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The Hero’s Closet

G_owl

Published on October 23, 2014 at 280 × 427 in G_owl

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Hey there!

I’m Gillian, a cosplayer, writer, editor, and occasional illustrator with an unruly fabric habit. I love patternmaking, fabric manipulation, embellishment, and big, ambitious projects.

My book The Hero’s Closet is available now!

Here’s some nice crunchy WIP for a Sunday mornin

Here’s some nice crunchy WIP for a Sunday morning!

Basically none of whatever the Empress wears under her robes is visible in the reference materials we’ve seen so far, so I’m making something up based on the available information. Most importantly, the full-length embroidered panel at center front needs to hang from something that isn’t the floaty gathered blouse - ideally a structured bodice or corset with lots of boning to prevent distortion and sagging from the weight. The curvy panel shapes are strongly influenced by Maika’s armor from the Monstress issue 13 cover, which I built back in early 2018 and still love. The neckline is shaped to match the upper edge of the embroidery panel, and will be refined in mockups to play nicely with the blouse underneath as well.

One of the main reasons I made my own dress form last year was to get an accurate, pinnable shape that would let me delve deeper into draping, and this bodice seemed like an excellent candidate to try. I’ve mostly been a flat patterning partisan thus far, but trying to lay out all these curvy seams while preserving fit was not a fun time and after a frustrating first mockup I needed to try something different. So we’ll see how this goes!

#patternmaking #cosplaywip #cosprogress #draping #cosmaker

Terrible hair fuzz but hey, it’s Empress progres

Terrible hair fuzz but hey, it’s Empress progress! I finished my third mock-up for the blouse yesterday, and I’m just about ready to start the real thing. The seams are working well with the capelet, the back keyhole is lying nice and flat, and it didn’t all go to hell as soon as I put the sleeves in. So!
Next step is to transfer the pattern outlines to my fabric and do the little bits of embroidery around the circle insets, and then I can start cutting. I also got just one of my robe fabrics in, so as soon as the other arrives I can start doing appliqué and embroidery tests on that too. #cosprogress #cosmaker #cosplaywip #monstresscosplay #monstress #shamanempress

The Empress is a pretty intimidating mass of embel

The Empress is a pretty intimidating mass of embellishment, and while I have some ideas about the overall silhouette I’ll develop most of the pattern by sketching in details (a mix of embroidery and appliqué, in this case) on a muslin base. The yoke is a nice starting point because the rest of the outer layer is quite loose, so it’s especially important to get the fit right here. I’m starting from a personal block, so it only took me two tries to get to something I’m happy with.
#cosplaywip #cosprogress #monstresscosplay #patternmaking

I’m not placing any bets yet as to whether or no

I’m not placing any bets yet as to whether or not the FF7 remake will really recapture that 1997 magic, but when the latest trailer dropped my one-track costume brain DID note that my girl Aerith finally has a dress she can freaking move in. I thought it would make a fun quick(ish) project while I work on sourcing my Empress materials and now oh look, it’s proof I haven’t just been sitting on my butt for the last month.
I picked out a poly double georgette for this one, and while the color was pretty ideal it takes SEVERAL layers for it to show up properly due to the sheerness of the fabric. So this entire thing is triple-layered, basted to hell and back, and then the midsection is quilted for good measure because you can see quilting in like one second of the trailer. But as it’s starting to come together I do kind of love the effect, and I’m excited to see how it looks when the rest of the ribbon trim is on and everything.
#cosplaywip #cosprogress #cosplayprogress #aerith #aerithcosplay #finalfantasy7 #ff7cosplay #ff7remake

Finished the first set of outlines for the Empress

Finished the first set of outlines for the Empress blouse embroidery and was second guessing whether I really want to satin stitch over all of them as planned or leave them open. I do think the outlines look nice on their own, (I was worried they would get lost against the jacquard pattern but they actually stand out pretty nicely in the silk thread) but if I’d planned to leave them open from the start, I’d probably have been more particular about the stitch consistency. Or picked a chainstitch or something instead of this split stitch. If I decide to keep this I’d probably want to rip a bunch of it out and try again, which would be its own kind of nightmare with the tricky-to-undo split stitch on delicate gauzy silk jacquard.
Anyway, I did a little sample of the satin stitching just to see. I do think it’ll help to define the smallest feathers a little better, but the thread I used for the outlines looks a little chunky in satin stitch and I might want to step down to a finer silk. At least satin stitch is easy to remove cleanly.
#handembroidery #silkembroidery #cosplaywip #cosprogress #cosmaker #monstresscosplay

Bandwagoning that #cosplaydetails thing from @silh

Bandwagoning that #cosplaydetails thing from @silhouettecosplay by way of almost everybody I know. I am a detail monster and always have been. Ciri was my most recent big build, including hand embroidery, a tablet-woven wrist wrap, hand-sculpted and cast belt medallions, and hand sewn bindings and trims throughout.
Nausicaa was a simple cosplay that was all about fabric textures. The tunic has an appliquéd chest emblem with edges turned and invisibly stitched, test tube loops sewn by hand and steam-shrunk for a secure fit, and self fringe trim on the sleeves and hem.
Maika has hand-couched metallic braid on the tunic collar, monster tentacles sewn in jersey and tacked in place by hand, and my first attempt at heavy detailing in worbla (including hand-painted glass cabochons for the monster eyes.) The last picture is a throwback to my first big cosplay, Ezio from AC2, which included hand embroidered coat tails, velvet that I embossed myself with a hand-carved stamp, and honeycomb smocking on the shirt sleeves. It was also one of my first attempts at patterning multiple garments designed to be worn together, and proportioning them so that the layers would all line up correctly. The coat is linen (dyed to the perfect light gray in my bathtub aw yeah) so it’s a bit rumpled after sitting in the closet for four or five years.
Ciri 📸 @jacquistuffnthings
#cosmaker #handembroidery #witchercosplay #ciricosplay #nausicaaofthevalleyofthewind #monstresscosplay #ezioauditorecosplay

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