Modesty's Costume Closet

Duct tape Dummy or a Duct tape mannequin is a quick way to create a replica of your body for all kinds of projects. From being a dress form to creating a pattern, Duct tape dummies (DTD) are incredibly useful for all kinds of costume projects.  However, if you are trying to make a full body DTD, you'll need assistance to make it. It may also destroy some of your clothing in some methods. And you may not feel comfortable making one as it is restrictive.  The primary reasons for making a DTD are to make patterns for clothes or armor. Because it is easy to translate the 3D form into a 2D pattern.  Puppet head covering pattern. Personally, for things like gloves or boot covers, I have no trouble making a DTD of an arm or a leg. But full body I need a different approach.  Method 1: Silhouette Tracing As a kid, I remember having a criminal outline done on banner paper of myself. It is still a viable approach although now I may need to tape pieces of banner paper side by side. You can kin

This post will offer ways you can put design onto fabric to match a character for cosplay or just to have a cool design on your garment.  The 3 main "categories" or methods are:  Painting Applique Sublimation/Screen Printing Painting This is the most accessible and often cost effective way to put a design onto fabric.  The benefits are: Can match character designs exactly Color availability Flexibility  Often inexpensive (although, you can always find a way to spend too much.) Some of the downsides: Sometimes only specific types of paint will work for your fabric (dark, stretch fabric, sheer, etc) It can be tedious for large amounts of fabric Some paints can crack, fade or even wash out in water Requires a steady hand and coordination Can get messy I like looking at Dharma Trading's website for research on what paints work best with whatever fabric I'm working with.  So there are many methods of painting fabric of all kinds. There's also a plethora of paint speci

 My recent failures with creating a silicone mold have prompted me to dig deeper into the processes of creating a mold of an object to cast in a different material. I'm going to start with the basics: What is Casting? A cast is a reproduction of an original item in new material.   Common Materials to cast with:  Resin Plaster Plastic Wax Latex/Rubber/Silicone Food (Ice, Chocolate, Hard Candy, etc) Molten Metal  Common methods for casting are:  Slip Casting - makes a thin layer, commonly used for latex masks 2-part Cast - Make a mold with 2 halves sandwiched together  Pour Mold - put material into a divot  What is a Mold? FYI, this didn't work out. A "mold" is an imprint of an object that we can pour the material into.  Common materials to make a mold with:  Plastic Silicone/Rubber Metal Clay Plaster What is a Buck? A "buck" is what we call the subject of the casting, the original piece, so to speak. Whether you are sculpting something to cast later or have a

 In the previous post , I laid out how to describe different aspects of fabric when trying to find a good fabric for your costume. This post will go over ways to apply those terms and actually pick out a fabric for your costume. I will attempt to teach by examples.  4 Avenues of Research Cheat! I mean...look at other cosplays. You can often find images of photoshoots which make for better references than illustrations. If you are lucky, the costume maker may have posted a journal about how they made their costume or at least list the materials they used.  Check for Suggestions in Sewing Patterns Sewing patterns will list suggested fabrics to use for the costume. Pop those terms into a search engine and see the results.  Historical, Cultural, or Real Life Examples With a search engine or books, you can find out about how clothes were made back in the day or what materials are used around the world. You can also check the tags on your clothes to see what it's made of.  Narrow down to

The number of fabrics available is staggering. It makes it tough to decide which will be best for any particular costume...especially if you are not using a commercial pattern. (Well...even if you are using a pattern, you may not want to use their suggested fabrics!)  Too many choices! How to Learn The ways to learn about fabric when starting out are:  Fabric Suggestions from Patterns Walking around a fabric store Online fabric stores With patterns often you will see a picture of the finished result. The fabric suggestions help you achieve that result. Learning the names of fabrics will help you in your search online or in-person for the right fabric.  Interacting with fabric in a physical store also introduces you to the names and qualities of the fabric. Touching fabric gives you a lot of insight into how it behaves and feels against your skin. Also, if it is a store that specializes in fabric, it is likely that people working there know a thing or two about their products.  Online s

 The extra yard of fabric is on the way! It's coming via USPS so might be a while so in the meantime I'm assessing what I have for other parts of the project.  Paint and Fabric Paint One of the major things I am doing for this project is hand painting wisteria vines throughout the kimono. I will also include blue flames (foxfire) as part of the sleeves and lower edges.  Checking my box of paints I was happy to find that I had paint meant for fabric in a shade of purple! Miraculous! Who put that there? I also have acrylic paints in red, blue, and white so I can mix different shades of purple and pink. I also had a couple shades of green. I also found my Liquitex Fabric Medium so I can use all my acrylic paints. (Except the metallic ones apparently.  Luckily, not planning on using metallic paints. I don't think.) For the blue flames, I was thinking of painting it on too and luckily I found my Turquoise Fabric Spray paint that I used for Princess Zelda's apron .   I do lik

 With the wide variety of tools and chemicals you can use when making a costume, I figured it might be advisable to create a general SAFETY FIRST type post.  Typically you'll want to be careful of:  Sharp Things Dust/Particles/Flying Debris Hot/Flammable Things Chemical/Fumes Electric Things Machines General Precautions - Research your Materials and Tools! Before using any material or tools, check for warning labels. If you find 'em, read 'em. Usually you can find these on the product itself if the warning is warranted. You can also do a little online research.  Common warnings are:  Flammable High Pressure High Temperature/Hot Hazardous Material Irritant Warning Skin Contact Warning Poison Just to name a few. - Be Alert and Focused One bit of advice I got from an online course is to never cut leather while upset or tired. You make a lot more mistakes if your brain doesn't have the capacity to focus and coordinate your movement. When handling sharp, hot, or dangerous it