Costumes Archives • Page 2 of 6 • Jessica Smith Creates

November 22, 2016August 22, 2022

Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind

But, you know… In summer…

I love Miyazaki films so much, and one of my first introductions to his and Studio Ghibli’s works (other than My Neighbor Totoro which I rewatched over and over on VHS as a kid) was the Nausicaa graphic novels.

And then I was introduced to all the movies. But Nausicaa is still one of my favorites…

So when my friends and I decided to do a Miyazaki day, I jumped on the chance to make a Nausicaa outfit. For one thing, Nausicaa doesn’t wear heels, so I could get away without such silly shoewear, and also I could make her outfit out of knit fabrics.

Yay for knits!

And then I realized that her full outfit would be really hot, and way too much work with about a week free before the con. So I decided to remove some items. And by some, I mean a lot.

The first item I made was some leggings using Cake Patterns’ Espresso pattern. I got this white rayon spandex knit from Joann Fabric’s. It doesn’t have a lovely amount of recovery, and its definitely translucent, but it worked well enough at the time. They certainly are warm and comfy!

Then I made the belt, mostly because I was not really looking forward to making the tunic. I got out some wide navy blue elastic, and this belt buckle I got from a trimming shop in New York City, and made the belt for my natural waist.

At some point in the last week pre-DragonCon, I decided to just go for it, and I created this new Closet Case Nettie hack (I made a muslin first, I promise!).

The neckline was adjusted to swing upwards to create that cut-on collar look, which I estimated from the crew neck version of the pattern. Then I created a “slit” down the front for a few inches. This necessitated a lining or facing of some kind, which I ended up doing as a half lining (so a kind of glorified shelf bra without the elastic) to give it a clean finished edge.

The sleeves were one thing I debated over. I originally thought short sleeves because of summer, but if I ever wanted to reuse this costume for a more comprehensive Nausicaa outfit, the sleeves needed to be longer, so I went with elbow-3/4 sleeves.

You might remember (from a long time ago) that I wasn’t sure which version of Nausicaa I wanted to create. I ended up going with “normal,” where she has ammo holders where shirt pockets would normally be, rather than trying to applique a bird emblem, for which I just took rectangles of fabric and sewed them to the proper places with spaces for three tubes on either side.

When I realized that I needed to make ammo to put in the ammo holders, I stalled. The night before I left I pulled out some dowels that I had bought with other projects in mind, cut some pieces about chapstick size in length, and then glued three together at a time. When they were dry to the touch I mixed together some cheap red and yellow acrylic to create a nice orange and I painted all of them. I made six, but when I wore the costume I used an orange chapstick in one place, which is what is sticking out a bit… It was handy but also slippy and kept slipping out of place.

Teto completed the look!

I’ve worn the tunic a few times now without costumes in mind, and I think it’ll get a lot of wear in winter. The leggings have gotten a few less wearings, but I am not the biggest fan of white clothing so it isn’t surprising. And Teto has been looking down on me from a bookcase, keeping me company!

Stay tuned for more on my Ariel costume, as well as some more TARDIS stuff! And some of those regular clothes things too. Lots of that.

November 1, 2016August 22, 2022

Second Blue Skirt of the Summer

This skirt was produced in August, in the heat of my “Crap I’m not ready for DragonCon” frenzy, but in July I had raided the Hancock going out of business sale and gotten some blue seersucker…

It became a skirt, but really, it’s never going to be worn out of the house. Cute, mostly comfy, way too clingy.

This skirt unfortunately shares a bit of those adjectives, but not the right ones.

But first the background.

The fabric is a rayon from Joann’s that’s pretty opaque, but can be a bit transparent in certain lights. The one thing I didn’t take into account is that it’s more of a shirt weight, and is too drapey to be flattering in a skirt this long.

I created a pattern based off of the fabric I had (just over 2 yards), and made it as circle skirt-like as I possibly could. I drafted side seam pockets that also inserted into the waistband, which was magnificent foresight, since the fabric definitely would not have held side seam pockets on its own. And it has a side seam zipper as well, to add to the confusion.

Sewing it together was pretty quick, but the hem. I hemmed it by hand. which I think took 2.5 hours. I waited the requisite 2 ish days between sewing an hemming, but I still haven’t gotten it quite right…

Ankle length was what I was going for, because I wanted to show off my adorable heels, but I accidentally got it a little short, and now its a slightly awkward length…

The waistband is also a little too big, which currently is held together with a skirt hook and a safety pin, and the pockets ended up too low, in order to keep the skirt at a near ankle length…

So in short, it’s clingy, and comfy, but not terribly cute…

It definitely worked for DragonCon, with the corset over it (as shown in all these pictures), but when I wear it with normal shirts and stuff, I have to be careful not to show my lower stomach bump. It’s one of the reasons I don’t wear tight around the hips skirts much, and it shows a lot in this skirt.

So, now that I’ve regaled you with all the info on this skirt… I should tell you that I’m going to make this into something else. I’m thinking a shirt. I don’t think I can squeeze out an Archer, but I’m going to try!

I’m going to need to make another Ariel skirt, since I love this outfit in general, but I have to find a better fabric, and I’ll want to make as full a circle skirt as I can, for the floof factor.

Hope you all had a lovely Halloween/October!

August 23, 2016August 22, 2022

Tale of Three Plushies

Not only are my two bestest buddies joining me on my DragonCon adventure, but we’re doing two group cosplays, and a couple of weeks ago I had the most adorable idea…

link/link/link

Nausicaa is not exactly the most recognizeable character, and because I’m really not a wig person, and I didn’t have time or cash to learn, I wanted to have at least one real prop for her. So I wanted to make a Teto plush. And then I realized that my two friends (going as Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle, and Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service) could also have plushes! And that I could make them! Because I’m insane like that.

I worked on the Jiji plush first. Jiji is Kiki’s companion, a sarcastic black cat that travels with Kiki when she moves away from home. I asked if my friend wanted to hold him, or if she wanted him to sit on her shoulder, and she chose the first option. So I made him a little oversized. It’s hard to tell from the reference pics I was using, since I don’t own the movie, but I think he’s technically a rather small cat, but the plush I made was more of a large cat. He’s the biggest of the three plushes, but since he’s black against a navy dress, I wanted to make sure he could stand out. The plush also looks much more like the toy cat in the movie, but I think the point gets across well. Plus mouths are hard…

In fact I avoided the mouth completely… I ended up embroidering the eyes and nose, which took much longer than I expected, and then free forming the plush. Take it in a little here, and out a little there, add some more stuffing there and not here, etc. And I ended up with a loveable Jiji… until I realized I forgot the tail. And then once I remembered and added it, I ended up with a loveable Jiji!

The second plush was Calcifer, since I wanted to get the plushes for friends out first… Calcifer is a fire demon that is under a contract with Howl, but really becomes best of friends with Sophie, so I thought he’d be better than Turnip Head, who I also briefly considered. I had this reddish wool coating ( I think) and attempted to make a 3D version. I intended to make the bottom perfectly round, using 4 panels, but it ended up a little boxier… I cut the top of the four panels to look like flames, and attempted to use a “facing” to make it a bit cleaner… and then had to hand sew the top shut.

Then I painted the plush with some acrylic paints. Mostly yellow, since it “melted” into the wool like orange… I gave it two layers, one that went around the majority of the plush, and then a second to give the appearance of the “core.” And then I let it dry for ages, before adding puffy paint eyes. Once the puffy paint dried, I painted on the mouth and the irises. Isn’t he adorable? He’s not particularly cuddly, but I don’t think fire should be cuddly… right?

So I then got started on Teto. He was the only one I actually bought fabric for, since I didn’t have fake fur or brown felty fleece, so I know for a fact that he’s made out of poly fleece. with poly fake fur. He’s an imaginary creature called a fox-squirrel, and has always been my favorite character in Nausicaa. I basically made tubes for the body and legs, and lightly shaped them into submission. Then I free handed the head and tail, and then shaped the ears. The ears are held up in part by cardboard inserts, and also by some clear fishing line attached to a hook and eye to the tail so the ears can either stick straight up or flop down when I want them to.

The darker brown on the body is stitched on, as is the faux fur belly. The bib-like structure is lightly stitched, but the bottom is mostly left free to hang and move. The eyes are some green knit interfaced and then hand sewn to the head. Then I drew and painted on some high and lowlights. He’s designed to sit over my shoulder, which he does pretty well, and I’m terribly pleased with how he came out…

And here ends the tale of three plushies! Do you have a favorite animated sidekick?

July 26, 2016August 19, 2018

TARDIS Television (Purse)

Here we have a brief return of TARDIS Tuesday, where I would update you on my progress on my TARDIS costume.

And now I’ve got one of the my favorite ideas (and perhaps most clever part, though I should probably not be the judge of that) of the costume to share.

I was looking at the console one day, and thought, Hmm, I’m going to need a purse thing… Why not make it look a bit like the TV?

So when I was working on the costume for Halloween (not last year, but the year before), I brought out the remainder of the pillowcases that I used for the “vest” or bolero thing, and worked with that.

The original version had pretty much no extra support, with just the thin fabric from the pillowcase flatlined to the same canvas like fabric I used to make my knapsack.

It did it’s job well the one time I used it like that, for the actual Halloween it was intended for, but it wasn’t structured enough for my plans. And it was unlined.

So I took it apart last weekend, and added stiff interfacing and a lining. The lining is from the taffeta I used on the skirt, so it’s a little stiff and won’t tolerate any stains. That I know from experience. But it’ll be nice to open it and feel pretty good about how the inside looks! Excepting the bridge portion… Don’t look at the bridge portion…

The purse itself has two hooks, which hook into the Meccano ladder piece, and that ties onto the leather corset belt. I don’t have a finished pic of the interfaced version with the corset belt, but it’ll pop up soon!

Oh, and I glued a dial on the side for a handle, and to sell the TV angle a little more. I thought about how to make it spin, but gluing in place just seemed so much easier. And it was!

May 3, 2016August 19, 2018

TARDIS Hair and Makeup

When I was doing my makeup for my first TARDIS photoshoot in March, I was walking back and forth between my friend’s small bathroom with very little counter space and her living room with all the natural light, so I didn’t try hard to do anything too complicated.

Even this doesn’t look too crazy, I guess.

I love the original photoshoot’s results, which you’ll see in a few weeks, but I think I can go more over the top. It is the TARDIS after all, and there’s nothing more over the top than Eleven’s.

So this time, I did my best to replicate the hair (though I will use second day hair from now on, since I had washed it in the morning, and it was not easy to work with even by afternoon).

Basically, I twist the right side (which is nearer to my part), all the way around my head, and take half of the hair on the back on my head and combine these parts into a bun at the nape of my neck on the right side of my head. Then I twist the left side, careful to catch my bangs and secure them in the process, and twist again all the way around my head. This time, though, I wind the twist above the right side bun and turn it back, catching the ends between the bun twists. Then hair spray and add bobby pins until its relatively secure.

But I went crazier on the makeup this time, and I like it very much!

In case you’re wondering about the products, I’ll list them out here. If not, hope you’re having a lovely Tuesday!

Face: Ponds Luminous Finish BB+ Cream; Neutrogena 3-in-1 Concealer; Benefit Watt’s Up Highlighter; trestique Baby Blush Stick in Bora Bora Coral; NYC Translucent Pressed Powder; Mellow Bronzer

Eyes: Jesse’s Girl Eye Shadow Primer; ipsy’s NYX gold palette; Covergirl Golden Sunset palette; Mica Beauty Cream Eyeshadow in Bronze; Coastal Scents Eye Shadow in Mimosa and Deep Cantaloupe; Pixi by Petra Shades of Brow; an auburn eyebrow pencil, probably WetnWild; Benefit They’re Real Mascara; Starlooks Longwear Eye Pencil in Jet; theBalm Mr. Write (Now) in Jac; Sephora Jumbo Waterproof liner in Peacock Blue Shimmer

Lips: Ofra Lipliner in Wine; NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien

Brushes: Knockoff Beauty Blender, Royal and Langnickel Medium Eyeshader, Studio Basic’s Angled Eyeliner, Coastal Scent’s Travel Blush Brush; Real Techniques buffing brush; Coastal Scent’s BR-C-540; Coastal Scent’s BR-B-S03

April 19, 2016August 19, 2018

TARDIS Blouse

The final new piece of my TARDIS puzzle, the blouse, was a rush job.

I’m talking the day before I left on a trip that I’d be also using for my first photoshoot of the costume, when I realized that the shirt I had planned on using looks crappy with the jacket. And I can’t really change the jacket, since it’s lined and I love it.

It also occurred to me that because I’m not necessarily stuck in a summer con that I can wear long sleeves. So I did, and I think it helps balance out some of the elements.

I used the pattern I made for my Peggy costume, which is quickly becoming my favorite close fitting button up pattern (also known as my only close fitting button up pattern).

The back needed to be redrafted so it was a single piece with no gathering, and I removed some of the curve that is meant to help with swayback, since this would be worn over a corset and was short enough not to really effect it.

The front was redrafted for a shawl collar, which would start its separation above I also decided that long diagonal darts would be neat for a change to the front. I wasn’t feeling the tucks this time, and they would be completely hidden by the outer corset anyway.

The fabric that I showed in this post three years ago that I thought I’d use for a bustle was originally going to be used for this shirt. I got all the way through making it, and was ready to cut the facings when I decided to try it on. And the fabric next to the side seam tore about three inches. Worst feeling ever.

Granted, the fabric was old and holey, and I think it’s silk, so I should have expected some mishaps. I ended up going to dinner with a friend, and once I got back I assessed my options. I looked at the pile of fabrics that I earmarked for this project, and I found this very neat, and very stiff home decor fabric. It would work for the body of the shirt, and I could use the same fabric from the apron for the sleeves. I was able to reuse the broken silk version for the facings, so that is could still be involved.

The body fabric doesn’t press very well, which may have to do with the fact that it essentially feels like lightweight bendable plastic, so the seams and the darts aren’t flat, but most of that is hidden by the outer corset.

There is a slight stain on the gold fabric I used for facing, but that also means I have an excuse to use my Eleventh Doctor’s sonic screwdriver pin. I felt it was fitting.

Now that I’ve worn it once, it’s not quite as fitted as I’d like, so I’m considering taking in the side seams, and maybe adding another dart, a smaller one, to help with some accidental saggy boob look, from being too loose at the bust with a tight corset underneath.

But regardless the shirt does it’s job, and once I bind the inside seams to keep fraying at bay, it’ll serve its purpose for as long as I need it to.

That wraps it up for the new construction. I’ve got some more posts, like updates on older pieces, and I don’t think I ever showed you the TV purse, and also hair and makeup… But I might save that for next week! See you later!

April 14, 2016August 19, 2018

Bustle and Apron

In case you’ve missed the last few posts, I’m giving notes on my most recent costume, and anthropomorphic version of the inside of the 11th Doctor’s first TARDIS. I’ve posted about the bum pad, the petticoat, and the console skirt.

When I picked up the gold taffeta that starred in the skirt, I also picked up this dark gold taffeta. Originally it was planned to be a part of the skirt, so it would have been aqua: bright gold: dark gold: bright gold: aqua, etc. But I thought that might be a bit too busy, and it definitely would have complicated the “I made the skirt way too big” conundrum. Then when it came to the bustle, I decided it would be the best option.

Three years ago, when I started this concept, I had gotten this decaying silk (I’m pretty sure) gold fabric from a costume store in Cardiff. I thought it would be fitting, since we had just been to the Doctor Who Experience, and having something in the costume from Cardiff would make it even more special. That fabric would have been much too light for the bustle, I know now, so it will make an appearance later.

The taffeta has enough body all on its own to hold up to bustling. I gathered it to the back of a waistband and attached it. Granted, I probably should’ve waited until I had the apron sorted as well, but I was not thinking clearly on day 4 of a marathon costume journey.

Then I decided to work on the apron, since that would determine how long down the sides the bustle could go. The apron is entirely made up of curtain fabric that I got from a grab bag. And I’ve got plenty more if I need it. Because this stuff will shrink down to nothing, so I got to stuff the bag really full. It has two layers, or technically three. The outer orange-y iridescent layer, the lattice layer, and then the orange layer on the inside again (though this one is folded from the first layer. Come to think of it, the lattice one might be a double layer as well. I wanted the apron to be soft, but hefty enough to allow for the nice folded texture.

I learned from this video that I should pleat upwards, which I used for both the apron and the bustle. I can attest that it really does give so much body to the garments that makes them so much better! And I got the idea to combine the apron and the bustle on the same waistband from this tutorial.

I fiddled around for awhile until I got the apron the way I like it, and then I pinned it to a ribbon hanging off the waistband on either side.

The bustle was equally as fiddly. I pleated the sides, and then I just fiddled until it looked less like a mushroom and more like a poufy cream puff. I attached these to more ribbons hanging down the back with some tacks.

The waistband closes on one side with a whole row of hooks and eyes. I’m planning on adding some buttons to add to the design, but buttonholes would never work with all this fabric, so the hook and eyes are there to stay. The other side has the bustle and the apron sewn together, for ease of putting the contraption on.

So that’s it for the skirts! We’re nearing the end of our journey. Next week I’ll tell you about the blouse I cobbled together, and perhaps either the TV purse, or the accessories. Or maybe just the blouse. It’ll depend on how busy I get, and whether I remember to prepare… I do have a field trip this weekend, so we’ll see how much I remember to do!

April 12, 2016August 19, 2018

TARDIS Console Skirt

Now we’ve made it to the real meat of the costume. Last week, or rather two weeks go now that I’ve checked, you saw the petticoat, and the bum pad before that. This week we’re onto the skirts.

This gold polyester taffeta has been sitting in my stash for two years now. And this week I learned that even if I sneeze in its general direction, it will collect water stains. Also, its super easy to accidentally melt.

But back to the costume. In order to model it off of the console, I wanted 6 sections of gold divided by sections of light aqua.

link

Super scientifically I measured the base of the skirt (on the ground…with my flat tape) and divided it into six sections. Now, this ended up being too big, but we’ll get to that. I then decided I wanted the aqua sections to be about 3 inches wide, and divvied up the fabric.

When I saw how woodgie the aqua fabric was, I knew that I needed to not only back it with something, but back it with something solid, so I used the same taffeta for that as well. I cut the aqua 5 inches wide, and then gathered it every 10 inches or so, and basted it to the taffeta. I was using half inch seam allowances throughout, mostly so it would be easy to calculate the exact widths. I then realized that the skirt could use some extra texture, so I made wide pleats up three of the six panels, and centered one of them in the back.

Once the entire skirt was sewn up, it was a panel too wide, but I was determined to keep all six, so I left the back pleated one (which I had accidentally melted the bottom of anyway), and cut off 4 inches of each other panel.

It still ended up a bit wide, but it was easily handled by pleating, and the apron and bustle covered up most of the top of the skirt anyway!

I attached a waistband made out of the same taffeta (sense a theme?), and used a zipper to close it. It’s not a long zipper, so it’s still a smidge difficult to get on, but it works nicely. And it’s covered by the bustle anyways. If I knew it would be seen, I’d think of using a different closure, but it’s fine for this one!

Now, by this point I had spent nearly two days working on this skirt, when it was only supposed to take me one, and I hadn’t even touched the pleats on the bottom yet. I took a break to drape the apron and bustle and make the shirt. But it’s probably better that I did.

The break gave me time to buy some poster board, which I used to make a pleating board. It took nearly three hours to pleat enough to go all the way around the skirt. And I only almost melted the taffeta once.

There is always time to add extra trim, which is what I’ll be doing for the next month or so, since my daily life will be too busy to facilitate the extracurriculars. So tedious hand sewing could keep me on track! But that’s the skirt as it stood for the pictures that I’ve taken of the whole costume.

I’ll be back on Thursday to show you the bustle. Till then!

March 31, 2016August 19, 2018

Tales of a Bright Blue Petticoat

On Tuesday I told you about my new bum pad, Fluffybutt, for my TARDIS costume.

Because this wasn’t a lobstertail, with some built in petticoat tendencies, I knew that I’d need to change my plans and make an actual petticoat. I didn’t want to go out and buy fabric, partially because of my fabric ban and partially because I didn’t want to lose steam. So I picked up this turquoise poly-crepe that I originally intended for curtains, and used that! It was a bit over 2 yards if I remember correctly.

I first started by “draping” the fabric over my dress form, lining up the selvedge with the hem, and pleating over the bum pad. I tried to follow this tutorial, but I didn’t quite have enough fabric, so it was modified quite a bit. I made as many ruffles as I had fabric for, and tried to overlap them, but it didn’t always quite make it.

The back piece, with the ruffles, I did cut down to a trapezoid shape. The front was pinned to my dressform, and I may have forgotten to cut it down. I had already pleated it so it would fit, and I was using ties as a closure instead of a zipper or buttons, so it didn’t really matter if it fit perfectly there.

The main piece of advice that I utilized from the tutorial was not sewing up the entire seam of the petticoat, which would theoretically allow me to step with a wider gait. It would work if my skirt also didn’t impede on that problem. I’m pleased with the result, though. It hangs nicely, is lightweight and strangely comfortable. And it provides a nice swish…

And the most important part – the overskirt hangs wonderfully! More on that next week.

March 29, 2016August 19, 2018

Fluffybutt

Welcome to the reboot of TARDIS Tuesday! And Thursday, at least until all the pieces have been blogged!

I might have mentioned that I am insane and planning to make a ballgown, but that means that I need to clean out some of my lingering costume projects to make mental, and actual room for said insanity.

So it was off to the TARDIS races. Especially because a weekend with my study abroad musketeers was fast approaching, which would be the best time to get some pictures of this.

For nearly three years I was procrastinating on choosing a type of bustle for the skirts of the TARDIS, but I was waffling. I wanted to make a fishtail bustle. but I also thought a bum pad would be nice. I wanted Natural Form, and also the big poufy bustle look.

But for time’s sake, I went with a bum pad.

I measured my back waist, subtracted an inch, and then drew a half circle that looked large enough, which also had a radius a bit shorter than half the back waist, since I didn’t really want a full half circle.

The fabric reminds me of couch cushion fabric that my family had when I was growing up, but realistically it’s an upholstery weight loosely woven floral. It’s probably cotton, and it presses rather well.

The ruffles were all the same length of fabric, and were just gathered to the different necessary widths. I used the rest of the width of the fabric to get the ruffles, after cutting out the two semicircles.

I sewed on the hemmed ruffles, and then sewed up the circumference, but left the top open. I used a bright blue grosgrain ribbon for a waistband, so I sewed the top of the bum pad to the ribbon before stuffing it.

There’s been a pound of stuffing in my belongings for over 4 years now. Every time I use it I feel like I’m putting a dent into it, but it’s always there patiently waiting. By now, I still have 2/3 left… And this is the second thing resembling a pillow.

When trying it on with the stuffing, I made sure that it stuck out parallel to the floor, knowing that it would flatten a bit with the weight of skirts. Then I whipstitched the opening of the pad closed.

The pad sits nicely on top of my butt, which unfortunately does not given me extra padding when sitting, but is a lovely way to increase my butt-profile.

Also, as an explanation for the title… My neighbor has many cats, most of which are outside cats, since we have tiny apartments, and there’s only so many cats you can keep indoors. One has taken a liking to sitting on my windowsill. He (or she… I have no clue) is a long haired black cat with a white belly. And he’ll sit on my windowsill for hours. So I affectionately call him Fluffybutt. And I named my bum pad after him. That makes sense, right?

Stay tuned for the petticoat post on Thursday!