Antebellum Dresses

I made this gown for a ball i was going to but, Unfortunately I didn't get many photos of the process of creating this specific dress, as I made it in about two days and didn't have time for documentation! (I was sewing until the second i had to walk out the door!) But I just thought it would be nice to show as I haven't shown any period costumes yet.

I used this pattern from Simplicity Patterns, and it can be found at most sewing or fabric stores.

Obviously, I edited it quite a bit from this look as you will see in the photos of my gown below.

The only thing structurally I did different is that I did not use the shoulder straps, and made my own skirt pattern by just cutting out a bunch of squares. But that's basically what it says to do anyways.

Unfortunately I have yet to do a photo shoot with this gown so this is the only really good photo I have of it, the rest are blurred. But either way, you can see the minor alterations I did. 

Note: when making this kind of dress always remember to make a chemise, bloomers, and a corset as well as hoops to go along with it!

Sandman Cosplay-Death and Delirium

If you need a good costume Sandman is always a good place to look to. There are plenty of great characters for both genders, and most costumes can be easily well done. Also, it's a great series and you will always get great response.
I made this Delirium costume for Boston Comic Con 2013 and this Death costume for a last minute cosplay at Rhode Island Comic Con  the same year.

Delirium:
This costume was very fun to put together, and very easy. Delirium has so many variations in the comics that you can pick and choose many elements and create your own version of the character.
I chose to use this hair and makeup (from Endless Nights) as well is this sort of look with the leather jacket and lots and lots of fish net (which is seen multiple times in the series):

 Really, the only thing I really had to make was the wig. For this I just styled it by pulling up some strands and weaving some together. Basically, just making it look messy and piling it up on top of itself.  I ordered a pack of tropical fish that I found on Amazon and pinned them throughout the wig, as well as a few on the jacket itself. Here are some photos of the finished costume:

 and the winner for the most Delirious pose goes to this one!

One thing to notice that I did for this costume is that I intentionally looked younger for Delirium than Death. If you look at the pictures above, you can see the poses and posture in which i held myself as well as the way I held my face and did the makeup make me look younger than in the photos of the Death costume (as Delirium is younger). One thing that really sells these costumes is acting the part.

Death:
Like the delirium costume, this costume is also very easy and fun to put together. I did this one for a last minute cosplay, so I put it together in about 30 minutes, which gives you an idea of how easy it can be. There are also many variations of this character, but she is always wearing black and a silver ankh necklace (which I simply cut out of thick cardboard from the back of a sketchbook, painted silver, and put on a silver chain). A very iconic prop for Death is a black umbrella, which all I could find was a samurai umbrella, so I just used that. Me and a fellow cosplayer as different versions of Death at Rhode Island Comic Con (photo cred AW Photogrophy), and two examples of different ideas of Death from the comics:

 The thing you need to make sure you have for a Death costume is the correct makeup! She has the eye of Ra painted on one eye, and black lipstick. The eye also has many variations, which can be seen in the photo above with me and the other cosplayer's idea of what Death looks like. Here are some photos of my finished Death costume:

These are both great costumes to make if you don't have a lot of time on your hands, or not a ton of experience. Or, if you want to be a great classic character! Below: Me and some other Sandman Cosplayers at Rhode Island Comic Con.

Delirium:
Level:  Very Easy
Budget: low
Time: Very Quick

Death:
Level: Very Easy
Budget: Low
Time: Very Quick

Howl Cosplay-Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle

This year for Rhode Island and New York Comic Con I decided to create a Howl costume, since Howl's Moving Castle has always been one of my favorite Miyazaki movies.
As this is one of my favorites, I wanted this costume to be truly amazing, and, I have to say, I was pretty pleased with the result, as where many fans.
The Basics:
The basic parts of the costume where straight leg black pants (which I made but can easily be found at thrift shops and such), a white poet's blouse, black boots, and of course a blond wig. I decided to use blond so I could use the diamond jacket, because I really wanted to make one of those. I bought the wig from a cosplay wig maker, and it was actually a replica from the film(so it was quite expensive, although if you are on a tight budget you could just buy a cheaper blond wig and do some styling) and already had the boots, but here's what I made for the basics: ( I didn't show the oants here but i'm pretty sure you can imagine what they look like. If you really have a terrible imagination then just scroll down a bit)

After that it was time to make the jacket. This was probably one of the most fun parts of the costume, as I made my own pattern, and they where very fun colours to work with! The not so fun part was that I had to cut out all those diamonds, and when my original plan didnt work, I had to do it ALL over again. But here is how it came out in the end, and its so great I just want to wear it all the time.
(if you are looking for a pattern for this jacket or want to commission me to make you one, feel free to send me a message or a tweet)

 The last of the simple things I had to do for this was to make the jewelry, which was incredibly easy. I just simply whent to the local craft store and bought two small green stone pendants for the earings and one large blue one for the necklace. After this I bought a gold chain that was seperated by larger links, to be more true to the film. Here's a photo of both the earrings (which I had to make clip on because my ears aren't pierced) and the necklace. You will notice that they have two gold beads with a red one inbetween them in transition to the pendants. If you look very closley, this is what they are like in the film. As for the rings, I just ordered replicas of those.

 Here is a photo of the costume how it is as I have described the process so far: (this is how I wore it to New York Comic Con)

 OK now to the difficult part,which is also the most important. THE WINGS.
After going through billions of prototypes (which is an exageration, yes) I finaly reached one that worked, which I proceeded to create in full scale out of foamcore for testing. The testing went well and I started work on the frame out of basswood so it would be strong and lightweight.

 My favorite part about making these wings was ordering 500 feathers. I really like feathers. Anyways. After the frame was completed I started simply hot gluing the feathers to it while it was in extended position. After hours of gluing and one tragic break in the frame ( which is the reason I could not wear them to New York) I finally got them all trimmed, cleaned, fixed, and smoothed. Almost every hole was covered and they where ready to go! (if you are looking for more specific info about how to create your own articulating wings or would like to commission me to make some for you, please contact me)

 Here are some photos of the costume as I wore it to Rhode Island Comic Con (which I brought back a 3rd place trophy from the cosplay contest!) first with wings spread, second with one open, and third with them both closed:

 and: me standing on stage showing off my costume at Rhode Island Comic Con: (photo cred: Vander Photogrophy)

Overall, this was a fun costume to make, and got really great response from everyone who saw it.

this costume WITHOUT wings:
Level: Easy
Budget: Low to Medium (especially if you already have many of the items)
Time: This costume took me a very short time to make and if you have experience it will take you a very short amount of time as well.

this costume WITH wings:
Level: Advanced
Budget: High (feathers arent cheep)
Time: As I said before the basics took a very short time, although the wings took a very long time and where very frustrating at times and have many variables to think about while making and wearing them. They are delicate.

Sorry about the intense marketing on my behalf in this post, but this costume was a lot of work and I don't want anyone walking away with my designs (particularly for the wings), so:
if you would like any more specific information about how i made any parts of this costume feel free to comment, send me a message, or send me a tweet @kleinenrabe. If you would like to know about commissions or purchasing patterns, please email me or use any of the other methods mentioned above.