Modesty's Costume Closet

Hello again. I'm still on this Demon Slayer Cosplay Knitting kick. But perhaps this will be more accessible. Maybe. I've been burned before. I need to rest my brain and try something a little easier to comprehend than socks.  For real, let's talk about knitting belts, obi, and other waist-related accessories.  Thankfully, all demon slayers have a uniform belt. I have not found one that has any special doo-dads or designs. And if there are, don't tell me about them.  Uniform Belts Are the trouser loops white? Who dressed you? These are white belts about 1.5 - 2.5 inches thick (relatively speaking). The buckle is a rectangular shape, and it goes into white loops...which kind of doesn't make sense since the pants are black. The hell do those loops come from? I know belts sometimes have a sliding loop but do they have two!? (Shhh...don't ask questions...it upsets us.) Anyway, knitting would basically consist of knitting a length of fabric that could go around your w

The first color chart I attempted was for Kyojuro Rengoku's kyahan. I've actually thought about how to approach many other characters too, so this would be my suggested route for attempting these costume parts in fiber craft!  my result! Basic Design  The actual way to make these leg wraps is a rectangle-ish shape of cloth that you tie around your lower leg. But for cosplay, there's something to be said for keeping things simple and not adding more velcro to a piece just to hold it together. Besides, like most animation, they don't put seams on these things. So you GOTTA make a jammin' pair of semi-slouchy leg warmers. Just slide 'em on without a fuss. No buttons, buckles, or bowties.  There are  approaches for knitting legwarmers that affect the final look and which color change method works best.  Knit flat and make it a tube later  Knit in the round and make it a tube from the get-go  Difficulty may be relative to your skill and preference, but for characters

Ever since my string of madness back in February, I have been happily knitting away and starting more projects than I can finish. Just like every knitter. 😜 I am enamored with the idea of yarn craft/fiber craft costumes, but it is certainly not an efficient method. I'll get faster eventually, but for now, I'm doing the inefficient right-hand/English knitting instead of the quicker continental knitting. Anywho...let's talk tabi!  This is how far I got before restarting. Capturing the Essence The nice thing about most shows is that they don't get too crazy with the sock design.  Demon Slayer, for most characters, uses either a white or "black" or Dark solid color. There are exceptions, of course. (Glaring at you, Mitsuri...and your delicious pinstripe thigh highs.) I do love her aesthetic. When it comes to the height of the socks, most of the major characters have leg wraps (kyahan) or long pants (hakama). This means you can make the ankle bit as tall as comfor

 Made the tail. Finished hand sewing the sleeves and I'm not 100% happy with them but I also don't want to futz with them anymore. I just won't make future sleeves in the same way.  How the tail will work is this. I'm using the default nylon webbing belt that it came with. The obi will fit over it.  Things are really coming together quickly now. The only things left are details. I'm going to hand paint wisteria flowers onto the kimono. But I'd like to use stencils for some of the parts. I found some vector graphics and made files for my 3D printer. This past weekend I ran some tests with the newly armed 3D printer/cutter. Unfortunately, it is not ready to cut vinyl or paper at this time. The bed on my 3D printer is not level and no matter how I fiddle with it, some parts of it remain uneven. (Likely a bit of warping or something. Hot metal can do that.) So I'm looking into getting a CR Touch to auto-level my 3D printer. Which will help in the long run.  In t

 😝 I'm kind of giddy at the moment because I did it. Sure, I probably broke every rule about learning how to knit...except the universal rule of "You don't know until you Try." And I did try...I tried very hard. And so no one else has to go through the migraine inducing poop-fest that was my life a couple weeks ago, here's my design pattern for a lovely shawl inspired to look like Kyojuro Rengoku's cape.  You're welcome... Image version Download Chart from Stitch Fiddle It was adapted from the knitting pattern Vacation by Donna Pick . So you work from the sides around instead of top-down.  Here are the major changes/Notes:  The entire shawl is done in garter stitch for my pattern. (If you prefer stockinette stitch, then make sure you use purl stitches on the Wrong Side Rows.) The color changes are done using the Intarsia technique .  When I turn my work for short rows, I use the German Short Row technique.  The color chart was made for Worsted Yarn. It w

 Today is a good day! Went out for sushi and hung out with a friend, then got home and cut out the second sleeve plus lining. And today I planned to dye the fabric. Here's how it went.  Dye Job At first I was going to dye all the pieces separately then sew them together. But then I figured, the main body of the kimono might have a more consistent color if I sewed some pieces together. So I did.  Body is sewn the sleeves unattached.  Then I prepped my fabric in the bathroom getting things wet.  Hanging things to make it easier to dip. Got my pot of dye heated up then put it in the bathtub. Dunkin' pot.  I kept the fabric on the hangers and dipped the pieces in the pot. I used some wooden chopsticks to help push and stir things around. Then used the shower with cold water to rinse after the dips. Kept rinsing until the water ran clear again.  Post dye dunk.  The body of the kimono got a second dunk dye to make it darker at the bottom. Now they're drying.  Hanging out to dry. 

 Another little side jaunt into the progress and pitfalls of the project.  💢 Once again, I made an error in my calculations. (Math and I need couples counseling.) However, it's not just the number that was off but the fabric too. When I was first cutting the pattern I did not factor in the length of the sleeves very well. I have one outer sleeve and one sleeve lining.  In my head I thought, I should be able to get the other sleeve and lining with about a yard more fabric from a 60" bolt. I didn't want to spend $12 per yard again so I went with the slightly cheaper $6 version on fabric.com. And then I just had to wait for it to arrive.  I got it on Saturday after our mini-winter in Texas when the leasing office was open again. When I opened the bag, I noted that this version of Peachskin fabric was thinner than the one I was using everywhere else. And what was worse, I laid the pattern piece and realize...shoot...I can only get ONE sleeve out of this, not two.  So, I went