The Fabric

A important part of making a costume is getting the materials.
More specific for this post, the Fabric !

I went to the fabricstore not long ago (I'm going to be honest, it was back in january.)

Prior to the trip to the fabricstore I had spendt countles hours on the world-wide-web,
searching for the perfect fabric.

I looked at fancy patterened fabric, and WOW, there are alot of amazing patterns!

Here are some examples:

I mean come on! Look at them! Tell me these are not simply amazing?

To my slight dissapointment, I was told by my wise mother that I had to look at what kinda fabric it was.

Haha, silly me. I can't sow a dress in quilting fabric.

So I started to put myself into the whole "different fabric" world.
There are alot of different kinds of fabric, and man it was dificult understanding all the terms.

So basically (for you non-pros like me) this is what I have understood:

The type of fabric is decided by what kind of "substance" its made of,

Wool, Cotton....      That wasn't really a shock.

But fabric is also decided by how its made. How the threads are put togheter.

Different techniques give different kind of fabric.

Stretchy - Non stretchy

Thick - Thin 

Soft - Rough 

How a dress will "fall" is also decided by what kind of fabric it's made of.

And I wanted my dress to fall just as I imagined, so I decided to go to the fabric store!
(As mentioned in the top of this entry)

I got my mother to drive me to a different town, so I could check out and feel the different fabrics.

The store had tall and wide shelves with all kinds of fabric. It was truly amazing!

Picture found online. From same store. 

I walked up and down the shelves while feeling the fabrics.

 I ended up liking the fabric called "Chenille" and it fell nicely.

I tried putting the different colors next to eachother so I would find a nice combination.
And as an indecisive person this took alot of time! Luckily my mom didn't seem to mind.
She wanted me to take my time and figure out exacly what colors I wanted.

In the end I got 4 different kinds of colors.

1. Cobolt
2. Turquoise
3. Antique blue 
4. White

The fabric felt nice and soft. Aswell as it felt strong, so hopefully it wont easily tear.
I bought alot of fabric..  alot!
 and it was then I realised how big the project I had taken on was!

This is me holding only the Cobolt fabric!

In the end was the fabric I got plain and without any fancy patterns.
Though that means I have the possibility to test my own craftmanship,
and try to make it fancy somehow!

Stay tuned, for more of my noobness, when I try to figure out how to make it FANCY!

~Cosplay Noob Tuva~

Hitting the dreadful wall

Hello again!

I do realise it has been ages since I last wrote anything.
There have been alot of times where I wanted to, but I never got myself to.

For this entry I wont be talking about any spesific cosplay-craft-thing.

This entry is going to be about hitting a wall during a project.

And I am hoping that this will maybe prevent someone from doing the same mistakes as I did.

Back in early March I had a week off of school.
There were no classes and no assignments.
So I decided to take that time to start sowing my dress.
I traced patterns, cut out pieces of fabric, and started sowing
(I will be posting entries regarding this at a later time )
I was spending countless hours day-in day-out,
JUST focusing on the costume.

I am sure I have mentioned this earlier in my blog,
but I am a kind of person who get's this "must finish" feeling
whenever I am having a project of some kind.

Must cut out- Must sow- I'm tired- Must get it done- Must work
-I need to sleep- Must finish project!

I start to ignore the fact that I am exhausted. That I need a break.
And in the end I'm a grumpy zombie who just wants to keep sowing.

(Yes I just made that JUST for this statement)

To be honest, I hardly sewed anything!
The tracing and cutting took ages.
And I spend ages just getting a sowing machine ready.

One day I hit the wall.
The dreadful wall.

I was tired, but insisted on still sowing.
First thing I was going to sow was a thing called "Piping"
Or "Bisebånd" in Norwegian.

Picture from this tutorial

And For a complete noob to try that was really hard.
I sewd and sewd. And finished the first piping.
Or atleast I thought. I realised the piping looked off.
Something was definitly wrong.


So I decided to unravel the stitches and start over.
It was also then I realised that I had put the sowing machine
on really small stings, so unravelling took ages.
Then I managed to rip a hole in the fabric.

Given the fact that I was already really tired at this point,
I broke down. I rushed the fabric to the sowing machine,
and somehow i broke the machine needle.

The unraveling.
The hole.
The broken machine needle.
The lack of sleep.

It all piled up.
And I hit the wall.

I left the sowing room. Closed the door.
And didnt open it for the rest of the week.


It killed my will to sew. And I have been avoiding the project for some time.
Until recently when my mom started asking me about it.
Saying I couldnt just give up.
She told me to take small steps.
"Sew only one piece each day, or each week!"

And that is what I am doing now.

I take tiny steps. Where I only sew little by little.
When I'm with the sowingmachine about to finish a piece,
I feel the thoughts of "Must finish" build up.
But I ignore them. I finish my piece and leave the room.

When I went to stitch togheter the
GIGANTIC HOLE- as my mind kept thinking.
I was faced with a tiny hole, that was easily fixed.

And now it's not even visible!
I can't help myself from laughing when I think back to how much I panicked.



So if you are ever facing a big project, take small steps.
Don't get carried away

And if something were to go wrong.
-Take a deep breath.
-Go rest
-And face the problem tomorrow

Don't hit the wall
- And don't give up.