NCC 2015.

Armour comfort level: now that I managed to maneuver myself into sitting position I'm not moving a muscle until I absolutely have to, let's hope I won't need to pee.

Con report time? Con report time!

I recently represented Iceland in the Nordic Cosplay Championship in Närcon, and by now you may have read quite a few reviews of the con and the competition itself from many sides of the matter, so I'll try to avoid repeating things too much and only talk of the things that affected me. Buckle up!

Tuesday

You read that right, team Iceland arrived on Tuesday and began to cause their assistant grief right from the start - due to a Certain Team Member's goof-up the assistant almost didn't realize we were going to arrive on that day (I'm not naming names here to protect myself)(but it was my fault).

The flight was quite eventful! We were entertained by a drunken, middle-aged Icelandic lady who was afraid of flying, screamed when the plane took off, talked her neighbours' ears off, hit on the poor lad and told his wife she could have him back "once she was done with him", harassed the stewards (I counted two butt-pats), tried to elbow one when he refused to sell her more alcohol, made weird, sexist jokes and topped it all off by screaming the landing part as well. When we were finally in Oslo she broke into a loud HALLELUJAH I LOVE GOD AND HIS SON WE DIDN'T DIE.

We all breathed a sigh of relief to be finally rid of her and went to find something to do while we waited for our connecting flight. Alas, Oslo airport is possibly the most boring airport in existence so we just ended up walking aimlessly around. Upon boarding the plane to Arlanda we noticed our relief had been too soon - sure enough, same lady, now even more drunk, same show until Sweden.

We arrived to Linköping in the middle of the night and got first night rooms in a nearby hotel/motel/old farmhouse place. Cute place, nice rooms, horrible IKEA bunk beds that killed the whole team's backs. Note to IKEA, your bunk beds suck.

Assisting Morrigan waiting on the backstage.

Wednesday

We were finally let to the sleeping hall. Originally the talk was hotel rooms, but at some point those turned into a sovsal regardless. Positive: you get to know the other teams, chat and hang out with them. Negative: cold, seriously cold. Motion detectors in the lights, meaning that the first night everyone woke up to the lights turning on when someone needed the bathroom, after that the detectors were taped blind... but that just meant that the room was dark the whole time the tape was on. The room could be locked, but since no one had the key to it that would have meant being locked outside of it, so we had to keep a box in between the door to make sure we could get back in... which was a security hazard since the same building was used as a general con-visitor staying place.

On Wed we also hit the exotic H&M (which Iceland doesn't have) and the exotic McDonalds (which Iceland used to have but they bolted the moment the economy crashed). Many things were bought.

This day the rest of the teams began to arrive. It would have been a perfect day for the NCC to arrange some kind of a get-together where we would have been able to introduce ourselves and get to know each other but alas, much like last year this didn't happen. I had attended NCC before as an assistant so I knew where everything was, but I heard from the other teams that they were feeling quite lost... an introduction meet-up could have solved this problem since the experienced ones could have shown the new ones around and helped them out.

Flemeth's half armour makes for an excellent McMeal tray! 

Thursday

Very, very, very busy day. Putting on the cosplay, pre-judging, two photoshoots, one lunch break, taking it all off and doing an interview in "civilian" dress. We also had our first stage rehearsals. I walked a few blisters into my feet that day.

This day also showed me what really was not working for the NCC competitors. First of all, according to the webpage we were supposedly VIPs and would be "treated royally". Now, I know the Bernadotte are fairly chill as royal families go, but I've a feeling they would also feel a little unhappy about the following:

- No changing rooms for the VIPs, we changed either in the changing rooms meant for everyone (which meant crowds and queuing) OR in the sleeping room which was shared by all competitors, men and women alike. I don't have a problem with changing among strangers but I would understand those who weren't comfortable with the idea of changing their underwear (for f.ex. putting on a binder) in front of a group of strangers.

PROPS FOR COVERING UP THE WINDOWS TO THIS ROOM THOUGH. Last year the problem was that everyone outside could see in while we were undressing and dressing up, this year that one had been solved.

- No toilets for the VIPs. We had to queue just like all the con-goers, despite the fact that our schedule was ridiculously tight. Also... this is not the fault of NCC or Närcon, but it bears saying to the regular con-visitors: if you're so afraid of brushing your teeth in front of others that you absolutely MUST lock yourself in the toilet to do that, know that I'm hating you with supreme passion for every minute you're taking in there while I'm waiting to pee. I will glare at you when you finally get out.

- No showers for the VIPs either. Again, queuing for the public ones, again it wouldn't have been so hard if the schedule hadn't been so busy and ran so late.

- No food specifically for the VIPs. Well, two food tickets per day for con tent food for which we had to queue just like everyone else. No allergies or diets taken into account aside of vegetarian options in the outdoor food tents, but since the vegetarian options were cooked on the same grill with meat... well. In any case one of our team members couldn't get gluten-free food and she absolutely cannot eat gluten, big minus for that.

Verdict: I don't mind queuing or tight schedules as such, but please Närcon, at least don't call this VIP treatment. Still, this was my first big cosplay competition so I had nothing to compare things to and all in all personally I was quite happy all day, if a bit stressed.

Exotic McDonals meals. Btw our assistant Seaster was so on top of things that I don't know how we would have survived without her.

Friday

Competition day! Man I was stressed all day long, I can only hope I didn't take it out on my poor assistant or other team members too badly. My entire apologies and a half if I was a menace! -.-

Most of the day was free, we only had one dress rehearsal and the show itself. Here's where things began again to go wrong.

- Some competitor/s were given last minute no-no scares for things that had earlier been approved. You can read Regzo's report here for more details, my personal opinion is that is was massively unfair and put unnecessary stress on the competitor/s. Besides that confetti cannon was cool to the max, I'm really happy she could keep it.

- No proper backstage. I had lost all hope for any VIP treatment but I still felt a bit disappointed that all we got was two chairs and some free soda... that I didn't dare to drink since we were not provided ANY toilets this time. This was a glaring fault, last year there were portable toilets and I hope they'll return for next year.

- It was cold, so cold. You have no idea how cold it was. The tv team had a tent with heaters but all competitors were told to sit on their assigned parking lot spaces and stay there freezing... buuuut then our super assistant struck again and appeared with her arms full of blankets. Behold:

I still feel cold to remember this.

Team Iceland, blanket burrito version! Still, providing blankets is another thing that the NCC team could easily arrange for the competitors and assistants, it would make a world of difference.

The competition itself went well and we had great time on stage, much thank yous to the stage crew that made all the magic happen and especially the awesome audience! The cheering we got for Mother Knows Best made every bit of discomfort worth it, I felt so welcome because of you. Admittedly though when I first walked on stage and took a look at the sea of people I almost froze out of shock but you were so great, you too strange guy near the front who made a weird grin face and then stood absolutely still with that same look on for ages. :D WTF dude but at least you made me laugh a few times, wondering how long you could keep it up (answer: very long)(did you practice that at home or?).

For the annual rumour that the competition was rigged or the wrong ones won or yadda yadda, no guys, the winners were amazing. Their cosplay skills were top notch and every one of them deserved to win and the winner of the competition was not a surprise to anyone - she was just so good. To address another popular complaint, her assistant didn't break any NCC rules either since the rule of using assistant on stage is somewhat vague and only states that the assistant is not allowed to outshine the competitor.

...yeaaaah ok, I may feel a bit extra prickly about that last part since I also had my assistant playing a large role but let's ignore that I'm feeling butthurt about the critique. :P In any case it was fun to toss my Morrigan around, and to answer the question I've now heard twice so far, yes I punched her in the belly for real (= connected but didn't hit hard). It was her idea, I had permission to. We probably had a safety word, maybe-possibly.

On Sunday we even had time for some sight-seeing! No Bernadotte spotted though.

POSITIVE NOTES

- Everything was right on time! Last year the schedule was a wee bit lagging and the competition was about an hour late if memory serves, this time the timing of everything from Thursday madness to Friday competition ran very smoothly.

- Thursday's insanity was all in all ok-ish for me. I just hopped from spot A to B to C to D to E to F to G and though it was a lot of running around I was happy that I didn't have to wait at any spot. If anything the schedule ran a bit ahead of itself so whenever I showed up a bit early I could just jump into action and get out a bit earlier too.

- I loved the photographers Shila and Shiro. I just loved them. Both were so friendly and nice and had completely different approach to taking photos, which was interesting! One gave me all free reins on what I wanted to do, the other gave me careful instructions, I liked both styles and can't wait to see the photos!

- The stage crew was really on top of things. I was especially happy about always having someone right there by my arm when I needed help walking down scary parts of the stage, felt good that they had me memorized as a "bad shoes needs help walking"-person. Small things like this may not seem all that important but they matter a lot, like the people who popped by asking how we were doing while we were waiting for our turn to get on stage - these moments really keep you going.

- The cafeteria in Kårallen was a great idea: food available at any time. I hope this one continues next year, but perhaps with a better food stocking plan since they ran out of food a few times.

- Last year the NCC teams could breakfast in the NCC room - it was wonderful, hopefully that returns next year as well. At least bring back the coffee maker, the instant coffee of Kårallen hurt my feeble soul. :P

- NCC team we know you worked really hard for us and even though there were some bad moments this all still counts as a positive experience in my book. I hope to see you all again!

Saturday

Free day yayyy! Convention roaming, buying stuff (I'm one yukata richer because this one shop just happened to have all my weaknesses in one yukata - a red and white yabane pattern), taking photos of cosplays, con activities, cosplaying something else, happy hanging out time and in the evening a NCC dinner for the teams sans assistants. The dinner was great but I'd much prefer if the assistants were included, it feels cold to leave them out after they've worked really super hard for us for days.

At this point I want to praise our team's assistant some more: Seaster is the most efficient and competent assistant in the universe. Whatever our team might need she had already thought of and was carrying along in her tiny backpack, and many things we hadn't thought of but ended up needing she had caught already. At one point I tried to joke that if any of us was requesting a chair she'd probably have one in that backpack of hers but the rest of the team didn't even laugh for reals because most likely she would actually have had that chair.

In any case I give a warm recommendation for having her as a team assistant for Icelanders of the future. Hint: it's no small perk to have an assistant with her own car, especially since the flights from Iceland often don't coincide with the flights from the rest of the Nordics.

Sunday

Going home day, but not before we did some sight-seeing in Stockholm and ate ourselves silly. Note to those planning to go to Sweden, the Swedes really know how to cook so go and eat everything, just do it, especially eat lots of cakes because Swedish cakes are my favourite in the world. Just the perfect balance of everything, I knew this in advance and had a ten kilo gaining plan for Sunday.

After the cakes and Gamla Stan we ate some more, then ate some more and then took a plane back home. The air traffic gods were still hating on us though... this time we weren't entertained by the drunken lady but about two dozen small children screaming and crying their way back home because the flight was late at night and they were obviously tired. Little Guðmundur, if you ever read this, don't hit your momma, that's bad.

(For those who missed it this year's NCC was televised and can be watched f.ex. here on Yle Areena for about 25 days more. Our performance is on at 38:05.)

All photos of this post are by our team assistant Seaster.

Avoiding wardrobe malfunction, cosplay -style.

And then for something completely different.

First of all, a disclaimer: I rarely if ever cosplay anything revealing but I'm totally fine with skimpy cosplay and it takes a lot to make me jump about nudity.

All the cosplayers in this entry are doing things very, very right.

Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, photo by Nathan Rupert.

I remember my first actual convention well. It happened in a tall building with many flights of stairs and as I was filling my cup by a water tank at the bottom of one I happened to look up...
...and still regret having done it.
There, some way above me, stood two girls in cosplay outfits that were essentially swimsuits if going by amount of fabric. Sadly they weren't made of lycra or any other figure-hugging material, and as the girls moved around the fabric folded in the front in a way that let you see absolutely everything there was underneath. Of which there were, clothing-wise, none. I would have had no problem with the outfits otherwise but like most people I seriously don't want to see some strangers' genitals as a convention surprise.

Wait, who are you to police my preferences? I can cosplay whoever I want, so what if the outfit is skimpy?

Skimpy cosplay is awesome! That said, it can be done well, extremely badly and everything in between. Just going by what the character wears is in most times not enough (think of all the Death Note's L, Naruto's Akatsuki and any Hetalia or One Piece cosplays you've ever seen, now think how many of them were actually good ones), and the same can be said about what  they do NOT wear.

It's not always a deliberate act when a cosplayer shows too much, but what to do to minimize the chances of a wardrobe malfunction?

Poison Ivy, photo by Steven Leung.

How to look good (almost) naked

Construction, construction and construction. Make sure well in advance that the outfit stays on. Be certain that if you have to walk through a sharknado your private bits will stay hidden.

I'll share a secret that I learned from Hui Lai Lee many years ago: two pairs of underwear and thick, skin colour tights (skin colour = as close to your own skin colour as possible). Wear the first pair, put tights over those, slip second pair over tights. Ta-dah, even if upskirt happens you won't show any more than planned!

Poison Ivy, photo by Steven Leung and Fanime-039, photo by by Jason.

Costume in danger of slipping away from important body parts? 

* Deep and sharp necklines can benefit from actually attaching them together in the front with something see-through. There are f.ex. bra straps that would work. These can also be used to make invisible shoulder straps for otherwise strapless tops. See both Ivy cosplayers above for construction tips!
* Sock glue has saved many a cosplayer. That said, don't let that be your only helper. Construction of the actual costume is far more important than any glue.
* Wearing something underneath because fabric on fabric is less likely to slip than fabric on skin.
* Remember to have a good posture. Slouching is one of the main reasons wardrobe malfunctions happen.
* No way you could wear a bra underneath? Gonna go the full Nudist Beach Nonon? Bandaids/stickers/pasties/etc. can help hide the nips.
* Occasionally it may even look better if you make the costume a bit more covering than the original was, or use skin colour fabrics to fake some parts. Or you may even do an AU version of your character where the costume is less revealing, see Princess Poison Ivy at the bottom of this post.

Poison Ivy 3, photo by RyC - Behind The Lens.

Prepare for the unknown.

The most important thing is that you try the costume on before the con. Shush I know you're still working on it the night before, it'll be enough to try wearing whatever's ready. Wear it the way you're planning to wear it and move around. You'll see what'll make you feel uncomfortable pretty soon.

You can also ask a friend to help - another person can tell you if something's showing where you can't see. Practice poses, see that nothing falls out when in action. Go to toilet just so you know you actually can. Take photos of the costume on yourself, and remember that some fabrics are totally see-through in photos taken with flash. All this makes enjoying the actual convention so much easier!

Princess Poison Ivy, photo by greyloch.

Lastly and most importantly

TPO - Time, Place, Occasion. There's a time, place and occasion for skimpy outfits, but make doubly sure first. A good rule of thumb would therefore be:

In a private area? Skimpy cosplay totally ok!

At a convention? Check the rules, if told to wear more at the con be prepared to do so without complaining. Some conventions allow a great deal, others don't. If it's not an actual convention at all but some other kind of a festival I'd suggest avoiding tiny costumes altogether.

At a competition? Check the rules of the competition, most times it's totally fine. However, remember that lots of photos are taken at competitions and especially the unflattering ones have a tendency for appearing on 4Chan etc.

At a public place with lots of people? Most likely no - not even in countries where public nudity is just fine, because even in those countries acceptable nudity is usually restricted to certain areas (saunas, bathing areas and so forth). If, however, you've made your outfit actually more covering than the original by f.ex. using skin colour fabrics you may be safer. Be prepared to wear more if requested, and also know you'll be stared at a lot and people may take photos of you and - again - post them wherever they want to.

At a public place that rarely has people, such as a sea shore that's not a beach? Use your own judgement here. If no one sees it no one's going to mind.

(And then I added more photos because these cosplayers were too good to be left out.)

Poison Ivy by GabboT.

Poison Ivy by Stefan Schubert.

Also by GabboT N.M.Jean as Poison Ivy.

How the Talas cosplay was made, part 4.

I left the trickiest part last: shoe/boot covers. They're a headache even at best. If a seam in the middle is a ok by the design and stretchy materials are an option you're mostly set, but what if the material you're working with is wool and only side seams can be considered?

Starting from the basics. First of all you need a pair of shoes you're willing to sacrifice for a cause, and they should match your reference pic shoes in shape as closely as possible. I was lucky to have this pair that I had walked beyond salvation that matches Talas' shoes heels, so I got to work. 

I removed a band and a button that went over the toes of each, and because the buttons would not let go without taking a chunk of material with them I cut small, round shapes out of the straps and glued them in place. Else there'd be a weird dent each finished boot.

Then I painted the bottoms and heels of the shoes red - it's important to do it before the boot covers go on because painting as an afterthought may mean staining the covers.

Next I dug out a sheet and started figuring out how things should work. I used my actual shoe to draw the pattern both in correct toe shape and correct size and then continued the pattern longer to create the leg part. Don't even touch your real materials before you've got the pattern part right with the cheap fabrics! You want them to be just right, snug, but not too snug to go over the shoes and with the option of actually getting your foot in when it's time to put them on. When working on non-stretchy fabrics, especially if it's for a first time, make them mock-ups until they're right.

BEHOLD MY MAJESTIC LACK OF DRAWING SKILLS - anyway. 

A) Shows how I used the actual shoe to draw the pattern. Just plop it on and trace around. A2) is the seam allowance, which I left at roughly 1cm, but sewed the seam actually a few mm on the outside of it, creating a little bit more room since the material did not stretch. Also see that you cut your other shoe's pieces as a mirror image to the first one. 

B) The opening of the boot should be very wide and there should not be any attempt at making the ankle part snug. In Talas' this was actually just fine, since her boots are shown to bunch up a bit at the ankles.

C) Sew the side seams. Slip the shoe in carefully and mark where the heel will have to go through. Take the shoe out again. Cut a hole that's just a few mm smaller than the heel. Then cut 5cm straight up at the back of the heel, marked as a line on the C)-picture.

D) Cut a triangle out of your fabric and sew it at said cut. As long as it's a bit larger than your cut you're safe, you can trim the extra material off afterwards. Turn the whole thing around so that seams will be left on the inside.

E) The triangle will give the heel the extra space it needs when you work the shoe in again. After you've made sure the shoe fits snugly it's time to glue.

F) Preferably use fabric glue. It takes a while to dry properly (leave overnight just in case) but as the glue will be a bit stretchy it'll help your chosen boot cover material not tear in action.

Spread glue on the toe of the shoe and to its sides. Roll boot cover up, match the inside of the toe and roll cover over the shoe. Don't worry, the glue takes a while. You can keep adjusting for as long as you like.

The final shape of the shoe will be very open, so this technique won't work on boots that are supposed to fit tightly on you.

If you're going to embroider the boot cover it's best to do it before you glue it on. Much easier! Just see you don't pull the stitches too tight of the material will bunch up.

When working with felt wool you have one thing on your side: it does as it does. It doesn't stretch but it molds a bit according to how it's being worn. These boot covers were at first a little tight at the top, but after putting them on a few times they took the shape of the tops of my feet nicely.

Aaand done!

But what if you need something else? Here are some tutorials I've found really handy. They come in various levels of difficulty ranging from anyonecando to holywowgrandmaster, so pick what suits your skills and needs the best.

Aurum Cosplay's Homura shoe + tights combo. Video.

Stretch Boot cover (made of stretch vinyl) by NyuNyuAZ. Video.

Attack on Titan Boot Cover Tutorial by Valdrein.

Costuming: Boot Cover Tutorial at Crash.Culture//.

Knee High Victorian Spats/Boot Covers at Cut Out + Keep.

Non-Stretchy Boot Cover Tutorial by FireLilyCosplay.

Making Thigh-high Boots - the cheats way! by LolaInProgress. 

Stretch Boot Cover Tutorial by The-Cosplay-Scion.

How the Talas cosplay was made, part 3.

Sa'wkele

Now onto the parts where embroidery was not the main hurdle: first is the massive headdress and how it was made.

Man, I really should have taken more photos of the beginning of the process! Now that I did not I'll just try to explain how the thing was made.

First of all you need two bowler hats. Not real ones, just the cheap, cardboard variety you find in costume stores. I cut off the brims of them both, set one aside as the base that'd go over the head. The other one was reshaped into the red and black top part.

To reshape it I simply cut it at four points at the sides but leaving the whole top intact (important!), and removed small pizza-slice-shaped portions and folded it smaller until I was happy with the size. Then I both glued and stapled the sides over each other, always making sure that the left side overlapped the right side so the inevitable ridges it would leave would at least be at exact intervals and therefore easier to deal with.

The red felt was the next part, and here I could already cheat a little. I cut four "puffy" pizza-slices (or half almonds, if you will) out of it that were long enough to reach from brim to top and glued them on. They didn't meet exactly, but that didn't matter. The black strips I glued over them nicely hid all the edges of the red pieces underneath.

...aaaaand then for some moar embroidery. Besides the glue, these lines helped keep the edges of the felt pieces taut and tidy.

Top view. Btw the fabric glue makes it really hard to embroider anything over it so I had to be careful with it and try not to get it where the stitches would go. Well, it went there anyway, making it a Herculean feat to force the needle through, all the while trying to not tear the fabric. In the end I simply resorted to the power of the One Sacred Word that may or may not start with vittu and end with perkele and just pulled through this part of the project fueled by bad temper alone. :P

Next it was time to figure out the correct place for the top to sit on and draw it on the other bowler hat with fabric chalk. Then to plan how to put the black cords into place. Notice how the back part tapers down? It has yet another glued-on black felt piece supporting the shape. On the front the cords are glued straight over the bowler hat though.

I say cords but actually it's thick, Icelandic wool yarn! Álafoss Lopi to be exact.

Next I put the bowler hat over my head and marked (haphazardly, but no problemo) where the red "ear flaps" and front band would go. Then it was down to the garage, where I sprayed the hat seriously full of contact glue (it's got a fabric-y top layer, so it drinks the glue in a lot - needs therefore a lot of glue). The yarn stuck to it quickly and so well that I had to be really careful with how I laid it there. I went on adding a section after another varying the direction of the yarn to create that criss-cross-pattern. Everything had to be done in one go, since there was no way I could have sprayed on more glue once there was already some yarn there for fear of staining... on a hindsight maybe spray glue was not the best idea.

My only real concern besides this was to fill in all the spaces that would be showing underneath the top and the red front parts, so I put a generous amount of yarn. After the glue had dried I hand-sewed around the edge of the back flap, the only place where the ends of the yarn would be seen, so that it'd look tidy.

Working on embroidering the tail of the hat... 

After the embroidery was finished I glued the tail on the inside of the top part.

My glass bead holder, courtesy of Atlantic Sea. :D

Next I glued the top on taking care to cover the ends of the yarn cords. I used epoxy glue for this part. Then I made that glass bead string that you can see going around the edge and used more epoxy glue to glue it in place, also to further make sure the top would be so damn well glued it would definitely stay on no matter what. I'm severely allergic to my cosplays falling apart while wearing them, so I try to make everything so secure I don't even have to think about it.

Right, so the cording was in place, tail attached to top part and the top part attached to the lower one.

Next:

Magic/salt dough / trölladeig / taikataikina. My recipe for it can be found here.

Pros: CHEAP LIKE MY SOUL. Fairly light. Easy to file, sand, dye (while in dough form), paint and glue. Stays good forever in the fridge.

Cons: relatively fast drying time - keep the dough covered well when not working on it. Puffs up a little when baked, bead holes have a tendency to collapse. Not usable for items that take a long time to mold such as the jewellery items of this cosplay.

Some finished beads etc. Had to dump the blue ones though since the colour was way off the mark. Another con, then: if using food colouring to dye the dough it might come out of the oven in different shade than intended.

(The photo is taken with a flash, so all the colours are rendered to unnatural yellow shades, but I figured it's a good photo to illustrate the painting process itself.)

Painting sculpted things to look metallic is quite straight-forward: first put on a layer of dark paint and make sure it goes in all the creases and such to create a convincing shade. 

Once dried, apply metal paint. After that I painted the gems: you can see in above where I added little highlights on them to further make them pop. As a final touch I added epoxy glue over the gems and left them to dry overnight before attaching them to the headdress.

The next day I cut out two ear flaps and one rectangular piece of red felt and glued them in place with both fabric and super glue (one grabs on tight and fast but will eventually grow brittle, the other takes a while to dry but is very secure in the long run). I also went over the upper edge, stitching the fabric into the cording with tiny stitches.

Btw, the beads did not come out of the oven looking all shiny either, I attached them first by sewing them on and gluing them securely in place, and put a layer of varnish over them as a final measure. I started again at the middle - the little sun went in first, then the smaller gems on both sides of it, biggest ear flap gems, and then the forehead beads. For the ear flaps the gem pieces were attached first and then the beads.

The last part of the headdress itself was to sew the "bead fringe" on.

You can see more beads drying in the background of this photo, that were used to make the three strings of beads that hang from the ear flaps and over the chest. Here's a secret though: they don't hang from the ear flaps at all.

Re: my allergy to parts of cosplay falling apart, I didn't want to jeopardize the ear flaps, especially since many beads that large threaded on three strings do weigh some. The strings of beads are therefore actually detachable and hang not from the ear flaps but the actual brim of the bowler hat within. I punched two holes on the sides, made a ribbon loop through each, threaded the beads into intended shape and attached a hook to either end. The hooks slip through those ribbon loops.

Pros: easier storage, sturdier built + also feels sturdier when worn on the head, less strain on the neck since the weight is balanced evenly on both sides and not only at the front, this balance also makes sure the beads don't pull the headdress over the face, ribbon loops allow the bead strings to move naturally.

Cons: none so far.

Ta-da!

Next: embroidered shoe covers made from a non-stretchy material.

How the Talas cosplay was made, part 2.

Qizil Kiymeshek

You know what's wonderful? It's finding a page with the exact garment you're planning to make spread out various ways! Making patterns yourself does not get much easier than this.

Very well then: what I would need were one huge rectangle/diamond shape of wool and another, slightly smaller triangle. As for the part that lays on the top of the head, examples on that page showed that it can be done practically any way you want to. I chose to cut the top and bottom corners slightly rounder (but not the sides) and add a piece cut in almond shape. At the widest it's 12cm wide (seam allowances included) and it's about 35cm long. Its exact shape was not a real concern because a) its function would only be to add some room for my head and b) no one would ever see it.

Or so I thought. And then I planned the skit and - well. :D

But onwards!

Again I began embroidering before putting the whole thing together. Much easier on the arms, but required some planning.

Btw the narrow yellow lines are just sewing thread. I made those huge crosses to help me keep the lines straight while I chain-stitched ahead. If you look closely at the outer edges of the black piece you'll see that curiously each corner has at least one piece of embroidery already in... they and the thick, red line were put there in the beginning to make sure the piece would not move around, tear or misshape itself while I worked on the middle.

The work advances. The yellow guidelines have been removed.

Detail shot of the embroidery. According to my research this part had to be made of wool and decorated with chain stitches. There's another kind of a kiymeshek that's white in colour and decorated in red cross-stitch, but those are usually worn by older women. If you read Bride's Story you can see the difference in the shade of Talas' and her mother-in-law's kiymeshek and their decorations. Kaoru Mori is the queen of research.

First piece done! It gave me some trouble when I realized that Talas in the manga is actually wearing a k'ok k'oylek and a kiymeshek with a somewhat different pattern then the one shown in the cover picture, but then I thought there could be a logical explanation. She was very young when she was married the first time and she married four times in total, so she might possibly grow too tall for her old ones at some point. Besides her husbands' family back then was definitely wealthy enough to order new ones. This is just a headcanon, mind you. :P

Adding the border piece. It still annoys me that the bottom of the red wool started to curve as I worked on it... I somehow didn't see that coming though I've worked with wool before and KNOW how it likes to shape itself on its own. But it was a learning experience - always keep in mind that wool does as wool does.

 Once the embroidery was all done I sewed the front piece, top of the head and back piece together. I put the whole thing over my head and set it at the right place, marked my nose, chin and forehead and cut the hole for the face, carefully and little by little since it couldn't be too large. I covered the edges of my face-hole with bias binding and added some embroidery under the chin. Then I added the long, black lines for the back and embroidered the red grid on those and as a last measure cut the line of tassels out of the fabric.

Here's how it looks at the back when worn.

Next part: the headdress: Sa'wkele.

How the Talas cosplay was made, part 1.

NCC here I come! But before that I want to share with you exactly how this outfit was made. I don't have enough photos of all parts of the making I'm afraid, but I'll do my best with what I have.

Let's start with the

Ko'k K'oylek

In other words that long, blue dress. In fact I began the making of the dress by researching how they really were made and found out that the material should be blue cotton, embroidered heavily in the front with cross-stitch and left almost entirely non-decorated in the back.

I selected a cotton fabric with as visible a weave as possible (it was a lucky find at Vogue: a fabric both the right weave, heaviness and colour, it's usually very difficult to find exactly right fabrics in Iceland), because the entirety of the cross-stitching would have to be eye-balled. This meant many frustrating moments of pulling out rows of uneven stitches, and even so, as you can see above, the stitches are not identical in size or shape as cross-stitch usually should be.

I began with the middle piece, the most decorative part of the whole dress. As you see I embroidered it before I made the dress itself because I assumed (correctly) that when the dress was put together it would be super heavy and make embroidering it afterwards a challenge.

I started the embroidery itself at the middle of the middle piece, just so that I knew it would always be centered correctly. If you're an aspiring cross-stitcher, starting your projects in the middle is always a good idea.

By the way, there's a good example in the photo of when eye-balling stitches goes wrong. Look at the diagonal thin, red rows of stitches on the bottom right side. They're not crooked because the fabric was crooked, I just failed my eye-balling. Those lines all ended up being pulled out and re-done.

Getting there! At this point I cut the front open, turned it neat and, well, embroidered it. As you do...

Even when I was this far I still went back to fix some things. That's the main reason I took these photos. An embroiderer looks at the work at such close proximity that there's two dangers: not seeing mistakes that are there or seeing mistakes where there are none. Taking a photo is a brilliant way of figuring out what's wrong, if anything, and how badly.

After the middle part was this far done I began working on the front side panels. I figured the patterns out by looking at the picture of Talas in her cover picture... if you spot mistakes don't tell me. :P

It was time to put the whole thing together! From here on I needed to know where the seams would be, but let me tell you, holding up this much fabric while embroidering it is a lot of work.

Embroidery lining up just as planned. This was a great moment!

Detail shot of the hem. The red cross-stitch border goes all around the dress.

Here's the reason I had to know where seams were - the sleeves are no ordinary sleeves. They're entirely rectangular in shape and go all the way to the middle front piece. It sounds and looks simple but I might have turned a bit gray at the temples trying to figure them out...

Oops, embroidery gets a huge gap at the seam on the top part of the picture. Fixing it: open the seam and re-sew. It's annoying but much preferable to either embroidering the gap full or just leaving it there.

Sleeve time!

Looking quite good. Somehow the sleeve embroidery was a billion times easier to align than the hem.

Having said that, they were still a bit crooked. The way I made them was to first draw a grid with fabric chalk and then embroider along the lines.

After the sleeves were done I went back to the body again and embroidered it some more for good measure. Actually I'm itching to get back to it and just you know, mayyyyyybe I could add more diagonal stripes, or maybe stars, or -

(Or maybe it's time to chill, put that needle down and back away slowly without breaking eye contact.)

Next part: the head covering, qizil kiymeshek.