to cut it down to the correct size. You'll have to be careful here, though cause if you cut off too much than you'll be in a worse boat than you are in already! You can take of too much fabric, but it's nearly impossible to add on extra, so be careful if you decide to trim it down, and trim down only an 1/8 inch at a time, and check between each cut.

Working with changing the armhole itself, is a bit trickier, and will likely require you to cut it down, but again, if you start cutting it down, cut in 1/8 inch slivers and check between each cut. Cutting off too much could be a disaster!

The problem with changing the armhole, it that it could change the "fit" of the garment, resulting in a tight pull across the chest, across the shoulders, or both!

If you have extra fabric, a better alternative, to cutting into the armhole, would be to cut a 1 - 2 inch wide strip of fabric, and sew it to the front side seam, thus making the entire bodice a little bit wider and widening the armhole at the same time, without creating a "pull" across the chest or shoulders.

I'd try changing the sleeve first, and only change the armhole if changing the sleeve doesn't work.

Alternately, if you have enough fabric, you could just recut the sleeve entirely.

In the future to prevent this problem, you could do what professional dressmakers and fashion designers do, and make 2 outfits. First you cut all of your pattern pieces out of a plain muslin, and sew it up, than do all the alterations to the muslin dummy. than take the stitches out and use the muslin pieces, as the pattern pieces that you use to cut out your real fabric. This way you can get all the editing and changes down before you ever cut into your more expensive cloth. This is an especially good thing to do if it's pattern you plan to make more than once too, because all you have to do is save the muslin pieces, and keep reusing them. If you plan to use them a lot, though you should sew around the edges to prevent fraying.




What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

CosPlay vs Historical Reenactment

Well, this started out as me just planning a simple "CosPlay" costume. I originally planned just to do a quick, "once-over-look-like-the-guy" costume, like I normally would do for any other character. You know, the average type of CosPlay costume.

Than I started planning. And planning. And studying. First thing I realized, is that I picked probably the worst nightmare of a costume I could have picked to make. This costume, consists of a kosode, a furisode, a hakama, an 8 foot long "tail-thing", a suit of armor that's absolute hell to recreate, and all kinds of little weird details and things, that most other characters would not have had. So I started writing up a list of all the things I needed, (which was the start of this lens, BTW), and the next thing I know, not only am I planning this costume, but now I'm surrounded by huge library books on the history of Japanese clothen in the 1500's.

Next thing I know, my goal is no longer to make a Lord Sesshomaru costume for CosPlay.... no, now I'm going to recreate his entire wardrobe, 0_O including all 4 of the different costumes we see him wearing... no wait... did I see a fifth costume? He was wearing head to toe green in an official VIZ corp calendar I saw the other day: green kimono, green hakama... must look into this new costume. Thing is, I'm not just creating the wardrobe we see on the anime and mangas anymore, now I'm recreating what he WOULD have worn, had he been a REAL lord in ancient Japan.

The end result of this is a costume that is going to cost me a fortune and take about 3 or 4 years to make, because I'm doing the whole thing by hand, including the embroidery of the 4 kimonos.



My Lord Sesshomaru costume has gone from a CosPlay costume, to a historical reenactment costume fit for the SCA! LOL!

When I get done, it'll still be easily recognized as Lord Sesshomaru, but it'll be changed from the norm, being less fantasy and more real and will more closely resemble a real nobleman's outfit than a CosPlay one.

Oh yeah... and when I get done with his wardrobe, I'm planning to do Rin's, InuTasisho's, and SesshyMom's too. Hey, I'm doing this much already, I might as well do the whole family right?





Sesshomaru's Mother





InuTasisho (Sesshomaru's father)




Rin



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

What is everyone's favorite period of dress?

Was over on CosPlay.com reading posts, this one needed me to repost it on my blog:

[QUOTE=Beware_UY7;501331]I was just working on a victorian dress for a musical that I'm currently in and a question came to me...
What is everyone's favorite period of dress?
[/QUOTE]

I wear period cloths 24/7, I started doing it about 15 years ago. Over the years I've tried a little bit of everything, at first I wore certain styles because I liked the "look", but after a while I quickly learned that many of the looks I like were sheer hell the actually wear,:bigcry: and after a while what I like changed.

Originally I was "in love" with Victorian, big bouffant skirts, tiny waists, lots of frills.

Today? I live in French Revolution Empire gowns and Japanese kimonos, over worn with huge capes (instead of coats).

The empire gown looks amazing and is a dream to wear, plus I made 4 of them in one day, cause they are so simple to make. I make hem out of thin calico cottons for summer wear and panne` velvets for winter wear.

Over my empire gowns I wear Japanese kimonos (my grandmother brought them back from Japan 40 years ago, they are antiques). I wear them layered the way women wore them in the 1500's

My capes are of near east Normad style... huge cape, 7 yards of fabric, with a big billowing hood. I make them out of panne velvet and wear them year round.

What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Sewing With Silk

While I wait for my bolts of silk to arrive, I have decided to write about sewing with silk. This info once I finish compiling it will become my next Squidoo lens: Sewing with Silk.


Characteristics of Silk:

The Advantages:

Silk is the most luxurious fiber.

Silk is very comfortable to wear: warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is lightweight, resilient, and elastic. It resists wrinkling and holds it's shape well.

Silk has less static build up than other fibers. It absorbs moister well and dries quickly. It does not pill or soil easily, and is resistant to mildew.

Cultivated silk dyes and prints well.

Silk absorbs harmful UV rays, making it a natural sunblock protecting your skin from the sun.

The Drawbacks:

Silk is a highly temperamental fabric requiring great care. For the average person, silk requires more care and attention than they are going to want to invest in it.

Silk is very sensitive to chemicals and gasses. It can not be stored in plastic boxes or bags, as the gasses given off by the plastic will deteriorate the fiber.

Silk is easily damaged by perspiration and body oils and thus should not be worn against the skin. Cotton undergarments are recommended to be worn under silk to draw body oils away from the silk.

Silk is sensitive to climate changes, excessive heat especially, will cause yellowing of light colored silks.

Silk fabric often shrinks.

Silk is easily damaged by most cleaning chemicals and should be carefully dry cleaned, or hand washed with mild soap: strong soaps, most detergents, and all acids and alkalies, and chlorine bleach will all cause serious and irreversible damage to silk and should never be used to clean it.

Silk is susceptible to moths and insects, and should be stored in a cedar chest to prevent damage.

Silk, once molded, is very difficult to repair.

Silk must be stored in wood: either folded in a chest or hung in a freestanding armoire. It should never be stored hanging with other cloths in your closet or folded up in your dresser drawers. Silk must be stored in it own special chest or cabinet, only with other silk items.

Silk is very sensitive to sunlight, and should never be stored near a window.

Silk must be taken out of storage, unfolded, and hung out to air at least once every 2 or 3 months, if not more often. Silk requires air circulation to keep it from deteriorating with age.

Ironing and pressing silk should be done with extreme care. Use a cold iron or only the lowest settings when pressing silk, and only press it if absolutely necessary.

Silk changes color with age. Your white silk today, will be ivory a few years from now, and yellow a few years after that. This is natural and is not considered a defect, but it will affect what you make out of silk. For example you would not want to use it to make a white wedding gown, if you planned on passing this gown down to your daughters and granddaughters, as it would have long since lost it's white color before they were old enough to wear it.

Some types of silk are very slippery, making them difficult to cut, sew, or even wear.

Most silks slip and pull badly at seamlines. Most silk garments will require you to carefully rip out seams and completely restitch the garment once every year or so, in order to keep the garment functional. Traditionally silk garments are taken apart each time they require cleaning and each part cleaned separately, than the garment is resewn after each cleaning.

The Variances:

Silk can be used to make cloth of all weights, from thin and very sheer to soft, supple, and drapeable, to stiff and bouffant, to very think and heavy.

Silks can be woven to an infinite variety of textures, from shinny, slippery, and high luster, to soft fuzzy naps, to intricate woven patterns, to heavy nubby weaves.

Silk Sewing Checklist:

Machine Needles:

Universal H-point
Red Band
sizes 60/8 to 90/14, depending on fabric weight
60/8 or 70/10 for lightweight silks

Machine Setting:

stitch length: 12-15 per inch (1.75 - 2 mm)
tension: loosely balanced

Sewing Machine Equipment:

straight stitch
roller foot

Hand Sewing Needles:

sizes 5 to 10

Thread:

mercerized cotton

Topstitching Thread:

silk (size A or D)

Basting Thread:

basting cotton
silk (size A)

Marking Techniques:

all types except wax
clips or tailor tacks recommended
tailor's chalk
dressmakers chalk pencils
soap sliver
temporary marking pens
wheel and tracing carbon (wax-free only)
never use wax on silk

Seams:

French seams
false French seams
standing fell
flat fell
double-ply
welt
top stitched
tissue stitched
Hong Kong seam

Hems:

shirttail
book
hand rolled (recommended)
machine rolled
hemmer rolled
shell
lettuce edge
topstitch
merrow
mock merrow
plain
handkerchief hem

Seam and Hem Finishes:

single-ply (turned and stitched)
folded
hand overcast
zig zag
multi zig zag
serged
double-ply
pinked and stitched
Hong Kong finished

Edge Finishes:

self fabric facings
bias bindings (recommended)
bands
casings
ribbing

Interfacings:

always pre-shrink

self fabric
muslin
silk organza
marquisette
cotton organdy
batiste
tulle
prima cotton
knit fusibles
light weight woven fusibles
light weight non-woven fusibles
sew in interfacing

Linings:

always pre-shrink

lightweight cotton
lightweight silk
only used on kimonos, jackets, coats, and pants, or when opaqueness is needed under sheers

Underlinings:

lightweight cotton
lightweight silk
rayon
crepe de chine
Chasmeuse
China silk
silk broadcloth
jacquard
bemberg

only used on kimonos, jackets, coats, and pants, or when opaqueness is needed under sheers

avoid using synthetic fabrics

Pockets:

silk garments generally do not have pockets

patch pockets
welted pockets
side seam pockets

Closures:

use lightweight zippers and buttons that are not heavy, otherwise fabric will sag under the weight

good quality buttons look better than cheap plastic buttons against very expensive silk

use embroidery thread for button holes

button loops usually need to be corded

avoid stiff or heavy closures and trims

Special Equipment:

sewing with silk doesn't generally require any special equipment, though you should take you time and sew each step very slowly, constantly checking to be certain that the two pieces of fabric are not slipping

What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Sewing With Silk

While I wait for my bolts of silk to arrive, I have decided to write about sewing with silk. This info once I finish compiling it will become my next Squidoo lens: Sewing with Silk.


Characteristics of Silk:

The Advantages:

Silk is the most luxurious fiber.

Silk is very comfortable to wear: warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is lightweight, resilient, and elastic. It resists wrinkling and holds it's shape well.

Silk has less static build up than other fibers. It absorbs moister well and dries quickly. It does not pill or soil easily, and is resistant to mildew.

Cultivated silk dyes and prints well.

Silk absorbs harmful UV rays, making it a natural sunblock protecting your skin from the sun.

The Drawbacks:

Silk is a highly temperamental fabric requiring great care. For the average person, silk requires more care and attention than they are going to want to invest in it.

Silk is very sensitive to chemicals and gasses. It can not be stored in plastic boxes or bags, as the gasses given off by the plastic will deteriorate the fiber.

Silk is easily damaged by perspiration and body oils and thus should not be worn against the skin. Cotton undergarments are recommended to be worn under silk to draw body oils away from the silk.

Silk is sensitive to climate changes, excessive heat especially, will cause yellowing of light colored silks.

Silk fabric often shrinks.

Silk is easily damaged by most cleaning chemicals and should be carefully dry cleaned, or hand washed with mild soap: strong soaps, most detergents, and all acids and alkalies, and chlorine bleach will all cause serious and irreversible damage to silk and should never be used to clean it.

Silk is susceptible to moths and insects, and should be stored in a cedar chest to prevent damage.

Silk, once molded, is very difficult to repair.

Silk must be stored in wood: either folded in a chest or hung in a freestanding armoire. It should never be stored hanging with other cloths in your closet or folded up in your dresser drawers. Silk must be stored in it own special chest or cabinet, only with other silk items.

Silk is very sensitive to sunlight, and should never be stored near a window.

Silk must be taken out of storage, unfolded, and hung out to air at least once every 2 or 3 months, if not more often. Silk requires air circulation to keep it from deteriorating with age.

Ironing and pressing silk should be done with extreme care. Use a cold iron or only the lowest settings when pressing silk, and only press it if absolutely necessary.

Silk changes color with age. Your white silk today, will be ivory a few years from now, and yellow a few years after that. This is natural and is not considered a defect, but it will affect what you make out of silk. For example you would not want to use it to make a white wedding gown, if you planned on passing this gown down to your daughters and granddaughters, as it would have long since lost it's white color before they were old enough to wear it.

Some types of silk are very slippery, making them difficult to cut, sew, or even wear.

Most silks slip and pull badly at seamlines. Most silk garments will require you to carefully rip out seams and completely restitch the garment once every year or so, in order to keep the garment functional. Traditionally silk garments are taken apart each time they require cleaning and each part cleaned separately, than the garment is resewn after each cleaning.

The Variances:

Silk can be used to make cloth of all weights, from thin and very sheer to soft, supple, and drapeable, to stiff and bouffant, to very think and heavy.

Silks can be woven to an infinite variety of textures, from shinny, slippery, and high luster, to soft fuzzy naps, to intricate woven patterns, to heavy nubby weaves.

Silk Sewing Checklist:

Machine Needles:

Universal H-point
Red Band
sizes 60/8 to 90/14, depending on fabric weight
60/8 or 70/10 for lightweight silks

Machine Setting:

stitch length: 12-15 per inch (1.75 - 2 mm)
tension: loosely balanced

Sewing Machine Equipment:

straight stitch
roller foot

Hand Sewing Needles:

sizes 5 to 10

Thread:

mercerized cotton

Topstitching Thread:

silk (size A or D)

Basting Thread:

basting cotton
silk (size A)

Marking Techniques:

all types except wax
clips or tailor tacks recommended
tailor's chalk
dressmakers chalk pencils
soap sliver
temporary marking pens
wheel and tracing carbon (wax-free only)
never use wax on silk

Seams:

French seams
false French seams
standing fell
flat fell
double-ply
welt
top stitched
tissue stitched
Hong Kong seam

Hems:

shirttail
book
hand rolled (recommended)
machine rolled
hemmer rolled
shell
lettuce edge
topstitch
merrow
mock merrow
plain
handkerchief hem

Seam and Hem Finishes:

single-ply (turned and stitched)
folded
hand overcast
zig zag
multi zig zag
serged
double-ply
pinked and stitched
Hong Kong finished

Edge Finishes:

self fabric facings
bias bindings (recommended)
bands
casings
ribbing

Interfacings:

always pre-shrink

self fabric
muslin
silk organza
marquisette
cotton organdy
batiste
tulle
prima cotton
knit fusibles
light weight woven fusibles
light weight non-woven fusibles
sew in interfacing

Linings:

always pre-shrink

lightweight cotton
lightweight silk
only used on kimonos, jackets, coats, and pants, or when opaqueness is needed under sheers

Underlinings:

lightweight cotton
lightweight silk
rayon
crepe de chine
Chasmeuse
China silk
silk broadcloth
jacquard
bemberg

only used on kimonos, jackets, coats, and pants, or when opaqueness is needed under sheers

avoid using synthetic fabrics

Pockets:

silk garments generally do not have pockets

patch pockets
welted pockets
side seam pockets

Closures:

use lightweight zippers and buttons that are not heavy, otherwise fabric will sag under the weight

good quality buttons look better than cheap plastic buttons against very expensive silk

use embroidery thread for button holes

button loops usually need to be corded

avoid stiff or heavy closures and trims

Special Equipment:

sewing with silk doesn't generally require any special equipment, though you should take you time and sew each step very slowly, constantly checking to be certain that the two pieces of fabric are not slipping

What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

O! M! G! I found a Saimyoushou Hive For My costume!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaacccckkkkk!

Okay, so I didn't plan on anything that happened today. It was a really weird day. Started like this:

I heard back from the eBay seller, about how much the shipping for fabric I won was, and so I paid him, and now I can just sit back and wait for my 57 yards of handwoven white Japanese silk to get here, so I can finally get started on my Lord Sesshomaru costume. YAAA! All these weeks of talking about it, and I've finally getting the fabric to make it! OMG! OMG! You have no idea how hard it is to locate historically accurate 15" wide handwoven white silk, like what would have been used in the 1500's to make Lord Sesshomau's costume! I'm so happy! It's coming from Japan though so will take about 5 weeks to get here! Must find something to do to keep myself busy while I wait.

I was just planning on making one costume, but hell, I bought 5 bolts of the fabric, so now I'm making ALL FOUR of them! WOO-HOO! I only need to make one hakama to use with all 4 costumes, but each costume has a different kimono. I bought enough fabric to make all four kimonos and the hakama. I have never bought so much fabric all at once like this before. I don't even know where I'm going to keep it once it gets here!

Okay, so that was my high time for the day and it came first thing in the morning to keep me going the rest of the day.

Well, than one unexpected thing happened after another, mostly boreing stuff, but not planned, and one thing lead to another and for some odd reason, I ended up in Dick's Sportswear today. Not a store I normally go to as I have no interest in sports what so ever, but my brother needed a new bar for his weights so I was in there to pick it up for him, and while I was waiting in the super long line, I noticed an elderly woman holding the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I have no idea what the thing is exactly or why a sports supply store would have it, but it sure as hell looked like a Saimyoushou Hive. OMG! I can't believe I found a Saimyoushou Hive for my costume!

I went over to the woman and asked her what it was, and she said she had no idea but it was pretty and so she was buying it, and she showed me the box where she had found it and there were a whole bunch more of them. It is apparently so kind of weighted exercise ball, to tone your muscles. It's made out of a clear rubbery plastic and filled with gold glitter suspended in oil. At the slightest movement the glitter swirls furiously around inside of it, like a shimmering snow globe. It's utterly stunning to see the way the lights bounce off of it and radiate around the room. I have never seen anything like it before. Once I had it in my hand it was like it was attached there and no force on earth could pull it from my grasp. When I bought it the girl at the counter said she and the other workers had been playing with them all day, that they had just gotten them in this morning and everybody was buying them. I can see why. I didn't let go of the thing for almost 3 hours, and now it's sitting on the shelf while I type.

But anyways, it solved the problem as to what to do with my costume, which episode should I make it to match. And also ended my fussing over making a costume for a one-armed character. In the episode "Sesshomaru and Naraku Join Forces" Sesshomau has two arms, and he's seen carrying around a gold swirling Saimyoushou Hive. I never even considered doing this episode because I didn't think there would be anyway to make an accurate looking Saimyoushou Hive. I was wrong, and now I have a Saimyoushou Hive.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Ask Yourself These Questions

As my usual habit would find me doing, I was once again surfing the pages of Squidoo today where I found an interesting lens called Go With The Flow vs. Be In Your Flow . One section of that lens, asks the readers to answer a list of questions, which I have copied here to my blog so that I might answer them and do my usual ramble and rant as I do so. Here are the questions and my answers to them.

1. What would you like to spend most of your time doing?

Being creative: writing, sewing, drawing, painting, taking care of animals. I would really love to open a dress shop, for Goth wear and CosPlay costumes, cause I love creating stuff like that. Creating this and taking care of animals are the two thinks in life that make me the most happy, and so those are the two things I would like to do 24 hours a day, none stop.

2. What do you do, that while you are engaged in it, you feel energized and are enveloped in feelings that bring you peace, joy, comfort, and energy?

Well, I think this question was pretty much answered with my last answer to the first question.

3. What are you hoping to be able to do 'when you have the time?'

Not so much when I have the time as when I have the money: two things, one to open a dress shop and two to have a place to live where I can fill my home with lots of feral cats that need someone to love them.

4. What do you think about doing when you notice that there will be time available at some point in the future?

Usually doing this creative, especially thinking: "Oh! I have time to finish that story I started back than but didn't get finished yet."

5. What are you doing when you feel that time is flying by?

Usually waiting. Waiting in the doctors office, waiting in the car to get from point a to point b, etc. When I'm waiting like that I get so frustrated, because I can feel all that time rushing past me and I'm not able to be using in in a more productive way. I hate to have to be in a position where I am not able to be doing something "worthwhile".

6. What do you think about first thing in the morning or during brief moments of peace during your day?

How are my cats doing?

I wonder if Buddy's feeling well enough to got to the beach today? (Buddy is my 13 year old dog with arthritis who loves to walk on the beach, but can't always make a trip that long anymore.)

I hope my little brothers are doing okay.

I must get busy on this ot that project and get it done soon.

7. When you were a child, what activity did you enjoy the most?

Writing short stories, dressing up in fancy stuff, spending time with my cat and dog, and drawing pictures.

8. When you were a child, did you have a favorite game?

Yes, it was Clue and it's still my favorite game. I also love(d) Yatzee.

9. What was your favorite song, your favorite book, or favorite creative activity?

At very young about age 4, my fave song was the Itsy-Bisty-Spider and BINGO, while my fave books were "Green Eggs and Ham", "A Great Day For Up", "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb", "Kiss Me I'm Vulture", "Me Too Iguana", and "Inside Outside Upside Down", and those books still rank among my fave even today. My favorite creative activity was to draw everything and anything.



What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Sewing Machines

Sewing Machines

Ah! More question and answer thingies for me to fill out! I love those! I found this one on CosPlay.com. Here are the questions and my answers:

[B]1) What Machine do you own? Include the maker and model number please![/B]

Brother LS-2125, which replaced a Singer that was very similar in type

I also still have my old machine which is a JCPenny one from the 1970's that I keep because it does like 200 decorative top stitches. I literally used that machine to death, there was a while when it was running steady day in and day out for weeks on end, I was using it like a "professional" machine and killed the motor as a result. It'll still sew, but it goes slow and stops after an hour or so (I think it over heats), so I only use it for top stitching now.

[B]2) when did you purchase it/how old is it?[/B]

Well, the flood that destroyed my old sewing machine, happened in May of 2006, and I got this one the fall of that same year, so its about 2 years old

[B]3) How much sewing experience do you have? (how long sewing, how advanced your projects are)[/B]

My mother was a seamstress. I sewed my first cloth doll at age six. At age 12 I sewed my first ball gown. At age 14 I enrolled in a two-year college course in pattern making and fashion design. At age 16 I sewed my first dress made from my own pattern designed by me. Today, 13 years later 90% of my clothing consists of historical re-enactment costumes all designed and sewed by me, made from my own patterns. In my most extreme, things are hand embellished with embroidery and bead work, I do a lot of hand sewing in addition to machine sewing. Though I do not sell my work, I sew on a very advanced professional level, such as compared to designers in France and Italy. I have devoted a great deal of my life to perfecting my sewing and designing skills, my ultimate goal is to open my own shop selling Gothic apparel, historical reenactment garbs, and CosPlay costumes..

[B]4) what do you like most about the machine?[/B]

I like that it is a light weight "travel" model, making it easy to pack up and take with me, just about anywhere.

Initially I bought it because, as I said, a flood pretty much destroyed everything, and me living without a sewing machine is just out of the question. I was short on cash and needed a machine that would go anywhere and do all the basic things (straight and zig zag), and I needed a machine that I could buy right than, instantly without having to save up for it or take out a loan for it , so I ended up in WalMart and bought the one machine they had that, judging from the display machines, was the best buy for the money.

Basically it's a good, inexpensive machine that will get the work done. It has no special features, no computer, basically it is no different from a machine you would have bought in the 1950s - 1970s I think it was like $149 or something like that.

[B]5) what do you not like?[/B]

I wish it was a more "heavy duty" machine, like my old JCPenny one was (which cost like $300 back in the 1970's, when the average machine was just $50).

There really isn't anything to not like about it, I mean it's a cheap "student's" machine, so it does what it's made to do and nothing more. I'll have to dish out more money if I want a better quality machine, but for now it suits me, as I don't sew quite as much as I used to. If I start up full time sewing day in and day out again though, I'd need a better machine as I don't think this one is built to take that kind of steady use.

[B]6) Would you recommend your machine to a fellow cosplayer?[/B]

Oh, most definitely. It's a good reliable machine. Great for the occasional sewer, who only makes a costume once every few months or just wants to make a few crafty gift items for birthdays and Christmas, and such. For the average home sewer this'll do just fine.

If you wanted to go professional, though, and start whipping out a couple of costumes a week, than you'd need a better quality than this one though.

In the past I've sewed on several other machines as well, including one of those old green Singers from the 1940s! (boy did that thing drive like a tank! I think it would sew through a block of wood if you told it too!)

From the machines I've used, I'd say most any Singer built before the 1980 would be a good buy, so long as it's still running.

I tend to steer clear of digital and computerized machines, simply because they seem to focus more on the little details, lie embroidering logos and such, and I do all my embroidery by hand because it looks so much better than machine, even if it does take 2 weeks to hand sew what a machine can sew in under 5 minutes.

I'd recommend getting 2 machines. One cheap, light weight travel/student type that you can take on the road with you and use for you basic small stuff on a daily basis; and one heavy duty (possible older) model that you can use for years and years and sew through any fabric you feed into it.





What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!







-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru's garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin's Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles


This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.


Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.