Lady of the Thread's Sewing Basket

Ugh. Somehow, a mosquito got into my room this morning and decided I was breakfast. I got bitten like ten times. -_-X


Going to do the cosplay meme that’s been floating around since I actually have decent answers to most of these. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any memes; I tend to skip a lot since they’re too long or my answers would be really boring. I’ll do them in batches of 5 the next few times I post.

1. Your first cosplay.
Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh for AnimeNext 2003. (The photo is actually from a couple of years later though.) I did make the coat but it was intended to be a normal coat and just got appropriated for cosplay when I decided it could pass for his purple coat. ^_^; Black clothes were just bought and I made the accessories. Still get occasional questions about the card locket but the business card case I used as a base has been discontinued for years; too bad since the pattern on the lid was perfect for it.


2. How many costumes have you done?
Around 30. Considering I’ve been doing this for about 8 years, it’s relatively few per year. ^_^;

3. Your most recent cosplay.
Kuranosuke from Kuragehime which I don’t have a good picture of yet (plus I didn’t get a chance to make the crown and earrings for AnimeNext) but here’s the jellyfish dress on my dressform.


4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
Here on LJ, mostly. I hardly post on cosplay.com anymore other than on the con specific forums once in a while.

5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
http://www.acparadise.com/loves/lady_of_the_thread


( the rest of the questions )

So, AnimeNext happened. Got to the con around noon on Friday, checked into the hotel, and had lunch before picking up badges and starting to wander. Wore my newer Ryuuren costume that day for a Saiunkoku photoshoot with neoangelwink and kitsunesqueak; athena_chan couldn’t join us since she had to watch the artist’s alley table but she found a friend to wear her Ryuuki costume so we finally got all 4 costumes together in photos! The photoshoot was quite silly and involved a sake bottle (empty!) and fighting over fake manjuu. XD

Carrie had suggested entering the hall contest as a group when I called her a couple of nights before the con but the photoshoot ran long, our Ryuuki had to leave, and she had to get back to artist’s alley so that didn’t happen. :-( I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to do the contest on my own since I felt Ryuuren was a bit plain compared to other stuff I’d done in the past. But there was no line to be judged when I wandered over there so I did enter after debating for a while.

Walked around a while longer before my brother and his friend ordered pizza for dinner. Then, spent the rest of the evening in the room, prepared the jellyfish dress for the next day, painted my nails pink, and went to bed around 11:30.


Saturday, I wore Kuranosuke’s jellyfish dress from Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish). I didn’t have time to make the crown or earrings but I was quite happy with how the dress came out. ^_^ I think I’m going to add a bit more to the petticoats (or maybe build a mini hoopskirt?) for next time though since the weight of the pearls hanging from the dress did smoosh them down quite a bit. I kind of want to replace my wig, too. I’d bought the New Look Showgirl wig in Light Purple since it seemed to be the only wavy or curly lavender wig I could find that was long enough but it’s somewhat thin at the top and the fibers aren’t as nice as their natural color wigs. :-/

My brother took a few pictures and then I just wandered around or talked to people most of the day. Despite the anime only airing towards the end of last year (this is the quickest I’ve ever cosplayed something after it aired!), a bunch of people did recognize the costume and a few seemed pretty excited to see it! One person asked if I was Sheryl though, which I found kind of amusing. (Wasn’t there a line in the anime about the type of jellyfish the dress was based on being the pop idol of the jellyfish world? I think I remember Tsukimi saying something like that.)

Masquerade was the shortest I’ve ever seen at any con with only 10 entries. o_o; Entry numbers went up to 18 though so presumably all the skipped numbers were groups that dropped out. I remember in the early years of AnimeNext, there used to be thirty something entries so it’s kind of sad that it has dwindled to this. When the hall contest winners were announced, I ended up winning Best of Friday Craftsman; I shared some of the stuff from my prize bag with Carrie since I originally hadn’t planned to do the hall contest at all this year and only prepared notes and references since she had suggested entering as a group.


I had packed my Eugenie costume for Sunday since it had been so hot the few days before the con and I figured it was one of the few costumes I wouldn’t melt in. But since it was forecast to be rainy and cool again like the previous day (I probably had a shawl over the jellyfish dress a third of the time) and I didn’t especially feel like wearing 4 1/2 inch platform heels, I wore Ryuuren again. And if the long hair and dangly earrings didn’t make him look girly enough, I was stuck with pink nails since I didn’t bring any nail polish remover. ^_^;; A few people did recognize it as Saiunkoku cosplay, which was nice. I know my cosplays tend to be obscure though so I’m always a bit amused to see what people mistake my cosplays for. I got asked if I was China (must be the ponytail and Ancient Chinese looking outfit) and if I was cosplaying from Dynasty Warriors. I confuse people a lot! XD

Checked out of the hotel, took care of luggage, and wandered around the con. Went home around 3. The con seemed a bit boring but it was nice to see friends I hadn’t seen in a while. I wish I’d gotten a chance to hang out a bit more though; some people I ran into once and then never saw again the whole weekend!


Off to Washington for the day tomorrow to see Follies! Will take my copy of the libretto and reread it on the trip down. I’d also like to reread Everything was Possible (book about the creation of the original Broadway production of Follies) but can’t seem to find my copy.

So, here’s what I’ve been working on lately. I’ve only mentioned to a few people that I was thinking of doing this costume. For those who I haven’t told, any guesses what it’s going to be? :-D



The petticoat still needs some work. Right now, it’s 6 layers and has about 7 yards of tulle and 3 yards of netting in it. I made each layer half an inch shorter than the one under it for the graduated effect and the ruffle on each layer was 9 yards long before gathering. o_o; I’m satisfied with the ruffled part but want it poofier at the waist. In the picture, I actually have the petticoat I normally wear with my pink Japanese print dress under the one with all the ruffles to help show the shape I’d like the finished dress to have. So, I’ll most likely make a second petticoat to go under the ruffled one after I get some more netting. I can’t use the one under there right now since it’s too long and just tucked up so that it doesn’t show below the ruffles. The ruffled petticoat only reaches my fingertips and the dress that goes over it is even shorter so that the ruffles show. Must get white shorts to go under this or maybe make ruffly bloomers if I have time. ^_^;;

For the necklace, I couldn’t find a large rectangular blue gem with a setting so I had to buy a clear gem with a setting and pry it out so I could replace it with a loose blue gem in the same size. The setting also only had two holes in each side so I had to ask my father to take it to the store and drill a couple of extra holes into it for me. After that, stringing the necklace was pretty simple.

Haven’t posted lately since the past two weeks have been kind of crazy.

First, Anime Boston happened. Almost got on the wrong bus going there since my brother insisted on taking Bolt rather than the Chinatown bus which we usually do for Boston. We had tickets for 11AM and got there with less than 10 minutes to spare since we were stuck in midtown traffic; not wanting to miss the bus, we ran over and put the luggage on but it turns out it was the bus to Philly and the Boston bus hadn’t even arrived yet! So, we got the luggage off and then our bus finally showed up at 11 and started 10 minutes late.

I had fun at the con though. Actually made it to a couple of panels this time and was in cosplay chess as Ryuuren. The chess theme was Magic vs. Science so I was on the magic side although I doubt many knew why considering Ryuuren’s powers are only hinted at in the anime and the big revelation doesn’t come until the light novels that go beyond the anime. ^_^; ( novel spoilers for the curious ) Of course, I had terrible flute music as my attack since the con’s theme was music. XD But I ended up being the first one off the board this year so I didn’t actually get to capture anyone. I haven’t had time to watch it yet but the whole chess match is up on YouTube; I’m introduced around 21:45 and get killed off around 29:00.



Didn’t do any photoshoots (unless a couple of trips to the photo suite count) so no photo post for AB. I’ve only put up one pic of the new Ryuuren costume on ACP so far since I improved on the hair a lot after AB and want to wait for newer photos.

Got home from Boston, unpacked, and then packed this different set of costumes for Costume Con the next weekend:



In the few days that I was home, I also made a new pair of pants for the second Ryuuren costume so more of the design on the boots would show. (They were supposed to be shorter than the pants with the first costume but I didn’t have time to make new ones before Boston.) And I figured out how to better do the hair for that costume so the bangs are no longer so flat and the high ponytail doesn’t slip behind my head. Didn’t have time to add the rest of the red cords that hang from the sash though; I might just redo the whole sash and put a heavy interfacing inside so it can better support the weight.

Costume Con was fun. Caught up with some friends I hadn’t seen in ages, went to a whole bunch of panels, saw some awesome costumes, and took lots of pics. Even found some Monkey Island and Saiunkoku fans to chat with! :-D Don’t really have any pics of myself from the con but don’t really care since I mostly wore old costumes. It had been so long since I’d worn my formal Terra (last time was Anime North 2007), I couldn’t even remember for sure which side the scarves were supposed to tie on! ^_^;;

Saiunkoku pictures with the cherry blossoms finally happened and I’ve spent the last few days catching up on things although I’m still behind on online stuff. Went shopping Friday and got chocolate for my mother for Mother’s Day. And I just bought fabric and beads for a new costume which will hopefully be done for AnimeNext. ^_^;

My new Ryuuren costume is almost done but now there are other issues...

This is probably a longshot but are there any photographers available to do a cherry blossom photoshoot next week with neoangelwink, athena_chan, and me in our Saiunkoku costumes? Our tenative plan was to try to shoot next Tuesday because it’s the only day my brother is available but now he says he might be too busy with schoolwork so now I’m trying to come up with a backup plan. -_-

I'd definitely reimburse garden admission and come up with something else as a thank you if we do need someone else. The main difficulty is it would have to be during a weekday since we’re all going to Anime Boston this weekend and I’m missing next weekend’s Sakura Matsuri to be at Costume Con in NJ. The garden is closed Mondays so that leaves Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. According to the map on their site, none of the trees in the main area at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden have started to bloom yet but we’re hoping there’ll be some blooming next week; I suspect they’ll be nice for Sakura Matsuri but it’s hard to guess whether they’ll last beyond that.

I ran into umister today! After fabric shopping, I went by the plastic store so I could get a ride home with my father and she was there picking up some sintra. So, we chatted for a while and I introduced her to my father. It was quite a coincidence since I usually work from home and only drop by the store when I’m in the city.


Picked up a bunch of supplies for Ryuuren earlier in the afternoon and spent way too much on trim. And I have a bit of a rant on that… Why is it so hard to find nice metallic gold trim?! I was looking for something that didn’t have other colors or sequins mixed in and ribbons were out since they’re not flexible enough to follow curved edges smoothly. And much of what was left was an anemic gold rather than a nice yellow gold. Complicating matters was the fact that I needed two different widths so I had to find two trims that were about the same color. The wider one I settled on was $8 a yard and I wasn’t even that crazy about it; it was just the best out of what I could find at several different stores. So, the vest is taking about $11 of fabric (the orange brocade was left from the first Ryuuren costume so I only needed to buy some more of the blue brocade and lining) but $35-$40 of trim. -_- I think that’s about as much as all of the fabric I'm using for this costume.

And I’m still trying to figure out what to do about the thin green bangle bracelets. The difficulty is that there are supposed to be beads on them so I can’t just use a normal bangle. I had an idea about getting large binder rings and painting them since I’d be able to open them to string the beads on and hide the breaks with the beads but the largest I found at Staples was 2”. (I got wooden beads since they have huge holes and will paint them.) Maybe, I can cut a bangle open, string the beads on and then glue it back with a bead covering the break? I have some extras that might work since the bangles I painted for my first Ryuuren costume were sold in a set with some thinner ones. I think I’d rather not have to resort to molding clay beads around a bangle or trying to make my own bangle with wire since it would be difficult to get either perfectly round and smooth.

I also went by Pearl River to see if I could find something like Shuurei’s manjuu box. I couldn’t find one with a handle but I did get a red lacquer box. Will try to fill it with fake buns for photos. :-D

Went shopping over the weekend but didn’t buy much. The most interesting thing I got was probably some chili-flavored Lindt chocolate. Ever since I first saw it, I’d been a bit curious what that would taste like so I finally got a bar. It tastes pretty much like normal dark chocolate at first but leaves a spicy aftertaste.

My brother has been pretty busy with school lately so he’s still working on Katsucon pictures. Here’s the other one of my Count D costume. This took a ridiculous number of tries since my wig kept poking out in odd ways and I was being picky about it. ^_^;;;



Anime Boston is in 2 1/2 weeks and Costume Con in 3 1/2 weeks so this month is going to be somewhat crazy. Plus, trying to fit in Saiunkoku cherry blossom pictures with neoangelwink and athena_chan sometime. It looks like it’s going to be tricky since AB and CC weekends are probably when the blossoms will be open. We’ll all be out of town for AB and although they’ll be at the garden for Sakura Matsuri, I’ll be at Costume Con. :-/ Last year, it was so warm that the trees hit peak bloom 2 weeks before the festival but that looks unlikely this year. From checking the garden’s cherry blossom status map, only a handful of trees have started to bloom. I know from past years that the trees around the pond tend to hit peak before the trees in the main area start to bloom so I doubt the trees will hit full bloom before AB weekend.

But first, I need to finish up my new Ryuuren costume. Currently working on the vest. Still need to do the sash, accessories, and boots. Plus, figure out hair after the clip-in ponytail I ordered arrives.

And at this point, I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of trying to do anything to fit the Broadway theme for Costume Con. I love musicals but I just couldn’t come up with anything I especially wanted to make that wouldn’t have required much more money and time than I’d be willing to spend on a costume I might not have a good opportunity to wear again. :-/ There are a lot of musicals that I love for the music or the entire production but out of those, there aren’t many individual characters I love and would want to cosplay as. I thought about doing Polly’s white gown from the finale of “Crazy for You” but it was a huge circle skirt trimmed with ostrich feathers all around the hem and it would have cost hundreds for the feather trim alone. x_x I didn’t really want to crossplay for this either considering I already do so many guy characters for anime/manga or I might have considered Sir Percy because I love The Scarlet Pimpernel.

I did the paid account trial LJ was offering and tacked on a couple of months when it ran out over the weekend since there were a few things I wanted access to a while longer. But I was completely surprised to get an e-mail last night saying another 2 months of paid time was added to my account. Thank you to whoever did that! :-)

And the final reminder… The auctions for my handcrafted items end tonight and 100% of the final bids will go to Red Cross to help the Japanese relief efforts. All 3 items end tonight around 10:30-11:00 Eastern Time, less than 7 hours from now. So, if you’re going to bid, now is the time!

(I kind of hate that I sound like a broken record but it’s for charity and bidding has been disappointingly slow so far. I was planning to donate an extra $100 of my own on top of whatever the charity auctions brought in but all 3 items together haven’t even gotten to that level yet. :-/)

http://shop.ebay.com/the_embroideress/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25 Auctions are over now.

So, I figured out what I’m making next. I’m going to do Ryuuren’s outfit from the end of season 2 so I can hopefully get pictures with neoangelwink and athena_chan during cherry blossom season. This might be tricky since Anime Boston and Costume Con are on back to back weekends plus Costume Con conflicts with Sakura Matsuri but we’ll try to make it work somehow. That’s partly why I decided to make this outfit; the one I already have is too crazy looking for wandering around on a normal day for a photoshoot and it looks like that's what we'll have to do.



Went out last week and bought some of the fabric and jewelry stuff for it. I have a set of fake bangs and should order a long clip-in ponytail sometime soon because even if my hair is long, it’s not that long! (It’s as if Ryuuren’s hair somehow grew a foot in the few months he hadn’t appeared!)

Haven’t started sewing yet but I made these earrings for the costume last week and I am rather amused I’ll get to wear pretty dangly earrings for a guy character. XD Attaching the crystals was kind of awkward since the holes aren’t that large and I had to curve the wire after putting it through the holes. Plus, the fan pieces had 6 sections so I had to attach the middle crystal to the two center ones to keep the earring from going off balance.


If you missed my last post, I am selling a few crafty things I made in charity auctions for Red Cross. One item doesn’t have any bids yet and the others haven’t moved beyond the starting bid yet so the prices are still very low considering the work that went into the pieces. And since I almost never agree to sell my work since I do such ridiculously labor intensive things, here’s your super rare chance to own a Lady of the Thread creation! :-D More details here:

http://ladyofthethread.livejournal.com/190289.html

Katsucon photos went up at risingsun.net the other day so I guess I’ll make my photo post now since I have most pics other than a few my brother is still working on.

First, Saiunkoku with neoangelwink as Shuurei and athena_chan as Ryuuki.



( More Saiunkoku pics )

( Count D and Kyoya pics )