ladyofthethread | Costume babble

New Count D progress pic: http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=1317034

I’ve gotten the main robe done except for adding a couple of hook and eyes at the collar and doing the bias binding along the slits and hem. Hope to get that done over the next few days and then I’ll fix the tabard and make the sash. Still haven’t decided exactly what color to make the sash; it’s completely unshaded in the reference and shouldn’t exactly match any of the fabrics you can see in that picture. Plain yellow or a lighter gold, maybe?

Haven’t completely decided on a color for the cabochons in the brooches yet either. I ordered stone ones in blue, purple, and green but they’re all too dark for the color to show well. I’ll probably paint over them with a lighter shade once I decide what I want because the color selection for large round cabochons is really limited. None of the bead shops in the city seem to carry them either although I sometimes see large disk-shaped beads.

Saturday, I went to the cosplay day at Kinokuniya (dressed as Count D’s sister) with my brother and a couple of his friends. Saw a few friends and had a nice chat with

neoangelwink who was telling me about the Sora costume she’s working on. ^_^ I’m now thinking I might do a Layla cosplay next year (or maybe a Sarah if I can get away with reusing my Renrin wig) so we can be a duo rather than just two Soras. I still want to finish Sora’s Saiyuki costume sometime but I was already considering doing a Layla at some point, too. Need to check my Kaleido Star DVDs when I have time so I can remember all the costumes and pick something.

Looked in a few fabric stores afterwards but didn’t buy anything because I got indecisive. I’ve been trying to decide how to make my phoenix prop and I’m still not sure whether I want to go with fabric or feathers. The feathers in the reference look kind of spiky so if I used fabric, I think something with some stiffness like taffeta would be good. According to the text, it’s supposed to be a rainbow colored bird so I’d need all those colors. But color selection is limited in some of the fashion district shops and I was worried about not being able to piece together a palette that works if I only got a color or two each at different shops. This is probably one of those times when a Jo-Ann’s would be handy.

Feathers seem to take dye well and I’d be able to control the palette more easily if I got white and dyed the different shades myself. That way, I could make sure they go well with each other and the colors in the costume than having to depend on what colors I can find in stores. But I don’t know if they’d hold up as well as fabric and they’re expensive. (Although the notion of a budget on this costume has mostly gone out the window after the contacts and the $200 of Swarovski pearls/jewelry supplies. >_>;)