2013 Summary

Happy New Year everyone.

Should have done this yesterday, but I was tired from teaching (I have a part time job teaching English to foreigners. It's fun, but explaining the present simple can be surprisingly tiring!). This is a summary of things I've made or drawn over 2013. I got a lot done this year, and I think I've really improved my skills.

 Why didn't I wear this to Malta Comic Con?!! Argh, it would have been perfect, and much warmer than Wonder Woman! But I digress.
Late but Lucky Alice (Alice: Madness Returns) was quite complicated. It was the first time I'd ever made a jacket, and the first time I worked with velvet (thanks Mum). I think the skirt is my favourite part of the costume: it looks very neat and professional, except perhaps for the tiny pockets (too tiny!). The jacket is a little awkward because the lining I used was too thick. Perhaps I will remove the lining and cover the seams with bias binding to make it look neater.

 I also made a Harley Quinn costume. This was more of an interpretation of Harley than an accurate cosplay, because I didn't want to wrestle with stretchy material. This is just a bustier and skirt, made using material that I already owned. I think it looks cute, even though the bustier didn't fit well. I've sold this costume, and in fact made copies of it for customers on etsy who wanted Halloween costumes. They seemed pleased, which I'm glad about. I may offer this costume again in my etsy, if I have enough time to make the costumes.  

 There are a few costumes that I made that never seemed to get off the ground. This is the bodice for Yvaine ('Stardust'). It's pretty, but I never got the inspiration to put the costume together. I'm now selling this costume due to lack of inspiration. 

I managed to finish some non-cosplay project. The first was the horse dress. The bodice is made from an old cushion cover, and the rest is made of an old stretch cotton skirt. It fits very well, though the skirt is a bit too short for my taste. I also finished this tartan punk skirt, which was inspired by RTBU. It's basically a circle skirt, but the bottom edge was not cut into a circle. It's got a matching pouch which fits on my belt (great for my phone and coins). 

i managed to finish Um of Umbridge, at last! This costume was very tricky. I gave up on it the first time I tried to make it, but this year I managed to finish it. I found out that the trick was to make the tulle skirt separate from the rest of the dress, because otherwise it was too bulky at the waist. I managed to get some nice pictures thanks to my friend: we held a mini photoshoot in my garden. It was very warm and sunny, so we had perfect light. this photo shows my bizarre tan: my face is very pale, and my arms are four shades darker! This costume is also sold.

Wonder Woman! So I made this because I like Wonder Woman, and to use some of the red velour I had. I used a Tudor corset pattern, which creates a conical silhouette and not the typical wasp-waist Wonder Woman. I think if I remade this I would probably make a Victorian-inspired corset. I also made shorts: they were a pain to make, and next time I will definitely just buy stretch materials and make 'Granny pants'. This costume was a hit at Comic Con, even though I forgot my lasso (DUMB, so many missed photo opportunities)

This was the first year that I attended a themed photo shoot. The theme was steampunk, and we met the excellent Ruben Buhagiar in Mtarfa, and took photos in the woods. The dress and look is inspired by Emilie Autumn (if I save up enough i will dye all my hair red, not just wear the clip in extensions!). This shoot was so much fun, and the photos are beautiful.

I would love to take this costume for a photoshoot. I wore it to Comic Con, and didn't manage to get a single photo! The costume is very warm, and I love the wig, even if it gets in the way. I had to alter this dress because the arm-scye was far too tight. I made traditional Medieval style sleeves, which are basically rectangles with a triangle gore at the arm scye. The arm scye is just a gap in the side of the dress. This is such a comfortable type of sleeve. 

I really want to make accessories for Merida, such as a bow, quiver and arrows. If I could borrow a horse for a photoshoot, that would be perfect. I've never ridden in a skirt, but the skirt is wide and i could probably ride astride quite comfortably. I have over ten years experience horse riding, so I think I could risk riding without a helmet for a short time (note: normally I always wear a helmet, because there is always a risk of injury. i tend to ride horses with little to no formal schooling, and they often have a bit of attitude; for example, last time I went riding, the horse got irritated when I asked for a canter and threw a few bucks. I didn't fall, though I dropped my glasses, and looked pretty stupid trying to hold on to the reins and glasses, and not fall off)

Elizabeth Comstock! This was time consuming, because I wanted every detail to be just right. I made everything, even the white shirt. The one big mistake I made was making shank buttons from polymer clay. They do not last: most of them broke at Comic Con, and I had to buy replacements. The replacements look much nicer and won't break if I brush against a wall.

Amanda Young was the last cosplay of 2013. This was a dream cosplay, and I am so happy that I made it. I was quite lazy with the construction of the clothes: I just chopped the sleeves off a top, pinned on some ribbons, and wore a black skirt and fishnet stockings. The real work was the reverse bear trap. It's made a paper mache, and I put a lot of effort into making it look like metal, which paid off, because so many people at Comic Con asked if it was made of metal. This costume definitely deserves a proper photo shoot.

I think that's all for 2013. Hasta la vista, Auld Lang Syne, and all that jazz.