#nothing like an email from the author herself to get my butt in gear with this cosplay

[thefandommind]

Welp Rachel Aaron told me to send pictures if I make an Eli Monpress cosplay, so now I guess I have to find a pattern to alter so I can do that.

So here's a little post about how I find my patterns.

First, finding any, and I mean ANY type of pattern for a masculine cut/shape/fit pattern of any kind, is going to be difficult. Menswear has never had the variety or market that yields many unique patterns like women's fashion does. So finding specific garments can be really hard, and if you're working in the realm of costume and cosplay, impossible. I started out cosplaying masculine characters back in 2018, lot of suits I tell you, and while I'll point out some men's patterns here, spoiler alert: its so much more fun to alter women's patterns to get the level of serve, that fictional characters tend to provide. It's a sad fact, men's patterns suck, they suck so much ass.

Modern Patterns, this includes modern costumes: Simplicity, Butterick, McCALLs, Vogue. All of these are available at Joanns. And hear me when I say this, don't buy it if its 20 dollars, all of those brands go on sale seasonally, and tops you should be paying for those is 3 bucks. With the exception of Vogue, they go on sale for like 5.99, but you shouldn't be buying from Vogue anyway.

Butterick: I haven't made many of this company's patterns, they don't have a lot of costumes that service my needs, and their clothes tend to be too modern for my tastes-BUT I used their pattern for a priest's cassock and that was very easy to follow and I still wear that garment.

McCALLs: Tried and true, great costumes, I use their patterns as bases for my costumes a lot. Easy to use and just have very interesting garments.

Simplicity: Some gems, some shit, and you won't know till you try. I do have good patterns from them but other's that don't actually fit together. Only thing going for them is price, so again get them on sale, and make a mock up to test the pattern. But if you find a pattern that works, you'll be able to do a lot with it, they have a lot of versatility in their designs.

Vogue: Do not buy Vogue. Vogue patterns are known in the sewing community to be fuckers to sew. Needlessly hard, sewing Vogue patterns is like being handed written directions on how to make ice cream in an ice cream mixer, but then the picture directions are how rewire a car, and half the language used is in french and a third of the pictures are missing. And for what? a garment that has fake pockets. Vogue doesn't like you sewing their patterns let alone alter them, and I've been sewing costumes since 2017 and its the only pattern that made me run crying to my mother. Don't make my mistakes, do not buy that pattern.

Now all of these companies are sold in Joanns, with the looming threat of that company closing possibly in the next year or so, all of these pattern brands are also online, you just gotta look.

Etsy: Great place to buy costume patterns, somewhat alright for getting old discontinued patterns from the brands above.

Etsy Patterns will come one of three ways, resold (you'd get an original branded packet in the mail), PDF Print out (great if you have access to a printer), or fabric pattern pieces shipped to you that you then lay out on your fabric just as any pattern.

The most common will be print out, but you can find anything from vintage to costume to antique to modern, and you can look at reviews and see what people have made with the patterns.

Most of the costumes I made in 2024 were from Etsy shops: HistoricalAtelier, BlackSnailPatterns, and RabbitAndHatPatterns.

(Note, when buying historical patterns, be very careful to check the measurements, a lot of Etsy sellers, and historical pattern sellers in general, don't offer size ranges in their singular patterns. And sizing up or down can be a hard sewing skill to learn.)

Altering Patterns: Once you find a pattern you like, it can be easy to change it to fit your costume. Changing a sleeve shape can mean drafting a new pattern piece or simply swapping out one sleeve piece for a second pattern's piece. And once you get that process down, the world's your playground, changing bodice shapes, lapels, closures, pleat this, dart that. Have a grand old time.

It's through this process I make most of my cosplays, but it is specifically helpful for making masc characters. Because as I said, it's hard to find options when men's fashion has barely changed through history, but anyway

The most important step when making costumes in this way, is you want to dress from the skin-out.

What does this mean?

When you are altering a garment to fit you, you need to have your body in the exact shape you want it to be when you wear the finished product, you need your proper foundation, or what you build on top won't look correct. SO if you're say, sewing a jacket, and you know underneath you will have a dress shirt and vest, you can't be wearing a tee shirt or something, or you'll risk the clothes not fitting later.

This also includes if you are choosing to wear shape wear that alters your body in anyway: sports bra, binder, tape, undershirts (this ofc goes the other way, if you're padding your chest, you gotta keep track of fit and measurements so your finished clothes fit).

In my Miranda cosplay, I made it knowing okay, shirt, vest, jacket, and even with the waistband of my pants, I made sure to wear each layer as I sewed the next so that everything would lay neatly and perfectly when I had the complete outfit on. I knew with that cosplay I wasn't going to wear my sports bra cus the vest is sturdy enough and the extra layer would be hot, so that meant it had to go when I tried on my alterings.

Drafting: Drafting is making your own patterns, most of the time from templates, measurements, and a fuck ton of math. It can be very hard, it gets harder the more complicated your design gets. But you can find hundreds of videos on how to draft patterns for hats, props, capes, belts, skirts, and full costumes on Youtube, with step by step instructions.

And, if I'm being completely honest with myself, I will probably be drafting the patterns for this Eli cosplay, as all my previously highlighted methods of pattern sourcing have lead me to dead ends.

Anyway here have some ideas I found an hour into my three hour search

My first thought had been mayhaps I match Eli to Miranda and go with a 1890s silhouette, but I forgot how disproportionate the level of serving was between genders. Like the beautiful gown with meaning and inspiration, a work of art really, and then oh yay a tailcoat penguin looking headass(I do want to make a tailcoat but like that's not at all Eli's cover art jacket).

And then these were the wrong era to match with Miranda anyway, but they were pretty fun. Maybe one day I'll remake the left one from 1826 in Sparrow colors, like magenta or turquoise. cus dayum thats a dandy yk

(EDITOR FANDOMMIND HERE, LOOK AT THIS FANCY GENTLEMAN I FOUND

I take it back, if I make a Sparrow cosplay I want what these two are on. this was the first thing that came up when I googled Dandy just to fact check something, and this is from 1831 so I wasn't far off.

And then just because it's so much easier to find cool fem patterns and ideas, I have wanted that sweater for years, one day I'll make it and we'll get to add another dash to the Miranda cosplay tally. And oh look another bicycle suit