Shadow Weaver Construction

Original Design

Final Costume

Well, I'd meant to update this as I went along, but I ran out of time (I was working on the costume until 2:30 the morning of C2E2).  The problem was that I started the costume during The Worst Week in the History of America.  Needless to say, not only was I glued to the computer for news, I was also cleaning up the flooding in our family room.  (Luckily, we had less than an inch of water, but it was still a lot of cleanup.)  So, basically, I made the majority of Shadow Weaver in a week.  I actually made the dress itself twice because the original fabric I used was way too light.  Also, because I was so rushed, I didn't take a lot of photos, so bear with me.

I started out with the Sassoon/Vogue 2931 pattern, which I purchased off of eBay.  I couldn't find a single mermaid dress pattern in the stores!

I had to modify the bodice, as there was no real bodice.  I used one of my other dress patterns to draft the top of the bodice pieces.  Also, I cut the center front piece on the fold.  I split the bottom and added a piece, and it just didn't work, so I'll be remaking the center front.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here.  I made a mockup out of muslin before making it out of the fabric, which was a Sew Classics Tango Red Jet Set fabric.  (I had originally used something a bit more stretchy, but it wasn't heavy enough to drape the way I wanted it to.)

I then drafted the sleeves (or, as I call them, the "wings") to be cut on the fold, then cut out two linings and two fabrics, then sewed one lining to one fabric and then turned them inside out.

After piecing the wings together, I had to attach them to the arms.  This was a bit trickier than I'd expected, and I should have cut the wings with the fold on the top of the arms, not the middle.  I ended up having to make two cuts in one piece (I hadn't sewed the two pieces together yet).  I managed to then sew it onto the armholes and then patch up the back so that you couldn't see the cuts I'd made in the wing.  It looked like a drunk monkey made it, but you can't tell at all now.  After that, I sewed the front and back wings together at the top.  Did I mention what a bad idea that was?

So here we are almost at the end of construction.  Sorry about that.  I needed to have a ton of tulle to make the skirt stick out so I looked like I was floating.  I bought 5 yards of the double-wide tulle just to start out with.  The lady at JoAnn's was like, "wow, 5 yards of double-wide tulle is MORE than enough!"  Aw, you're so adorable, JoAnn's lady!  I ended up putting about 20 yards of tulle in this thing total.   SO MUCH TULLE!

Five yards of tulle

And I will be adding more because I had to cut so much off so that I wouldn't trip that it decreased the poofiness.  More in the front, more in the back.

Look how poofy!!!  Unfortunately, I had to cut quite a bit of it off to prevent me from tripping on it, and to prevent other people from stepping on it.  I was stepped on quite a bit as it was.  Sometimes you have to sacrifice accuracy for practicality.  Sad face. 

I had to make green arms, and I was going to use the method that the girl who made the Weeping Angel described here.  However, she must be an incredibly talented person, because I tried four times and never once did I cut the fingers out correctly.  So, I turned to another source.  I ended up buying this nylon opera-length glove in the color Celedon.  I don't know what Celedon is, but it sounds Elvish to me.  It shipped super fast and was the perfect color of green, even though it looks gray in this photo.  I then purchased long fashion nails from CVS, trimmed them into points, filed them a little,  and painted them black (using black paint).  I then hot-glued them onto the gloves (will I never learn?)  They were perfect until three of the nails on the right hand fell off at the con.  Oops.  Next time, I'll use E6000.

The final thing was to make the hood.  It. Was. A. Nightmare.  I tried a bunch of things, and then finally, my husband suggested armature wire.  Here are a few shots of the final construction of the form.  Oh, after some consideration, we also added some foam to the top of the form like a cap, just for support.  I put batting on top of that to smooth it out, and that also poofed the hood out enough that I didn't have to add any stuffing to the "tail".

This was the pattern I drafted for the hood fabric.  I started with the pattern from Simplicity 5840 and extended the bottom and tail, plus added a slight flair.  It was actually one of the first things I drafted and cut out.  I wasn't drafting patterns at 11:30 the night before a con.

So then, I glued two layers of chiffon to the form.  I know, glue.  But I was running out of time.  Actually, when I remake it, I'll probably use glue again.  It worked out pretty well.

I then put the hood on and draped a lower face mask over the bottom.  That was glued to the middle wire of the hood form.  I then attached it to the back of the hood and sewed it together (it's very difficult to sew something that's already attached to a wire form, but I had no other choice.)  My husband had to help me put it on and then glue (ARGH) velcro to the top of the dress and the underside of the hood to make it drape correctly.

This is what my machine looks like at 2:00 am.

The final thing was to add eyes made out of reflective tape.  They're orange when you take a normal photo, but when you use a flash, they glow!  It's fantastic, and another ingenious idea from my husband.

Oh, I almost forgot about the belt!  My wonderful husband (have I mentioned yet how great he's been?) made this for me when he realized I was beginning to panic about getting the costume finished.  It is gorgeously detailed, and while the front part is perfect, the belt part itself is a little wide, so I'll be remaking that as well.  Also, the glue (DAMN YOU, GLUE!) popped off of the metal support within about 10 minutes of putting it on at the con, so the majority of my photos have shiny metal showing through.

And here's the final product.  These photos are courtesy of my coworker, Lulette, who joined me at C2E2 for a bit.  I have very mixed feelings about how this turned out.  I still kind of feel like a bunch of crazed monkeys made it, but I have to remember that I drafted a majority of it myself, so I couldn't simply attach one piece to another and know it would work.  Also, making a costume from a cartoon is incredibly difficult; every reference shot I have has different proportions.  In some the sleeves have three "flames" on each side, and in some they have four.  In some shots, the sleeves nearly touch the ground, and in some, they're very short.  I will be remaking several aspects of the costume, including adding elastic to the sleeves so that the seam doesn't droop down off of the top of my arm (like I said, I should have made the seam on the back of the wings, not the top!)  I also need to bring the top of the hood lower so it doesn't look like I have a Chevy bumper forehead.

However, I was very pleased with the reception I received at C2E2.  It was almost as popular as my Clockwork Droid costume!  So I guess it's an acceptable cosplay, especially considering that it was constructed in a week ...

Shadow Weaver for C2E2

Well, I decided to go to C2E2 at the last minute (last-minute in con time = a few weeks out).  There was no costume that I'd already done that I wanted to wear, so I decided to finally make Shadow Weaver.  I've lost about 18 pounds in the last few months, so I finally have the confidence to wear something a bit more slinky than I normally would.

I'm starting today.

That gives me 14 days to design and build it.

Wish me luck.

C2E2 Recap

This year I went to the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) for the first time.  I hadn't planned on going, but my friends over at Space Gypsies convinced me to go as the Clockwork Droid, and since I love the attention I get in that outfit, I agreed to go.  Plus, John Barrowman, otherwise known as Captain Jack from Doctor Who and Torchwood, was going to be there.  Last year at Dragon*Con I got my picture taken with Gareth David-Lloyd, who plays Ianto Jones, so I thought it would be nice to have a photo of the Clockwork Droid with John Barrowman as well.

What a long day!  We went to the John Barrowman Q&A, where he was incredibly charming and entertaining.  Later, when I attempted to get in line for his autograph, they were capping the line due to the very small area set aside for the autograph queues.  They said to come back later, so I went to walk around and terrify people.  I couldn't believe how many people knew who I was.  Usually at Dragon*Con I'm mistaken for V from V for Vendetta, but I don't think a single person thought that at C2E2.  One really surprising thing was that about a quarter of my fans were African-American.  I had quite a few kids pose for pictures, too.  Two little girls ran up to me and said, "we have your doll!"  I had at least one person tell me they were a huge fan.  All in all, I posed for almost 300 pictures.  (However, that was nothing compared to the attention that my friends the Snowths got.  People LOVE those costumes!)

I also managed to get over to the Artists Alley and see my friend Jaysin Osterkamp, who I went to college with.  When we were a school, he wrote a strip called Northern Highz, and I loved reading it because his characters were students in the Communication Department.  After school, he drew the graphic novel Lost, which his friend Derek Glascock wrote.  When I got to their table, Jaysin was busy drawing, so I just stood there looking down at him.  When he glanced up and saw me, he jumped.  We chatted for a bit (as much as I can under that stupid mask), and I finally purchased Lost (it's really good so far, so if you like comics, check it out!)

I was finally let into the John Barrowman queue, along with Alyssa, one of the other Space Gypsies.  We were in line for a good hour and a half before it was our turn for autographs.  When he looked up and saw me, he jumped a little and said, "uh oh, am I in trouble?"  Well, I can't talk in that mask, so I just stood looking at him in what I can only hope was an evil stance.  He said, "who should I make this out to, 'V'?"  I almost died.  Meanwhile, his agent or whoever was sitting next to him asked if I was actually a person, or if he'd find gears under my mask.  At least he knew who I was!  Just then, Barrowman said, "lean in."  I had no idea what he meant, and he said more loudly, "LEAN IN!"  Ah, it was so that Alyssa could take our photo.  We left to meet up with the Snowths, and I have to say, I was really disappointed in my encounter with Barrowman.  I know he wasn't in that season, but he claims that David Tennant is his Doctor, so you'd think he was familiar with the series.  Everyone else knew who I was, but not the guy actually in the show?  I keep trying to chalk it up to the fact that he was inundated with fans all day and was probably just really tired.  Plus, he's gorgeous, so I forgive him. 

After that, we all signed up for the costume contest.  They were only letting the first 30 people in; I didn't think we were going to make it, but we were numbers 26 and 27.  The Snowths killed!  I went onstage and did my clockwork thing, and I think the audience loved it.  Then they brought us all back on stage and said that the audience would vote on the finalists - they had everyone just shout out the names of who they wanted as a finalist.  That was really bizarre.  I was pleased to hear a section of people chant "Clockwork! Clockwork!"  I wasn't chosen, but the Snowths were finalists.  The winner, however, was some guy who was apparently from Dragon Age but looked like a professional wrestler.  There was barely anything to his costume, and that always bothers me when someone wins with something that's not really a huge effort.  Oh well.  The Snowths got goody bags with all kinds of crazy stuff in them, including several copies of an anime film and underwear.  Weird.

After the contest, I had a lot of people come up to tell me that they had been shouting out "Clockwork!"  One guy walked past and he said, "don't touch me, but I thought you should have won the costume contest."  I think I must have misheard him - "don't touch me"?  Oh well.

At the end of the day, I realized that that was the longest I'd ever worn the costume - a full 12 hours.  I also need to work on my pose in this newest mask and wig, because they make my posture look all weird when I stand straight.  My feet were raw, my chest was killing me from being bound down all day, and when I got home, I just collapsed on the couch.  It was a lot of fun, but I'm not sure I'd want to go again.  I felt like I missed so much - I can't really see too well in the costume, and I'd have liked to spend more time in Artists Alley.  I'm not into comics, but I really love looking at all the different art, and last year at Wizard World I found gorgeous Doctor Who prints.  I think I prefer Dragon*Con, where you can be in costume for a few hours and then change.  But, I had a great time, spent the day with some wonderful friends, and it definitely helped quell my Con Fever for a while.  Next up - Labor Day Weekend and Dragon*Con!