#then the pocket sewing will be a little bit fiddly but hopefully not too bad

[sheliesshattered]

It feels like ages since I last posted an update for my Rhaenyra cosplay for Dragon Con 2023, but the last four weeks has been nothing but attaching the narrow trim to the seamlines of the overdress -- a tedious and fiddly process that had to be done by hand, and the trim had to be sewn down on both sides despite how narrow it is. I made good progress on it day to day, but the pictures were rather boring and similar week to week.

The nine vertical seams that have trim (no trim at center back, per the screen-used costume) come to a total of 447 inches. Sewing down each edge of the trim doubles that to 894 inches, or just under 25 yards of handsewing just to get the trim attached. At 7 or 8 stitches per inch, I figure that's something like 7000 itty bitty invisible stitches. Plus another two yards or so for basting the center front trim to make sure it was really centered once sewn down.

No wonder it took me four weeks, lol.

I still need to put the narrow trim on the edges of the sleeves, and I might get started on that today while watching Fourth of July movies (Independence Day and Hamilton at a minimum, maybe a few others), at least do the ironing to curve the trim slightly and baste it in place if nothing else. We're going to a friend's place for dinner and fireworks tonight, and while I certainly don't want to haul the entire (silk!) dress out of the house with me, taking one or both sleeves to sew on the ~30 minute drive over might not be a bad idea.

Besides getting going on the sleeve trim, now that the narrow trim is finished on the dress itself I've also been able to shift gears and start focusing on the wide neckline trim. I did a whole series of pinned tests to figure out what I wanted the center front to look like, how to make the pattern come together in the most visually pleasing way, and Jack helped me pick out the best option. Yesterday I trimmed the first two pieces to length and carefully handsewed the center front seam so the pattern matches up exactly:

The raw edges are currently just tucked under and pinned, and I need to figure out how much extra I want to leave -- enough so it won't fray or unravel, but not so much that the center front is weirdly puffy or stiff. This trim is at least partially polyester so I have been able to singe the cut edges to keep everything in place. I might be able to carefully do that on the center front edges, too.

After thinking about it overnight, I think I'm going to do this same treatment at center back, that mirroring of the pattern, and then just let the shoulder seams be whatever. The wig will mostly cover the center back, but eh I'd rather have the symmetry there.

So the next major task is getting all this neckline trim cut and placed, handsewn to the neckline of the dress and frayed ends all tucked safely away. It's going to be a bit tedious, especially at the shoulder seams, but hopefully it won't take me weeks and weeks like the narrow trim did!

Getting that wide trim in place is the last thing blocking getting the grommets in, so I'll be heading straight into that once the trim is even just mostly applied. There are things like the hem and the question of needing a modesty panel at center back that I can't even start on until I can lace the whole dress closed. And if it comes right down to it, I can cut corners on things like beading and the styling of the wig, or sewing a little bag to carry my stuff in. But the dress absolutely must have closures, or it's not really a dress, lol.

Given that, I think the order of operations is more or less: neckline trim, then grommets at center back and armscye/top of sleeve. Then hooks and eyes at the wrists, and a hem for the dress. Wig styling is probably the next highest priority, then the bag to carry stuff with me since the dress has no pockets. Then finishing the underdress, sewing on the large beads at waist and wrists, and then the tiny beads over the neckline trim. I've got one or two little adjustments to do to the jewelry that should probably come before the little seed beads on the neckline, but hopefully I'll be able to get to all of it in the next 8 weeks (!!) until I need to pack for Dragon Con.

I've also gathered basically all the components for my Harley Quinn cosplay, just waiting on one length of lining fabric to arrive -- but I'll talk all about that in its own post sometime soon here.

Eight weeks feels like hardly any time at all, especially given that I spent the last four weeks on what ended up being just one check mark on my rather long to-do list. But I am thrilled with how the dress is looking, and the narrow trim was definitely worth doing. It makes the dress look so much more like the screen-used costume.

Hokay. Time for movies and sewing. Here's hoping I can get through that to-do list in the next 58 days!

[sheliesshattered]

Over the last couple of days I’ve been working on the paper mock-up and the flat patterning for the wedge-shaped pouch I talked about in my last cosplay post. The goal is to replicate the oddly shaped thing on Oswin’s belt, and turn it into a way to carry my phone, roomkey, ID, cash, and chapstick on me when I’m in costume -- planning for the eventual return of conventions and costuming events, someday. The screen-used version is almost certainly a toy that the prop department repainted, but since this costume has no other pockets or bags, this seemed like a good way to carry the essentials with me.

I’m making my version out of scraps of stuff left over from previous projects that have been taking up room in my stash. The inner-most pouch will be black wool -- left over from the Jorah Mormont costume I made for Jack in 2011 -- with an open upper pocket for my phone and a lower pocket accessed by zipper for everything else. The pattern pieces for the wool bits are the three on the right of the last image, the only ones with seam allowance as they’re the only ones that’ll actually be sewn. The divider between the pockets will be reinforced with some horsehair boning I have lying around, and even the zipper is something I’ve had in my stash for so long I have no idea what I originally bought it for.

To the exterior of the wool I’m going to glue pieces of black suede cut to size -- the three pattern pieces in the middle of the photo. The suede is left over from an Aragorn-inspired vest I sewed for Jack waaay back in 2002, though I’ve used the scraps for that for several other projects over the years, too. The back panel will also have belt loops attached to the suede, and then continue as one piece into a flap that covers the top and front of the pouch -- that’s the largest piece there in the center of the last photo.

Then on the exterior of that flap, on the top and the outward face of the wedge, I’ll glue craft foam cut to size -- the two pattern pieces farthest to the left -- that will be decorated up and painted to look like the wedge from the original costume. The foam is left over from a cosplay prop I made for Supernatural costumes back in 2012 (I think?), and I’ve collected a bunch of bits and bobs to build out the face. The flap will then be closed with magnet snaps along the lower edge, so when I’m walking around in costume, the only thing that should be visible is the wedge itself, but I’ll easily be able to get to all my essentials stashed inside.

I may decide to also glue a layer of suede to the wool front panel even though it’ll be under the flap, just to give more strength to the pouch, but I’m going to wait and see how it comes together, it may not need it. My goal is to have this costume completely finished for Halloween two weeks from now. I don’t actually need this pouch to be done for Halloween, since I won’t be leaving the house. But I’d rather just build this weird wedge thing once and get it right the first time, and then this costume will be really finished, ready to be packed up for whatever my next costume event ends up being.

I did the paper mock-up yesterday and started drafting the pattern based on what I learned from that, then finished drafting the pattern today, and this evening actually got all the wool and suede pieces cut out, so tomorrow I should be able to start by sewing the welt zipper for the lower pocket and then the pocket structure, and hopefully get to the glue phase pretty quickly.

Funny story to go with all this: when I finished the paper mock-up, Jack was in a zoom call for work, so I showed it to him silently, standing just off camera, since I was feeling pretty proud that the weird 3D shapes in my head had actually worked out in real life. He took the paper wedge from me, turned it over in his hands, nodded in a “not bad, not bad” sort of way -- and then promptly put it on his head like a jaunty hat.

“Aren’t you on camera??” I mouthed at him, juuust as all his coworkers started laughing at him. Apparently he’d completely forgotten that his camera was on, lol. Luckily he works for a very laid-back company and everyone there has known him long enough that no one even questioned what he was up to. xD