Cosplay101

I’ll update this list as I find new indie pattern makers! Feel free to suggest any additions! 

Here’s a bit of an explanation of the terms I used in this Master Post list:

Sewing Patterns = Women’s sewing patterns

Sew-Alongs = Blog or Video tutorials that guide you through every step of creating an item from a pattern

Tutorials = Short tips and tricks about sewing in general

Pattern Add-ons = Instructions on simple modifications or additional detail pattern to a full pattern (Example: Pocket add-on pattern for a blouse or how to modify a wide-leg pattern to skinny leg pattern)

Dolls = Human-shaped stuffed toys

Stuffed Animals = Animal-shaped stuffed toys

Plushie = Video game or Anime inspired stuffed toys

Don’t have time to check every store for a particular pattern? Check out these shops: 

https://girlcharlee.com/ - They sell sewing patterns from over 2 DOZEN indie pattern makers!

http://shop.wesewretro.com/ - They sell vintage and vintage-inspired sewing patterns from over 20 indie and mainstream companies!

http://sewingpatterns.com/ - Sells paper and digital patterns from over 60 international indie and mainstream companies!

http://sewing.patternreview.com/ - Sells paper and digital patterns from over 30 mainstream and indie pattern makers. Also sells eBooks, supplies, and DVDs.

General Sewing Patterns

http://www.averbforkeepingwarm.com/ - Sewing Patterns, DVDs, Physical Classes, Fabric, Supplies

http://byhandlondon.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Sew-Alongs, Fabric (you can shop their gallery or upload your own design)

http://sewaholic.net/ - Sewing Patterns, Sew-Alongs, Tutorials, Creators of the “Sewtionary” book

http://www.petitepluspatterns.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Creator of “Singer’s Perfect Plus” book, Sewing Pattern Add-ons, Digital Classes, Tutorials,

http://www.sewserendipity.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Applique Patterns, Several Books including “Sew Serendipity Sewing Wokbook,”

http://figgys.myshopify.com/ - Children’s Sewing Patterns, Physical Sewing Classes, Digital Sewing Classes,

http://megannielsen.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Sewing Kits, Fabric, Tutorials,

http://clothhabit.com/ - Lingerie Sewing Patterns, Tutorials, Sew-Alongs, Digital Sewing Classes

http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Sew-Alongs, Sewing Tips, Creator of the “Love At First Stitch” book, Physical Classes

http://truebias.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Children’s Sewing Patterns, Tutorials, Sew-Alongs,

http://threadtheory.ca/ - Sewing Patterns, Men’s Sewing Patterns, Supplies, Tutorials, Sew-Alongs

http://grainlinestudio.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Tutorials, Sew-Alongs

http://www.sbccpatterns.com/ - Petite and Plus-Size Friendly Sewing Patterns, Tutorials, Patterns Add-ons

http://www.namedclothing.com/ - Sewing Pattens, Tutorials

http://www.jocole.net/ - Sewing Patterns, Children’s Sewing Patterns, Supplies

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WinterWearDesigns - Sewing Patterns, Children’s Sewing Patterns

http://seekatesew.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Children’s Sewing Patterns, FREE Sewing Patterns, Tutorials

http://shwinandshwin.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Children’s Sewing Patterns, FREE Sewing Patterns, Tutorials,

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WildLilyandLace - Sewing Patterns, Children’s Sewing Patterns

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LolitaRoyalty - Cosplay Sewing Patterns

http://www.victorypatterns.com/ - Sewing Patterns, 

https://angelakane.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Tutorials, eBooks, Sew-Alongs, Video Tutorials

http://www.heycutsew.com/ - Sewing Patterns, Cosplay Sewing Patterns

Historical & Vintage

http://www.buckaroobobbins.com/ - American West Sewing Patterns, Supplies

http://www.elizamvintagesewing.co.uk/ - Vintage-style Sewing Patterns,

http://www.neheleniapatterns.com/english/englishsite.html - Historical Sewing Patterns, Supplies

http://www.decadesofstyle.com/ - Vintage-style Sewing Patterns,

http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/ - Vintage & Historical Sewing Patterns,

http://www.wearinghistorypatterns.com/ - Vintage & Historical Sewing Patterns

http://www.folkwear.com/ - Historical and Traditional Sewing Patterns, Supplies,

Stuffed Animals, Dolls, & Plushies

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleCrickets - Toy Sewing Patterns

http://rosepetalcollections.com/ - Doll and Stuffed Animal Sewing Patterns, Clothing Sewing Patterns, Children’s Sewing Patterns, Quilt Patterns, Decor Patterns, Doll Making Supplies,

https://www.etsy.com/shop/revoluzzza - Stuffed Animal & Doll Sewing Patterns,

http://dollsanddaydreams.com/ - Doll & Stuffed Animal Sewing Patterns, Embroidery Patterns, Sewing Pattern Add-ons, Tutorials, Free Patterns

http://www.verityhope.com/ - Doll & Stuffed Animal Sewing Patterns, Tutorials

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Pupadou - Stuffed Animal & Doll Sewing Patterns

http://www.teacuplion.com/ - Stuffed Animal & Plushie Sewing Patterns, Tutorials,

http://www.sweetemmajean.com/ - Toy Sewing Patterns, Supplies

http://dollphinwing.com/ - Plushie Sewing Patterns

http://www.retro-mama.com/ - Stuffed Animal & Doll Sewing Patterns

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Gingermelon - Stuffed Animal & Doll Sewing Patterns, Supplies

https://www.etsy.com/shop/soapybacon - Plushie Sewing Patterns, Plushie Embroidery Files

https://www.etsy.com/shop/valleyviolet - Plushie Sewing Patterns

http://www.funkyfriendsfactory.com/ - Stuffed Animal & Doll Sewing Patterns, Supplies, Tutorials, Sew-Alongs

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheDenTree - Doll Sewing Patterns

http://sweetbriarsisters.com/ - Stuffed Animal Sewing Patterns, Tutorials, Sew-Alongs

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeeZeeArt - Stuffed Animal Sewing Patterns

https://www.etsy.com/shop/GandGPatterns - Stuffed Animal & Doll Sewing Patterns

You are a stranger, and it’s uncomfortable all around. Particularly when I can tell that the cosplayers are significantly younger than me and probably minors when I am very much not. 

Cosplay does not equal consent.

You’ll find them on most strapless bridal gowns, if the style allows for it, but you wont see much mention of them online.

I haven’t been able to find any tutorials, no explanation, just the occasional reference on a bridal site. Sometimes they’re wrongly called a waist stay, other times I’ve seen them called an elastic bustier, but Juliet strap is what we call them, and its less confusing. The manufacturers who make our dresses for us (I work with a bridal designer) have never been confused when we asked for a Juliet strap in a dress.

Its a wide strap of elastic thats sewn into the side seams and has a closure like a bra band. I’ve seen them up to about 8 inches wide, the one in the picture is about 3.

What does a Juliet strap do? It holds the front of the dress to you! If its wide enough, it will also act as a bit of a corset. 

The strap helps hold the front up, and against your body. And keeps the movement of the front to a minimum. If you’re worried about a dress falling down, or not giving enough support in the front, its an easy alteration that will improve the fit. however, It works best with boning.

Welcome to the second installment of the “Isabela Cosplay? How?!” series. Today I will be breaking down the BEASTS that are Isabela’s boots. I say beasts because these bad boys ate up the majority of the cosplay construction time. That’s ok though because once again I want to stress how absolutely important her boots are. Whenever I run across an Isabela cosplayer the first thing I look at are how they did the boots. I don’t think two people have ever done them the exactly same way and I think that’s really neat. They all have different buckles, the cuffs are made out of different materials, some are real leather, some are faux, and now I’m rambling. The point is don’t stress too much about getting them exact!

BEFORE I GET STARTED!! I am by know means claiming to know what I am talking about! I am completely self taught in all things sewing related, so I guarantee there is probably a much better way to do all of this. I just wanted to explain how I did mine.

Anyway I will start with the reference pictures I used most while working on the beasts.

The top images are from Tumblr user thedosianimports  who has just a ton of high res reference pictures for dragon age! I can’t stress how important these pictures were to me during the construction process.

Immediately I knew when looking at these images that the best way to go with these beasts were not to make actual boots, but make them more like a pair of spats that went over a pair of base boots.

The first thing I do when working on any cosplay is determine what type of material would work best for this project. If I had the funds and tools I would have loved to have made these boots out of actual leather. Unfortunately when buying for this cosplay I was trying to recover from an expensive semester in college. So I took a trip to the local Joanns and browsed for a while. My search took me to a giant roll of dark brown upholstery vinyl that I immediately fell in love with. It was thick enough to support itself for the most part. I’ve noticed that a lot of Isabela cosplayers have a tough time keeping their boots up. Some use garters, some use tape, and some just let them do what they want. The main goal here is to be able to just put your boots on and be able to leave them. I hope that kind of makes sense.

Once I had my base material I started working on the pattern. I just made it out of some old white sheets I had lying around. It kind of ended up looking like this:

I measured the circumference of my legs at the top of where I wanted the boots to lie, around the knee, around the largest point of my calf, and my ankles with the base boots on. I put the mock up pieces together and sort of measured how big I wanted the knee hole to be. Sorry I can’t think of a better way to explain that. Don’t forget to add the seam allowance when your cutting out your spat pieces!!! 

I started by sewing the two horizontal parts so that instead of four pieces I had two. After that I joined the pieces at the top thigh. At this point I put on the first invisible zipper. NOT THE THIGH ONE but the one going down the length of the shin. I sewed it in upside down.

I marked here where the invisible zippers were sewn in during construction.

IMPORTANT: THE THIGH ZIPPER DID NOT GO ON UNTIL MUCH LATER I WILL SPECIFY WHEN!!!!!

Once the shin zipper was on I cut out a circular piece of the vinyl and just sort of pinned it into the knee whole till I thought it looked alright. This is probably the sloppiest part of my boots and I praise anyone who does it well.

Once I sewed the knee piece in, I topstitched everything I had with a thick white upholstery thread.

At this point I sewed up the back to right behind the knee and just pinned up the back of the thigh to make sure the fit was right.

I made adjustments where I thought they were needed, seam ripped the back and started on the dreaded buckles.

For the buckles I knew I personally wanted to go a little larger than what is strictly accurate. Just a personal preference sort of thing. I ended up buying 10 of these:

I liked the antiquey look and size. I also bought 10 matching “D” rings in the correct size.

At this point I was completely stumped and actually ended up walking away from the project for a couple weeks. I HATE BELTS!!!!! Once I calmed down and de-stressed, I sat down with my materials and just started playing. I came up with a weird solution that worked really well for me.

I sewed pieces of vinyl to brown craft foam. Each belt is two pieces: the one with the “D” rings, and the one with the buckles. The buckles are not in any way important to the fit of the boots. They are just there for show.

Breaking it down specifically I cut out the craft foam, spray glued the vinyl strips to the foam, and sewed them on with the white upholstery thread. All the belts were hand sewn to the boots because my machine couldn’t handle it. This is the part that took the longest BY FAR.

Once all the belts were on I sewed up the back, FINALLY INSTALLED THE LAST ZIPPER, and started patterning out the cuff. I don’t have a picture of the cuff pattern so it kind of looked like this:

Use your imaginations I suppose. Anyways I cut out two of those for each cuff, sewed them right sides together, turned them right sides out, and top stitched with my upholstery thread.

Once those were on I just hemmed the bottoms and they were done in time for the con.

They aren’t done at this point. I still need to add the buckles and belts to the base boots. I’m going to use the same method as the belts on the spats but instead of sewing them to the boots I’m just going to glue the belts on with Barge Cement.

Knowing your body measurements matters a lot in getting a good, desired fit- whether this is for everyday clothing or for cosplay. This is the very basic of basics. Your body measurement is what you will need to construct a sloper - a paper pattern you will use to construct a garment or costume fit for YOU.

I’ve excluded some measurements which can be discussed as we progress. I do not want to overwhelm you with information YET so this really is just basic. 

 If you can’t get through this, I’m afraid you’re not cut for tailoring. So I beg you, please read thoroughly before asking questions. Focus.

This measurement guide is for women’s clothes by the way. We will discuss men’s measurements next lesson. 

Before we start here are a few things I want to remind you of:

1. if you’re going to use body modifiers such as fake pecs and abs, shoulder pads to extend your shoulders, fake breasts, triple padded bras, super platform shoes, Spanx or another kind of shapewear - anything, anything that modifies your natural body shape and height- wear it when having your measurements taken. This way your costume will be tailored around your expected outcome. 

If you plan to wear a padded DD bra but had your measurements taken in your natural A cups, the costume won’t fit. Obviously. 

2. Wear as little as possible. I will need you to stick tape markers to your own skin.

3. You cannot take your measurements alone. No man is an island and you can’t reach every nook and cranny of your body. Get a slav, eh, friend to help you with this. 

4. Get your measurements every 6 months. That’s a good way to check if you’re still fit, too :)

5. Measure in front of a full length mirror if possible.

Things you need:

1. Pen and Paper, for writing down your measurements, DUH. 

2. Elastic band, as a marker for your waist.                    

3. A friend. Or your nanny. Or a slave, whichever works. 

4. Body modifier if you plan to use any.

5. Masking tape, or any kind of tape you can stick to your skin temporarily.

Ready? Let’s start

1. Front Shoulders : measure from the tip of your front left  shoulder joint to the right. This should be a straight line. 

2. Back shoulders : taken from the back, measure from the tip of your  left shoulder joint, pass through the name and then to the right joint. This should make an arc, your nape being the highest point of that arc.

3. Shoulder length : Measure from the base of your neck (where your shoulders meet your neck) to the tip of your shoulders. 

4. Front chest : This is a horizontal measurement between your armpits. Put one end of your tape measure at the the tip of your armpits and measure in a straight line to your other armpit.  Usually this is 3 inches down your neck seam and it should not exceed your shoulder measurements. If it does you might be a very unique person or an alien. 

5. Back Chest : Back horizontal measurement between your armpits

FIRST MARKER

Next, cut a very small tape and put it 1 inch below your left and right armpits, in line with your side seam (where you think the center of your side is, see green line in photo below. In this photo I was raising my arms so it looks like more than 1" below my armpits but its not, ok.)

6. Front Body Width: Measure from the front the width from left First marker(1" below armpits) to the right. 

7. Back Body Width: Measure from the back the width from the left first marker to the right.

8. Bust points: The horizontal measurement from one nipple to another! Couldn’t explain it much simpler  than that!

9. Bust point position: Measure in a straight line from the base of your neck (where your shoulders meet your neck) to your bust point

10. Bust circumference : the biggest circumference of the upper torso passing your two bust points.  So ladies, this is your boobs generally. For men’s, we will discuss this in the next lesson. 

Note: When taking this measurement, make sure your tape measure is perpendicular to the floor. if your tape measure slants there’s a high chance that the measurement you took is smaller than the actual bust size.

SECOND MARKER

Get your elastic band and tie it around the smallest part of your abdomen. your waist is NOT where you position you low rise jeans. Your waist is THE SMALLEST part of your abdomen, OKAY? We usually need to take different waist measurements, depending on the garment we need to produce BUT for this tutorial we’re sticking with waist as the “smallest circumference of your abdomen. Get it?

THIRD MARKER

Put a piece of tape to mark the middle of your front waist. This is usually in line with your navel. 

FOURTH MARKER

Put a piece of tape to mark the middle of your back waist. This is usually in line with your spine. 

11. Waist: Using your elastic as a guide, measure around your waist. Make sure that the tape measure is perpendicular to the floor. 

12. Center Front Length : Measure from your center neck (just a tiny bit above the center of your collarbone) to your center front waist (Third Marker)

12. Center Back Length: Measure from your center nape to your center back waist (Fourth   Marker)

13. Full Front Length : Measure from your high shoulder neck point (that junction where your neck meets your shoulders) down to your waist. As usual, use your waist elastic as a guide for this,okay?!

14. Full Back Length: Measure from your back high shoulder neck point down to your waist.

15. Side Seams : Measure from your first marker to where your side’s waist, again using your waist elastic as a guide. 

16. Front Shoulder Slope: Measure from the tip of your shoulders to the center front of your waist, and use the third marker as a guide. 

17. Back Shoulder Slope : Measure from the tip of your shoulders to the center back of your waist, and use the fourthmarker as a guide. 

18. Neck : Measure around your neck passing the nape (just above the highest and most prominent spine bone/vertebrae) and a little above the collarbones like in the photo below. Please take note of the slanted way the tape measure should be placed.

19. Armhole : Measure around the shoulder ridge passing through your first marker (1” below the armpit)

20. Armhole Depth : Measure from shoulder tip to the first marker. This is a vertical measurement and because your marker will be covered by your arms, you have to estimate where it is approximately located. 

21. Over arm  measurement:  Measure from the tip of your shoulders to your wrist bone.

22. Under arm measurement : Measure from an inch below the armpits to your wrist bone. 

;

22. arm circumference : measure around the widest part of your biceps.

23. Wrist : Measure around your wrist, where your wrist bone is. 

There are actually 3 kinds of wrist measurements but just so we don’t overwhelm you right now, we’ll stick with the basic. 

24. High Hip : circumference 4 inches below the waist. Make sure your tape measure is perpendicular to the floor when taking this measurement. 

25. Hips : approximately 8-9 inches below waist, measure around the widest part of the buttocks. 

That is it for now~  I want you to familiarize yourself with each body parts and how to get its measurements properly so I don’t have to repeat myself on the next lessons I’ll be posting. 

Some other requests : 

1. Please don’t re upload this to a different site! Just link to my tumblr please and/or reblog.

2. Do not claim this tutorial as your own. If you do, you are a pathetic no life, delusional vermin of society. 

3. Read and try to comprehend thrice before leaving me a question to answer.

4.  I will reshoot this with better photos and a video too just in case photos are not enough.

5. Levi is my spirit animal. While I haven’t shot better photos for this tut, Levi’s head will rest on my body, DEAL WITH IT. 

Follow me :

This is an excellent tutorial for anyone who is just getting started with cosplay. As A Little Decadance mentions in the beginning, knowing how to take these measurements are critical if you plan on making your costumes. 

Store bought patterns will use a portion of these measurements to help you determine the size of the pattern and how much fabric you need to buy. 

Online tutorials that teach how to create slopers, bodices, corsets, etc. will require these numbers. 

These measurements come in handy when trying to determine size when you are buying costume pieces as well. 

As for keeping track of then measurements, there are a number of different “Costume Measurement Worksheets” available online that you can use to keep the measurements in one place. 

This is a step by step tutorial on how you can make a simple bag for your cosplay.

This tutorial fits all kinds of fabrics and for this bag I used white faux leather. When working with faux leather remember that it melts under high temperatures, if you plan on ironing it use low temperature and a towel in between the iron and fabric. Also remember that when you sew in the fabric the needle marks will be visible even if you take the thread away so make sure not to sew wrongly.

1. Decide the measurements you want on the bag (this one is 10x14x2.5 cm). Remember to make the back piece longer than the front piece so it kan be used as a lid. To do this add the length of the height of the bag together with the side and the leght you want the lid to be. Cut out the parts in a fabric with at least 0.5 cm seam allowance. The fabric I used was a white faux leather.

2. Place the right sides of the front and side pieces together and sew along the marked line.  (A good idea is to sew all the way over the seam allowance at the top but to not sew over the seam allowance at the bottom. This will make it easier to later fix the upper edge and to sew in the bottom piece.)

3. Sew together the back piece with the sides. (Do not sew all the way over the seam allowance this time since you want to be able to fold the seam allowance down later.)

4. I like to sew the bottom piece of bags on by hand. This gives you more control and the risk that the sides twists because the corners got sewed on a bit off lessens.

5. Cut out a new piece that will be the inside of your lid. Make it a bit longer than the lid actually is.

6. Put together the right sides of the lid pieces and sew like the green line shows, not all the way down the sides of the lid.

7. Turn the lid part inside out and sew on the velcro or snap fastener so you can close the lid later. (If you want you can sew the velcro on after step 5, but I like to do it here since I feel it gives me a bit more control where to place it.)

8. Flip the lid inside out again and sew the sides of the lid together.

9. Cut the seam allowance’s corners of the lid, making sure not to cut of the thread, and flip the lid inside out. Take a pointy object like a chopstick or a pen and point the corners of the lid out so the get a nice edge.

10. Sew along the edge of the lid to make it lay flat and give it a bit of detail.

11. Flip the rest of the bag inside out and sew on the other part of the velcro or snap fastener on the front of the bag.

12. If you like to be able to have the bag on a belt like this one or hang it over your shoulder in a strap this is the step to add a piece of fabric on the back to pass the belt through or add the strap at the sides of the bag.

If you want a more soft look on the bag you can skip step 13 and 14 and jump directly to step 15.

13. To get a more square looking bag measure the inside of your bag and cut out pieces of cardboard (I like to use cereal boxes for this part). Make sure to measure all the way up on the seam allowance since you want to be able to fold a bit of the fabric down over the fabric.  14. Glue the cardboard to the inside of the bag.

15. Glue and fold down the edge of the upper part of the bag. A good way to keep the edge in place while it dry is to use clothespins, just make sure you don’t get glue on them.

16. Glue the leftover of the inner lid piece to the bag so it stays in place.

Ending a Zipper 

There are a few different ways to end a zipper that you want to shorten or prevent from separating on the bottom. Here is my current favorite technique! In my previous guides I’ve used glue or webbing, but I have been doing this instead and I like the finish of this much better!

Above, using a sewing machine (hand stitching is also possible!) sew a scrap of fabric over the zipper teeth just above where the slider is supposed to separate or where you would like your zipper length to end. If you have a printed fabric or minky, like I am using, orient your fabric so it is “wrong” side against the zipper teeth.

The fabric will be folded over the zipper like so.

Here is how the opposite side looks after that first stitch. You can now trim your fabric piece smaller. To get a tidy look, folding in the end your fabric will achieve that.

You can also fold the sides in on your fabric too.

Here is both the ends and the sides folded in, ready to sew. If it helps, you can pin or clip your zipper end to keep it in place until you can sew it.

Do another line of stitching over the zipper teeth to sew the folded in end down.

You can leave your sides un-stitched until you install your zipper into your project! Once you sew your zipper down to your project, you can sew over the ends and it closes them up very neatly.

I’M SORRY FOR YELLING, BUT CHECK THIS OUT

IT’S A BIG-ASS LIST OF PATTERNS FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF ARMOR RIGHT BEHIND THIS FRIENDLY AND CLICKABLE LINK.

It’s not completely comprehensive, and they’re all made with actual metal in mind, but I’m pretty sure they’d work just as well with thermoplastics or foam if that’s what you’re working with.

I was looking for references and tripped over it, so I figured I’d share.

other people have probably shared it too but OH WELL

So a little while back, I reblogged a post about tailoring your own clothes. The gist of it was this (IIRC):

Someone was wondering why even people on TV with non-mainstream-TV-approved body shapes always look so good in their clothes. 

The long and short of it is: their bodies aren’t better than yours. They just have people tailoring every single piece of clothing they wear to flatter their figures. 

Off-the-rack clothes aren’t made to look good on most people’s bodies. The advice in the post was buy clothes that fit the largest part of you, even if they’re too big elsewhere, and have them altered to fit. 

That post hit me like a lightning bolt. I have a curvy figure. I’m not plus-sized, but I’ve got a small waist and large hips. Which is great in certain types of clothes (dresses, mainly), but means that if I don’t wear fitted t-shirts or blouses–if they fall straight–I just look sort of… boxy. I need clothes that go in at the waist. 

My grandma was an amazing seamstress, so when I needed clothes fixed, she was around to tailor them. When she got into her 90s and her eyesight was too diminished for her to sew, we started going to a woman in our neighborhood who’d lost her husband and had started doing alterations to bring in some extra income. OF COURSE I looked good back then. I had a tailor.

Then I moved away from my parents without really knowing How To Adult and would go to Target to get clothes and just get depressed by them and never realized how much of an advantage having people who could tailor my clothes (and, you know, parents to pay for having them tailored…) had been. 

So. I have a 1970s Singer Fashion Mate sewing machine that is designed to weather the apocalypse–I got it at Goodwill for $20. 

And I have begun researching how to tailor your own clothes. If anyone else was wondering about that after that last post, here are some helpful links I’ve discovered. 

When and Why to Get it Tailored - This article is (annoyingly) set up as a slideshow, and focuses on getting a professional to do your alterations rather than doing them yourself, but it’s got some good advice nonetheless, such as:

Basic alterations that can make a huge difference, such as adding lingerie loops to keep bra straps in place (SERIOUSLY MY FAVORITE DRESSES FROM HIGH SCHOOL ALL HAD THESE AND WHY DID THEY DISAPPEAR IN EVERYTHING I WEAR NOW?), adding snaps between the buttons on button-down shirts for larger-busted women (you know how sometimes they gap? there’s help for that), etc.

Average prices (at least on the East Coast) for basic alterations: replacing a zipper will run you about $20, while tailoring pants or a skirt to fit your hips and butt will be about $35.

If you want to get a garment made of special materials (leather, fur, beaded/embroidered silk) altered, go to someone who specializes in working with that material.

What NOT to try to alter.

How to find a tailor.

Having that perfect dress that you love so much duplicated and how much that will cost.

Learning Alterations - Great step-by-step tutorials on basic alterations like how to take in the waist of jeans (essential if you have a smaller waist and larger hips, because it’ll stop them from riding down every time you bend over or sit down).

Tailoring Ready-to-Wear - A full-on online course from Craftsy (costs $24.99) with videos and individual lessons on everything from hemming pants to lengthening them to altering shoulders and armholes to adding hidden zippers.

Plus-Sized Fitting and Design - Another online course (this one’s $34.99) that looks like it focuses both on alterations and on actually making clothes that are flattering to plus-sized forms.

Alterations and Tailoring 101 - Not a how-to post, but this one has a lot of useful information and ideas, such as identifying which garments to alter.

Alterations Needed blog - A whole blog on this stuff, with a lot of detailed how-tos. It focuses on fixing things to fit if you’re shorter than average/petite, but contains a lot of great advice for anyone (like an entry on why button-down shirts often bulge in back and how to fix it). 

Pinch and Pin your Shirt - Super-quick video tutorial (aimed at gentlemen), but useful for anyone who wears button-down shirts on how to fix a baggy shirt. 

Someone asked that this be rebloggable so HURR YOU GO

Some patterns are really dumb in telling you to finish the body of an outfit, then finish the sleeve, then attach a circle to a circle. It’s possible to do, and once in a while it’s necessary, don’t get me wrong, but unless you have a lot of experience it’s sometimes very aggravating trying to evenly distribute the sleeve around the “hole” cut out for it and match up the seams under the armpit!

(Please note…some patterns, especially to achieve tailored looks, require you to do it the traditional way. Don’t use this method for fashion school assignments or super-complex garments as it will probably screw up the way it ends up fitting in the end. This is mostly for the use of cosplayers to make their job a little easier.)

EDIT:// thevvioletprince, a fashion student, says she’s been taught this method in school so HAVE FUN, NEVER MIND

EDIT DEUX:// If you are doing a traditional garment of some kind, for instance, something that has a multi-piece sleeve or that requires gathers, you may need to do it the “old-fashioned way”!

ANYWAY SO THIS IS WHAT I DO.

Here are some options:

A Tide™ pen.

I’m a generic kinda lady. I hate promoting brands 99% of the time. BUT if you catch absolutely any kind of stain before it gets ground in, you can get most of it out with one of these babies. I’ve tested it on blood, chocolate, coffee, guacamole, pizza sauce, red wine on, on that one time i accidentally slopped some oil I was supposed to be using on antiques onto a fancy rug (also an antique but not the one I was gunning for). If you’re washing something delicate, pump it onto your finger a couple of times and gently rub it in. I’m not sure what they put in these things but I’m pretty sure it’s an arcane secret.

Dish soap

Granted, this is a little trickier for upholstery/carpet, but it can still be done using a rag, some water, and some patience. But for clothing, just pour some soap on the stain and rub it in under cold running water.

Absolutely any clear alcohol is your new best friend

You know the old “white wine to clean red” trick? Well, this is its updated sister I like to call “you, too, can use coconut rum to get red jello shot out of your nice white dress”. It’s a nice party trick. Straight vodka works even better. For every day situations involving any kind of alcohol-related spills (including markers)–and especially work situations–rubbing alcohol is ideal. To quote another adage, this one from every chemistry teacher you will ever meet, “like dissolves like.”

Hydrogen Peroxide

It can get blood out of absolutely anything, including your mattress. It reacts with the iron in hemoglobin, which breaks down the molecule, causing it to lose its red color. So make sure you’re not using a cast iron skillet to wash your period underwear in.

Vinegar

This will dissolve lime buildup overnight. Fill a bag, tie it around your showerhead, and presto. You can also use it to scrub the area around your sink and to break up any buildup in pipes. (Limeaway™ is for rich people.) 

Baking soda

This is great if you have a pet or child who peed on the carpet. Just cover the area, wait until it dries, and vacuum it up. The longer you leave it, the better it will do at removing the smell. It’s also good removing mild odors from a small space, like a fridge or a laundry hamper. 

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