Modesty's Costume Closet

So spooky! The idea for this costume came from my brainstorming on what to wear for office Halloween. I do have a couple of already made costumes I could use that I haven't worn yet, but I was hit with this idea when I remembered that I 3D printed a fox skull mask and found my "shaggy" faux fur fabric. I have so much scrap material around that I'm just "saving for a rainy day". Well, the rainy day has come and I wish to use up my scraps and clear out some of my closet. So...the spirit of greed and starvation the Wendigo.  Components  The costume was in part inspired by another person's 3D kit on Thingiverse . It used a variation of the fox skull, added antlers and long claws. So, what I'm borrowing from that design is:  Skull Mask Antlers long Claws Fur Hood Where I will differ is I'm using this as an excuse to finally make those Hoof Boots I wanted. I am also making the cloak part more like a Ring Wraith or Dementor cloak.  Body long-sleeved shi

 It was painting and applique today. Now all the outer pieces are decorated according to the template I made. Here's what I did.  First, I tried to iron out some of the wrinkles. Due to the nature of the fabric it has to be cool ironed. Which still pretty much did nothing. After a solid effort, I decided to forget about it. So I went to making a template of the flames using old wrapping paper.  Clipped down an old shower curtain. I applied the template to the sleeve with painter's tape. I used Turquoise Design Masters spray paint . Both sides of the sleeve have flames. The back has smaller flames than the front which is where the fox applique will go.  I worked on the kimono in sections. It's a repeating pattern.  Ugh...so wrinkly still.  The paint dries nearly instantly so I set these things aside and work on the applique. First, I needed to paint the face.  I used an iron-on Ultra bond to stick it to the parts of the fox which consisted of the body, tail and head. Unfortu

The project moves forward by inches. I managed to scrounge up enough energy to cut the paper pattern pieces that I need. And seriously, that's all I could do today. While the migraine has subsided, I spent a long time chatting with my parents as is my Sunday custom and made some taco pasta.  And while I thought I would have all of Monday to do things, I managed to snag a massage appointment so part of my day will be taken up by that.  Modifying a Pattern to my Design What I ended up doing today was cut paper pattern pieces. Now I could have drafted my own kimono pattern. Honestly, it's not super complicated compared to some articles of clothing. A lot of Japanese clothing is a series of rectangles or angled shapes. However, I like it when the work is done for me. So I am blending two commercial kimono patterns that are technically meant for costumes.  Highlighted the yardage I needed I have mentioned before that I do feel a twinge of regret not making my own pattern, but I'

 It's been exciting getting a bunch of packages in the mail this week with my supplies! And it's a long weekend so I may be able to get started.  My "project box" with all my supplies! I have what I need to get started cutting and dying the fabric. And praise be to God, the peachskin silky fabric is a solid 7 yards and not cut into pieces like I feared.  Side Note about Fabric Shopping  There are so many benefits to buying fabric online but lets not ignore its drawbacks. Not being there in person to feel the fabric and check the drape is a downside. However, if it's a fabric you're familiar with then it doesn't matter if you can touch it. Again, I lucked out and this fabric is just what I was hoping for. However, some fabric stores, even online, may not have a continuous ream of fabric in the yardage you want. They'll still sell you the fabric but the fabric may be two pieces of fabric that add up to your total yardage. (So for 10 yards they may send y

 This will be a bit stream of consciousness style writing as this project kind of just cropped up and became a thing. Despite having a 2022 wish list , suddenly out of left field, I want to make a kimono...a formal furisode kimono and a kitsune. Thus I am making a post about the design process for the Wisteria Kitsune. (I'll just say it's replacing the Sakura Fox in my wish list.) Strange Origin Story Want some real weird inspiration sources for this one? Well, one, I've been in a kitsune mood while writing my blog posts about Kitsune costumes in general. I've come up with lots of quick idea characters because of it.  Two, the anime Demon Slayer has invaded my subconscious on some level. That's what lead me to think about Wisteria flowers and including them.  Third, I was thinking of a scenario in my head where there's a 3 day masquerade with a new theme each day. The first day was Jazz Age and Modern Day American, the second day was medieval fantasy and the thi

The big challenge of the mercreature costume design is making it appropriate to swim in. So what we make it out of and how things are adhered together are going to matter! The three principles to keep in mind are:  Keep it Light-weight Keep it Clean Keep it Together Adding the water-proofing element will limit the materials you can use safely in the water without causing harm to the swimmer and the environment!    Why use Water-Safe Materials? The big reason of course is personal safety of the wearer. Most modern swimwear is made out of synthetic fabric which not only stretches, but it doesn't absorb much water and become heavy. (Obviously, swimsuits get wet and absorb water but it doesn't get heavy.) The extra weight will affect buoyancy and make it more difficult to swim.  Natural Fibers and Materials on the other hand become heavier when submerged in the water. They hold onto liquid when absorbed. There's also the unfortunate effect of the fabric shrinking or becoming ot

 Summer has been going strong and I personally have started swimming more. And not just any kind of swimming, but mermaiding!  Couch Surfing at the Moment But now that I'm used to swimming with my commercially bought tail, I've been thinking how to make my own. Again, this series doesn't necessarily include tutorials that I have made, this is more of a design primer. It will include links to tutorials when necessary.  Anyway, I didn't want to limit my imagination to just mermaids/mermen. Because some of the concepts I want to tackle are more based on cetaceans, cephalopods and sharks. Of course much of the process will include fish tail mermaids but I wanted to encourage some variety.  Shark boi! Precautions The end goal is to create a costume you can swim in. However, there's always risk involved with swimming in general. It's doubly risky while wearing a mermaid tail. Keep these basic safety guidelines in mind when swimming in your costume: Do NOT swim alone!

Previously, I went over design considerations to adjust the challenge of making the centaur costume. It is still a big challenge but now we can get into building tips for the horse body.  Disclaimer:  Once again, I will emphasize that as of writing this blog, I have not attempted this construction. When I do, I may come back to update a few things. I'm going off of what I would consider in the planning/design phase and how I would approach construction. You are free to try my ideas but know that these are currently UNTESTED. I am using principles from making art dolls, sculpting and pony plushie making in these experiments/hypothetical situations.  Measuring for the Horse Half If we look at a picture of a horse from the side and you measure from the withers to ground, you should get the horse's relative length from chest to rump.  (Life's not perfect...but it's relatively true.) Standard Horse, Pony and Draft Horse, picture angles... We can take this principle in measur

 So, to move forward with the design of a centaur costume, I want to create a character design.  Brainstorm This mess is what I came up with: Very quick bubble map Now I'm going to pick some words to put together and make some concepts:  Farming - Clydesdale - Draft Horse - Sunflowers Circus - Lippazanner - Acrobat - Clowns - Balloons Fantasy - Knight - Draft Horse - Sword Greek - Unicorn  - Drapery - Nymph - Willow - Blossoms Western - Rodeo - Cowgirl - Texas Pony Express - Post Office Worker - Wild West Gothic - Nightmare Moon - Armor - Pegasus - Unicorn - Vampire Medieval Princess - Unicorn Hunt - Unicorn  Race - Marathon - Greek  Rose - Unicorn - Virgin Mary - St. Teresa the Little Flower 🌸  Chariot - Roman Legion - Military Horse Police Horse - Mounties Already we have a lot of ideas here. The ones that are of most interest to me to test out are:  Western - Rodeo - Cowgirl - Texas Circus Acrobat Clown Pony Express Postal Service Greek Nymph Gothic Nightmare I need to do some

Designing a costume based on an original character is not often talked about. When I'm drawing a 2D character I rarely think about how realistic the costume would be or how it would work in reality...because it just works. It's a drawing. But as I am currently working on costumes based on some originally designed characters I thought I'd go through my process.  Referencing the Reference Now for these characters, I already drew a reference, but the lovely thing about that is I already did a bit of background research to create the drawing of the character's costume.  Examples will illustrate this!  First we have Goro the Kitsune. His costume is loosely based off of shinobi garb. Those were the images I was looking at when drawing it! So I have a pretty good idea about how those work.  Goro's current design The downside or upside depending on how you feel about it is that the design of your character is in your control! You can change the outfit fairly drastically eve