Charles Grey Cosplay Tutorial – Making the Sword

Sooo…just to add to the interwebs stockpile of cosplay sword tutorials…here’s another one for Charles Grey in particular. There aren’t very clear reference images of his sword online…so I referenced what images I could find of Charles with his sword plus stock images/references of rapiers – the kind of sword he carries.

 

My hilt ended up looking something like this…

 

It looks nice but I made it waaaay too big. It actually looks kinda dumb hanging on my side. Looks more like a bludgeon than a sword. QQ.

But anyways…to make the sword, I started off with balsa wood as the internal support structure. So the blade, the handle, and the flat horizontal part of the hilt all has balsa wood underneath the worbla covering. I was debating between using foam and balsa but I thought that even covered with worbla, a foam sword would be kinda flimsy. And real wood is just too heavy, so balsa wood was a nice medium. So I bought two long planks of balsa and cut out the blade to the size and shape I wanted it to be. I think for this particular sword, I cut it to be 36″ long and 1.25″ wide and tapered it starting 6″ from the end so the end would terminate to a point. The thickness of the plank was 0.25″.

 

After I cut out the shape of sword from the big plank with an exacto knife, I smoothed out the hard corners with sandpaper. As a side note, to make it easier on your hands, glue some sandpaper to a block of wood, so it easier to work with.

 

Yay! Look how smooth that looks after sanding. Whee~~~ Then I had to think about the cross-guard/horizontal part of the hilt. I was planning on using worbla only as my only adhesive so I knew I had to attach the cross guard to the blade in a way that would be structurally sound, instead of just sticking the flat end of the blade to the surface of the cross guard. So this is what I came up with…

 

Yay! So I was pretty happy with how it looked…I just gave a good sanding between this step and the adding worbla on top step. And then I proceeded to cover the cross guard and blade individually with worbla.

 

Yahh…so I covered each part individually and then when the worbla was still warm, I shoved the blade into the hole I carved out in the cross guards. Once cooled, it was pretty sturdy but just to be safe and not have my sword fall apart on me during a convention/traveling, I rolled out a thin coil from scrap worbla and coiled it around the joint between the blade and cross-guard for extra reinforcement.

Then, to make the handle,

 

I also cut out of worbla, a handle. Something along the lines of the picture above. 0.50″ thick and sanded it and covered it in worbla and stuck it onto the bottom of the cross guard. To also reinforce the joint, I added a fat coil of scrap worbla.

 

So far, so good.

 

Then this next part (decorating the hilt/making it all fancy) is kinda hazy/if you’re following this tutorial to make your own sword, this is where artistic license comes in. I’ll supply a bunch of pictures of the hilt I made, but most of it was just making stuff up as I went along. I referenced several difference images of rapiers I found on Google images. I used a mixture of worbla scraps rolled out into coils and also craft foam. So yeah, ultimately, I got something that looked like…

 

But yeah, this is all I got for this tutorial. I’ll try to upload part 2 soon! ^^ Park 2, I’ll discuss what I did to prime and then paint the worbla. :DDDD

Kuroshitsuji Charles Grey Cosplay Tutorial (Spats/Boot Covers)

Okay…so I’m complete crap at updating, but here’s a way overdue blog update/post–a tutorial on how to make a pair of “Victorian” spats (not truly Victorian since I’ve paired mine with a pair of chunky stripper heels x_x and installed a zipper on the side) based off of Charles Grey’s costume design. Here’s a reference photo and a photo of the finished spats.

Also, I would like to warn readers, this tutorial gets kind of confusing because in the middle, because I forgot to take pictures (I get too excited when working on cosplay, so I forget x__x), so there’s a lot of text explanation :< However, if any reader needs extra explanation, please comment and I’ll be more than glad to help walk you through it in better detail.

    

So before I did any sewing or drafting I did a quick prelim sketch of where everything was gonna be placed/layers. I was originally going to layer my fabric: Main fabric, interfacing, lining, but the main fabric I bought to make the rest of my suit and pants are so thick/stiff that I cut out the interfacing.

 Okay, to draft a perfect fitting pattern to fit over my leg/foot/shoe, I used a method that a lot of cosplayers use when drafting pattern pieces for Worbla armor, which is to wrap your leg with saran wrap and then take masking tape, tape over the saran wrap and sharpie over where you want your seams to be. I know it sounds crazy and definitely looks ridiculous (see below), but it does get a pretty good fit in a quick and easy way. Fair warning, don’t wear pants that you like while going this, because when I cut myself out of the wrap/tape, I cut a hole into my leggings x_____x

…naise. (btw, these are not the appropriate seam lines for Charles Grey’s spats, this is actually a picture of me doing the same method of drafting for my Saber cosplay. For CG, draw a line down the center front, center back and each side).

Okay, after I did that/cut my leg out of the tape/wrap casing. I got 4 separate pieces (Be sure to label them! They all look very similar).

Aiight, niceeee. So after that I transferred the pieces onto flat paper so they would be easier to work with. I also added in a 0.5″ seam allowance on all side in this step.

After that, when I had all four paper pieces, I cut them all out of cheap muslin to do a quick mock up before I started cutting into the nice fabric.

  

Eyyy, not looking too bad. But there’s still some cleaning up to do. On this first mockup is when I do all the pinning and adjusting and marking up. (Use a sharpie, go crazy, write/redraw seam lines/adjust whatever you want to make it fit nicely in this step. But yeah, after I was done, I was pretty happy. So I took it all apart.

And re-transferred the pieces onto paper. This drafting step of transferring it back and forth from paper to muslin to paper can be repeated as many times as possible until you get a fit you like. I think for Madam Red, I drafted her bodice at least 3 times x_x but yeah, up to you who’s making this on how you want it to fit ^^

After this, drafting is complete and I proceeded to cut out the pieces out of main fabric and lining fabric. Oh and between the last step and this step, I somehow decided that my legs are symmetrical, so I would only use two different pattern pieces and cut each out twice to make one four-piece spat because I’m hella lazy. In the end, it worked out pretty well, but I think I should have still stuck with the four distinct pieces I had above to have a better fitting spat, but oh wells…too late for regrets.

So here’s the pattern piece and fabric and lining all cut out, laid/pinned on top of each other.

My main fabric is this really nice off white twill and my lining is white cotton poplin for those who are curious. But yeah, I just attached them all together BUT, for this project in particular…I did not sew together the outside edge, for sandwiching a black strip of fabric in later.

This is a picture of the boot cover for my right leg, see how I’ve sewn the main fabric together except for the edge that will be on the outside of my leg/the black sandwich seam line.

In the next step, I installed a zipper (non-invisible) in that middle seam in the picture above (it’s actually a basted seam). Pics of the zip placement (I took this picture a few steps after, so bear with my jumping back and forth)…

 

Okay, so after the zipper is installed, I attached the lining (the lining is basically the same thing as the main fabric. Face the two right sides together and sew ALL around (except for where the zipper is, that has to be sewn by hand to the zipper inside)

Attaching the lining.

Okay, after that’s all said and done, the little cuff at the top of CG’s boot cover needs to be made. This can be probably a million different ways but what I did was to cut out a strip of fabric that can be doubled over and fits nicely/comfortably around the top of the boot cover. So I cut a strip of fabric around 15″ wide and 6″ tall (not including seam allowances), which would be doubled over to make a strip that is 3″ tall and 15″ to wrap around my calf. To get the strips of black I used thin bias tape that I laid down and sewed down.

After that was done, I handsewed it onto the boot cover itself.

And for the finishing touches, the flower and buttons:

The buttons I made from this kit I got online. Here’s a larger version of it.

So I followed the directions and tacked those babies on. And as for the flower, I totally cheated and used hot glue. First I started off by cutting a 1 inch circle out of fabric that would hold all my ribbon pieces together. I cut out three inch strips of velvet ribbon (7/8″ wide) and glued that all down.

  

I repeated that 8 times and laid the folded ribbon pieces on top of each other.

…that’s a really poor picture, but hopefully it helps you with getting an idea of how I laid it out.

Then to finish it all off, I took one of the bigger buttons I made from that other kit and sewed it down the center and tacked that onto the boot cover where I thought it was appropriate.

Here’s a picture of my stubby legs wearing them. Very swag. Much wauw.

And that’s all folks! Whew, GG now I’m beginning to understand why it takes me so long to update. Writing all of that felt like a marathon. x_____x But yeah, hoped this helped a bit for those who have the same endeavors. Drop me a line if you have questions!

Tutorial – Making of Madam Red Part 2 – Pseudo-Corset Top // Hoopskirt Review

Uhhhh…sooo that wasn’t a week between my last post and this post. My bad. Uhm well…I’m planning on double posting tonight/tomorrow. I’ve made quite a lot of progress on my Saber cosplay so I’m gonna type up my triumphs and woes of what I’ve done so far.

Okay, for the bodice, this (front and back):

I drafted my own pattern for the pseudo-corset (I call it a pseudo-corset because it actually doesn’t cinch anything). I honestly don’t remember what my exact process was. I recall drafting fabric onto my mannequin that I had and then making a muslin with the pattern pieces I disassembled but it was way too big…basically my boobs are way small x__x. So I pinned the muslin draft while I wore it and took it in a lot. Took that apart and re-did a muslin. Made sure that one fit and then moved onto good fabric.

But yeah, super sorry that I don’t have more of a how-to guide to how I drafted the bodice to fit. I know that drafting, at least for me, is the biggest/most time consuming part of making a cosplay.

But yeah with all my pattern pieces laid out.

 

Here’s the general shape of them. If I find them in my mess of a room, I’ll scan them and upload them for those who might want to reference. It’s an 8 piece bodice. And as for the fabric I used two layers of cotton broadcloth, 1 layer of cotton sateen, 1 layer of red lace, black cotton sateen for the bow/straps, black bias tape to seal off the edges and I also used plastic boning on the seams to give it more shape.

Yay, cutting out fabric. Blah. So i cut each pattern piece out 4 times out of the cotton broadcloth, enough to make 2 bodices out of the cotton broadcloth. Sewed in all together and then pressed the seams. With seams together (bad sides together), I sewed like 0.25″ away down each seam. So one row of stitches on each side of a seam to make a tunnel to insert the boning. I have a picture down below (yeah…it’s upside down QQ…Wordpress won’t let me flip it but ya’ll get the idea). The center seam already has the “tunnel” created.

 

I did this for every single seam on the bodice, plus the back. I made two boning tunnels to keep the back upright. Then…then…I forgot to take pictures. QQ Ugh, my bad. Sometimes I get so excited while working on cosplay, I just make and forget to take progress pictures for when I’m going to write up tutorials. But I’ll still explain, and feel free to leave me a question down below if you’re confused. I will absolutely answer and do my best to help/explain!

Anyways, after making the tunnels for the boning. I cut and inserted the boning and made sure to sew a bit of a horizontal stitch across to keep the boning in the casing/tunnel. Afterwards, I cut the same bodice pattern pieces out of the main red fabric (red cotton sateen) and red lace. I put those on top of the cotton broadcloth (so top to bottom is, cotton, cotton, sateen, and then lace) and sewed them altogether.

I finished the outer edges off with bias tape. It was double fold, so super easy to use. Fold it in half over the ugly edge and then voila, disappears!

Next part was fun…hammering the grommets. Although it was just me probably who thought it was fun. My neighbors didn’t seem to enjoy it… x_x But yeah I used this kit from Amazon.  Best kit ever. It has everything you need to install grommets and they stay in naiseeeee. (You just need to supply your own hammer or high heels…I recommend a hammer. Don’t ruin your heels.)

And then for the black bow/strap thing (which was inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s dress in Roman Holiday), I freehanded a pattern and cut it out of black sateen and then hand stitched that on to the main bodice.

And then I was done. Boom.

As an extra bonus…well…I call it a bonus, I don’t really know if it is a bonus, but here’s the hoopskirt I used. Bought it off of eBay, here. I got the 3 hoop skirt. It was nice and poofy but I think it could’ve been bigger, but then I think I would have had to size up for the four or five hoopskirt. Ah well next time, but yeah here’s a few pictures if there’s anybody shopping around for hoopskirts/not too sure what size hoopskirt to get.

 

 

Came in a tiny package like this…and then it inflated to…

BOOM

Here’s a me for scale. Ignore the awkward pose. I’m shy. JK not really.

Okay, that’s all I got for the making of Madam Red. I know it’s kinda skimpy at some parts, but leave me a comment if you’re confused and I’ll work on getting better at this tutorial/progress making stuff. 🙂

 

Kuroshitsuji Madam Red Cosplay Tutorial + Introduction

Hello all! I’m not too sure what I’m doing starting a new blog, but I guess I wanted to curate a walkthrough of my cosplay/sewing adventures in hopes it’ll help other cosplayers and whatnot. And occasionally I’ll blog about other cool things I stumble upon.

So to start off, I’ll dive right into the major cosplay project I’ve been working on this past summer. This version of Madam Red from Black Butler:

Welp…that picture turned out smaller than I expected. Whatever, it’s a giant poofy red ballgown. Since I’m already 99% finished with this cosplay, I’ll show pictures of the completed project and then walk my way backwards into the making of.

Finished product (necklace and hat were bought but for the sake of completeness, I pictured them anyways ^^):

It took me approximately 2 months, 1 yard of red lace, 1 yard of red kona cotton, 2 yards of dark red cotton sateen (for ruffles), 7 yards of regular red cotton sateen, 1 yard of black cotton sateen, 26 grommets, and random bits of trims and lace.

I’m going to break this up into a 2 part tutorial. Part 1: Making of the Skirt to follow in the next post.