Cosplay Tips: Sewing

You need to sew a skirt, a shirt or another peice of fabric for your costume but are completely lost? I know how you feel! Luckily it's actually very easy!

Looking back to when I first started sewing my own costumes, I never in my life had touched a sewing machine and there were a situations where I had to force myself to sit in front of it. Now, a year or two later, I feel a lot more confident in my skills and comfortable to tackle sewing projects - but pick your battles wisely!

Some characters are more complicated to make than others.

In this blog post I'm going to take you through the process of how I made my Salior Armin cosplay and give out a few tips for beginners who are thinking making their own stuff. Although before we get started, I didn't take a lot of photos of the sewing process becasue at the time when I was making Sailor Armin it was a secret cosplay, so I had to refrain from sharing it on Instagram. :sweat_smile: :joy:

Tip 1) A Sewing Machine.

The very first step of getting into sewing, is actually to buy a proper machine. It doesn't need to be expensive. Mine is very old and it was given to me by an old lady who didn't use it anymore, but you can purchase a machine off Amazon between £40-£70. You can even get small ones that are at least £20 but the bigger machine you get, the more expensive. Since mine is quite old it has served me well for many years. Besides the regular straight stitch my machine also offers a zig-zag stitch and a stretch-stitch, which is very helpful for cosplayers. So when you're looking for a machine online make sure to do your research first and compare different brands to each other to see which one is the best, at least make sure that the machine has multiple stitching options for you to use such as a zig-zag stitch and stretch-stitch, they will help you the most when working with difficult fabrics.

My sewing machine

Tip 2) An Ironing Board

Next to a sewing machine, it's also a very good idea to get/use an ironing board. Chances are you can borrow one from your parents or grandparents :joy: . This tool is great for a lot more than just getting rid of ugly wrinkles out of your fabric. Use it to apply interfacing (which is something that I used to make my Sailor Armin) or other heat activated fabrics, or create folds to give your fabric a completely different look. You will not regret getting an iron, I promise!

Tip 3) Books & Patterns

While I relayed on my dad to teach me the basics of sewing, I found that instructional books are a great help. I can't recommend many as I only own one book. But having it nearby so I can pick it up and find what I need from it is so much easier than typing into Google what I need. The book I have is called "The Sewing Book" by Alison Smith.

This book has saved me a lot of time as it has everything you can think of in it. It explains what you need in a basic sewing kit, what tools you need, different types of scissors, it even explains parts of a sewing machine so you can understand how to use one. It's a guide that will help you every step of the way and I religiously read it with everything I make :joy: .

Some page examples from 'The Sewing Book'

Another great help are patterns! When I made Sailor Armin I used a pattern by Simplicity 8160

Simplicity is a brand, there are others such as McCall's, Burda, and wide selection of pre-made patterns made for all kinds of different costumes and characters. Just grab the pattern, unfold it (it's on tissue paper so be very delicate) pick the size you want, and trace it on the fabric you want. Many of them include sewing instructions, however take the instructions with a pinch of salt as the saying goes. From past struggles they are difficult to understand especially if your a beginner, by all means read them but just look at the pictures as it's easier to decipher those than to understand what's written.

With Salior Armin I already knew what I was doing as I had used the Simplicity pattern twice before.

Tip 4) Interfacing

a few paragraphs ago I mentioned interfacing? Well for Sailor Armin this was an important part of making the costume. Interfacing is a piece of fabric that is attached to the main fabric to give it , strength, and structure. Commonly you'll come across interfacings that are fusible and non-fusible. Fusible facing can be attached to fabric by ironing it, whereas non-fusible needs to be sewn to the fabric, not ironed. For my project I used fusible interfacing to give structure to the green "cape" that went over my shoulders.

I applied the interfacing on the WRONG side of the green fabric (my main fabric), ironed it, sewed another piece on top of the interfacing and then turned it inside out so the interfacing ended up being on the inside of the "cape".

What I just described is a nutshell of how to do it. If you want a detailed description of how apply the interfacing onto the main fabric, "The Sewing Book" I mentioned early gives you step by step instructions on how to do that. Interfacing is a helpful fabric that I highly recommend using if you can.

What it looked like after I applied the interfacing and sewed the cape into the garment.

Tip 5) The Sailor Hat

I get a LOOOOOOT of questions on how I made the Sailor hat for Armin. Believe me when I tell you that I had no idea what I was doing the entire time. :joy:

And that's OKAY! :ok_hand: 🏻It's okay to try new making things that you've never done before and a hat is something I've never thought about making.

I structured the hat's shape out of cardboard and using a reference by another cosplayer who did Sailor Armin as well (my version was heavily inspired by it). Once I got the shape I wanted I cut pieces of white and green fabric in long strips. The plan was to fold the fabric around the cardboard and sticking it on with hot glue. I divided the hat into 3 parts.

After painfully hot gluing the fabric around each part, I hand sewed all of it together to make one piece. You can even see the stitches when looking at up close in person, but that doesn't bother me as it's so small to even notice.

Once the hat was assembled I hot glued a black headband underneath it in the hole so it could be wearable. This is where you see lost of it's flaws :joy: :joy: .

And finally don't forget the Survey Corps patches! After everything was finished, this was the last thing I got glued and it was the most satisfying thing to finish off a cosplay! :grin:

Final Look

I hope this is acceptable as my Cosplay Legion Submission :pray: 🏻 and I hope this blog has helped someone out there looking to get into sewing. :heart_eyes: :ok_hand: 🏻