Cicia's Closet

You’re allowed to just do things for fun.

He told me that in this modern society, especially the United States, we seem to have this attitude that we shouldn’t do something unless we’re aiming to be the best at it. If we can’t sing like Beyonce or Frank Sinatra or something there’s no point to singing. If we can’t make the next big breakthrough there’s no point in looking into mechanics and engineering.

But, he tells me, it took him a long time to figure out that life doesn’t have to be a race. If you want to take up the piano when you’re a teenager or later you’re not going to master it. You’re not going to be able to play to huge concert halls, but that also shouldn’t stop you. You can study a language out of curiosity and then drop the ball if you want. You can just get okay at something or even be terrible at it. You can drop it for days or years and then pick it up again and it doesn’t have to be a shameful thing.

I’m really glad he told me that because today I opened my sketchpad for the first time in months and just started drawing. And it looks terrible. But I don’t care. I don’t have the talent or patience or spacial awareness to get anywhere near good at drawing, but it’s fun. It helps me focus my mind and nobody has to see it.

And because of what he told me, I’m thinking maybe someday soon I will take up the bass guitar. And I won’t worry about how well I do, or how fast I learn, or that I haven’t played an instrument since sixth grade, or that I don’t have that much time to practice. I’m just gonna enjoy the experience. Maybe I’ll try swing dancing again and take a class because I’m not the best dancer but damn if it isn’t fun.

OK so I posted this on twitter yesterday and it got A LOT of traction and my friend reminded me that maybe I should Post it here in case someone reposts without credit so!! I’m the creator of this tutorial thank u if this does get thrown around without credit ;~;

Cosplay Tip:

Hey guys! I’m a film industry trained seamstress with over 11 years of costuming experience and multiple master level best in show awards from cosplay competitions across the country. 

I’m opening up commissions for the spring and summer because I find myself with a little extra time on my hands and I’d love to work on projects for other people!

I’m opening THREE slots for now – one for this spring and two for this summer. They are first come first served and I will not be opening more until I have completed everything in my queue.

If you are interested: email me at [email protected] with the following: the character and series name, at least one reference photo (the more the better), and the date you need the costume by. Please read the info below the cut before emailing me!

Even if you’re not looking to commission anything right now, if you wouldn’t mind helping me spread this around, I would be sincerely grateful!

ATTENTION COSPLAYERS:

I would like to make the paint brand “Angelus” known. It is a special paint that is for leather, faux leather, rubber, and similar surfaces.

This is literally the best paint you can buy if you love a pair of shoes, but they aren’t in the right color for your character.

This stuff coats VERY well AND the coats of paint bend with your shoes. This means no cracking!!

In the photos above I took black rain boots and painted them with Angelus Turquoise. As you can see, they don’t look black any more! It’s so good!

I managed to paint two boots with a little one ounce bottle of the paint, and I still have a third of the bottle left over!

The paint dries very fast, so you can put layer on top of layer on top of layer without it streaking.

You can get the paint on Amazon and it comes in every color!

REPLACE YOUR NEEDLE

For the love of God, Mary, and their son Jebus, REPLACE YOUR SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE.

So here’s the deal, for my first like four years of sewing or so, I treated sewing needles the same way I treated shaving razors. That is to say, I tried to keep using the same one for as long as possible even though I had about five more left in the pack. At the time, I usually only changed my needle when it broke. 

Now I don’t know how long ya’ll have been sewing, but the best advise I could ever give on the subject is NOT TO DO THIS. Seriously guys, change your freaking sewing needle. Change it every time you finish a cosplay—two to three times if it’s a big project, sometimes even more. I went through nearly ten needles for my Allura cosplay. 

Change it every time you hit a pin. Change it every time your stitches start becoming uneven or your machine starts acting up. Change it after every time you sew through a thick layering of fabric. Change it after sewing fur. Change it after sewing leather or vinyl. Change it according to your zodiac. Change it whenever you have a craving for chocolate. Change it whenever the clouds in the sky change—however you judge it, just FREAKING CHANGE IT ALREADY.

My first reaction whenever my machine’s acting up is to re-thread the machine, and if that doesn’t work, my second instinct is to change the needle—no matter how new it is. Eight times out of ten, one of these two solutions fixes the problem. I promise, changing your needle regularly helps to prevent so many problems and hours of frustration—not to mention it’s a lot easier on your machine. And when you get down to it, needles aren’t that expensive (they’re a lot cheeper than shaving razors, I can tell ya that), I usually tend to stock up and buy like $25 dollars worth of them at a time. 

Complete guide on how to make your own Tracer pants/tights tutorial :) 

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