January | 2017 | Nivera Gilbert

One of the first hurdles I struck when planing this cosplay was deciding where I was going to buy my fabric. Now normally back in New Zealand that wouldn’t have been a problem with my small town having two fabric stores and Nelson (The closest city) having a Spotlight which is a large arts and crafts store. But unfortunately in Barnstaple (A town at least three times the size of my old home town) there are no fabric stores, nope not a single one. This meany I had to really search for stores nearby and luckily found “The Exetre Fabrics Center” which is a large shop with a variety of fabrics scattered about the store.
I was very pleased upon entering the store to find it stocked a wide range of fabrics and not just quilters fabrics!! We had already visited two stores that listed that they sold fabric only to find it was just a quilters store. I didn’t get any photos of inside the store but it really was packed with rolls and bolts of fabric. This did make it a little difficult to find what I was looking for because the fabric were so closely packed often hiding other rolls or bolts. I wouldn’t have found some of the fabric I bought unless I had cleared some of the space.

For those who aren’t aware I was buying fabric for one costume this time round. The character is Ana Amari for the game Overwatch.

The first image is a concept for her character while the second on is an in game image. As you can see there’s a colour variation between the two designs, because of this I decided to shop for lighter fabrics as seen in the second picture which I can darken if I feel necessary later on.

So after a long look around the store I found myself back at the cottons sections for the store and began my search for fabrics.

For her base cape I bought some medium weight cotton in a very light grey (almost tan) colour. Or if you want to be fancy we’ll call it ‘mushroom white’.

The weight of the fabric is really nice and I think it’ll drape really well.

For her pants (or trousers, I have been corrected so many times since moving to England ) the lower half, knee below. I bought some super bland black spandex.

It’s not an exciting fabric and I’ve worked with it many times before, it’s reliable for close fitting costumes without being uncomfortable. Nothing more to say!

For her chest strapped bag I bought some medium/heavy cotton in dark brown.

This is going to be perfect for putting my phone in at conventions and means I won’t have to carry a proper bag!

For her headscarf (there is a proper name for it but I just can’t remember right now!) I bought a light/medium cotton in this lovely vibrant blue colour.

This fabric will also be used for the blue details on the cape.

For the hood/collar/shirt and possibly sleeves I bought a medium/heavy cotton in a dark grey almost black colour.

I was going to use faux leather for this but decided that because I’m already detailing the hood and parts of the cape with faux leather I was best not to as there’s such as thing as using too much leather in my opinion and it wouldn’t look right.

And finally I bought some light weight cotton in a few shades darker than that of the cape for the cape details.

I decided to get a shade that was similar rather than too dark because it complimented the rest of the costume much better and evened the colour scheme out.

I’ve drafted all of the patterns for this cosplay and only failed at making the pants/trousers. So I decided to buy a pattern.

This is Simplicity 2061 and I’ll be making view B but altering it so it sits just above the knee and adding some volume to the legs.

Last but not least I bought some thread.

Unfortunately upon getting home I realized that I had forgotten to buy some ‘heat n bond’ fusible interfacing for the coat details which I’ll then sew on using a satin stitch. I’m going to call the store tomorrow and ask if they have any or can tell me where I can buy it as I can’t find it anywhere for a decent price!
I also need a large zipper for her shirt and various buttons which I forgot but I’m sure I can get those after finishing up the base construction and adding them later.

Photographing dark fabrics is difficult depending on the lighting (I had some poor lighting taking these sample shots) but the fabric pile photo does give the true fabric colours justice with minor variation

I also made an edit of the original concept design with my fabric selection so maybe that will help with seeing what goes where!

I just have to alter my drafted patterns tomorrow and then I can get started on this project!
I have to say as an overall review of that fabric store its one of the best I have been to. The staff are very helpful and are knowledgeable on fabric properties. I will be coming back again some time in the future!
I may have also added to my list of things to make while in the store but I’m not going to even think about them until I have this and another project complete!

And that’s all for this post! It’s great to be back updating weekly again!
Thank you for reading,

-Nivera

Originally posted to Cosplay Amino (NiverasWings) but altered to fit my WordPress blog 🙂

Let’s start off with an apology for the lack of posts. Its been roughly four month since I have made anything which means I haven’t had content to post. Although finally about a month after moving that has finally changed and regular weekly posts will continue.

On the 5th of December I flew out of New Zealand from Auckland Airport bound for Sydney and then onto Dubai. I have to say the Dubai is one of my favorite cities to visit and it was so nice to spend more time there during out stop over. We arrived early in the morning so we just relaxed for the rest of the day and went to dinner at an Italian restaurant in the hotel which had the most amazing decorations, you really felt like you were in Italy! The next day mum had booked us in for a Desert safari which was just awesome! After about a 40 minute drive out of the city and into the desert we arrived to watch a falcon show, its amazing what they can train them to do! Next was the off road desert drive, which was insanely fun!

But, then our truck broke down and we were literally stranded in the desert.
10/10 would do again.

But it gave me the opportunity to get one of those really ironic holiday photos so I’m not mad.

We got picked up half an hour later by another truck and then drove to the top of a large sand dune to watch the sunset.

It was really pretty and my photo doesn’t do it justice! The whole sky lit up and the sand glowed, stunning!
We then drove to an area where we would have dinner. But first was the highlight of Dubai, we got to ride a camel!

They are so strange to ride, you get on them when they’re sitting down and they really lurch when the get up throwing your forward and then back, and your so high off the ground! Their fur is also really soft, I was expecting it to be rough.
I also got to hold a falcon after the ride.

Later on in the evening we had dinner and watched some belly dancing, which I now have huge respect for (not in the way I’d want to try it myself) but Oh my goodness that woman was so fit she literally danced for half an hour straight bending and twisting with such energy.
After the dance finished we got back in the truck and headed home. We flew out of Dubai and onto London the next morning arriving on the 7th.
Later on in the week on the 12th mum and I drove back to Heathrow and picked up out cat and dog (Sox and Doof) and then drove to our new home in North Devon! Our furniture arrived on the 23rd and we ended up moving into the main house (we were living in the cottage) on Christmas Day.

Since then the house has been overflowing with cardboard boxes and packing paper which I’ve found is great for using to draw patterns onto for sewing. I’ve also been painting my room to a light blue colour, which I finished today so all of my things will be moved into that room. Both Sox and Doof are now settled in the new house maybe Doof is a little too settled… I’ve never seen a dog sit on a windowsill before!

I also go to use my new sewing machine!! Its a Singer 9960 Quantum Stylist and I love it so far, I’ll be making a review once I’ve completed a costume with it which shouldn’t be too far away. I’ve also started on my mock up for my Ana Amari cosplay which is going well so far I just need to adjust the sleeves to make them more poofy. Then I just have the hood, collar and pants to pattern and I’m set to start with everything else not requiring a mock up.
We’re heading to Exeter to buy fabrics next week for Ana and hopefully my 1860’s ballgown depending on what the fabric selection is like. I’d also like to get some fabric to create the crinoline too but I also need to source some inch wide plastic boning first and I don’t want to be paying too much for it, I refuse to use ring-band boning ever again its useless. So a fabric haul post will be on the way as well as a complete mock up for Ana.

In other news my Uni applications are in so I don’t have to worry about that anymore, fingers crossed for that! I’ve changed up my physical portfolio a little bit so I also want to make a post about its new layout and my sketch book for this year.

I have a lot planed and a lot of work to do this year but I couldn’t be happier to be back to making costumes again, those four months were killer. 2017 is going to be a good year and I’m really excited to see what it brings!

Thank you for reading and here’s to another year!
-Nivera