Glove tutorial

For my next project I needed a pair of gloves in the exact same colour as my skirt. Since the skirt is made in lycra I decided that it couldn't be too hard to make my own gloves, and to be honest it was really simple.

One important thing is that this only works if you are using a fourway-stretch, like lycra or spandex. For anything else you need to create a pattern with a piece called a "flechette" and is the extra fabric that goes between the fingers in order to make the glove big enough and also make it possible to move the fingers.

I started with simply tracing my own hand and wrist on paper.

As you can see I made sure to really spread my fingers. I then added seam allowance, and some extra at the bottom, since the arm is more threedimensional than my fingers.

I cut out two pieces and pinned them together. I sewed Everything together with a fairly tight zigzag stitch. It would probably be even better to use an overlock stitch, but I don't have yellow thread for my serger and something is wrong with my regular machine so I can't choose any of the "b"-side seams.

I then tried the glove on, and could see that I had made some of the fingers and the bottom part too big, so I simply adjusted them with new seams inside the old one. Then I turned the glove so I got the right side out.

Tada, a finished, shiny glove.

Come to ArCon Sommar and the Dalarna Cosplay Championships!

This weekend there is ArCon Sommar, which is the first try of having a local convention in Falun. This is a small voluntarily run event, nothing commercial and I don't think any sellers will be there. ArCon is club that works with game culture, and included in that you have all kinds of computer games, e-sport, tabletop games, figure games and cosplay. It is the Cosplay Dalarna meetings on Tuesdays that have made ArCon interested in arranging things for cosplay as well, and when they planned ArCon Sommar there was a wish to have a day for cosplay.

ArCon Sommar takes place August 12-14 (Saturday-Monday) and it's Sunday the 13th that is focused on cosplay.

I'm going to have a talk about "What is Cosplay", host a workshop showing off different materials and techniques that you can use, talk about fandom fashion and finally present the Dalarna Cosplay Championships. All throughout the day I'm hoping that there will be plenty of opportunities to meet up with other cosplayers and network.

If you are in the area I would be happy to meet you too!

First look at The Last Jedi - Leia

Blogger is usually good with saving stuff, but this post was mysteriously deleted and I've had to rewrite it. Well here goes.

Of course I know myself well enough that I was sure that I was going to try and do something for the premiere of The Last Jedi in Decemeber. Then the Vanity Fair cover with Carrie Fisher as Leia was released in the spring, and I fell totally in love with the costume.

I haven't taken a serious look at the costume, except being scared of how to create the cloak without any visible seams, until now though. By now some other photos of Leia has emerged.

There are some serious differences of the cloak though. I'm going to call the first one the VF (Vanity Fair) version and the other the grey version. The grey version has a collar that is a lot smaller, the fabric also shows an almost striped or checkered texture. My initial guess is that it's a basketweave fabric. To make it even more mysterious there is this photo showing a large collar, like the VF version, but with a seam that's not visible on the VF cover.

Personally I think that there are two versions of the cloak out there. One that was used for the VF cover, and it's quite pssible that the photo above is from the photo shoot since Mark Hamill is standing in the background. I can't be sure that this cloak will even be in the film. The other version has been shown in photos from the set though.

This grey version with its smaller collar is a lot more straight forward. The only tricky part might be the collar, since there are no seams visible it must be cut in one with the front pieces, with possible just a center back seam. I do have a shrug pattern that's cut like that though.

When it comes to what fabric it's made of. My first instinct was actally to make the VF version in neoprene, it would be incorrect but could give that smooth, but still structured, shape. The grey version with its basketweave pattern could not be made from that material though. Just on a whim I searched for black basketweave wool and stumbled upon this fabric.

From b&j fabrics

It is black and has that distinctive pattern. It's not wool though but a silk and viscose gazar. I had never Heard of gazar so I did a bit of googling on the term. It's a very stiff silk that was inventend by Balenciaga in the 1960's to get a fabric that was suite for very structured garments. One of his most famous pieces is this one seam wedding gown in silk gazar.

One seam wedding gown, Balenciaga 1967

Doesn't the drape and sheen of the fabric look similar to the VF cloak? And wouldn't it be likely that both coats are made of similar fabric, gazar, even if one has a pattern to it? I'm pretty convinded that both cloaks are made of silk gazar, but with a price tag of $130/yard I'm not prepared to buy it and make a cloak out of it until there are more detailed photos. And not until there is a concensus on what colour the costume actually has, since we can assume that especially the VF version but probably all photos have had some colour editing done to them. My first version, before the film is out, will have to be made in something else, I'm thinking some kind of thin cotton or wool basketweave fabric that can be interfaced with something Heavy to give it structure.

The gown she's wearing under the cloak seems to be fairly simple.

A soft longsleeved gown with around neck, with a keyhole cut, gathered under the bust and with a belt of the same material. It's also possible that the belt is just govering the gathering and doesn't go all the way round the gown. The fabric looks quite dull but it's not transparent. I'm thinking that some kind of chiffon or similar would be good for it.

Now if she could only turn around so that we can see the back of the hair.

NärCon round up

So it's time to post my NärCon photos. I had a blast at NärCon, it was much better than the last time I was there. I had the feeling that there were more people in my own age there, not just teenager. It was also great to hang around with Tom from Cosplay Dalarna, so I was never alone. In the end I didn't go to a single panel or workshop, but spent all the time trooping or walking around in the area. These are just a few of the wonderful costumes that I saw.

Elin Cat Jacobsson in her fabulous Lady of the Mine costume

Tom as a Fallout vault dweller

A great Maui from Moana/Vaiana

Carolina (Meline Cosplay) at the J-fashion show

Anna (ArtyAnna) at the same show

Me celebrating second Place in the pokemon Cosplay walk-on contest

A perfect Tinker Bell

Sara (A costuming engineer) in her steampunk outfit

Henrik (Pilerud's cosplay) in the Benny costume he won the cosplay masters with

The Borlänge contingent from Cosplay Dalarna

Even if the e/R ship is not something I agree with, I was happy to see some Les Mis cosplayers

Our Cosplay Dalarna meetup

And finally some of my favorite Bellossom photos from the weekend. I spent most of the evenings in this costume, after I trooped in my jawa and pilot with the Nordic Legions in the afternoon. The fun thing was that since I walked around with Tom, well nobody wanted to take photos of us together. They either wanted a photo of him as a Fallout Raider, or me as Pokemon, but not both of us.